Ekla Cholo Re

Now that I am relatively free, I think it’s high time I continue with my blogging activity and as always I promise to be fairly regular. I write this article on a lazy Wednesday, sitting in an empty room. I apologize for any tone of negativity that my surroundings and my frame of mind may render to this piece.

When I was a kid, I had this fear of being left alone. I was mischievous as a rat, with an everlasting curiosity that provided me with the audacity to meddle with all that came my way. Be it a person or a thing, I constantly mused myself by my surroundings. Life was bliss. People-people everywhere. They were all nice to you. Smiles, hugs, kisses and candies were more than common. Everything added up so easily. You could stop talking to friends with the little finger and make up with your thumb. Cricket and Football games were the only places where you bickered and cold drinks and Uncle Chips were the ultimate panacea that swung your mood instantly. Reductionism at its best. You could be Sachin Tendulkar one instant, Spiderman the next. When your day started with a hot glass of milk and Pokemon and ended tucked up in bed by your father’s side, watching news and asking the silliest of questions and having them answered patiently, you know that this just was it.  In short, life was simple.

Then, I grew up.

I met a whole new set of friends when I moved to Nainital. Since I used to live in a boarding school they were pretty much all I had. I don’t know whether it was some fault of mine or just the fact that I was a vulnerable kid, I faced a tough time with some of my batch mates. The bad-ass ones – you know the kind that act really smart in school and then end up nowhere. Had it not been for a select few ones who stood by my side, I’d have dropped out midway. This was followed by friends, cousins and relatives in when I pursued my higher education in Delhi. New relations were forged, some old broken. I learned several lessons one of which was that no matter who you are, where you stand and what you do, deep down everyone is alone, for good.

You are your own warrior, your own savior and you need to fight your own battles. Your problems are your very own. Shifting either the burden or the outcome to friends/relatives only strains the relationship. Most of the times, nobody is going to think for you. You need to think for yourself. Don’t expect people to solve your problems or share your woes. Without being unduly selfish, it is you who need to love and take care of yourself. Expectations are an unnecessary complication and getting rid of them leads to a happier and healthier relationship. I’m not asking you to be selfish, just independent. If everybody took care of themselves and fought their problems, there would problems left for us to face. After all in order to live happily with others, it is important to be happy by yourself first.

An old favorite written by one of the most genius man ever to have walked on the face of earth and sung by another as competent: