Ch12: Passengers are responsible for their belongings

To answer the question in my previous post, I am sharing an excerpt from my book...

Let me give you a little background of Indian parents, they always try to make Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg out of every kid, not understanding that everyone can’t be like him or her. I digressed to provide you a little context.

Throughout my life, no matter how much I study, my parents, like most Indian origin parents, always demanded more. I have never been a very studious kid so my dad would try to play mind games with me to get me to study a little bit more. I vividly remember what he said one time when he looked at my tired face and wanted to squeeze the last drop of productivity out of my waking time. He brought forward a so-called excellent idea that he would hold the book and flip the pages and I “just had to answer” the question. So simple right! After a couple of minutes, my ten-year-old mind got the trick, and I told him to reverse the roles. He stepped back and walked away stating his favorite quote "Passengers are responsible for their belongings".

Passengers are responsible for their belongings that I had already listened million times. My father grew up in India (Haryana State) and frequently used the public bus. He never forgets to remind me how lucky and pampered I am, as I do not need to stand outside in the sweltering heat of 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) and sit for hours on an overloaded bus most, drive with 1.5 times the capacity leaving little space to sit and relax) In all his long commutes of 2-4 hours in 45-degree Celsius, heat waves coming on to his face and intense vibrations on the bus on the road with some potholes, the best he could do was to stare inside. On these buses, there is a message written all over, “Passengers are responsible for their belongings,” and for some reason, this stuck with him. As his education continued, he realized that this saying could be used philosophically for many different things, including health. He used it million times with me to remind that I will suffer the consequences if I study any less than his expectations on the weekend.

The passengers are all of us, and our belongings are our bodies. No surgery or makeup can cover the damage of how irresponsible you have been with your body.