SHADES OF HEARTS.

The Start of a Day.

A terrible noise. What the hell is that. Oh, the alarm.

Without opening my eyes, I put the alarm on snooze and continued my sleep. Fifteen minutes later, the same sound started ringing through the room.

Guess it is time. I lazily got up, cursing randomly. The thought of leaving my cosy bed in this cold winter morning seemed a cruel thing. 

All the same, I dragged myself out of my heavenly harbor and started getting ready hastily, in the usual monotonous way for the usual monotonous day, randomly contemplating and cursing all the turns and phases that has got me to this place in life.

After all those years of studying, sacrificing my passion for cricket, I'm still running around to make a living. Well, being the first son of the family, responsibility seems to be the only consistent factor in all my choices.

My firm is two blocks away from my apartment and walking that distance just adds onto the unpleasant day, nevertheless I was left with no other choice as my bike was at the service station. Which in turn brought me the thoughts of my current financial situation and calculating the hole that the service charge posed. I stopped at the chai-wala on the way, a small tea shop near the bus stop, where I ordered tea, bought a newspaper and skimmed the news. The usual politics, with the n-number of parties and their floating promises. And, India lost against England in the ODI last night. Damn. Wonder what's gotten over the players!

"Good Morning Saab", A cheerful voice greeted me. I looked over the paper and saw the 10-year old Ranjan smiling with my glass of tea in hand.

I got the tea with a smile and watched him happily going back inside the shop, collecting all glasses, whistling some tune.

Such innocence and joy. No worries in life.

Whereas me, I have got so so many reasons to hate my life. My Job for one, where I had to work my ass off for a meagre income. And then there was this problem with food, where my fitness goes for a toss with all those cheese and oily junks. And the same old friends and the boring parties, with the same old frustrations that were so common in our lives. Not far behind these problems, were other things like tax, politics and india losing a match, etc.

While I was trying to put these thoughts away before it turned me bitter, My phone rang. I saw my mom's name on the display. Huh, not again. I cut the call vowing to myself to call her back when my mood is fine. 

Family who don't understand but still expect me to come out stronger. Girlfriend, Third in life but still as bugging as the previous ones.

Life sucks Man!

Rewind. To the start of the Day.

 A terrible noise. I woke up with a start.

Huh. Just the loud booming music of a car speeding through the streets.

It is still cold and dark and I could see the lock dangling on the shutter of my shop. It is clearly not 6 o clock else my boss would have opened the shop.

I cleared my eyes and decided to get up before the owner of the vegetable mandi that is right across my tea shop comes or a policeman comes and shoos me away. After that rule came, the one banning us from sleeping in platforms or streets. Wonder why they didn't stop to think about our sleep in this cold winter.

I woke Jeetu up too, who was lying beside me. He sat upright for sometime and got up. Well, He has to deliver the newspapers before it dawns. So he rushed off.

I am a proud worker in chai-wala where i wash glasses and deliver tea. My boss is kind, unlike Jeetu's. Every night Jeetu would come with some scar in his body. The only scar i get is while i wash glasses when sometimes i get a scratch and it pains. But koi nahi. My boss does not shout at me and gives me a bun, One in noon and one at night, and 5 rupees every day which i am saving, so one day I would have a tea shop on my own with Jeetu. 

My ma used to say I am smart. I wish I could hear her voice one more time.

My boss one day said that she has become a star and watches me everyday. I will make you proud ma.

Life is good.

With a smile, I started off with my day. 

PAULO COELHO ON LIFE AND DEATH. AND MY USUAL SHORT PHILOSOPHICAL SCRIBBLINGS.

A couple of months back, I read the following lines, when I was reading this book - Like the Flowing River By Paulo Coelho (Yes, The One author I wanna take out on a Coffee someday in this Life).

My Precious.

Well, This book has become more like my everyday prayer book, that I have to read out an entry at the least per week.
And am going very slow with the stories, It is like taking a short walk with a friend by a seashore and talking about Life. A Soothing feel, which you could relate to if you are like me, A Lover and an observer of those random simple philosophies in Life.

These lines got ingrained in my mind, so much that I couldn't move on further either with the book or with the process of looking beyond the words.
(Oh, DISCLAIMER!: You could Thank me later for sharing the lovely piece or just close the window and forget it if it doesn't go down well with your views.)

So here it goes, In Paulo's very own words:

"I have understood that, although Life goes on and we are all eternal, this existence will one day end.
          People do not think very much about Death. They spend their lives worrying about absurdities; They put things off, and fail to notice important moments.

          They don't take risks, because they think it's dangerous.
          They complain a lot, but are afraid to take action.
          They want everything to change, but they themselves refuse to change.

          If they thought a little more about death, they would never forget to make that much postponed phone call.
They would be a little crazier.
They would not be afraid of this incarnation coming to an end, because you cannot fear something that is going to happen anyway.

          The Indians say: "Today is as good a day as any to leave this world".
And a wise man once said: "Death is always sitting by your side so that, when you need to do something important, it will give you the strength and the courage that you need".

          I hope that you, dear reader, have got this far. It would be foolish to be frightened by death, because all of us, sooner or later, are going to die.

          And only those who accept this fact are prepared for Life."

Just wanna make a point, that it doesn't matter if your Life (in particular) does not have an Adrenaline rush like a MI movie, Or it does not have the glitters and riches like a Richie rich show or Princess Diaries, that is if you feel that's the context mentioned here. That you need to go bungee jumping right now or Party hard and feel high as if there is no tomorrow, or swipe your credit card and buy an Audi.

That's neither a crazy story, nor called taking risks. From my point of view.
But if that's what you (in particular, whoever is still reading :-P) love in Life, then go ahead do it.

Cos' If you are Happy and Contented with your Life and whatever perception that you have on Life, then that's all that matters. And if you are not, then you know what needs to be done and you have every Right to do whatever necessary that's to be done.

Courtesy: Google.

Love. Dream. Live. Inspire.