N. Raghuraman’s column – Your decisions today make your future life ‘guilt free’ | N. Raghuraman’s Column: Your decisions today make your future life ‘guilt free’

N. Raghuraman, Management Guru

Last Saturday at 11 am, when the Nanded-bound Tapovan Express reached near Manmad Junction in Maharashtra, the emergency chain was pulled, due to which the train stopped suddenly.

Guard SS Kadam came to know that 30 year old passenger Sarwar Shaikh from UP had fallen from the train. Kadam and loco pilot MS Alam contacted the controller and asked for permission to move the train back.

I don’t know what conversation took place between him and the controller or how he managed to convince the controller. Remember, Indian Railways has the busiest tracks, and driving a train in reverse is not easy. But it was decided to move the train back 700 meters to pick up the fallen passenger.

A goods train running behind the Tapovan Express was stopped at the station before it, so that the train could get space to reverse. Fellow passengers found the injured person and picked him up, after which the train left for Manmad Junction.

Railway officials arranged for an ambulance, in which Shaikh was taken to a local hospital and the Tapovan Express finally proceeded towards Nanded. But the story does not end here. The joint efforts of Kadam and Alam were not successful, as the injured passenger died in the hospital the same night.

But believe me, the death of the passenger may not make them or us readers feel good, but at least both of them will be able to live the rest of their lives without any guilt and will say to themselves that we tried our best, we There was a heated discussion with the controller to save his precious life, but unfortunately destiny had other plans.

Imagine what would have happened if they had stopped the train, but the rules did not allow them to move the train back because the trailing train was too close? The controller would convince both of them by saying that they would instruct the driver of the goods train behind to pick up the fallen passenger.

Then if he had passed away, then Kadam and Alam would have lived their entire lives with the feeling of guilt that if only we had got the opportunity to pick up that passenger, we might have been able to save him. This may seem like an unimportant decision to many people, but to me it is extremely important.

It reminded me of a guilt that still haunts me today. My 13 year old pet pixie was on life support for late stage cancer. She was in a lot of pain and every passing day she would talk to me with her eyes saying, Papa, I am in a lot of pain, let me go.

The doctors gave me a choice – either take Pixie off life support, in which case she would stop breathing within a few hours, or continue life support, which might postpone her death by a few days. . What should I do? My wife and I decided to let Pixie go without pain.

But the pain of that decision still dominates our hearts and forces us to think what would have happened if we had not taken this decision that day? Would Pixie have lived long beyond the age of 13? We don’t have any answer to this.

But I knew my guilt was due to my love for Pixie, not my intentions. I have had several pets and they too have died natural deaths. But Pixie’s death affected me, because it involved my decision.

The bottom line is that If an election matters to you, you should be the one to decide. Sometimes it may go wrong, but if your intention is right, it will help you live a guilt-free life in the future.