" Nothing is Pending"

 Only until you reach the last day of your life that you may spell these golden lines " Nothing is Pending!" …. 

Was just sitting with an Octogenarian who I know for quite some time now and the best communication one can have with such souls is about Life itself, coz they are a treasure trove of life's ups and downs and full of experiences about their successes and failures.

'Rehman' Saab as we all address him, has been a man of his own stature - he sells seasonal fruits in a local market near my place and is always a talk of the town - as he has a unique communiqué of selling his fruits - for him , he is a 'Free Bird" with NO responsibilities and for him life has been a beautiful ride which bestowed upon him goodies and bad times in equal measure. His two sons and two daughters are well "Settled" in their respective household and that he lost his beloved wife just last year due to age related problems.

As I asked him " What is your age Rehman -Ji"?"

"Babu , 75 saal ka ho gaya hoon is Saal, uski Rehmat Se!" { Sir, I have turned 75 odd years this year, By his Grace!}

As I laughed and popped up another timely question " Aur kitna jeene ke Khwaish hai?" { How much more you long to live?"

"Arre Kal utha lo, kuch nahi raha , sara kaam khatam kar diya life mein, sari zimmedari nibha li!" { If God May call me tommrow, I am better off as I have fulfilled my family Responsibilities!"}

Rehman ji, is living a dream life, he is self sufficient and is still able bodied and is not dependent on his children for his livelihood - he is proud of this fact - As I further conversed with him , he started to talk about the living Wisdom of life.

It was a crowded flea market where people flock to buy Vegetables, fruits and the sundry, Rehman is a keen observer and talks of his wisdom.

"Yeh jo sare log bhaag rahe hain na, ek din thakk ke chup karke baith jayenge….fir sochenge , itne bhagne ki kya zaroorat thi zindagi mein?" { These people which I see are running around and trying to make ends meet, one day they will exert themselves and then will sit down and ponder about life and that was it all the effort to run around in life for frivolous things?}

As I grimaced in affirmative , I was equally reciprocated by Rehman, I surely knew , I had a man standing in front of me who chuckles about people's life and their follies...

This small 2 minute talk made me ponder over this one life which he stated " Nothing is Pending!" - this thought had a deep meaning for me - as I wonder when that time would come for All of us to say this …

The hush - hush and running around will stop one day, even if you want it or no, Our bodies will wither and with each passing day and a click of a second, we are nearing our last time on this planet...but the race is between time and our responsibilities.

Surely , Rehman has beaten time and has made himself available to be taken back to heaven as and when his time comes, for he has 'Nothing Pending or unfulfilled desire or a Wish which is a leftover for him..", In a true sense, he is a Man of Acceptance of life who internally laughs on all of us running around to chase our grandeur dreams and Aspirations...most of which we have to leave , even if we conquer them... for this is the vicissitude of life ….

{N.B.: Rehman-ji , allowed me to click his 1 picture on special request, though he is not very interested to be published on the internet, when I spoke so regarding this fact! :) }

~ You always Want More...~

 So you want more, but don't you have enough ? - these lines made a tinge in my mind as much of it was true ! 

We all are living with a dichotomy of living a grandeur life by wanting more , loosing the streak of what we already have - we hardly recognize these special gifts which are just around. We don't love ourselves, our bodies - we all are able bodied but how many of us revere it? - ask a soul who was born blind or has lost hands or legs due to an unfortunate accident. All of our goodies are taken for granted and we hardly value our able bodied- ness. 

The best state of living is to honour each and every second of your life - we are not living consciously - and for most of the time we are in a rush to achieve the chimera of aspirations - the mind is playing clever games but it is his nature - it will throw vagaries of thoughts which will bombard your conscience every now and then - this makes us oblivious of the 'Haves' we have in our lives and rather start to focus on the 'Have-Nots'!

My sojourn to the hills this time was full of talking with people who were climbing with great difficulty - many of us were part of the middle of age crisis and had started to have age related problems - a common regret we all shared was , " Why we didn't took care of our bodies when we were alright?" , " We ate anything and everything and at anytime of day or night and that now that our bodies have started to wither, our old habits die hard!"

We could  a little envy with our peers who were of our age and were walking with ease, and with a glowing smile , observing their demeanor, we all could decipher that they have had a very meaningful and disciplined life - for their body was a testament to their decree of fitness.

We All have a human tendency of neglecting what we have, once our body was our best friend and we hardly took care of it, now that it has started to age and show signs of weariness, we are complaining!

Similarly, all that we have got in our life - our parents, friends , buddies, brothers, sisters and education, career is ephemeral and for sure internally we all know this hard fact - still the wild chase is on! 

See our living rooms , wardrobes, clutter around us, we are all gathering , be it thoughts, junk info or anything we love and like for a second, we buy it and keep it in our safehouses to be left their to rot or be a part of the junk itinerary - as the famous saying goes " Whatever you have not worn, used for 6 months will never be used!" , Still the hoarding philosophy rules our mind and we don't have enough of it!

We will never have enough in our lives and as times skips away second by second, we will one day realize our follies to have lived live in harmony and with much awareness and not have set realistic targets which would not give us happiness that we so eagerly aspire for....

