All because of a red light...

Yellow has been found to be the most visible of colors. That is why people use it for headlights when there is fog. That is why marketeers use it for getting people attracted to their ads. That is why yellow is used to indicate the CAUTION state in traffic lights.

Yellow comes just before it turns red to indicate that the flow is going to stop. And that is what I precisely understood as I saw the yellow on the traffic junction. And like every "busy" modern man, I tried to squeeze through, so that I won't have to wait at the junction for the light to turn green again.

But sadly, I was a little too late to start my acceleration and ended up just not bumping into a car. And so I was stuck at the junction for 120 seconds, as this is arguably the most crowded traffic point in the city. And the story is about how those two minutes I spent at that traffic point killed another being.

You see, I was in a hurry because it was 7.40pm already and I was supposed to visit the temple before it closed at 8pm. And that was because I was mad enough to challenge myself to visit the temple every day for a month. It felt really simple at first, cos this temple was right in front of my house.

And today was the 14th day. I couldn't lose now. Well, you might think why I didn't go in the morning. Well, that was cos I was trying to practice the SUNDAY - Sleep Until Noon DAY. I failed in that too. I woke up by 10am, by which time the temple had closed. And so, the visit was to be, as planned, in the evening. But like all things planned, it had to go wrong.

A friend called up for something important and I had to go out without a fixed time to get back. But when I was able to leave his place by 7.30pm, I saw a chance to keep my challenge alive, at least for another day. And that was the reason for the rush.

Now, about the killing part. I got to the temple in time, prayed before the temple closed, felt proud to have been fortunate enough to keep my challenge alive, when I unfortunately did something to kill something else. As I was stepping out of the temple, I didn't pay attention to where I was stepping and I stepped on a leech, squishing the life out of it in the process.

This got me thinking. All other things remaining constant, what would have been the case if I had got through that junction without having to wait two minutes. Would I have been the one who takes the life?? Would it still have been taken by someone else, or would it have been left for me to finish off??

FATE. It's something we all are too afraid to believe in, but still we can't ignore the fact, that the concept of it not being alterable is far too unnerving. And if you are asking me if I have an answer, then I'll have to say no. All I have, are more questions.