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I wondered as I held the unfortunate fruit in my hand, trying my best to force the overly mushy, soggy banana down my reluctant throat.
I was filled with a deep sense of realisation that as humans, we almost always fail to take notice of the general, everyday things happening around us, or to take timely charge of situations before they inevitably turn uncontrollable.
Coming back to the lump of banana in my hand, threatening to fall down unless I eat it immediately, looking at it, I panicked.
I remembered passing by it daily while it laid on the table for the past two to three days. It had lain there, untouched long after my family had devoured the rest of its family. This last one had managed to conceal itself among the other things on the table.
Yet, I could not deny the fact that I had been quite aware of its presence.
Things had been fine initially as they usually are…until the fruit changed its colour. Finally, this morning, I picked up the dead lump.
An unbidden chhii! (yikes!) came out of my mouth. The fruit’s pallid appearance was uninviting to the eyes. Still, I peeled the seemingly hopeless thing. But to my surprise, it was much better than what it had looked on the outside, a testament to the fact that “Appearances can be deceptive.”
Now, now, I do not like bananas. I just don’t.
There is no love between us, but then no animosity either. I did not want to eat it, but I didn’t have the heart to throw it either.
As fate would have it, the very next moment, the despairing fruit had found a saviour—one who actually did not savour bananas.
The squishy pulp was gross. And long after the moment had passed, I could still feel the uneasiness of an overripe, slushy banana inside my throat. Pitiful.
Oh, how I wished I had eaten it in its prime.
Nevertheless, it taught me a lesson for life:
To acknowledge the things happening around us, and to act before things get from good to bad to worse.
And this lesson does not just apply to the bananas on our table, but to more subtle and everyday things, too.
In relationships, business, environment…the list is just endless.
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