The world exists but in your perception!

How true! We are so caught up in our miniscule world of self-consciousness and self-obsession, whether we are aware of this or not, that we don’t even open our eyes to the different hues spattered on walls of the world around us. Rare chances are showered upon us and rarer still we accept those bouquets.

I was returning home after appearing for my first mock CAT (Common Admission Test for admission to B-schools across India) and I chanced upon an old school pal on the street. Just like that! Scorching afternoon 1 o’ clock and I am just whiling away walking and I stumble upon him after several months. We catch up and have fun. But anyway after this pleasant surprise, he left me near the IIM-A (Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad – A top B-school in India.. Whoa!!) bus stand and I happened to walk across an organization called the Apang Maanav Mandal (roughly translated as an organization for the Handicapped People where physically retarded people are made skill literate and given means of employment) and I saw a most unusual and heart-warming sight.

I saw a few blind people playing cricket! Far from being an avid cricket buff, I run away from cricket. But its crazy how this game drives this nation! I was charmed by what I saw.

To me the ball – a huge white orb fitted with small bells that ringed as it moved through the air or struck the ground, was a shining beacon of how there is hope in every situation, in every human, in every moment. The players were so enthusiastic and highly motivated simply in a game of cricket. How beautifully they lived their life as if it were a song! Beautifully – in the mind, in their perspective. Physically ;life is far tougher for them than cry babies like us. When the ball whizzed past behind the batsman, he guffawed cheerfully and made fun of the bowler. “Alyaa wide che!!” (Its a wide, idiot!) And everyone burst out laughing. I stood there outside the gate watching, those words ringing in my ears – A revelation.

How trivial matters of everyday life really are and yet we sulk and remain mundane, complaining this is not right, the tap’s leaking, the boss is flaring, the daughter is shouting, the girlfriend is moaning, our life is boring and it goes on.

Stop! Look around! “What life is full of care, if we don’t have time to stand and stare?” are the staring lines of a poem ‘Leisure’. Slow down! Please.

Coz if you don’t smell the roses, how are you gonna dance? And if you don’t dance the Dance of Life, are you really alive?

See ya!
Siddhartha