Voices from a Lovely Past

You come to me,

at the oddest of the places,

at the oddest of the times...

As I stand on the sidewalk outside of my class,

Looking up at the lovely blue sky

and then at the green grass,

You sneak up on me and rhetorically ask –

“Doesn’t Beauty lie in the eye of the Beholder?”

As I sit and stare,

Seeing strangers enjoying their heyday

You step up beside me and say,

“You look beautiful today!”

As I sit amongst my friends, all alone up in my head

You leant in and said,

“My dear, You are loved too!

So what does it matter,

If they are only a Few?”

As I read and prepare Marxism

You whisper in complete coherence,

“It would have been much easier, indeed.

But you must Try and try until you succeed.”

As I anxiously fiddle with my fingers and then with my phone

You firmly command, catching me off-guard,

“Chin up Sweet-heart,

Don’t let this world tear you apart!”

Oh! The voices from a lovely past...

Your memories never fail to haunt and torment me,

As they often sneak up on me

In the oddest of the places, at the oddest of the times.

Try as I may

To escape and run away,

You can never go away.

For you are always in my head

Whether I am happy or I am sad.

Losing someone isn’t a one time thing –

It isn’t even a moment or an event,

Because it happens to you time and again

In the oddest of the places, at the oddest of the times,

It continues to haunt you over and over again...

Though this torment, nonetheless, reassures me

For how else would I know that you were real and once alive?

Yes, even on the sunniest days of my life

You creep up on me and in this idea I delight –

You were once real, mine and truly Alive.

STROKING THE FLAME

This burning Desire

To play with fire,

will lead to my Demise...

I'm playing with fire,

this is my desperate Desire -

"To have and to hold

something ... Someone

whom I can call my very Own...

to have our own Estate,

in a Blissfully utopic state...

Indeed, a reckless Desire

to soar higher and Higher...

even when there may be a 

Mighty Fall -

Should've ended it - for once and for all.

Entirely abandoning my sane will,

my Heart Desires these cheap thrills,

Knowing fully well - 

that I will be the one

Extinguishing the Flame,

that you once had ignited

and then conveniently Left!

Knowing fully well -

That this Fire will consume everything

Leaving behind ash and nothing else...

No, not even a single cell.

Yet with what little I remain,

I Desire.. and continue to Stroke the Fire.

The Dilemmas of a Modern Man

We wasted so many nights
So many days,
In the wrong beds
In the wrong arms,
Fooling them
Fooling ourselves,
Believing the words
Forgoing the actions,
Why.. Why...
Why?
Ah, the many dilemmas of a Modern Man!




The drunk night of partying has come to a close
The dawn, too, has come and gone...
When are we going to wake up?
O Modern Man, lights will not always guide you home,
Where will you be when you wake up? 
HOW will you go back home?

        GOODBYES ARE FOREVER

20 years. Sounds like a long time. And maybe it was a long time, sufficient however it was not.

It was just another regular Sunday morning when I opened my eyes and saw through the windows that it was still rather early for me to start the much awaited holiday, but then my eyes fell upon the reason why I had been roused out of my sleep - my aunt was rushing into my room and called out my name in order for me to wake up. I noticed that she was wearing an off white suit, which was so unlike of her usual morning attire - pyjamas and a baggy t-shirt. I closed my eyes again while I wondered why she was dressed that way so early in the morning and then, wished that whatever maybe the reason, she would let me sleep some more. Just as I had closed my eyes, I felt her sit beside me and touched my shoulder while calling out my name again, this time in a sombre tone, "Beta, Dadi is gone."

My eyes jerked open while my body lay still under her touch, almost paralyzed, "Wh- what?" I managed to stutter it out. I knew what she meant. I knew that it was a silly question. I knew this was coming.

"She passed away sometime during the night and...." She went on while I zoned out. That's when I actually took in her appearance, her eyes were bloodshot while her face had a pallor to it today. And then it clicked, why the unusual off white suite at this time of the day.

She shook me again, "Get up and be dressed. People will start arriving any minute now." With that she left.

