The Wonder Years

Came across these spectacular lines on eternity in my latest read:

"High up in the North, in the land called Svithjod,
There stands a rock,
Hundred miles high and hundred miles wide,
Once every thousand years a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak.
When the rock has thus been worn away, then a single day of eternity would have passed by!"

From The Story of Mankind, Hendrik Willem Van Loom, 1922

It struck me that life operates at such a leisurely pace and with such patience as if wanting to ensure the perfect outcome of a long thought out idea. The perfect distill! We are so used to cheap thrills, instant gratifications that subtle nuances seem to have been lost on us. Constant need to do something exciting, instant relationships, quick ladder careers, endless sitcoms, sensationalist books..Are we running faster than warranted ..

Maybe and if so then the outcomes are also slip shod and random. Almost like a perfect program, the output never betrays the code. We see it all around us. Very successful people losing complete motivation in their careers, high suicide rates among brilliant students, here today gone tomorrow relationships, very high stress related disorders in young people!

I think sometimes its good to just stop and hear the echoes of our own life and those close to us. Where we came from, where we are and where we are going. Things might look drastically different!

I haven't posted anything for almost a year. The reason is that i had taken to writing in a diary. There is something entirely satisfying in writing for just yourself. Its powerful and well sometimes you realise the absolute rubbish that you put others through.

But hey, I am back!

Its the energy that strikes you. A force that seeks reckoning. There are people jostling everywhere, nightmarish from one point of view but unstoppable, undying and with a purpose. You know you are in India. And you appreciate this only when you have spent some time out of the country.

Yeah, the crowds only got worse, trains are more packed then ever, the roads are now crawling at a never before seen speed (i think walking is officially the quickest means), the system still sucks but India is home. Centuries of history blending in with the present to give the most amazing results every day.

Just one hour in the train, station and you see so many things at work at the same time that it overwhelms you. Normally you just tune yourself out to all these things. The least resistant path to just get over your day. But if you look closer, dig deeper you can unravel so many facets that you are amazed you never looked at it before.

This struck me one evening when i was rushing to meet friends in the evening. I land on the platform and have just missed the train. While i am waiting for the next one, i see 2 women and their 4 small girls sitting right there on the platform engrossed in their chore. Talking in my native gujarati, they are sorting out the 'bindis' to be sold to women in trains. They come over for a few days to make enough money to sustain for a few weeks and head back. Extremely tiny hands helping by methodically sorting out the hundreds of bindis to be sold later. Now it might be very easy to pity them and sympathise on them being condemned to a low life for the rest of their lives.

But i see some thing rare. They are happy & content. The mothers are feeding them good home made food from tiffins, the kids are laughing and making jokes as well. The elder sister tenderly helping the smaller one. Now, in all my travels i have seen that majority of people go through lives being unhappy and frustrated. A smile has probably become the most precious commodity nowadays..

Maye a domestic fight, love gone bad, not enough money, enough money but no people to enjoy it with, that elusive car, not enough time, no chance to travel the world and missing home once u start globe trotting...The big 'IF' written all over.But i seldom see people who are happy with themselves and life. You can make these out easily like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.

So how well you are 'positioned' in life doesn't count for anything. For all those running in the rat race to get the 'most' and to get it 'quickest' it is time to stop and take a look around. The world doesn't give a damn and it is good to realise it before it is too late...