Still you have time, live consciously and start to part ways with items, thoughts and many such things that have filled your consciousness till the brim, for the burden was your making. And t is you who has to get rid of it....see what you feel post doing so....!

~ Rejoice Your Failure ~

 Nothing is greater than 'LIFE' as it is the only pretext your living - problems will come and go but your zeal and continuous aim to do something or other will  make you walking unknown paths.

There would be numerous Big defeats and small wins too , something in you will make you stand again and start afresh. There are numerous such examples where people have turned exceptional with failures, I want to quote some examples here to prove my point.

In today's world of cut throat competition and where students have taken 'suicide' as a route to escapism, I see people enjoying their failures - In recent such example I came across parents who were enjoying with their son who had 'flunked' the Class 10 / higher secondary exams - they were rejoicing because they know the hard truth about life and that is , Life doesn't limit itself to exam results! 

The picture of parents boasting of their son's 'Exceptional Feat' has stormed the internet - at a time when students are ending their life as they didn't clear prestigious IIT / NEET exams , as if they wont be able to do anything in life other than being a 'Cyber Clerk' {as I call software engineer's} and doctors!

As the boy's parents say ' It was disappointing result But you have NOT failed in life, It always give's other chance!" - Though the boy's friends made fun of him and even mocked him for flunking the exams - in all the subjects , his parents were rock solid support for him - as for them this is also not a mean feat! :)  - Why not, this has become a life solving problem for many students who are not much academically strong and are average students - not securing 90+% in exams and securing seat in prestigious colleges wont be an end of life and it should not be! - As I write this ,  "Kudos" to such parents who are standing behind this achievement, what the school had to teach - "the art of accepting and handling failures', parents very neatly did this job and proved a great example to the society!

Another instance I would like to quote is from a prestigious school from Delhi, as the exams results for senior secondary school exams were out , I could see the flashy numbers which the school website had displayed to boast about their academic excellence - almost everyone got more than 90% marks except one - out of heard of high scorers , here was a humble name who had scored in mid 50%'s and that made him so unique - my eyes were scrolling though top performers But stopped at this unique boy's name who proved himself different!  

Suicide wont give life another chance  - you can change your defeats to wins but for that you need to give life another shot - today i write this with somber mood as i know a child who is not in this world because she did not got the result according to her aspirations, rather I would say her parents aspirations - what is life now in those parents life who might have pressurized their only daughter to become a doctor or something exceptional which they themselves were not !

Life is beautiful and consider it to be a batsman standing on the pitch getting bouncer's but you need just one bad ball to hit a Six ! - for me, this has been an idiom which I have lived by and preach - for our motto in life is toe enjoy defeats too and when you that loose Ball comes , come out with flying colours!

~ 'Change' - The True meaning of life ~

 Change is inevitable, what looks stable and in control today will change - the change is for good and sometimes not but every change begets a new learning and a new opportunity. Initially we might think situations going out of control but in the long run , when you are in a position to judge what went past, you will realise and obliged that what change brought was for you
r betterment.

Just the other day , I was in conversation with a close friend who had lost his job due to current global churning - one of fine technocrat from a good engineering institute from Delhi - He was in a state of mental disbelief and shock - just few months back he had bought his second home and a brand new high end model car - life was transitioning smooth, from a high middle class to 'Rich' status , but the change was to happen, know body new and for sure , he himself was oblivious to such a change.

Meeting him after a decade was sure pleasure but he was  a changed man, a sense of comatose had engulfed him - all the running around after latest degrees and self-prophesised certificates 😊was not helping him either.

As I asked him what was the learning curve from this episode of life - he was in wits and laughed at my question - a truthful answer was " Life is unpredictable and anything can happen anytime, beyond a certain degree of measure!" -

"Now my Boy, you are living Consciously! and have started to know true meaning of Life!" - as I laughingly commented on his statement!

Tea arrived in no time and sipping through we were reminiscing our past, the playground which was our 'partner in crime' place and also our old pals, many of them had left the colony , suddenly a gush of emotion passed through my friend and he had teary eyes - he turned himself into a pensive mood and at that very moment he said something which was truly out of wisdom - "Sanjeev, was this all running around so necessary and worth it!"

I had no answer to this direct question though I subtly knew that we all are part of that infamous rat race and the 'Crab Story!" where you put a crab in a bowl and no Crab would be lucky to get out as other Crabs would always pull him down! - As I replied in honestly -"Sameer, We realize this when we get torn apart from our usual running around! , when something exceptional happen to us and we sit down and take stock of the situation - when things go out of control and in spite of our best effort and planning things go haywire - you get to learn the toughest and wisest lesson of life - " It just Happens and traverse without your doing and control!"  

I keep on insisting on this idiom through my journey of life - whatever planning I did , much of it just didn't happen :) , on the contrary I lived a life out of the blue - never ever I thought that I would be living this way and, in these situations, - I am still very thankful to HIS grace - I guess this path is better off in many ways that I had perceived.

At the end, I culminate, 'Change is inevitable! and it would surely happen on its own time!" - love it our ignore it , this would happen and at the fag end of your life , you will be a testimony to it!