I have always wondered why they have waiting rooms in railway stations and airports. passengers wait for their particular means of conveyance in these rooms and sometimes this waiting can become a pathetic experience. I was ‘inspired’ to write this blog based on a similar excruciating experience. Being a literature buff I have over familiarized with Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ and its existential theme. The play somehow fails to accommodate the mundane side of the act called waiting. The stress seems to be on the word Godot than the waiting. Even critics have broken their heads trying to define Godot.
My attempt here is to discuss different situations in our ordinary life where waiting is a pain, a pleasure, a heady mix of both pain & pleasure, and sometimes we are not even aware that we are waiting.
Waiting for a call from our loved ones is both a painful and pleasure filled act. Waiting in the queue for purchasing a cinema ticket is quite exciting. Waiting for an important mail can be a quite painful experience. Waiting for the food to be served in a restaurant (especially if you are hungry) can be a horrible thing. A waiter in a café is the personified form of this human activity. Waiting for results is an experience filled with tension and fear. Some of us wait for tomorrow to do things which we are supposed to do today. According to the Indian tradition and customs, there is a time (kaal) to do things, even to copulate and all that can be done is to wait.
As write this post, I am waiting for my mind to conjure new thoughts n ideas on the concept of waiting. Waiting in this case is quite productive because it gives new ideas and makes the post better. Waiting also teaches the most important lesson in life i.e. patience. In life too, it is better to wait than take the plunge along with others to be part of the rat race. If you wait and make your move, you will have better results than the short-lived ones you get when you are hasty.
As Osho says,
One birth has been given to you by your parents,
The other birth is Waiting.
It has to be given to you by yourself.
You have to father and mother yourself.
Then your whole energy is turning in--
It becomes an inner circle.
