Reality: The Worst Game Ever!!

The blessing sun rays coming from my window pane woke me up. It was a usual summer morning. A gulmohar tree with vibrant red flowers occupied the entire frame of the window. I had an excellent sleep through the night and the entire scene outside made it a jubilant morning. I was still lying in the bed looking for my phone. The calendar told me it was 25th July 2011. Suddenly, something hit me.

25th July 2011. A day I had been waiting for so long. A day I wanted to come at the earliest. A day which could decide the future of my life. And it was here. There was nothing different yet it had changed many things. Dreams were shattered. Expectations broken. Hope lost. The foundations of my first ever plan for life had just crashed. Everything that I did to reach here, every single moment I spent thinking about it and the hours I spent preparing for it. Everything went in vain. I didn't know whether it was the end of beginning or beginning of the end. Welcome to reality, I told myself.

I had always thought of life as a game. The sole purpose of a game is to enjoy the experience - to have fun. But this depends on both the game and the player. Sometimes we may get the best game imaginable, but we may still decline to play. We worry about the complexities of the game instead of embracing them. Why? The answer lies in how we evaluate ourselves relative to the game. If we find the game bigger than us, we feel overwhelmed and would not want to play it. The same logic applies to life. If we think life is bigger than us, we probably don't want to play it either.

There are two modes in the game of life. One is the practice mode where we can choose everything. In other words, our dream world. The second mode is reality. This is where you get to see the real face and complexities of the game. It seems to be great in the beginning, but as you advance, you realize that you don't have time to understand the game play. You learn the rules and find that life is not a fair game. Mastery in this game is a lifelong process. And your learning is what helps you the most. Reality is the worst ever game that you'll ever play.

I had lost the strength to leave my bed. Or maybe I just didn't want to. Few things came to my mind. The game doesn't offer you many choices. You either keep sitting at a point waiting for the things to go your way or you just get up, march ahead and face the adversities. It took a lot of thoughts and time but in the end I chose the second option. Any setback in the game should be taken as an added challenge and I knew that. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. I had decided to quit whining and start all over again. With a new enthusiasm and exuberance. It's all about making some choices, experiencing the consequences and then growing from there. It's all good. My cheeks were a bit wet but a smile ran across my lips.

As I finally got up and sipped my tea, I wondered how boring life would be if everything fell at the right place in the first attempt. A game full of setbacks, randomness and delays is a lot more fun. If you have the determination and the courage it takes, you come out to be a better player.

The game of life may end with death, but in the meantime enjoy yourself. Life is supposed to be interesting, challenging and fun. Go out there and play!

Life with an Angel - I

Sitting in that restaurant while watching the people around me, I wondered whether I would ever meet any of these people again. While I was lost in this thought, someone had settled in front of me. Bang!! It was her. Angel. I was almost dazzled by her presence. It took me some time to come to my senses.

Her new found short hairs were still wet from the rains outside. The water drops clinging on her forehead were sparkling more than the diamond studs in her ears. Her eyes had a spark and a gentle smile added to the beauty of her face. She had undergone a makeover few days back and she was in full mood to flaunt her cool new summer avatar. She may not be the best looking girl in the world. But for me, she is. ;)

No doubt the conversation between the guy and the girl was interesting, but waiting is one thing I hate. I had thought of saying a line or two to her. But as soon as I saw her, I forgot that I had been waiting for her for the last 20 minutes. Sometimes, I wonder whether the reason was her cute smile which made me forget everything or had I grown used to it. Actually, I never cared about her mistakes, for she was my *that one person*, someone whom I could give numerous second chances.

Life had changed a bit after my last post about her. Fortunately, all of them were either cheerful or pure unexpected luck. The first surprise came in the form of a piece of writing about me. They were just a few words, but I was taken aback by her innocence and commitment while writing them. It was followed by some others; one of them was the early morning call today.

Random chit chat started. It was something we could keep on doing for hours and not getting bored. Sometimes I felt the reason we didn’t get bored of each other was that we had nothing to talk about, so, we could talk about everything. An hour had passed like a second. I was waiting for the rain to get over but she had something different in her mind. By the time we finished our drinks, we had decided something. Something which changed that Saturday into one of the most memorable days of my life. We walked to the entrance of the restaurant. It was raining heavily and the flowing winds carrying small water particles with them made the entire scene a sight of the heaven.

