ENDLESS STEPS

 

Endless Steps.....

Little did I realize that the early morning rush for office and the usual ride to the bustling railway station would leave me with a LIFE LESSON. As I alighted from the auto hastily walking towards the station and joining the the stream of people to take the flight of automated stairs - THE ESCALATOR. The air thick with the smell of iron tracks and hurried footsteps. The crowd surged like a restless tide, each person chasing their own destination. As I stepped onto the escalator, the metallic steps carried me upward with a steady hum. For a moment, I felt detached from the chaos around me, as though the machine had lifted me into a quiet stream of thoughts. Watching the endless rhythm of the steps, I realized: this escalator was more than a convenience, it was a metaphor for life itself.

The escalator runs in a loop, its steps appearing and disappearing, my journey on it is limited to the portion I can see and experience. Isn't Life too like that? The larger cycle of existence continues endlessly, but each of us only travels a small visible stretch. We step on, we move along, and eventually, we step off. The machine goes on, indifferent to our presence, just as time does.

Some people rush on the escalator, climbing faster than the moving steps, eager to reach the top. Others stand still, letting the machine carry them at its pace. In life, too, some are restless, some striving to reach somewhere, while others are content to be carried by the flow. Neither of them is wrong, it is simply a matter of temperament, of how one chooses to experience the ride. I noticed a child laughing as the escalator lifted him upward, while an elderly man clutched the rail nervously, afraid of losing his balance. The same journey, the same machine, but two entirely different reactions. Does Life not offer us identical situations - birth, growth, decline? But our feelings, our fears, and our joys make each passage unique.

The escalator does not stop for anyone. If you hesitate too long at the entrance, you risk stumbling. Life too demands courage to step forward. We cannot wait forever at the threshold of decisions; the moving steps remind us that time will not pause until we are ready. At the top, people disperse in different directions - toward trains, exits, or platforms. The escalator does not decide where they go; it only delivers them to a point. Isn't Life similar? It carries us through stages, but the choices of direction are ours. The machine is neutral, but our paths are personal.

I thought about the endless loop beneath me. Even after I step off, the escalator continues, carrying others. Isn't Life like that too. Generations come and go, but the larger rhythm of existence remains. My journey is only a fragment of a vast cycle, yet it feels complete because it is mine. There is a strange humility in realizing that the escalator does not remember me. It does not care whether I was joyful or anxious while riding. Life, in its grand scale, is much the same. The universe does not record our emotions, but we ourselves carry the meaning of our ride. 

As I reached the top and stepped off, I had understood and learnt a lesson. The escalator had shown me that life is both endless and limited, impersonal yet deeply personal. It is a machine that runs forever, but our experience of it is brief and precious.

As I walked toward my train, the crowd swallowing me once again, but my mind lingered on the escalator. It had whispered a truth: life is not about stopping the endless loop, but about embracing the ride we are given. The steps will keep moving long after we are gone, yet our journey matters because it is ours. To ride with courage, to step off with dignity and that's the art of living.

The escalator of life never stops, but it's our task to step with courage and depart with grace. We are echoes in motion, fleeting yet distinct and our notes enduring within the timeless harmony of life’s song.