Her eyes glistened with tears. She knew her end was near and that she should ideally be counting her last hours; enjoying, living and cherishing the splatter of the rain, the crickets chirping in their funny way and the warm, delicious aroma of the bread wafting through the grilled window that never failed to fill her heart with an indescribable joy. Yet her brows were creased with worry as she sat by thinking about the one regret that she had. This was plaguing her tender soul and was making her feel totally incomplete and irrelevant.
After floating in the depths of sorrow for what seemed like forever, she decided to pull herself up one final time with a will to make a difference in her depressing life. She started writing an essay addressed to the world, pages after pages, lamenting about the way humans lead their lives in a disillusioned manner and she was busy finding fault with their ideals when suddenly she paused. And thought. When lo she realized it. What was lacking in her life was indeed a redefinition.
Suppose a person were to ask to the contemporary world: “ why are so many of us disappointed with our lives?” a bundle of answers each with a different reason and varied emotions would pour out. However I agree with the answer that the woman gave. She felt that we look at everything in a narrow- minded you know a clichéd point of view. We feel that truth is singular; all other theories and claims made by the other parties have absolutely no significance and has to be dismissed (at the earliest). There are so many things that we blatantly brand as “ bad” and “ unwanted" erasing all future attempts to examine, explore and understand it. She finally voiced that what the world currently needs is a “redefinition”.
1) Desire
Somehow this word is always synonymously linked up with greed, something that is completely bad and totally unwanted. “It is the root cause of all miseries, it corrupts the sanity of the mind, great great rulers like Ashoka fell prey to desire and regretted it all his life, we had Hitlers because of it, it leads us to create disparities even among our near and dear ones and finally it shatters the chain of harmony in the society.” These are the commonly spoken out arguments with even great leaders like Gandhi advocating against it. But is it really that bad? Well for one I don’t think so.
It was the desire to survive and progress that led to the discovery of fire and the invention of the wheel, the desire to flourish that led to the creation of mighty empires in the past and magnificent institutions in the present, the desire to explore and understand the ways of the world that paved way for our education system and the desire to lead a comfortable life that led to the start of manufacturing and agriculture.
So my redefinition for desire would be that it is a stimulant, it ignites a spark within us and is as integral to our lives as oxygen is to the body. Can you imagine how our world would currently be if such an inbuilt human quality never existed in the first place? Totally gross and unimaginable right! However we need to pay heed to the fact that even nectar consumed in excess becomes a poison. So desire by itself isn’t a problem but its misrepresentation and misuse definitely is.
“To make sure that perfection doesn’t become procrastination, we need the courage of desire to start now”
2) Success
Shah Rukh Khan says in the movie Dear Zindagi:” What is the point of climbing lofty mountains when your happiness lies beneath it?” This is so true folks. Hard work, smart work (especially sweat) and determination are the commonly associated words with success. Infact these are the only accepted words by society and any other description of what it possibly could be is considered illogical and invalid. We fail to acknowledge a deed as a success if it doesn’t equal to solving all problems, earning the highest laurels, putting your 100% best ( nothing less than that mind it) and working day and night thinking and focusing only on it. Now for the redefinition time.
Success is not what the society envisions for you and wants you to achieve but it is what your heart and mind wants you to do. Sometimes it is all about choosing the easy path and the reality is that those who tread upon that route face greater trials and nil support because of an ongoing stigma of being called a coward.
It is about saving that 100 RS to buy your favourite ice cream and panipuri while sacrificing something else, having patience and endurance like the great Urmila in Ramayana did and living it with great spirit, not having the courage to speak but having the heart to give the same speech to your friend, accepting dislikes and negative comments on social media sportively, slogging throughout the day not to impress your boss but your heart so it can deliver a satisfied smile to your parched lips and most importantly (and finally) realizing what your family has been trying to get into your head all this while: your very existence is an indication of your success as you are an irreplaceable gift to this humanity.
Actor Vivek says in Vellai Pookal” You just have to solve five sides of a Rubik’s cube, the sixth side solves by itself”. Success is mostly all about realizing this principle.
3) Pride
“Remember children that the opposite of pride is living humble” recited a school teacher as she recollected the universally established fact. “Pride” oh no why even use that wretched word. It is more intoxicating than existing drug or alcohol; it easily gets into your head and never stops until it erodes your soul and destroys the very definition of you. Pride is the mother of destruction.
What nonsense folks! This time however is your turn to give it a redefinition. Let us not merely dismantle it from our lives as pride serves as a reflection: it shows us who we are and what are capacities can be. It reiterates the fact that our life and our experiences are our greatest teachers. So I urge you to give it a new meaning and not let anyone snatch this powerful emotion from you as it in a way formulates to become your very identity.
I would finally like to give redefinition to redefinition( Not a pun). It is not merely a change of words but a change in what your world can constitute to be. You are its creator and every individual living in the world becomes a stakeholder.
It is delicate yet its aura captivates people motivating them to innovate methods to recapitulate what we truly want and what we truly are.
The woman realized that:
And i would like to conclude on this note.
Credits: books: the oath of the vayuputras( movies and books serve a purpose afterall)
Sita's sister
Movies: Dear Zindagi
Vellai Pookal
Redefining a whole lot of aspects of our life is the need of the hour. We need to redefine a lot of our thoughts, habits and practices. A smart post at a much needed time. I hope all your readers understand that no matter what we are doing in life, we need to learn to redefine. Loved the post and waiting for your next as usual.
The two sides of the same coin!! How well put into words. It is we the people who need to redefine our priorities and define what success means to us.