We moved out a bit. A few raindrops touched my face. We looked at each other. She gave me a mischievous smile and we had started running towards the nearest shelter. On the way between, I turned left to have a look on her. She was not there. I turned opposite and still couldn't find her. I stopped and turned back. There she was. Standing in the open with her face towards the sky; enjoying the rain drops touching her face, body and soul. The look and smile on her face made it one of the most unforgettable moments of life for me. I walked back to her. She held my hand and we walked together towards the destination. The feeling of walking hand in hand with an Angel in the rain cannot be explained in words. I never had the privilege of walking in heaven, but I am sure even that would not be able to match it.

The journey back had started; with splashing of water on each other, taking the routes less taken and a few intentional mistakes while choosing the path. I had never seen her enjoying so much before. Carefree, cheerful and full of exuberance.

Finally, we reached her destination. I looked at the clock. It had been almost two and half hours with her. We didn't want to go but the moment had arrived. Alas! Time passes quickly when you seem to enjoy it. We had come to the last point.

We bade goodbye to each other and she started walking on her path. I was still standing there. She turned back, gave a smile and then disappeared among the rain drops with a promise to return again. The Angel was gone but she had left behind something very precious for me. Memories to cherish for a lifetime. :)

Samjhauta!!

"..and Raja Dushyant fell in love with Shakuntala, at the very first sight."

"Just a look and.. How silly!! How something like this could happen?” said the girl while running fingers through her golden locks. "Love at first sight, is all about materialistic beauty, only physical attraction. No matter how ugly the soul is. Isn't it?"

The guy hesitated a bit and averted his eyes from the cute blue eyes on her fair pink face. Outside, it was raining continuously. Temperature had taken a slide down, cold winds were blowing and the crowd in the restaurant had begun to grow.

I was sitting on the table just left to them sipping a hot coffee while enjoying the weather outside and waiting for my Angel. Their conversation was proving to be quite a great entertainer.

The girl seemed to a European from her color, hairs, attire and accent. Like the many other foreign visitors, she was showing a great interest in the Indian culture. The guy was a complete Indian. His clothing and free-flowing English were speaking of him being educated and cultured.

It seemed as if the guy was not in a mood to give up. Gazing at the green nail color on her soft fingers, he said, "We Indians are very imaginative, still you'll find love as a reality in almost every form of our art. I am not lying. Sometimes just a look is enough for you to know the other person.."

".. and sometimes even an entire lifetime seems to be short.", the girl completed her sentence with a mischievous smile. “For me, life is like a detective novel. The suspense is maintained till the last page. We get to know something about the other person every day. Sometimes it gives us utter happiness, sometimes a pleasant surprise and sometimes a bit of sadness."

"No, it's not like that.", said the guy as he took the last sip from his cup of coffee. "When you love someone unconditionally, you accept him/her with all the traits, be it good or bad."

The girl smiled a bit. "You are very emotional. I thought such characters existed only in the form of heroes in Bollywood flicks. But after meeting you.."

"Every second Indian is emotional. We care about the relations very much. We believe in "We" rather than "I". It becomes our duty to keep the person we love always happy. No matter what happens, we keep the relation intact. We can go to any extent to keep a relation going."

The girl got a bit serious. "But that is compromise and you cannot live your entire life on compromises."

"Yes, it is compromise. But life cannot be life without compromises. Compromises teach us patience, sacrifice and discipline. Some mistakes, some misunderstandings, getting a bit angry and then coaxing add a new exciting flavor to love. Life is like a Christmas party. Sweet like a pudding, spicy like soup, salty like sauce and bitter like alcohol." A gentle smile ran across the guy's face as he said this.

"You are very interesting as well." Every pair of eyes in the restaurant turned towards her as she laughed, this time a bit loud.

It was still raining outside. A guy and a girl were enjoying in the rain while the people standing there saw them in amazement as if no one had ever got wet in the rains before.

"Would you like to spend your day with me tomorrow?", asked the guy out of nowhere. "I'll take you to the Indian Art and Culture Center and afterwards, we'll have dinner at a nice place.

"Hmm.. Yes! Yes! Why not?”, the girl said after a little thought. "I am free tomorrow."

".. but I...”, said the guy a bit hesitatingly, "I am a pure vegetarian and you just told me that you liked non-vegetarian food only."

"Ah!! Doesn't matter. Tomorrow I'd like to enjoy pure spicy vegetarian food of your choice with you."

The girl had just made a new compromise with a smile and may be she didn't even realize it.
The rain had stopped outside but the Sun was still hiding among the clouds. Just then, my Angel arrived. Air traversed through her open hairs and drops of water were dripping down her face. Wishing luck to the guy and the girl for successfully climbing the first rung of the ladder of compromise in their life, I shifted my attention to where it should be, towards my Angel.. :)

P.S. This post is based on a story by an unknown writer which I read in some magazine.
P.S. I had an amazing weekend. Almost everything I could ask for. :D