I wish I were a clairvoyant

Have you ever wanted that ? Just imagine, it would be so damn cool.

To be able to see things beyond what any of your senses can feel or even imagine. To know the answers for questions that will never be asked. To be called a psychic by the decent people and a freak by the not so decent people.

That sounds a bit too fantastic, even by my standards. So, lets tone it down a touch. Imagine if you had the power to read people's minds. Check this out. You just look at a person and you can instantly hear what that person is thinking. Lets forget about the invasion of privacy and all that stuff. On the face of it, how cool is it ?

I'll tell you why I, suddenly, wish this was possible. I take the local train to office. Or I take the bus, depending on my mood. I travel alone and unlike the thousands of people who travel with me I don't listen to FM radio on my mobile while I am travelling. I just sit there and watch people.

I don't judge people. I mean that. Who am I to pass judgement on somebody else's actions. I watch and I speculate on what they are thinking.

This one day I took the bus. I was on bus route number M49 and was sitting right behind the driver. The driver was in a foul mood that day. No idea which side of who's bed he got out of, but he was pissed.

I'll tell you why I think he was pissed. He was cursing at a traffic signal because it just wouldn't change from red to green when he told it to. Finally he got his way and we moved ahead. Just then, there was some guy trying to get on the bus when it was on the move. The doors are generally on the left side of the bus right. The driver saw the guy trying to get in and without a second thought he swerved to the right. With a guy trying to get on the bus on the left side, you can imagine what a right turn would do. The driver didn't bother to look at his rear side view mirror. He didn't signal. He just turned. Now, this was in the morning on one of the busiest roads in Chennai. For some reason, the driver didn't want that guy to get on the bus when it was on the move. Luckily for the guy, he was very agile and quick enough to adjust to the right turn and he got on the bus. This obviously enraged the driver even more. He stopped the bus, right in the middle of the road, turned around and told the guy to get off. I am being very nice here. But the whole thing was very unceremoniously done. He refused to move the bus if that guy didn't get off. That guy did get off, muttering to himself. Then we were on our way like nothing had happened.

Boarding a moving bus is not new in Chennai. Thousands of people do it all the time. Hell, I have done it god knows how many times. Drivers and conductors are used to it. Seldom does it result in an incident like this.

That's when I really wished I knew what the driver was thinking. Why was he so pissed ? He was so mad, it was affecting his ability to drive. He was rash and could have easily ended up hurting someone, not only the guy trying to board the bus but also some innocent motorist who made the mistake of being anywhere close to that bus. There must have been a reason. Obviously not the best day of his life. He was probably running late on that trip. Maybe he had some personal problem.

I was also wondering what that guy must have been thinking when the driver stopped the bus in the middle of the road and told him to get out. The guy was probably late for office. It was a really hot day: hot, sweaty, humid day and the pollution on the main road makes it all the more unbearable. He probably didn't want to walk half a kilometre to the bus stand.

I am sure both of them had their reasons for doing what they did. There are so many people in this world. There are so many things happening. Things that we know. Things that we don't know. Things that we may understand. Things that we don't understand.

Made me feel almost insignificant.