THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MATTER...
Though I'm all in for taking sabbaticals, I felt this time around, I'd stretched it too far. We all go through a dry patch in life, don't we? But abandoning something that you love to do, definitely is the least useful option in one's search for a change. For days I wondered if I'd lost my ability to write, to put across the thoughts that strike my brain on a daily basis, like the impact of Germans and their famed Blitzkrieg throughout Europe. It was staring right at my face, and like a blind person I searched for answers everywhere else. Then I realized, what better topic to write on, than life itself?
The greatest miracle that people rarely appreciate these days is how each human is wired differently. We are so engrossed in our busy lives, that we see things but don't perceive them. We understand feelings, but don't empathize.We laugh, but the smile doesn't reach our eyes. Just yesterday as I was sitting in a doctor's clinic, I saw a small kid with his father. The kid was trying to trace out the pattern that the chairs had with his fingers. The father being impatient, hit the child's hand lightly, and told him to be quiet. Oh if he only knew!
In this age, there is optimal human growth and dismal personal development. Gone are the days when our friends used to call us out in the evenings, standing below, screeching like monkeys and yet that sound, that fervent and mindless yelling, sounded sweeter than million musical ringtones that we have in our smartphones. Gone are the times, when we used to have just 5rs in our pockets and yet that occasional treat of vada pav was tastier than the high priced cuisines that we have now. Have we lost the value of little things in life? Have we lost out on peace and contentment in our race to reach the top?
At this juncture, a beautiful memory of Julie Andrews singing in the picturesque meadows of Austria flashes in my mind, and the following lyrics echo again and again in my ears,
"Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens,
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
Brown paper packages, tied up with strings,
These are a few of my favorite things"
Do these things matter anymore? Does a rose blooming, or a sparrow chirping or for that matter, even the feel of morning dew make a dent in our lives?
We have grown close, yet drifted apart. We have every convenience possible, yet we're poor. It's a friend's birthday, and we order his/ her gift online, go out to an expensive restaurant and then party. Nobody comes home, and says, "Are yaar, saara paisa ud gaya Evs project me, agli baar gift pakka", and then still like a true friend, religiously gives you birthday bumps.
Seems like a different era, lazing around, listening to ghazals or letting poems wash our souls like the waves of the sea. A friend I talked to recently, a die-hard cricket fan, for whom playing an over of cricket a day was equivalent to, say, winning a lottery or free ice-cream for a month, confessed, "It's been over a year that I touched a cricket bat, Swetha. It feels like I'm no longer the same person I was". And I didn't know what to tell him. I didn't know how to make him feel better, when I myself, was thinking about the same things.
You would probably snigger at me if I said that Life is a gift from God, and you get to live it only once. Man, what a clichéd statement. But isn't it one hundred percent true? A.P.J Abdul Kalam once said, that a lifetime is not enough for love and that it baffled him how people managed enough space in their hearts to nurse hate. Love the people in your life, love where you are at the moment. Love the opportunities that came your way, and the love the experiences that made you a better person. And most importantly, love yourself.
It is true that we need to adapt ourselves to the changing times. But let's not lose our essence so much that every time we see a mirror, a stranger stares back at us, a winner of nothing, and a loser of everything. And then, as we see someone smiling at us, somewhere down the road, maybe this will come to our mind,
"It was only a sunny smile,
Little it cost in the giving,
But like morning light, it scattered the night,
And made the day worth living"
It is true that we need to adapt ourselves to the changing times. But let's not lose our essence so much that every time we see a mirror, a stranger stares back at us, a winner of nothing, and a loser of everything. And then, as we see someone smiling at us, somewhere down the road, maybe this will come to our mind,
"It was only a sunny smile,
Little it cost in the giving,
But like morning light, it scattered the night,
And made the day worth living"
F. Scott Fitzgerald -