I tried to stick to one emotion from the array of jumbled feelings running through my mind while my body lay stiff. Feelings of denial, anger, resentment, sadness, loss, relief and other intangible emotions were taking hold of me. My mind, in simple words, was a mess while my body was on auto-pilot. I went into the washroom and waited for the tears to come. I, eventually, looked at myself in the mirror and realised that there wasn't a sign of wetness on my face. I was confused. Shouldn't I be crying? Isn't this what I did 5 years ago? Cried in my bathroom silently as violent sobs wrecked my body.

I, then, unlocked my phone and texted two people the same message - She passed away last night. I also realised that they must be asleep as it was just 7 am on an October Sunday morning. With that, I put the phone away, smiling sardonically, "What a start" I thought.

"Okay, so she is no more...

It's gonna be a long day...

But we just talked last night..

Should be relieved and thankful...

She seemed perfectly fine last night..

Won't be seeing any bedside almonds and milk now..

What will I tell to my little one..

Dada must be on his way..."

My mind was filled with incoherent thoughts while my body kept going on autopilot. I was brought out of my reverie when someone knocked on the door.

"I'll be out in a minute." I shouted. I checked my face in the mirror again and saw no trace of sadness. Nothing in this bathroom, nothing on my face revealed the massive change that had just taken place a few metres away during the last night. Somehow, it hasn't just sunk in maybe.

How can such a huge change happen overnight? Just yesterday, when I had come back from college, I had sat beside her. She had pestered me to call the maid's mother to take her back home. She had replied in affirmative when I asked her if she wanted to have her favourite vanilla ice cream. She had asked me to give the maid a few scoops before I gave it to her. I remember, she had asked me to sit down and massage her lower back. I could clearly hear her pain-filled groans as she restlessly kept turning  around while I tried to talk to her to deviate her mind from, what seemed like an ever-present ache in her body.

A potent memory of the previous evening flashed across my mind - I was  sitting in front of her, whilst holding her hand in mine.

"Your skin is so soft." I blurted out randomly as the tip of my fingers traced her forearm.

"You call this skin?" She said with clear disgust on her face as she weakly pinched the skin of her forearm between her two fingers.

"It's only normal for old people to have wrinkles." I pretended to tease her, in hopes that it might soothe her. Even I knew, her skin wasn't like this. SHE wasn't like this. Sure, she was old and she had the normal amount of wrinkles that a 70 year old has but she used to have a healthy glow to her face, even at that age. She was healthy, more than others of her age. She was my 'tiger-dadi' whose penetrating gaze would scare you away. She was my agile dadi who would have a skipping competition with our little one. She was my second mother who would wake me up in the morning with almonds and milk and then would give me a few more minutes to snooze before she would tell me that "Now, you're getting late." She was the lady of this house and the foundation of this family, the safe harbour of everyone and a rock to my dad after my mother had passed away. She was the anchor of our family, who had kept this home from turning into a house after mumma had passed away.

"Non-sense! I had to live longer than this. This wasn't supposed to happen for at least another 20 years. I had to live to get you married off. I had to dance at your wedding and had to give you blessings and had to threaten your groom that if he ever so much so hurt a hair on your head, I will break his bones and turn him black and blue."

Laughter bubbled up when she said that. This frail woman reminded me of her glorious days when she actually would have done that. Without a doubt, she would have. She was fearless. She was never afraid to call a spade a spade. She was never scared of standing up for what she believed in. After-all, she was my 'tiger-dadi'.

"... I trust you and I know you will find yourself a decent groom. But please, find a tall and broad-shouldered man, who is man enough to stand up for you and for what he believes in. Who doesn't hesitate to tell you when you are wrong but is quick to apologise when he is."

"And with whom ... who will come with me to buy my lehenga? Will I go alone then ?" I choked out as my voice broke in the last. She was about to open her mouth when i started again, "No tell me, who will wake me up now? Who will take my side and favour me in the family? Who will comfort me now, when even you'll be gone? Last time, you were there to help me get over her loss, now again? No! I'm not mature enough to find a man for myself. Who will meet my boyfriend now and tell me if he is good enough? What if I end up with the wrong person..?" My body was shaking violently with sobs by then. I shouldn't have said any of it. I knew it wasn't her choice. Her choice had always been to retire at 60 and leave this world whenever the "God willed" but after mumma passed away, she wanted to live. She wanted to live long enough to see me get settled in my life. But it was like, I could'nt control myself from blurting out all this. All my pent up emotions were coming out in waves of tears.

