The Expiry Date

I’ve learnt to accept that traffic in the city isn’t going to drive into a better future very soon. This acceptance has made me complain less and stress-out less and as precious time from what remains of my life on Earth ticks away on the roads, I use it to listen to ragas that I have not learnt, an audio book, a podcast, and, ahem…the thoughts that emerge from my head! At times I’ve struck a conversation with someone on a bike alongside me and ended up learning something, discussing something and exchanging some (random) goodwill (- drive safe). Folks at home strongly disapprove of this quirky behaviour of mine, but who is to argue with them that it makes the wait a little less tedious! I also look around me and watch the other people as their faces reveal how they deal with these awful traffic jams: the Ola and Uber drivers are the most impatient and those drivers with a well dressed lady/gentleman, perched comfortably in the back seat, who continues doing her/his own thing almost oblivious to the situation (- read working on a laptop/talking on the phone/reading), are they most patient; parents driving their child/ren to school and those getting to work look the most harried and people like I, who've attained ‘traffic nirvana’, are just indifferent.

On one such occasion I wondered how we might all behave if we knew our exact length of time on Earth. Some of us do quip that we all come down with an expiry date, so, what if we knew that date? Don’t we all check for the expiry date of groceries, medicines, shampoos, beauty products etc., when we go shopping, often putting back on the shelf, items with a closer expiry date, knowing we may not be able to utilise it by then?

How would we treat ourselves,and others, if we knew when we were going to die? And what might be our perspective of life if we knew it, as against the ignorance of that date? 

Knowledge of our duration on Earth would influence the choices we make, the way we treat the residents of Earth, ourselves included, probably adding an element of irreverence to both, knowing that we could set aside sometime to mend things before we go. One might end up procrastinating a bit more, knowing that some time is left to do things; one might treat loved ones differently, even allotting days to make up later; we might just put off rendering that apology to another day…

Speaking for myself, I would probably make a list of things I would do, a priority-wise bucket list (Yeah, I’m ordinal!) and be less spontaneous with my treatment of life. I would plan everything for the given time that I have, trying to make the most of it! And I’d probably not come back as a ghost a la Hindi movies, to fulfil unrequited desires..

On the other hand, if I weren’t to know the date, like my situation now, I would be living the way I do - go with the flow, apologise without a qualm, make my mistakes shamelessly, spend time with those who love me, learn endlessly and leave room for life without a plan! I would continue to harass my loved ones to do things for me with the warning that if they fail me, I come back as a ghost. It’s works, trust me!

I think knowing my expiry date would make me more practical as against being the romantic that I am. I’d rather go with the latter, so thank you God.