Sunday, July 6, 2014

Afraid of Life...

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It is always said that we humans are afraid of Death. But I believe that we should be afraid of Life, fearing it in a positive way. We should be afraid, because as we toil with our mundane existence like hands of a clock with unwavering routine, Life calmly trickles away. We should be afraid, because as we keep making plans for a higher education, bigger house, larger car and wealthier coffers, the real riches of life are simply withering around. As we slog for 16 hours at our workplaces, so many Suns and Moons have come and gone, sea has seen myriad ebbs and tides.

As we bask in the artificial lights and artificial chillness, telling ourselves that all is well, we indirectly spurn the soothing shades of the soulful trees. As we keep craving to go higher up the imaginary ‘ladders’ of life, in the hustles and bustles of the city, the cuckoos of many a wilderness sing their soulful melodies to an empty theatre. As we keep running for the fickle, meaningless recognition and fleeting rewards of the ‘society’, Life’s tiny-but-worthy pleasures are left to atrophy.

May be, it is time that we all arose from our deep, ‘somnambulistic soul’ existence and started laughing more, sharing more and living more. May be, it is time that we all realized that we have buried many dreams and desires of our childhood under the slush of the ‘aspirations’ of adult lives. May be, it is time that we realized that, as we keep making plans for a better tomorrow, reserving words to be spoken for another time, concealing love to be confessed another day, deciding to forgive someone the next time, hesitating to apologize till we find the right moment and trying to conduct ourselves according to the milieu and unwritten etiquette, the real life, the real ‘us’, is simply gagged and thrown deep inside us.

May be, it is time we all realized that dreams we didn’t live, love we didn’t share, and relationships we didn’t care to mend will all be much worse regrets in our final moment, than the promotions that we didn’t get, the wealth we didn’t accumulate and the ‘social ladder’ we didn’t climb.

May be, it is time!

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Life's Little Good Deeds

I remember reading in some holy scripture that all our deeds, good or bad, no matter what their size, never go unnoticed. Yesterday, by early morning, I was walking home from the railway station after an early morning arrival at my hometown. Just ahead of me, I saw a little boy walking, returning from the dawn's prayers at the mosque. When he saw a little boulder lying on the footpath, he bent down, lifted the boulder and placed it away from the footpath, clearing the path for those that walk behind him.

In the early dawn's dim light I couldn't see his face, but he reminded me of the lines of my favorite Gibran and reminded me some of these invaluable lessons in life -

1. Do good, irrespective of the size of the deed.

2. Do good even when nobody notices and appreciates you.

3. Do good even when you have nothing to gain from it.

4. Even the tiniest of deeds performed out of consideration for fellow beings speaks immense volume of love.

Feeling abundant gratitude for that unknown little teacher of mine!

Happy New Year 2024!

As the first Sun of 2024 went back home, I was busy preparing my new diary and journal, packing off the old ones to their crammed space insi...