Life; a butterfly! my entry in today's Inner voice column in Hindustan Times (25/6/15)

Life; A butterfly!

My article in today's HT in Inner voice column (25/6/15)

It certainly feels great to be able to write for Inner voice!

I'm geared!

In today’s era, where the world is shrinking into a global village, we all regardless of our age, experience or race find ourselves sailing life’s boat full of paradoxes. We often seek help to deal with its complexities. Despite of sky-touching advancements in technology, the basic intricacies woven around human emotions and their bond have gone for a real toss. People satiate their hunger for love, contentment and happiness by either sharing their emotions virtually, looking for solutions in self-help books or simply googling it. That’s when last week, I happened to stumble upon a famous quote by a legendry musician John Lennon; “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans”

Prima facie, it seems to be yet another philosophical thought about ‘life’. However, pondering deeply over it, it brings forth how conveniently we tend to overlook or overhear what life teaches us in our daily lives. The Cosmos above unleashes so many discoveries, truths to us in various forms; thoughts, ideas, experience and when nothing else works, words or actions.  

We all are madly busy in either the rut or the rat-race of life that we become blind to the obvious. Cob-webbed between the relentless desires, we put our best foot forward to the daily grind of life and leave no stone unturned in making our desires come true. We struggle, strive, push things to happen, exert force, crave and do everything possible to achieve our short-lived desires, only to fall into this unending trap again. After all, who doesn’t want to work late hours for that promotion, spend a fortune on a limited edition branded bag, overindulge on special occasions while on diet, getting hooked to social media to update ourselves real-time? .Each one of us, needless to say. And among all this, we turn blind and deaf to all that’s offered by life to us without asking for it. Rarely do we find time to see pleasure offered by gazing at the stars, the tree tops, measuring the horizon during Sunset, getting bugged by the chirping of seasonal birds, seeing the dust settling down, leaving home for an errand empty-handed or merely a sight of melting butter on one’s Chapati! We all need quick-fixes and relish the ‘instant’ instantly.

And that’s when life catches us offhandedly and without guard. While we were deeply busy weaving the world of our choice, the life offers in a palette all that we deserve. In a quest of believing that one can ‘make’ things happen, we forget that what’s destined to happen will prevail without doubt. There’s no doubt that visualizing things, believing in them and striving to achieve them make the path easier, but one shouldn’t let this cloud his way towards life and its complimentary offerings. As is rightly said, things happen when they are least expected to. Somewhat like a butterfly who would sits on a shoulder only if it is still, and not when you are rushing after things. And meanwhile, only the ones, who choose to take a detour, savor delicacies offered by life, take it as it comes, shine bright like diamonds and can see the sunlight in the hindsight, too!