"What should I do? Even I wanted to be here. But it hurts too much now. I don't want to live like this. Not only its painful for me, but its troubling you too. And I don't want that. I don't want to become a liability, I don't want to become dependent on anyone. I just want to go away now." As she said that, I tried to pull my hand from her grasp and get out of her room. I knew I wasn't doing both of us any good. Both of us were very well aware of the circumstances, there was no point in dwelling in self-pity.

She reached out and held my hand again, squeezing it tightly. Surprisingly, for someone who is lying on her deathbed, she sure had a good grip, I thought. The warmth of her hand engulfed me and made me lie down beside her.  Funny how it should have been me comforting her and how the roles were reversed in a minute, here I was, the cold hearted strong willed woman, shrunken into a little vulnerable girl beside her, was being comforted as she caressed my face, “It’s okay. It will be. You will go and enjoy your life, buy a beautiful vermilion lehenga, marry a tall broad shouldered man and if ever in your life, you face any problems, know that I’m always with you. I’ll be looking over you even then, you just won’t know that. Just make the right decisions and be fearless.”

*Flashback ends*

I squeezed my eyes tightly. I wasn’t going to cry. I was going to be her bold daughter. If anything, I should be happy for her. At least she was freed from all the pain. At least, she was away from all the misery and sadness that comes along with this existence.

“Death is not extinguishing the light. It is putting out the lamp because a new dawn has come.”

-        R. Tagore

I wiped my face and stepped out of the washroom. As soon as I stepped out of my room, I could hear the distinct voices of my cousins and relatives. I took a deep breath and entered her room and just looked at her. She looked almost the same, just a little more pale, a little more stiff and a little more dead.

I did not know what I should have done. Should I touch her? Should I cry? Should I say goodbye? Feeling lost and confused, I came back into my room and hence began my Sunday. The entire day passed away, too soon and too slow. It was a blur of long lost familiar faces mourning over the loss of a ‘kind soul’. More people came, inquiring about the how s and why s of her ‘sudden’ departure. A lady whom I didn’t recognize hugged me and asked me to stay strong and not to cry. Another came and asked what had happened to her? Last time she met her, she was fit as a fiddle.

It was around 3pm, when I heard that they are going to take the ‘body’ away. It’s funny how a living person can turn into a body in a matter of seconds. The heart and soul of this family was now reduced to a pile of decaying flesh and bones. I don’t know what made my legs go towards her but I was there, sitting beside her. I reached out to her hand, sub consciously expecting her to reach out for my hand too. Like she usually used to. However, reality is a bitch and my hand found a pale, stiff and cold hand. This wasn’t the hand of the lady who had grabbed onto me so fiercely just one night ago. It was not her, she would have reached out and squeezed my hand. How she would have moulded her hand in mine and the ever-present warmth that spread through with that gesture, not only to my hand but to my heart as well. I, then, for the first time, squeezed her hand and unnecessarily tried to warm it. I hadn’t realised that I was crying until another familiar face pried her hand from mine. It was then I noticed that I was sitting amongst people who were mourning and crying over the ‘body’ when I got up and came back in my room.

Yes, no more Shakuntla Nehra for me. That was my goodbye to the lady who was like a second mother to me.

I don’t know when they took away the ‘body’. The rest of the day was a series of inconsequential events. All those grief stricken people had left by the evening. Nothing was changed. I was back in my room, lying in the same bed, like I had a day before. The only difference was my new gaping wound, who is going to a good and loyal companion now.

( This article was written on 26th June, 2015 )

REALITY BEHIND GENDER EQUALITY

Ladies and gentleman, today on the occasion of Gay marriage being legalized, I, too, would like to put my two cents in. Speaking of Gay marriage and LGBT community rights, another issue comes to my mind which, by the way, is equally popular and is many a times blown out of proportions  – Gender Equality.

“You don’t have to be anti-men to be pro-women.” – Jane Galvin Lewis

Ah yes, this is something we know of, right? It’s seen and heard everywhere these days after all. The way this issue has gained popularity among all walks of life still continues to astound me. We even have a few clichéd lines saved up to speak out when we see the females being discriminated. I mean, I’m also an ex-feminist and I know how much fickle our Indian society can be. We see something on T.V or Youtube, then we share a few posts on social media and that’s that. We have done our job of being a responsible and conscious citizen.

