What You Do When Nobody Important Is Watching?

 

Hi… I am Ayaan.

 

And this is something I saw on a Friday evening that I'm still thinking about.

 

I was tired. The week had done what weeks do taken everything – and asked for a little more. So, Friday evening I just rode. No destination. No plan. Just Bangalore and an open road cool breeze.

 

Then I saw the car passing by. A black Mercedes. Luxury sedan. Moving smoothly through traffic the way expensive things tend to — effortlessly, like the road had been expecting it.

 

I stayed close. I had a picture in my head, maybe I just wanted to see the kind of person who drives the car.

 

The car stopped at a signal. I pulled up beside it. And then, the front door opened slightly.

 

The driver spat. Right there. On the road. Without hesitation. My eyes wide open seeing that.

 

Then — as if one moment wasn't enough — the people in the back seat casually tossed empty chips wrappers out of the window.

 

The signal turned green. I rode in silence from the other side leaving the car behind. It moved on. Smooth and effortless as before and passed me in seconds.

 

Because I realized something uncomfortable. We spend so much time building images. Curating appearances. Choosing the right version of ourselves to present to the world.

 

And then we roll down the window. Civic sense has nothing to do with what you drive. It has everything to do with what you do when nobody important is watching.

 

I am not writing this to judge him. I am writing this because I caught myself judging him — and then stopped.

 

Because the real question isn't about him. It's about me.

 

What do I do when nobody is watching? What kind of space do I leave behind?

 

The road doesn't belong to the Mercedes. It belongs to all of us. And all of us have to live on it together.

 

The road remembers what we leave behind. Make it worth remembering.

 

— Ayaan | One Day at a Time 🖤