ALSphere Foundation
The mesmerizing rainbows, vibrant and full of happy hues, often leave me wondering about life. Don’t we all aspire to become one someday, to leave that distinct mark, to make people forget their rainy day, to leave at least someone awestruck? But then we lack that zeal a wee bit- to deal with the struggles, to face the scorch and the rain or to stand tall until the eleventh hour. Our immured imagination needs to peep through the cracks, beyond the massive walls of setbacks and defeats. Yes I know, it’s easier said than done. But the whole hullabaloo is about taming our mind to keep calm through the down and the dark. It demands strength, it urges for nothing but patience.
Struggle is mandatory like the pinch of salt in the lemonade that adds taste to it. Tribulations do shape us. All that we go through makes us stouthearted and intrepid, both mentally and emotionally. As we move through the labyrinth, we perceive how we ended up there in the first place. As we pass through the thorns, we know who was, and is there to walk along, or to even pluck them to smoothen our path. We savvy that we had it in us- the courage to keep up the pace.
Do the people who make it through all the odds and come out with flying colours (Yes! Like the rainbow), possess something different?
Yes, they do- an amaranthine zeal. The fire that doesn’t die with the downpour, that which cannot be put off by the winds and that which does not dry out, come what may. If you are unstoppable, no force can flinch you.
Oscar Mosquera, a Colombian weightlifter, and Olympic Champion made it to the Olympic finals each time since 2004 but won a gold only in 2016. What if his ardour had not been indomitable and had he sought contentment in the silver? Karoly Tacaks, a world-class shooter lost his hand in an explosion. When he started training himself to shoot with the left hand, Olympics were cancelled for two consecutive terms. He never gave up and his diligence helped him reach the pinnacle. An indefatigable will power, an incessant urge to bear the odds and an undying patience is what they possessed and what we think we do not.
‘Turn the mental blocks into building blocks.’ This reminds me of a seminar being conducted for students, joined in by thousands of enthusiastic youngsters. The orator asked them, “How many of you see yourself in the top five ranks?” Contrary to his expectation, only a handful raised their hand. He said just one line before concluding the session (saying it all), “Remember my dear folks, you will only if you will to, and if you will to see a rainbow, you got to put up with the sun and the rain.”
And so is the truth of life.
The fetters, the chains, the thralldom are all in my mind
This sojourn I so tread on, to emancipate the confined
Fire and thorns and frustration, await like landmark
In my willing heart I keep, an unquenchable spark
As I forge towards myself, on this walk labyrinthine
I see a measured volition, and that my zeal is amaranthine.
Ankurita Khajanchi
