The Flight, The Train, and A Conversation With the Cab Driver!

In a journey called life, we meet several people every day. We experience different journeys, some good, some bad, and some that stay with us for reasons we cannot easily explain.

And then there are a few journeys that genuinely inspire us.

Here, I want to share one such incident from my life. You may or may not be able to relate it to your own journey, but it inspired me in a way that I still remember.

More importantly, it gave me a reason to like this phrase all over again:

The Flight

It was the first week of February, 2020. I was on a personal trip to Kolkata and had an evening flight to catch from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata to Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh.

The flight was scheduled for 7 PM and was already running a few minutes late. I was getting nervous because if the flight was delayed any further, I could miss my connecting train from Raipur to my hometown.

I live in a town about 300 kilometres away from Raipur, and there is only one train at night. Missing that train would mean waiting until the following day.

Finally, boarding was completed and the flight was ready for takeoff.

I have a strange habit of getting nervous at unusual times. This was definitely one of those moments. I tried to remain calm.

We finally reached Raipur at around 9:10 PM, roughly ten minutes later than the scheduled arrival time.

The Cab Driver

As soon as we landed, I took out my phone and looked for an Uber cab.

Fortunately, I got one and asked the driver to be ready at the arrival gate.

I rushed out and met the driver, who was also the owner of the cab. He looked to be in his late thirties or early forties. He had a calm face and a pleasant demeanour.

I quickly explained the situation to him.

We had about thirty minutes to catch the train.

He smiled and calmly said:

Even I smiled and said, okay, let us give it a try.

To be honest, I was almost certain that I would miss the train. I knew the roads and we still had about 18 to 20 kilometres to cover.

The First Problem

We were on our way.

I was quiet, but nervous.

We had barely travelled five kilometres when the car suddenly broke down.

It refused to start. There seemed to be some issue with the gear mechanism.

The driver looked at my tense and nervous face, smiled and said not to worry.

He worked on the problem and managed to get the car started within about five minutes.

It was still winter. The roads were almost empty.

The surroundings looked a little eerie. Trees covered parts of the road and their shadows formed strange shapes in the darkness.

For a moment, it felt like the beginning of a horror story.

But this was not a horror story.

We had a train to catch.

The Race Against Time

The driver was in a hurry. It almost felt as if he did not want to break his own record.

I told him it was fine and asked him not to rush.

I said that it was only a train. If I missed it that night, I could always catch it the next day. I would rather reach a good hotel safely than create another problem.

He remained quiet.

He was completely focused on his destination.

Meanwhile, I had already started looking for a hotel online because I was convinced that the train was gone.

It was around 9:20 PM.

The train was scheduled to leave at 9:40 PM.

I had twenty minutes left and about twelve kilometres still to travel.

Considering the traffic, reaching the station on time seemed almost impossible.

The Conversation

Once again, I repeated my philosophy. At times, I can repeat myself quite a lot.

He replied:

He was right.

We often tell ourselves that we tried. We use those words to console ourselves after we are defeated.

There is nothing wrong with failure. Failure is a part of life.

But there is a difference between genuinely trying and simply making an attempt without a plan.

Sometimes our efforts are not aligned. Sometimes they are not focused. Sometimes there is no real plan behind them.

And sometimes, we already know that.

We Made It

Looking back, I knew I had made a mistake.

If I had taken an earlier flight, there would have been no need to rush through the roads that night.

But once I had explained my situation to the cab owner, he had made a commitment.

He was determined to reach the station on time.

He tried to bypass every possible traffic jam and kept moving.

Somehow, he managed to get me to the station at exactly 9:30 PM.

Ten minutes before the train was scheduled to leave.

He turned around, smiled and said:

It felt like advice from an elder.

I got down, paid the fare, thanked him, and boarded the train on time.

The Real Story Begins

Now comes the background of the story.

At that time, I was working in an IT firm as a software consultant.

I was reasonably good at my job and made good money.

Yet, I was not happy.

The nature of the work did not suit my interests.

For the previous couple of years, I had been preparing myself for a highly competitive government examination.

I knew that I was capable of studying and learning. The problem was focus.

I would always give it a try, but my approach was not planned.

When I failed, I did not regret it too much.

I had created a comfortable explanation for myself:

But the truth was different.

It was not fine.

If I had genuinely wanted to clear that examination, I should have planned my work and studies properly. I should have followed that plan with discipline and corrected my mistakes along the way.

I knew I had the ability.

But knowing that you have the ability and actually using it are two very different things.

The Teacher Appeared

The cab owner gave me a lesson that evening.

He did not know anything about my professional life. He did not know about my examination preparation. He did not know about my failures.

Yet, somehow, his words addressed exactly what I needed to hear.

It was February.

My examination was scheduled for May.

I was ready to give it another try.

But this time, something was different.

I reached home and made a plan.

I tried to organise my work and studies properly and gave a sincere attempt.

Unfortunately, it was already late. The effort was not enough.

I failed the examination.

But this time, I learned the lesson the hard way.

What I Took Away

That journey from the airport to the railway station lasted only a few minutes.

But the conversation stayed with me much longer.

The cab driver was trying to reach a destination.

So was I.

The difference was that he was completely focused on getting there.

I had been trying to reach my destination without a proper plan.

1. Be sincere in life, even when you are not serious. You may not always know exactly where you are going, but whatever you choose to do deserves an honest effort.
2. Trying is important, but trying with a plan is better. Effort without direction can easily become another way of postponing the real work.
3. Failure is not the end. But failure should make us stop, observe, understand and correct our approach.
4. Sometimes the teacher appears in unexpected places. A conversation with a stranger can sometimes teach us more than a planned lecture.
5. Stay focused on the destination. The journey may not always go according to plan, but focus helps us make the best of whatever time remains.