Have you ever taken a train journey or been to a railway station in a metropolis? More than ten or even twenty trains, at a time, stand ready to depart on well lit platforms of railway stations in a bigger city. The environment is vibrant, cozy, and the sight of a swarming crowd warms up the cold nights. However, things are different in a railway station on a far side of the country. The platforms aren’t that well lit, people scant, and winter nights, gloomy. I sit here, well before time before my ride arrives. Before I know it, a thought creeps into my mind.

I notice quite many trains passing through this station, some stopping to drop off passengers as well. I am surprised. I wasn’t expecting that many trains. And then it hits me. I realize that since this route leads to the country capital, most of the trains bound for East and South I see in Delhi, and quite a many, will have to pass through here. That this place is a stepping stone, an unbreakable link of the chain, and if it were to cease to exist, the destination will not exist. It matters, however insignificant and expendable it might seem to be.

It all happened very fast, I had no time to connect dots and think of metaphors. In a minute, I had realized that this is true for everything else in life. Our ancestors in our family tree might not have been important people to the world, but every one of them had to be there for this chain to be complete and for us to exist today. We all might come from different parts of the world, and voyage through insignificant places and moments to reach a magnificent place one day, but everything and everyone in our journey had a contribution. And lastly, you, who the world might only see when you reach that big platform, and dazzling light falls on you, not when you journeyed through distant woods and spent your days feeling invisible, matter.

Not only that, reality will be different without you and for this version of world and reality to exist, you have to exist. Anything out of the equation, the equation changes. I read this somewhere today, your limits define your personality. You’re perfect, and you must live it up as you are. Every insignificant bit.

– ni