Robert Frost had once said – I can sum up all I know about life in three words: It goes on. Scott Peck had to add his own three words to this startling discovery of Frost. Peck said – Life is difficult.

What differentiates the first set of three words from the second set? The first set is a statement – a wonderful explanation of how life worked. The second set however goes one step further. It is a prelude to a more practical advice by Scott Peck. Accept the fact that life is difficult. Once you believe that life is difficult, it becomes easier for you to sail through it. Of course these are not his exact words because I am quoting from my memory.

So where does all this lead to? Even though life is difficult, given a chance it does go on – unhindered unless you decide to call it off in distress over some petty issue. Feeling suicidal is something most people experience at some point in their life. While most sane human beings come out of it unscathed, some unfortunate souls succumb to that pressure.

There is a very strong reason why I consider myself a sane human being. Despite being in the software industry for more than eight years, I still manage to laugh – go home by 8pm (at least three times out of five) and don’t think twice before renting out the DVD of Chicken Little.

So why am I considering suicide now? Why has that dangerous thought entered my mind at all? Imagine this. You are going to a wonderful place called Hyderabad to meet a wonderful person – your wife and a handsome baby – your son. You go to the railway station only to find that your AC Two Tier ticket has qualified for an auto upgrade to First AC. You have never been inside a First AC cabin. So you are all excited to see the luxurious interiors of the AC Cabin.

Enough reasons to contemplate suicide? Of course not. My date with lady luck comes to an end rather unexpectedly.

“Honey, this is Cabin B” a voice shouts from outside. You look up and find a young man followed by his lady love entering the cabin. They look at you disapprovingly. Sometimes it is very difficult to hide the feelings. The eyes give them all away. What is this scum bag doing here? He is Sleeper Class material.

You quietly come out and check the chart to find that you are dealing with a potential honeymoon couple. You don’t want to go back there but you have to because your 2^nd AC berth has already been allotted to yet another fortunate 3^rd AC ticket holder. (And his berth to a delighted Sleeper Class fellow.)

So you trod your way back and find that the cabin door is locked. You knock twice and close your eyes. Two minutes later, the door opens. You go in and occupy the window seat and stare into the pitch black universe outside very carefully avoiding looking at the couple. They are by now settled on one berth – the guy reading a magazine with the girl in his lap. They have forgotten long back that they are not alone in the cabin.

You never prayed before in your life. Although you are not exactly an atheist you have always believed that God has better things to do in his tenure as God – like rolling dice – than to take care of the occupants of an utterly insignificant blue green planet perched in the periphery of a small galaxy in the far end of the universe. If you were God, where would you be? My guess: The Restaurant at the end of the universe. The other end I mean.

So you normally don’t want to disturb Him from his dicey sojourns. However this particular setup defies everything you have so far learnt about the human race and you start suspecting that God is really really playing those dice too often.

You find yourself – to your own amazement – praying to God that the fourth person in the cabin should be a man – preferably in the age group 45 – 70 so that you can have some decent company. You escape from the cabin once again to check the chart. The chart tells you that the fourth person is actually a thirty seven year old male. You perform a neat somersault on the platform and go back to your cabin. You enter the cabin confidently – even offer an apologetic smile to the couple.

The train starts five minutes later. You realize that the thirty seven year old male probably is stuck up in Luz Corner or Madhya Kailash of Chennai in the worst traffic jam of the century and is definitely not going to give you company in the First AC Cabin that day.

The Ticket Collector comes a minute later – checks our tickets and takes a philosophical approach – “God is strange. Why! Everyone in the 1 AC cabins and coupe today are II AC passengers with free upgrades.”

You nod. The gentleman and the lady still have that look on their faces. Moreover the lady whispers something and both of them laugh. They inspect the novel you are reading.

By the way, let me tell you what novel you are reading – False Impression by Jeffrey Archer.

There are some people who like to show off their electronic gadgets. They wait till everyone in the vicinity is comfortably seated. Then they pull out their latest cell phone or worse, their laptops and furiously start typing with one ear firmly latched on to the cell phone. Yeah! Right! Absolutely! I am working on it. I can finish it off by the time I get down at Secunderabad. No. No issues. Yep. Call me if you need me. Anytime of the night.

You are not one of them. You have a laptop but you hide it so that others don’t notice it and brand you as one of the aforementioned heroes. However when you hear the following conversation by His Highness and Her Majesty, you make that crucial cross over to being a show off guy and pull out your laptop and the Bose noise reduction headphones. They (The headphones) fail miserably and the conversation shatters your eardrums.

He: See what I bought?

She: What is it? Looks like a magazine.

He: laughs loudly. You got it. It IS a magazine

She: giggles. I know, you dumbo.

He: I am not dumb. You sure are. Tell me what 345 multiplied by 43 is.

She: Ha ha ha. Very funny. You tell me.

He: I asked you the question.

She: You tell me the answer. You don’t know right? Ha ha ha dumbo.

He: Fourteen thousand eight hundred and thirty five.

She: gasps. O My God.

He: Yeah I know.

She: You knew the answer. You did the homework. You are bad.

He: I can do anything for you.

At this point you check your ears to see if there is any blood oozing out. You keep the headphones aside and go to the compartment door to mull over the idea of jumping out. One step on the wrong side, you realize that you are sane enough to rent Chicken Little DVD, smile and go back home at 8pm on three days in a week. You realize you shouldn’t be thinking about suicide at all. So you take that step back and get back to the cabin hoping the conversation has ended.

In there, you realize you are pretty much in for a nice second innings and prolonged climax.

She: What magazine is it?

He: Digit. It comes with three free DVDs full of games. I should have brought my laptop.

She: Why do you want to play those games? Play with me na!

Both of them cuddle and giggle. You put the Bose headphones on and play Ghantasala’s Vatapi Ganapathim Bhaje…But still their conversation makes its way to your ear drums quite clearly.

He: How can I?

She: Yeah I know.

He: We should have got the coupe.

She: Too bad. I don’t know why they didn’t give us the coupe. It was given to two French middle aged Sisters.

They laugh loudly.

She: You should have bought something else.

He: You mean instead of Digit?

She: Yes

He: What?

She: says something in his ears.

They both roll on the floor laughing.

You spring on to your feat – almost sending your laptop to the floor. They look at you puzzled. You don’t care. You climb on to the upper berth and hide yourself inside a blanket hoping they’d stop talking and start doing something else – with minimal sounds. You start praying God.

And the conversation stops abruptly. You dare not to come out of the blanket till the train reaches Secunderabad.

You get down in Secunderabad and go to the nearest temple first to say Thanks.