The purpose of your life

  Since grade one I have been doing the things expected of me. Get good grades. Not cause too much mischief. When I had to pick a career I again chose one and it met the expectations of people around me. Then suddenly my father posed a question, "What is the purpose of your life ?" Its a very reasonable philosophical question. But I couldn't  answer it. It left me baffled. I had a small world consisting of only my friends and family. I could have said a goal but I didn't have a goal. I just walk the path that I am told to follow. This got me thinking. There are millions of people on the Earth, so in these millions, what's my purpose ? I am just like any one of those billions. What can I do that will make my life meaningful, useful, significant to the world. Sadly, I still don't have a goal that could help the world.
 But I know that other people do have such goals. So the least I could do was help people who will change the world for the better. Hence I decided to be a doctor. To save people who perchance might change the world the next day. And then this became my goal. 

And here I am 4 years after I wrote the above paragraph

There's a lot of things I have seen in the past 4 years. Time makes you wiser. At 18, I thought I had seen the world. That I was ready for any challenge the world could throw at me. Naive thoughts. Hehehe...

Life is never what we think it is. Its always beyond. Also its like water in your hands. Just when you think you have grasped it and you tighten your fist to never let it go, it slips from your hand.

So Finally, The answer to the question - I Think the answer can only be found on your deathbed. When you have done all that you could. When you have lived all you could. When you have been all that could be.

Because in the end, Life is as unpredictable as life itself.

The Joy In Little Things

 I consider myself to be a hazardously optimistic person. My optimism oft borders on foolishness, I've been told. I totally agree. Yes. But tell me, is hope really a dangerous thing? After all, that is what keeps us going isn't it? A hope may not have to be grand. It can be anything simple. But defining hopes as simple or grand is a sheepishly comic task. While having to prioritize hopes, I'm trying to establish that all hopes are equal in their strength to the person who bears them. Intriguing paradox, isn't it? Anyway, coming back to the point. As you may have noticed, the title (that thing on top in those big bold letters) said I shall speak to you about the Joy in little things and now,  I shall give you what I promised. Okay. So let's start by defining joy. What exactly is it? Is it that sudden rush of euphoria that overcomes us, or is it that feeling where you wanna dance, but enough oxygen is just not reaching your lungs? Is it that overpowering warm glow that fills your heart, or is it that little sense of satisfaction that sits in the corner of your heart? The answer- Joy cannot be singularly defined by any of those. It is in fact the collective stigma that all these experiences give us. As a daylight optimist in a cynical world, I would tell you that joy and happiness will just find you. But I'm a bit of a realist too and not unlike our beloved Professor Dumbledore, I too, pride myself on my ability to turn a phrase. So I shall amend my statement and say, Joy and happiness will just find you, if you let them. Often we wander about searching for happiness and satisfaction when we come home to realize that it was there all along. People lose out on happiness not because of its absence, but because of their inability or refusal to acknowledge its simple existence. As a person who believes in grand gestures and dreaming big, its quite ironic of me to say this, but happiness lies in small things. We surprise ourselves with it too sometimes. Let me give you a personal example. The other day, I was having the worst day possible. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. And as i sulked, thinking about all the bad things that had happened, I boarded the 5:39 local to CST from Andheri. On the train, all I saw was tired, frustrated, angry people. Which pissed me off even more. Thinking about how it was surely gonna get worse, my eyes found themselves looking at a little baby held in his mother's arms. Innocent and oblivious to the worries of the world, the kid was breathtakingly happy. God! What I would give to be that little again. Anyway, so as I looked on at this child engrossed in its world, it smiled at me. And I don't know whether it was pure instinct, but I could not help but smile back. And after I got down at my station, I noticed that I was still smiling. That's the beautiful thing. I have no clue why, but I found myself grinning like an idiot. So, I guess what I'm saying is don't let a bad day discourage you. Look out for things that will make you smile. Happiness doesn't come easy in this world. So, we create it. Cracked a hard question? Pat yourself on the back. Climbed up 10 flights of stairs (or 2)? Pat yourself on the back. Managed to wake up on time? Pat yourself on the back! All these little things are achievements for you. Learn to appreciate them. Having said that, remember, there's always room for more. Stay satisfied, but never settle. Life will keep giving you things, accept them. But never stop there. Keep moving forward. More joy awaits you.
For any queries, refer to Julie Andrews' 'My favourite things' from The Sound of Music.
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..... 

