Disparate

What’s the most fun way to exercise?

It was a Tuesday evening. The roads were busy. Most people were returning home after having spent the majority of the daytime within the four walls of their office.

Vehicles stopped to drop people at their destinations, while some others did to take people towards theirs.

There was a bus stop. It wasn’t visible though. The sight was blocked by a red, low floor, air-conditioned bus. The bus started to move and it moved away clearing the sight. The people who had got down scattered away towards where they wanted go, but someone remained standing.

Pritha hadn’t quite been able to recover effectively from the fatigue of a long and busy office day. She had slept most of the way during her bus. She was glad she was able to wake up at the right moment to get down at her stop.

Pritha slowly made her way towards the over bridge which was about 15 steps from the bus stop. A part of her mind was still under the effect of the previous spell of sleep.

Pritha crossed the over bridge and got down the steps on the other side of the road. Her house was a 24 minutes’ walk from here onwards. She usually enjoyed the walks, it added to the steps in her smartwatch, but on a day like this one, Pritha waited for a battery rickshaw to take her home.

No battery rickshaw could be seen in sight. Well, there was one, but its driver was absent. Pritha looked around unsuccessfully trying to track the driver. Walking was the only option left.

Pritha walked quietly on the footpath. Her mind more awake than before. She was late and much to her annoyance, she suddenly realized she would come back this very road, the very next day, to catch another bus, to spend another day working in her office.

For a mind ridden with fatigue, thinking of something pleasant can be a great challenge no matter how much the mind yearns for it, instead, the mind will just wander into an unwanted thought and end up becoming the source of a feeling completely unnecessary.

The battery rickshaw Pritha had seen without a driver, sped past her. Its driver showed no intention of slowing down for a possible passenger.

‘Maybe he had a busy day too,’ Pritha thought, trying to subconsciously comfort herself with the thought that there were others who had lived through a day like hers. However, the thought was completely ineffective over the fact of going back to office the next day.

Pritha was about reach her house, she looked down at her shoes which were partially covered with dust. She noticed sudden movement, a pink balloon passed by her. Pritha turned back to see a mother holding her child in arms, and the child was extending his arm towards the balloon which had escaped his little hand.

Pritha held her bag tightly and started walking fast to get hold of balloon, but the balloon was getting away, so she started running behind it. The ballon slowed down after hitting the back of a parked car and that’s when Pritha caught it.

Pritha walked back to the child who was on the verge of crying and handed the balloon back with a smile. The mother smiled back at Pritha and thanked her.

Pritha was happy, this little occurrence had made her mind free of all its previous thoughts and the smartwatch vibrated, well the daily goal of steps had been reached.