Every Life

Of dreams and shadows that should never die
Autumn and spring which keep us alive.
Of the barren lands and rainy days that teach us to cope
The challenges we may face, what tomorrow holds.

Of mayhem and harmony, the turmoil around
War and peace the soldier shouts out.
Of cries and smiles, the nature of man
The ungratefulness he possesses in today’s time.

Of prayer and curse, keeping God in mind
Rich and poor, the distinction between lines.
Of black and white, the world as it seems
The wait for the morning after yesterday’s dream.

Of love and hate, with passion and tumult
Blue skies and dark seas, the beauty of the world.
Of angels and devils, the human and Satan within us
The faith, the reality of it all thus.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

We are the youth of today, the generation that will soon be responsible for the state of the world. We like calling ourselves the leaders of tomorrow, a youth with a purpose, with an opinion, with a vision. Acceptable as this view maybe, have you ever wondered whether you as a part of this class of people are doing anything, substantial or not, to make even an iota of a difference?

Monotony has come to be accepted as a part of life, we don’t question it, we don’t change it, and we don’t bother about it. We have similar days, if not the identical, five days of a week, the weekends being no different. We are happy sitting comfortably in our houses, bothering about issues that only directly affect us. Is that what we need to do? Is that what’s going to help us grow, help the country grow and help the world grow?

In the recent past we have been faced with many dismal occurrences – manmade and natural - the terror attacks all over the country (India), the Bihar flood crisis, the Hurricanes in United States, the Global Financial Crisis, the attacks on Churches across the country, the Russia – Georgia conflict and many such others. Some of these have been beyond us, even if we want to help we aren’t able to but some of these are those that in which if we take part we can make a difference, just the step, the want and the will need to be there.

I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.
- William Penn

It is time to wake up and smell the coffee (and no I don’t mean Barista or Starbucks). It is the time to do something about issues other than college politics, decide which movie to go for or how to deal with relationships and break ups. It is the time to take it in our hands to make a difference, to at least try and help, to work our ways up the ladders of humanity, to end the day with the feeling of satisfaction, to see the feeling of gratefulness, the feeling of gratitude in the hungry, helpless man’s eyes.

Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.

The Strange ways of Human nature

Sometimes I wonder that how does human nature really work. I mean sometimes we say we can’t do or live without a person but when fate brings us to it, when we are left with no choice but to live without their presence in our lives we somehow manage to do so. The question of how we cope after losing someone, to death or otherwise has always intrigued me.

Loss is quite an ambiguous term if you look at it objectively. It is also a very vast one. For a large part of your life you have been with someone, something, emotionally and/ or physically. One day, for them it all just isn’t the same anymore, what are the explanations to all this? The mere change of the face or place of a relationship can also be called a loss. The complete washing away of existence can also be called a loss. The mere losing of something small, even sometimes inconsequential can be called a loss. There are so many ways you can define loss, so many ways you can use the word, the emotion of loss. With loss also comes the feeling of loss of something that might have been, something that could have been.

Loss is nothing else but change, and change is nature’s delight
- Marcus Aurelius

From where I see it, a personal point of view to all of this is that most situations of loss cannot be fought; they have to merely be accepted. It is again in our nature to have a fighting instinct when it comes to something close to our hearts. Acceptance of something lost doesn’t immediately follow the loss occurred, we try denying, we get angry, we try to reason, we sometimes grieve, we don’t accept things that would change our life in a way we never imagined very easily. To put it simply we like to believe we are immune to change. So what do you do when you have to be ‘the big one’ and not fight reason but just respect it? What do you do when you want to hold on to something but at unable to do so? What do you do when you know a little more entry into the persons being will make it better, but you are locked out of it all? Such questions and many more crop up but not one seems to have an answer that explains the phenomena of loss and the subsequent acceptance.

Life is all about change, about self-determination, about acceptance and rejection, about survival. And somehow because of the unexplainable human nature life still always remains beautiful.

I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.”
- Walter Anderson