You are on a journey; the bus leaves at night; you will reach the destination at dawn, hopefully.

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be awake all night and keep staring at the window?

You can’t seem to sleep well and you don’t keep your eyes wide open all night. Do you? What can you possibly see when it’s all dark outside?

Empty road with broken street lights, houses appear to move backwards, farther away from your tired eyes, black sky with tiny stars twinkling from up above giving you a glimpse of hope in the jet black night, silhouette of the trembling trees and creepy sound of the insects.

You’ve known the “highway” for more than a decade or two now. Yet it’s the same old feeling that you experience every time you are on a new endeavor. Isn’t it strange that you feel so alone in this short journey even when surrounded by passengers travelling the same route? The places you left behind and the places you want to go are no different. Only your feelings change.

Snoring passenger beside you (if you are unlucky enough to share your bed coz you didn’t get a single seat when you were booking the ticket a day or two before the journey), mom singing lullaby to her one year old son on the last seat, curtains like flapping wings of birds don’t let you close your eyes even for a moment. You turn to your watch but can’t read the numbers. The tiny bulb attached to the roof doesn’t glow anymore. Your hands reach for your phone. It’s lying somewhere near your old jacket, exhausted just like you with 32 percent battery left. It’s still 2 A.M. Ah! Time is a crawling tortoise, so damn slow whilst the bus is speeding up like race car jumping over the humps. Your stomach is churning and feels like you might throw up anytime. You are pushing harder. But the window wouldn’t slide. Your body is aching as if it’s your first ever workout at the gym. You wish the sun come up a little early this morning. You can’t play a video on YouTube or listen to some Pop music on Spotify to let go of the boredom caused when sleep deserted you long time ago. The signal keeps getting lost like your thoughts. Your phone is soon going to die, probably of starvation.

Had it been any better if you’d not forgotten to pack up your power bank before you left the house? The plug points on the bus are never going to power up your poor mobile phone. It’s understandable that you didn’t have enough time to charge your phone before you happened to board the bus. Of course, the bus arrived a little early this time. You couldn’t even finish your burger because the driver called to tell you to reach the boarding point one hour before the departure time (He wasn’t asking though, “a yell, but in a polite manner” would best describe the situation) You curse the bus agency, the driver, time, your fate and whatnot in the world! They could have sent a message at least, intimating the changes in the timings of the journey. How annoying it is and inconvenient for the passengers to be informed in the last moment! You wish you hadn’t booked this bus. The services have never been so great. Last time you traveled on this bus, you had contracted a rare skin disease that took a week long to cure. You pray to God that nothing of that sort will happen this time. Concerned about your health and distrusting the quality of the bed, you have carried a bedspread yourself. The mattress still stinks.

Somehow you manage to sleep on the bed which is too short for you to stretch yourself on. The wind is blowing your hair, slowly and you’ve just begun to sleep peacefully. But the wheels stop. You wake up and hurry to collect your luggage. Finally your suffering is coming to an end as the destination arrives.

But what is the reason for your travel?

to spend vacation at home after a semester at your college; after you earned a degree from the university, you got a job in a whole new city; a close friend’s wedding; to meet your partner for the first time; to hold your new born baby in your arms; to spend your last days with your grandchildren and the extended family and many such beautiful occasions?

Or

to return home after you failed a year at college or you lost your job and need a break to restart all over again; to take care of your old parents; to bid adieu to your beloved and all the unanticipated certainties of life and death?

The truth about life is that you have to go through both good and the bad phases to experience the essence of it in entirety. You can’t escape the inevitable (As Thanos said 😉 ). Life is too short to repent. Don’t let the choices you should or should not have made halt your progress.

This time it’s bus. Next time, maybe an airplane or a car or a motorbike or a spaceship to Mars. Who knows! But the journey continues until the destination arrives.