Lonely Soul – Personal beliefs in this age. Are we better or worse than the older generation?

Practicality is the bane of many lives. And in so many ways the desire to conform. In earlier days, that meant spirituality and religion. In today’s world that means a certain sense of cynicism. If questioning the tenants of religion was sacrilege in those days, the absolute faith in Lord Almighty, God, Holy Son, a power greater than us or (heavens forbid!) science is deemed childish or archaic today.

How sad is it that the modern day man likes to think of himself as evolved and tolerant. Yet he is intolerant of someone who is little bit different to himself. In the Indian context – we say we are modern because we believe “love marriages” are better. They might be your truth but why ridicule if “arranged marriages” work for someone else? Being an atheist or a non-practising Hindu might work for you. What is wrong if someone else wants to go to temple or worship every single day? If you are based out of India, you look upon every “NRI” as a traitor. If you are on the other side of the equation, you see all the people left back in India as losing out of opportunities to grow and lead a “better” life.

Women take it to ridiculous proportions too. Every silly single thing – your choice of name for your kid, your decision to have a kid early, your decision to have a single kid, your choice to breastfeed, your choice to work or not work, your choice of clothes, downright to your physical relationship with your husband/partner – nothing is sacred, nothing is off limits, nothing is private.

Social networks and your ability to “reconnect” with old chums and long forgotten friends irrespective of the geographical and cultural distances has merely got more people in our lives to comment and pass judgement on every single choice that we make. Where is then the tolerance we have come to associate our “modernity” with?

Lonely Soul – Count your blessings and the people

The life so far - Made some great friends. Made no enemies, at least where avoidable. Some people chose me for which I am grateful. Some chose not to choose me for which the loss is mine in some instances and in some others it’s been a relief. Some stayed in touch. Some drifted apart. Some keep moving in and out based on how busy our lives have been. Some made me smile. Some made me cry. Some made me laugh. Some made me feel good. Some made me feel petty and conceited. The life I have led, the person I have become – it all comes down to people.

Sometimes so much so that in phases of life, my life was more about the people than about me. Which has been a good thing and a bad thing by turns. I count my blessings for the people who made me the good person I am. I regret the people and the events that made me the wicked, conceited person I can be. But I am thankful to them that they made it impossible for me to not introspect and accept that like everyone else I am after all a mere mortal and I have my vices to work on.

And though I am at times unnerved by just how much my life is controlled by the people in my life and their perceptions of me and my actions, I am happy for all the times I have been able to please them. And I am happier for the times I have been able to stick my principles and guidelines I wanted in my life when it irked them.

To quote from a book I read – the life is what it is and we are what we are. I accept the people in my life wholeheartedly with their flaws and quirks. And I expect nothing less in return. If that bothers some, I am truly sorry but it is still my life and I am still answerable to my soul for causing it grief and pain and making it sad.

Lonely Soul: Who owns my life?

Its impossible to be ideal,

Difficult to be pragmatic,
Boring to be practical,
Silly to be maudlin.

Sad is the fact that people judge you on the basis of how you live, sadder that you value their opinions, saddest that their perceptions lead you towards a life that is not your own calling. Corny, cliched but true is the fact that the ones who judge couldn't really care any less about how your life turned out and the ones who do care wouldn't judge in the first place. But do you dare to find out if its true? Do I? :)

Lonely Soul: That which was not to be...

Every day of one's life is a decision . Some are petty and of little consequence. Others change the course of life. Then there are those that seem relevant and major but have little to show for in your later days. On the other hand, there are those crucial decisions that seem minor at crossroads of life.

I don't think there can be anyone who can claim to make all the correct decisions all the time. If at all there is someone who can, take a bow man take a bow. For your ignorance shall be your deliverance. Then there are some who are painfully aware of the decisions that dint go the way they should have. Sad really that the decisions that you have already taken and taken wrong are still weighing on your mind and you forget the gift of today in the gloom of what has gone wrong yesterday.

Then there are some more like me who cant help but wonder - What if... The other choices seem delicious now. The other paths oh so promising. But isn't this why hindsight is known to be 20-20. Or is it just that the road "not traveled" seems to be so good because you never got to know the perils of journey down there? Who is to say the other alternatives wouldn't have been worse? Who is to say today is not blessed? And who is to say that tomorrow will see me not repeating the mistakes of the yester?

Life is a journey. One's which will have the hits and the misses. In the end, if I can look back and say - its been more good than bad, its got more blessings than hardships, its got more love and care than denounces and retributions, I'll say - Jolly good!

Why lament or brood over that which was not to be, when you can rejoice over what was to be!!!