Humans are a strange lot. They deny when they know, they refuse when they can. And they typically do this when they know they are in a strategic position, by the virtue of which they can either help people and make things smooth or make things terribly difficult for them. Once one of my professors had stated that it is not the top officials in an office which have an inflated ego and not ready to give you their time. But is the the officials beneath them, usually the clerical staff who make you go round and round. And over time, his statement have been proved right in my personal experiences.
A couple of days back, we had to be in a district government office for some personal work. The experience was not very different from the usual one. Long waiting, tantrums of staff, attempts to control anger and patience testing. And it was a repeat experience as the job was not done by the end of the day and we had to the office the following day too. After a load of anxiousness, we achieved success the second day. But that was not the end. There was a flight to catch. Airport being 20 kms away, an hour and 40 minutes to departure and the given traffic, reaching on time seemed like a doubtful feat. But we managed to beat the odds and wiped our brows with a "phew" at the end of it. The list of things which finally saved the day were:
- Prep work
- Mobile phones
- A car
- A skilled driver
- A fax machine
- Electricity
- A hint of luck
- A bit of humanity
- Patience, love and positive belief
- God's grace (of course!)