Recently, I was asked to go to Mumbai, India for 10 days. My company decided to follow suit of other shipping lines and centralize part of their operations there.
It was very short notice as the visa had fallen through for the lady who was meant to go. So they asked me.
I have to admit, I was quite reluctant to go. I had to be there 2nd January and that meant flying out New Year’s morning. I had been looking forward to having a day off.
As mentioned, it was very short notice. I had around 6 working days to get it all organized while keeping up with my work.
I also really hate flying. All in all, in order to fly from Melbourne, Australia to Mumbai, you’re looking at being awake for about 24 – 30 hours.
Fortunately, airlines have changed a lot in the last ten years, and the inflight entertainment system makes time go past very fast.
I found Mumbai to be an interesting place. The energy of the land feels quite subdued, as though it has been beating into submission by thousands of years of trauma. In all the chaos, it feels like the earth has quietly surrendered and no longer has the strength to resist.
My feelings are that there is much healing that needs to be done and I’ll look at that in a further post.
What I’d like to do is focus on the traffic I experienced there.
It was completely chaotic to say the least, and I could not imagine myself trying to drive there.
And yet, it all seems to work. Many people cross and walk along the roads at will and in spite of what appeared to be a lack of rules and and a constant peak hour traffic, you somehow still managed to get to your destination in a reasonable time and… I did not see a single accident in time I was there.
In Australia, everything is very strict. Break a law and there are heavy fines. You can’t use your mobile while driving. Seatbelts are compulsory. Traffic lights must be obeyed. Speed limits are strictly enforced (and they are getting lower all the time.)
All the logical and sensible laws are put in place and a lot of resources are used to enforce it.
Traffic seems orderly and predictable. Yet in spite of that, it’s generally a nightmare, and every day there are accidents all over the place. Road rage is very common.
Does Mumbai traffic work better because they are forced to be alert all the time and drive both offensively and aggressively? Does having to watch out for everyone else mean that everyone has to work together to make it all work?
If so, what does it say for those places where order is the name of the game? Does too many rules equal chaos?
Does allowing chaos lead to order?
If so, how does that translate to how we run our lives?
I wonder… if the more we try to control what we do, the less successful we may be?
While we should have goals and have plans to achieve them, there is a natural flow that should not be ignored. It involves working with nature, people and others and trusting in our timing. If we can trust in such things, perhaps we will have greater success.
Easier said than done, because many come from a place of fear, and try to force events to happen when the timing is clearly wrong.
To me, that’s like sowing seeds in Autumn and insisting that your crops grow.
Timing is everything, and if you can know and trust your timing, everything will shift when the time is right.
I may have touched on this before, but the hardest part of achieving your goal is trying to convince others that you know what you’re doing. Yes, sometimes it may take years to achieve something, but those may be the years where all is being set up and people and events are being put into place.
To act before things are ready will mean you are doing something before everyone gets to where they need to be.
Timing is everything. Knowing your timing is key to a successful life. Everything will unfold as it should if you know your timing.
