Though I have visited beaches in the past, but none of them was as soothing as that one. Maybe I got a break from the scorching heat of northern India or my mind was free of obligations, whatever it may be, but the feeling was ecstatic. An exquisite sunset with a perfect amalgam of cool breeze and lukewarm sunlight set the tone for a week-long trip with my very old friend. We were both worn out from our daily robotic schedules. We found a place to sit in the corner and were clueless of what to do next.
Somehow my imagination crossed some kind of line. I felt as if I had gone to a place that I had never been to. And I had no idea how I got there. It was a strange place. It’s a place where a little harmless evening walk has guided me into considerations of some sleepiness or may be dreaming.
The landmark of my dream was back into the time when I was just about to join IMI for MBA program and I have been time and again ridiculed by my peers for being short in height. However I was determined to do well. It was then I walked in a Van Huesen store in a tier II city of Uttar Pradesh, I found a perfect fit for me. And the life has been never same before. During the course of the last one year I have been a part of multiple new endeavors wearing that business suit from Van Huesen. Nothing seemed impossible, whether it was winning corporate competitions or getting selected in an awesome Summer Internship. The only lesson that reverberated through my ears was Aditya Birla Groups’s philosophy, that no matter whatever are my physical attributes, none is superior to the expressions and feelings, no one can be better than the best version of myself.
It’s funny that we spend our whole lives worrying about the future, planning for the future, trying to predict the future. We always feel that figuring things out will somehow dampen the blow. But the most peculiar thing about is, it is always changing. It provides comfortable home to grow our deepest fears, and our wildest hopes. But one thing is certain; when it finally reveals itself, the future is never the way we imagined it. We’re all susceptible to it, the dread and anxiety of not knowing what’s coming.
You must be wondering why, right? Let me tell you this, statistics show that ten people die of heart attack every minute, probably ten more by the time you finish reading this extract. We all want to be optimistic in our lives. We are in search of a positive energy that will guide us from darkness unto light. Well, there are many realities. There are many versions of what may appear obvious, whatever appears as the unshakeable truth, the exact opposite may also be true in another context.
There have been a lot of situations in my life, where I have found myself at a loss. Not clearing the JEE exam, running into an accident where my dad got his shoulder dislocated or not making to the funeral of my relative (“mausi in hindi”) because I was too busy writing a stupid CAT exam. The disparity had started to prevail and I ponder over that why there is no positive energy around me? And that’s when I remembered that the positive energy and the black negative energy, they both are important. Their balance is crucial. If they fall out of sync, cataclysm will occur. Life exists in opposite pairs, east with west, north with south, matter with anti-matter and the list goes on and on. The evidence can be found in the religious metaphors as well. If the Vishnu’s role was to transmit positive energy then it was the Mahadev’s role to absorb the negative.
According to me the pursuit of darker has always been more rewarding and satisfying journey than in the search of a guiding light. I realized that it is during the times I am far outside my element that I experience myself the most. It has always been beyond my comfort zone that I actually see and feel who I really am. Just like what a comet is like, you see, a comet is born in the outer realms of the universe! But it's only when it ventures too close to our sun or to other stars that it releases the blazing "tail" behind it and shoots brazen through the heavens! And meteors become sucked into our atmosphere before they burst like firecrackers and realize that they're shooting stars! That's why I always enjoy taking myself out of my own element, my own comfort zone, and hurling myself out into the unknown. Because it's during those scary moments, those unsure steps taken, that I realize I am like a comet hitting a new atmosphere. Suddenly, when I am under pressure, I illuminate magnificently and like a comet, fire dusts will begin to fall off of me! I always discover a smile I didn't know I had. Every time I take on a challenge and decide not to back out of it, I always uncover a feeling that I didn't know existed in me. I always visualize myself as a shooting star. That’s where the persistence has always taken me. I have always taken the chance and have been persistent in my efforts, and in the end I have always discovered that the pursuit was worth it.