It was Tuesday night. I was traveling home, taking the normal route. It was a relatively cool night. There weren't many vehicles on the road and I was having a smooth cruise. The wind was fresh with the aroma of the night. The cool air had me enveloped in its folds. It was making that distinctive mild whistle as I steered back home. Just then I noticed a Santro had pulled over about fifty meters ahead. It had its emergency lights on and the hatchback was open. In the dim golden street-light, I could see the figure of a girl standing beside the open hatchback. As I approached the vehicle, I saw her trying to work her way towards the tyre kept there. I couldn't see the girl in that light, but only saw a figure in the backdrop of those yellow-orange emergency lights going on and off periodically. By then I had just passed the car. It took me two seconds to realize that her car needed a tyre change and she probably needed help. With my speed, I had reached 100 meters ahead of the car and then decided to turn back. One U-turn and then another, I came back to the spot where the car was. But now, from a distance I could see more than just a figure, there were three. As I approached I saw figures of two men, probably passersbys, removing the tyre. I was happy that she'd got some help. And I decided to move on...
It was still fifteen minutes to reach home. As I reflected upon the incident and how I reacted to it, I wondered… why did it take me that two seconds to come to a decision? It definitely was thinking from the gut. But not my usual instinct…which is way faster than that. I realized that sometimes we don't have the time to weigh all the possibilities before we make up our minds. Sometimes the rational process is too slow to handle situations. Sometimes we just need to let go and judge on instinct. This event made me conscious of this fact and I think that split second is very important. I know now and am working towards it.
@AdHoc Thanks...i guess the weather had a big role in this event and certainly needed mention.
@Pinki Bollywood movie! I thought about that... and made up a story on how two people meet and fall in love. I even had the last scene in place...but all this would be another post (if i've the time) ;)
@Deepa Thanks for visiting
@Kroopa Very true, and all such situations are unique.
@Shikha I've not yet read Gladwell's Blink...but i read about its main theme in the Jan ssue of HBR. I believe intution, like other human traits, can be developed with training. I think i'll read that book if i can lay my hands on it. For now... http://www.gladwell.com/blink/
nice description :-)