The point I want to raise here is – what about male equality? Sure, India is a male dominated country with a patriarchal set-up but times are changing and metropolitans are a witness to that. But keeping that fact apart as well, shouldn’t we be unbiased and support a cause which is ethically and morally correct or should we just support an idea without thinking it through logically.

Why do we expect men to stand up and leave their seats in the buses? Why should men always pay for you? For your date, drinks, shopping spree, etc..? Why is it that we apply the rule of “beauty comes in all shapes and sizes” for females solely? Why are men considered to be the provider of the family?

And if by any chance a man fails to do any of that, the entire society questions his masculinity.

If a guy hits on you? He’s a jerk

If a guy rejects you? He’s an arrogant ass-hole

If a guy agrees to all your whims? He’s not man enough.

If he doesn't? He’s an egoistic chauvinist.

And if this is not judgemental enough, then we have our fair share of some pretty colourful tags for females too – dumb blondes, female drivers, slut, whore, gold digger, etc. This list goes on and on.

However, I feel that just like we don’t adore women with plastic surgeries, fake orange tans (or in our case, using fairness creams) fake laughs, bleached blonde hair, nasal voices….. We also expect certain things from men. That’s not to say we can crucify them for not doing that but chivalry and manners are always appreciated. Just like class and elegance is appreciated and sought after in women. Again, that’s not something gender specific. Every human being likes attention and those traits make you sought after. It’s just different things for men and women.

Now, considering the present scenario, I tried to think logically, instead of conventionally and I realised that dumbness or arrogant chauvinism isn’t gender specific. Men and women are stupid. Men and women are smart.

Moving forward, I think it’s high time that those feminists start paying for their damn drinks now, since they so religiously believe that all men are scum. But hey, we don’t mind a scum spending a few bucks on us, do we? That doesn’t go against the norms of feminism at all, right ladies?

While here I sum up one view on gender equality. But on the same hand, I also have another take on the very issue. I think gender equality is a losing cause. How can we claim to be equals when we clearly aren’t? Men and women are not alike in any way. Men from the primitive times are biologically programmed to be the providers and women to be caregivers. So are we strong enough to change the laws of nature?

Yin and Yang can live together in harmony by being what they are. If the water tries to be solid and hard like the rocky mountain or if the rocky mountain tries to be soft and gentle like the flowing water… It kind of goes against the grain or in other words, it seems unnatural and improbable.

Similarly, how can females compete with men in their physical strength ? How can men understand the selfless love of a mother when it’s clearly not in their genetic make-up.

While I certainly don’t advocate any of these to you but I have shared my point of view. If you’re fighting for gender equality, then ladies, woman up and own it. And men, don’t pin those tags or generalize. And if you believe otherwise, then let’s just say, you can be excused for having a dumb moment once in a while and we can also let male ego slide down sometimes.

Personally though, I lean towards my other belief. I have tried and been there and done that. And given up on going against nature. Some things ARE going to remain gender specific. 

So, I think it's time we stop blowing this trumpet of gender equality and simply extend respect to all those who deserve, irrespective of their gender or their gender preference ;-) The only thing we should do is that - we stop being orthodox and judgmental and focus on our individual growth.

That’s it folks!!

Ps. I’m personally very happy for the legalization of Gay marriage. It marks the beginning of that one thing I desperately follow and preach – Live and let others live. It’s like hating a person for not liking the same flavour of ice cream that you do….  Okay okay, I’m rambling!

Adiós mis amigos :) 

Rasasvada

… and the hangover tonight

                                   

Tonight,

Let me be a dreamer, a philosopher, a mourner…

Tonight,

Let me fade away into the dark of the night

Let me float away into the uninhibited azure sky…

Just tonight,

Let me connect to my real self 
Let me have a taste of my soul…

(Oh! Do you call that death?)

But what lovely death would that be

When I would die to live the true me…

Tonight,

Let me be a sadist, a masochist, a pessimist,

For I want to think of unthinkable things

The taboo things

The deviant things…

Tonight,

Let me revel in sadness

As they say melancholy is the real happiness…

Thinking the unthinkable,

Imagining the unimaginable… gives me a unique pleasure,

                                                                  And freedom…. And some pain,

                                                                                                With no restrain.