The World Changers

                      They tell me, "You can't change the world. Follow in the footsteps of those ahead you and maybe, one day, you'll achieve your goals." But I say to them that I want to lay down my own path. Being the best doesn't matter to me. Being different does. They laugh. They don't understand. I don't expect them to either.

                        People who have changed the world have done so because they have had the courage to walk down the path which has never been tread before. Others challenge them, try to strike them down even. But they always rise like a phoenix from the ashes. There's no challenge they don't rise up to, no fight they back down from. These great minds have just one objective on their mind, which is to put a dent in the universe and God knows that they won't rest until they have done so. Albert Einstein had once said, "The great minds of each generation have all had to face violent opposition from the weaker minds of their times" But people who set out to change the world never take such opposition to heart. In fact, it is quite the reverse. They see it as an opportunity to grow stronger. Life isn't about living for yourself. It's about living for the greater good. Because ultimately, the most important thing we leave behind is our legacy. Everyone leaves behind a legacy, but the legacies of great minds often reap rich fruits for the whole of mankind. Many great minds have walked this planet- Aristotle, Chanakya, Newton, Thomas Edison, The Wright Brothers, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Helen Keller, Karl Marx, and in more recent times Alan Turing, Stephen Hawking, the list just goes on.... Though they come from different walks of life, they all have a few things in common; courage, determination, grit, self belief and most importantly, conviction. They stood by their goals, unshaken, as society taunted, mocked and even threatened them. But today, the legacies these people have left behind have been so deeply embedded in the very roots of mankind that the very same society that mocked them, now bows its head in humility before these visionaries. But they didn't do what they did for self glory or redemption. They did it because they had the foresight to see what the rest of mankind could not.
                     So thus, I conclude quoting Steve Jobs, another visionary who put a dent in the universe, "Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things, They push the human race forward. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." 

PARADISE

The World is not enough

for this free-willed child of yours;

He searches for what cannot be found here,

A  Loving Soul, A Warm Embrace.

He wanders about looking for Water

Alas, he knows not, only elixir can quench his thirst

In this realm, he looks for The One,

The One who sees with equal eyes,

The One who sees no difference between

a hero vanquished and a fallen sparrow.

He seeks a place where exists not hunger,

nor a single drop is shed,

where one does not kill to survive,

where there is no single ruler,

but everyone has their throne.

Your child is baffled by this paradoxical enigma-

If you created this world, why cannot he find you in it?

He is now beyond the world and the worldly,

He introspects and finds You Within.

He Says," Take me, take me, take me away

                 Take me to my home for I am lost

                 Take me to Paradise."

MAN AND LIFE - A PAS SEUL?

              Death. It is an event less celebrated than perhaps it deserves to be. We people have a plethora of perspectives when it comes to death. Some believe it to be the "end of life" , while others think of it to be the end of the "Mortal Phase" of life. While some believe that emptiness follows death, others believe that the journey of "true life" finds its predecessor in death. There are an infinite beliefs surrounding it.
However, in their most basic form, they ( the beliefs ) can be subdivided into two generalizations.
              In order to avoid further complications of the matter and to sum any such further perspectives, I have prepared 2 graphs which, according to me, denote the above mentioned generalizations.
In the graphs below, the X-axis represents time, while the Y-axis represents various aspects of life such as Quality, "The Journey", and so on.... The origin (0) represents birth.

      I now return to the root of why I was dwelling upon the uncelebrated event. In many cultures, Death is supposed to be the event wherein a man meets his Creator. It is oft believed to be the "time of ultimate judgement" when a man's merits are weighed against his sins.
      When I asked myself who God was, the answer I received was unclear. However, over time, it has become apparent that the question to be asked was not 'Who is God?' but rather 'Is God a who or a what?'. To find this answer, each individual must look within himself and follow what his or her heart tells them. However, the ultimate question is this-" Did God create us or did we create God?"
     From ancient times, man has looked for a higher power to absolve him of his problems. When the power was realized, the search for its personified form began....and it continues till date.
                         TODAY WE KNOW IT AS THE PROCESS OF SELF- DISCOVERY.