The human mind is a monkey

Went on an Ashtavinayak tour sometime back with my wife to see the 8 famous swayambhu Ganpatis of Maharashtra. No, the tour details will be the subject matter of another post. This one is about how fickle the human mind is, how quickly we form opinions about people and how quickly we change these opinions too.

The protagonist of the story is the Tour manager– let’s call him TM. As we waited for the coach, bleary-eyed at 4 AM, my mobile beeped and a crisp voice introduced itself as the Tour manager & asked where we were. I informed that we were at the stop next to the one where we were to actually board. No issues, said TM, we will reach in 10 minutes. Sure enough, the coach was there in 10 and we saw TM for the first time– A sprightly young man with spectacles like Raj Thackeray’s and a slightly twirled-up moustache like Shikhar Dhawan’s. He was bubbling with energy, as he welcomed people on board at different halts and finally took his seat near the front door after announcing the day’s schedule.

The early start and the movement of the bus lulled me to sleep, when suddenly I felt the bus moving slowly and groaning up a slope.I looked around and to my surprise, TM was at the wheel now maneuvering the bus expertly over the Malshej Ghats, Man, was I surprised!

Whenever we halted for breakfast or lunch, TM was always right in front entering the kitchens in the hotels, garnishing the buffet and even helping out with the serving. I told him ‘ Tum to All-rounder ho”. ‘Hona padta hai saab’ was his response.At the aartis in the temples, TM led the singing with gusto. He was the livewire during the antakshari challenge between the ladies and the gents.

All through, I couldn’t help noticing that TM was paying extra attention to one of the tourists, a stylish, young girl who was travelling with her mother. She also appeared to be quite comfortable chatting with TM and even her mother seemed to turn a blind eye to the interactions. Meanwhile my wife had figured out from the mother that the daughter was a post-graduate and working with some share-broking firm.

I decided to do a Sherlock Holmes.First thing, checked out TM’s profile on Facebook. Ooh-la-la, he was a graduate, an office-bearer in a political party and sure enough there were photographs of him with with Lady-Love, the girl travelling with us.

Wifey and I got talking about this. Though TM was a smart alec, we wondered how come such a stylish, educated girl got involved with him. a tour manager & small-time politician. Not a great choice by LL, was our unanimous opinion.

Next day, was talking with TM, when he casually mentioned that the coach belonged to him.Even as I raised my eyebrows, he added that though he owned only this luxury coach, he was managing all 90 coaches of his uncle. Uff, must be raking in the moolah, I thought.

When I informed wifey about this, the whole equation changed. LL had indeed made a great catch was our revised opinion now.We further supported our new opinion by saying that maybe LL was from a very poor family.

I just wondered how additional information within a day, changes our opinions about people diametrically or how quickly we become judgmental. The human mind is certainly a monkey, jumping from one branch to another.

You must be wondering, whether we were only observing and forming opinions about TM & his LL. Not at all, we had wonderful darshans of Ganpati all over and prayed to Him to bless us all including TM & LL.