Experience Sharing
Travelling by a city bus .....
I was travelling by a city bus , when I wondered that almost all the
commuters who were holding onto the overhead bars had hard time
keeping their balance while the conductor moved around very effortlessly ,
without holding any seat bar or the overhead bar. Furthermore he was
able to keep his balance in worst of the situations.
Suddenly , I realized. Everyone who was standing was facing the
windshield while the conductor always faced the window panes. This gave
him additional stability in the direction of the travel of the bus. But
this was not enough reason .
Another and more important difference between the conductor and the
commuters was, while the commuters were in general standing at one
position ,the conductor moved up and down the passageway (to give tickets
etc ). That precisely was the point. All the commuters were trying to
hold themselves steady by holding on to the overhead bars and digging
their feet in while the conductor just shimmered around . Once in a
while he rested his torso against one of the seats and steadied himself.
When we hold on the overhead bars and dig in , as the bus picks up
momentum our body picks up momentum too. This process being gradual ,
it is not much uncomfortable. But when the driver brakes or accelerates
suddenly , we feel the jerk. The parts that are in close contact with
the bus follow the momentum of the bus , while the rest of the body is
slow to follow due to inertia. The major weight of the body being
concentrated in the middle , which is far away from both the extremities
which are in contact with the bus , the middle portion tends to go
forward . In the case of the conductor , as he is continuously moving
around the inertia does not exist or exists at a much lower level. Thus
the effect that he feels is much lower than that experienced by the
commuters.
Everyone in the bus wants to keep balance. The standing commuters try to
keep balance by holding on and digging in. They do not understand that
this precisely is their undoing. They will be much better off by letting
go.
The moral of the story is , in certain circumstances , if you want to hold
on you need to let go.
(
geocities.com/hotsprings)