Reflections in Retrospect

"Reports of my death are premature and highly exaggerated." It was a shock of my lifetime to find my obituary printed in the second page of one of the leading dailies of Eastern India, while having my bed tea one fine morning. Anurag Singal is still alive--the statement reverberated across my entire existence.It was after all nothing more than just a printing mistake and now around 5 lacs readers were under the grossly mistaken notion that I had already left for my heavenly abode!!!

The barrage of thoughts culminated in one simple question I asked myself. Have I lived enough ---as the quote goes "There is just one life to live and one is enough". Enough to gaze at the vast blue expanse of the sky, to hear the birds chirping, to find the waters of the Ganga resplendent with the golden hue of the Sun. Enough to look back with nostalgia. To look ahead with hope. I reminded myself of a realisation that had dawned upon me while watching an interview of the legendary comedian as well as an awesome actor, Anupam Kher ---> a man's childhood constitutes his biggest assets --not the million dollars stacked away in his bank account or the dazzling Chevrolet Optra that he drives from home to office. Its on the contrary the number of childhood pranks that you've managed to execute with dexterity. Its the number of times your Dad has had to buy you a chocolate in order to cajole you to go to school.. the number of hard fist blows you've gifted to your peers in school.

Quite fortunate I consider myself to have experienced these little joys of life. The joy of haggling with the vegetable vendor so that the price ultimately negotiated would earn accolades from your Mom, the joy of duping your audit manager beacuse you had to meet someone special today. The joy of racing against the wind and burning off those excess calories, the lush green meadows refreshing your delicate eyes; wearied by those long endless hours crunching data on lifeless MS Excel spreadsheets.From being the cynosure of all eyes to being the notorious backbencher, each phase of life has been unleashing my instincts full throttle. The journey from the 1st year in college where we religiously took down class notes to the 3rd year where all that mattered was a 75% attendance. You would have no qualms /be afflicted by pangs of conscience while slipping out of the class backdoor after your roll number was marked present by the erudite professor.

Change,they say, is the only constant in life. Eveything changes-your perspectives, your ambitions, your hopes, your fears, your greeds --everything. Time forces you to evolve into an altogether different Homo Sapien, one who looks back at the years that have passed by and asks himself "Was it the same me who had acted that way?". Time , they say, is a great teacher. From those early teenage crushes on anyone who looked a fraction alike to your favourite movie star(female..of course) to finally have the temerity to walk past that gorgeous girl and indulge in the self-talk 'Oh ! she is just born with a gr8 face. What's the big deal".

Beauty is a philosophy. Its not about the person who's being beholden but in the mind of the person who's seeing.It all about a perception which can be entirely physical when you don't know the other person. And when you do, its always determined by the other qualities. Its more of a perception which is never black, white or determinate. .......Global gyaan, dude, simply rocks !!A new dimension to life is added each day.

The change literally takes you by surprise.You smile back and assure yourself." Yeah ! it was me "

Even if I die today, no regrets whatsover. Most of them would remember me with varied emotions --and that variety stands to be my biggest achievement hitherto.

Thanx Lady Luck for being so considerate on this bloke

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Anurag 07:59  1 comment