New York City Subway Stations to the rescue...

New York City Subway Stations to the rescue...

I am no metaphysics expert but I do believe that problems that trouble us the most seem unbeatable because we fail to give ourselves lesser importance than we deserve. I do not want to generalize. So let me speak about myself.

It is only when I give myself, my feelings, my ego and my problems more importance than they actually merit that things seem to go out of control. What is required for me in those intense moments of desperation to feel better is an external force that makes me wriggle out of myself. Something that makes me feel a little smaller, An external point of observation of my true self and my problems. It is at those inexplicably frustrating moments that a New York City subway station* comes to an unexpected rescue.

What I am going to narrate has happened may be 5 times or lesser in my 500+ commutes in Subway. So you need to be lucky to experience this. In some stations we have more than one train proceeding in the same direction sharing a common platform. Some of these stations also have a low ceiling. 

Suppose we do get out of the train in one of these stations and it so happens that there is a train that has come to a stop in the other track that shares the same platform. Assume now that both these trains start moving at the same time and also assume you are near the front end of the platform. That implies you ll be between the two trains for a considerable period of time as they accelerate on either side.

If this phenomenon happens when you are sick with misery - unnecessary and uncalled for misery, it is like God is looking right at you to make you feel better. As the trains speed by, and you see yourself caught between two massive steel bodies speeding besides you, there is a very good chance that you feel a little better. At least I feel better. I realized that it is because the trains make me feel I am a little too insignificant to brood so much over something that is happening to me. I feel small. ! Yes, that is the external force I needed. 

The problems melt away in front of my eyes for those 15 seconds. Once the trains leave the platform I start thinking about how I did feel a little better in the previous 15 seconds. That sets my mood for the rest of the day.

Anyone reading this should experience being caught in a low ceiling subway station, where a single platform is shared by two trains proceeding in the same direction. It is a wonderful feeling, even if your mind does not put you at the center of the universe when you analyze or try to battle your problems. 

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*(One such subway station that fits the description is the 47-50th Street Rockerfeller Center Station. Take the B,D,F,V and get off here. If you are lucky you may see it happen.)