Why Patience is the Key to Everything.
Holidays, picnics, study tours — endless sessions of fun and learning is what school is all about. Like any other schoolgirl, I was excited to go on picnics and expeditions with my classmates. My parents were firm believers in the adage “All work and no play make a child dull.’ So, the green signal was readily given when our school teachers arranged for a 6-day tour of historical places in and around Mysore (a beautiful city in Karnataka, south India).
My preparations for this grand tour began with much fanfare several days in advance. I insisted that I needed a whole new set of clothing, and accessories and demanded even a first aid box! After creating a crater-like hole in my parent’s wallets, they were more than eager to pack me off on this trip at the earliest.
After bidding an emotional farewell to our parents, we settled to play the age-old game of Antakshari (a singing parlor game in India). After exercising our vocal cords for over 2 hours, we decided to raid the snack boxes that our respective mothers had so lovingly packed for us. Since I was carrying a large suitcase, my mother had stuffed most of the small packets into it. My friends who were all too aware of my mom’s culinary abilities were eagerly waiting for me to unlock the suitcase.
Notwithstanding their drooling faces, I began to rummage through my handbag for the suitcase keys. To my utter disbelief, I was unable to locate the keys even after emptying the contents of the bag. My dad’s words before boarding the bus now hit me like a bolt from the blue. He had said, “Check if your keys are kept safely.” In my excitement, I chided him for getting perturbed over trivial issues.
Ten pairs of eyes were staring at me, anxiety written all over their faces. One girl quickly regained her composure handed over her keys and said “Hey, try opening your suitcase with this.” After trying over a dozen keys of all shapes and sizes, I gave up. The thought of wearing the same pair of dresses for the next seven days was quite revolting. The girls around me were however more than willing to share their clothes and even their toiletries! My entire effort of buying new clothes seemed now like a futile exercise. My mother’s words kept ringing in my mind. She had said, “If you’re climbing any fort, then a pair of baggy trousers will be most suitable, while visiting a temple, a salwar suit will be a good choice.” I could not stop the copious tears from flowing and soon started fidgeting with my hair out of sheer frustration. That is when I suddenly placed my finger on a hair clip. I immediately removed the clip from my hair and scrutinized it akin to a microorganism getting scrutinized under a microscope. In my desperation to open the suitcase, a vague idea struck me. “Why not try unlocking the suitcase with this hair clip”? It was a thin black clip with no fancy trappings. I carefully inserted it into the keyhole of the suitcase. The girls around me in the now cramped backseat of the bus were nervously biting their nails in deep anticipation. Their steadfast gaze and concern unnerved me a bit but I was more than eager to succeed in this task. With a silent prayer on my lips, I turned and twisted the clip from left to right and shook it a little. Suddenly, I heard a ‘click’ sound and lo the suitcase was finally unlocked!
Was it my deft fingers that turned the clip in the right direction? On second thoughts, I think, the keyhole of the suitcase was unable to take the brunt of any more unfamiliar devices and gave way. Whatever the reason, the end result brought a smile back to our faces!
This incident reminds me of a famous quote by Arnold Glasgow: The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it. Though I was not aware of this quote in school, I surely followed it to the T.
