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Living out a Life

 

Life is an anagrammatic, never-ending file. The papers in this file consist of our struggles, our memories of success and failures. All success stories of enterprising and enigmatic people from all spheres of life are built upon pillars of failures. The failures, though apparently demoralizing in the beginning, instigate us to move on.

Though I was a fairly good student in my school, my graduation score wasn’t too good. But instead of being heart-broken, my father inspired me at that time. Baba was a painter, and even he had scored just fairly well at the Government Art College. He told me again and again that I should never lose heart. That if I did not come first in class this year, there would always be a next time. He said that the grass may appear greener on the other side but it is green on this side too.

We have got only one life to live. And it is too short to spend hours on brooding over drawbacks and failures. Failures might come, but the next stepping-stone may bring success too. Self-contentment, as opposed to envy, is the basic requirement for achieving success in life. ‘Make hay as the sun shines,’ thus goes the proverb.

Living a life is different from counting the years. This is the lesson that I have learnt from my parents. Joie de vivre– the joy of living, is only experienced when one has enjoyed life to the fullest. It will only come when one has left the pursuit of material gain behind. It may sound didactic at this point but the glaring fact remains that there’s more to living than material success. If and when one realizes this, that’s the time when the person will be able to overcome all failures.

Haimanti Dutta Ray