It was the year 1999. I was 8 years old, watching television when suddenly I heard father’s Hero Honda CD 100 sound. I switched off the television and used my index finger to open the copy, which was inside a book, where I had knowingly kept my pencil for these kind of distress calls. I was successful in my attempt to conceal the reality when papa entered the room and was quite satisfied finding me studying. I don’t know how or why I still remember this small incident from 15 years ago. Maybe because it reflects on my adherence to papa’s principles or abiding my duties as a good child or maybe because I fear papa’s wrath or maybe because I never want to hurt others, be it physically, emotionally or philosophically. Whatever the reason is I can’t get this picture out of my mind. And it means a lot to me. See, the thing is children doesn’t know about rules or laws. They just want to be happy. They want to try stuffs, do things which they like and just doesn’t care much about the big bad world.
Soon enough, childhood leave us. And we grow old. We are now on our own. We have to make choices keeping in mind thousand other things. The carefree attitude of childhood gets dumped under the burden of manhood. Now, my father doesn’t restrict me from watching TV or playing games in my laptop or talking with some friend thousand of miles away for hours. He knows he is no longer responsible for me. And I’m not on his watch anymore. I grew. I matured and I’m lost. I’ve come to realised that I no longer have desires as vivid as that of watching toons till late night or eating chocolates or playing with my li’l brother, which as a matter of fact I had when I was child. And the more I think about my childhood, the more I become worried about my future.
The problem is I don’t have any big aspirations for myself. I don’t need the best car man has ever made. I don’t need a penthouse apartment in the heart of New York City. I don’t need big, up-to-date gadgets and I certainly don’t need a girl to make me happy (of course that is an offer I simply can’t refuse that easily. :p) But, look at it like this: I need 3-4 times of food in a day, a cosy bed to sleep after I get tired and finally I need few people with whom I can share and discuss my knowledge, opinions and views. That’s it. That’s what I actually want from my life. But, as I said before: it’s a big, bad world. You are not a successful person according to society if you don’t earn money and buy things: a 3bhk apartment, a car, a pretty wife, at least 2 children studying in good schools, etc. And I actually mean the etc. How come we Humans, living in our most advanced and modern phase of our existence are bound by all these possessions? I mean life is not how much you have in your bank account(s). Yet, we all strive to be successful which the society fits to describe as mentioned in the above lines.
Few days ago, I got this call from one of few like-minded people I’ve come across with and he told me to search for your passion. There must be a thing which should inspire me, make me feel passionate about. It doesn’t have to be something important like computers or space or medicine. It can be something very insignificant–like coffee beans or blank paper or words you listen to on streets. Yes, these things can be or rather must be important for an individual otherwise how come they exist in the first place, right? The point I’m trying to make here, very badly, is people should follow their passion, not money to meet their wants. And thus, I feel every one of us should take a break, think about things in a different perspective. If you’re always around friends, you drink, you smoke and you do all sort of fun activities. If you’re with your girlfriend/boyfriend, you tend to discuss the weather, people, places or some clothes/ornaments you’ve had your eye upon. When you’re around family, you talk about politics, marriage, family values and all that stuffs. But, when you’re actually alone, you ask all these questions to yourself. As my good friend told
Even Beggars Earn Money
which brings me to my childhood again when I didn’t even had enough money to buy chocolates or gupchup and had to beg my parents for it. And they never refused (though they didn’t always provide exactly what I asked for). Stop being a child, they would say! And that’s what I want to tell you: Stop being a child always (working for big corporations just for money) and grow up a bit! “Live your life”. Don’t just “Have a good time”.
akritik 