I was connecting my Lumia to my Onkyo home theatre system to listen to one of my favourite mix of MixRadio, when a particular raw nerve in my brain connected me to my life when I was in class V. I was depressed about not having a cassette player at home then.
I remembered going to my mama's (maternal uncle) house with a hope to get their walkman which was lying un-used. Ignoring my shame, I remembered asking for that walkman. I remembered getting a naked speaker from a friend and buying a big bellied earthen pot for five rupees. I remembered fixing the speaker to the earthen pot to get better bass. I was unhappy, but I had hope.
When I was graduating in Economics from Cotton College, there were motorcycles all over the place. Cheap 2-stroke Japanese bikes had flooded the market after 1991. I didn't have the fortune to ride one though. I had made a deal with one of my bike-owning friends that I would introduce him to one of the girls that he liked, who was incidentally my good friend. Luckily the deal worked and I had got the opportunity to ride a Yamaha RX100 twice - once inside a cricket field and once on the road. I had become a 50% biker. After that day on the road, my riding had to wait for another 3 years.
I once had asked my relative to let me learn driving his car. He had refused. I requested their driver. He too had refused. I was sad, unhappy, anxious and perhaps depressed. But I had hope.
I kept working at whatever came my way with limited short term expectations. Neither did I have big ambitions, nor was I devoid of little hope. I was walking through life, giving the best I could.
Today I am 17 years past my first job. I am about to be 39 years. I have all the materialistic comforts that I never thought possible in my lifetime. 17 'only' years changed my life forever to the better in terms of what I earlier didn't have. It was completely unexpected. My limited short term expectations never could reach such heights.
Our lives are long, really long. Anything can practically happen. An ordinary man, Mr. Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister. Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, another ordinary citizen and an aspiring civil servant, becomes the Chief Minister of Delhi with a new political party in little over 3 years of his political career.
There are times when one feels that there is no ambition, and there are times when one feels there are too many things to do without a sense of focus. In both the scenario, one must take a long breath and think again. Moments when there seems to be a lack of an ambition, there are daily work that may need immediate attention such as getting the shoe polished. Doing your day to day jobs also give you a sense of accomplishment which will ready you for the bigger ambition.
Moments when you feel confused with multiple options, a long breath will help you realise that there is time to do all of them sequentially one after the other. If we take business ideas, a small business idea needs a minimum of 2 years to stabilise, and one can do 5 such business ideas in 10 years. It is another matter that you may be happy getting stuck to the first business idea that you had initiated.
My life mantra is that there is hope and there is a lot of time in one lifetime. Let us be genuine, be good, work hard at whatever life gives and life will give you what you hope for.
I remembered going to my mama's (maternal uncle) house with a hope to get their walkman which was lying un-used. Ignoring my shame, I remembered asking for that walkman. I remembered getting a naked speaker from a friend and buying a big bellied earthen pot for five rupees. I remembered fixing the speaker to the earthen pot to get better bass. I was unhappy, but I had hope.
When I was graduating in Economics from Cotton College, there were motorcycles all over the place. Cheap 2-stroke Japanese bikes had flooded the market after 1991. I didn't have the fortune to ride one though. I had made a deal with one of my bike-owning friends that I would introduce him to one of the girls that he liked, who was incidentally my good friend. Luckily the deal worked and I had got the opportunity to ride a Yamaha RX100 twice - once inside a cricket field and once on the road. I had become a 50% biker. After that day on the road, my riding had to wait for another 3 years.
I once had asked my relative to let me learn driving his car. He had refused. I requested their driver. He too had refused. I was sad, unhappy, anxious and perhaps depressed. But I had hope.
I kept working at whatever came my way with limited short term expectations. Neither did I have big ambitions, nor was I devoid of little hope. I was walking through life, giving the best I could.
Today I am 17 years past my first job. I am about to be 39 years. I have all the materialistic comforts that I never thought possible in my lifetime. 17 'only' years changed my life forever to the better in terms of what I earlier didn't have. It was completely unexpected. My limited short term expectations never could reach such heights.
Our lives are long, really long. Anything can practically happen. An ordinary man, Mr. Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister. Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, another ordinary citizen and an aspiring civil servant, becomes the Chief Minister of Delhi with a new political party in little over 3 years of his political career.
There are times when one feels that there is no ambition, and there are times when one feels there are too many things to do without a sense of focus. In both the scenario, one must take a long breath and think again. Moments when there seems to be a lack of an ambition, there are daily work that may need immediate attention such as getting the shoe polished. Doing your day to day jobs also give you a sense of accomplishment which will ready you for the bigger ambition.
Moments when you feel confused with multiple options, a long breath will help you realise that there is time to do all of them sequentially one after the other. If we take business ideas, a small business idea needs a minimum of 2 years to stabilise, and one can do 5 such business ideas in 10 years. It is another matter that you may be happy getting stuck to the first business idea that you had initiated.
My life mantra is that there is hope and there is a lot of time in one lifetime. Let us be genuine, be good, work hard at whatever life gives and life will give you what you hope for.