They tell me,

This is not the age to act like a sage,

This is not the time for my spiritual rhyme.

But how do I explain, that it is a boon & a bane,

To muse over & over again.

So tonight,

Let me drown, or let me fade away, or let me fly high…

For a night like this, mayn’t arrive ever

& I mayn’t take this unattainable flight.

Tonight,

Let me get intoxicated,

No, not on some insalubrious alcohol

Neither on some vintage wine…

But let me get inebriated to soar high 
On the wings of my imagination,

Of wakefulness & sleep

Of life & death

Of karma and rebirth

Of soul and dreams…

So tonight… just this night,

Let me be me…

Let me sleep and dream and Connect

And let me Live my death!

For tomorrow, I’ll let practicality catch-up

And in the dark light of the next day,

I’ll wake up again for my soul’s demise

And forget about tonight’s hangover

And the talks I had with my inner conscience

And the flights of imagination I took…

I’ll forget them all, I will.

Because I’ll die,

A MATERIALISTIC death 
that will quieten my soul’s voice.
And I’ll forget about tonight… forget about the life I'll live, the time I'll spend with myself, connecting….

Because I’ll be waking up for the dark & sleepy world again,

That might even call me silly and vain,

And I’ll accept all that in that world of mundane,

But not tonight...

For tonight,

I WILL BE a traveller,

A wanderer,

…. A dreamer.

The lure of coveted bliss

Once upon a time, a girl wanted to fly, but she was afraid of the fall. But then on one eventful day, she took the risk. And she started flying. And boy, did she fly high! She flew so high that everyone was astonished at her wondrous leap of faith. But above all, she was surprised at the magic in her new wings. Like any sane person, she wondered how a normal human like her grew wings, wings so beautiful that she couldn’t believe her own eyes. She wondered what had she done to deserve such a beautiful pair but then someone quietly whispered, “Throw the caution to the wind & fly away.” Suppressing all her fears about the fall, suppressing all the nagging thoughts of being just a mere human girl, she used her wings. At first, she took them as an illusion but when she flapped them, slowly at first & then rapidly, she tasted the heady cocktail of ecstasy & euphoria. Drunk on that mixture, she frissioned, not knowing that it might turn into her kiss of death, she soared even higher, leaving all her inhibitions below, on the land where the commoners lived. And in just a very short while, she got addicted to the flight like a druggie, not realizing that some things are too good to be true, that maybe those wings, which she found a godsend, were maybe the devil’s prop for her to lose her years of built-up pride & dignity.

So, just when she was about to reach the noble zenith, just when she thought that maybe there is something good left in this world, just when she thought she can trust again, she found herself coming down, at a very fast speed. She realized with a jolt of terror that she was falling, her biggest fear, the nightmare that had always haunted her was coming true right in front of her very own eyes. She could see the unfathomable blue when she looked down. Panicking, she flapped her trustworthy wings but nothing happened. The blue below her kept becoming clearer & it kept coming closer. She flapped harder & looked down again in panic, and then another realization hit her like a truck. As the blue surface became clearer, it dawned upon her that she couldn’t fly anymore because her beautiful ethereal wings had vanished.

But still, she was a warrior, a survivor with a fighter’s mind & she kept hanging onto the tiny loose invisible thread of optimism. She looked around, tried to grasp onto some hope since the wings had abandoned her, but unsurprisingly, all she was able to grasp was disappointment & rejection. And that was when she gave up her fight, when she lost the battle of searching for those wings that were never hers to begin with, so, she stopped waving her hands around like a fool. She stopped panicking. She surrendered.

She could feel the numbness spreading all over her body. She could feel the withdrawal while coming down from that high (pun intended). At that moment, she felt something that she had never felt. Regret. She regretted tasting the drug. She regretted the flight. She regretted him. But above all, she regretted losing herself for a brief coveted bliss. She was ashamed at herself for selling her happiness for those transient wings.

She was falling & she was falling fast, into the deep blue ocean of despair & depression. She looked at her reflection into the clear water & she was stunned at what she saw. She saw the haggard face of a defeated weakling, who got robbed again by the cruel circumstances. A constant thought plagued her, “This wasn’t what I wanted.”

As her body suddenly hit the ocean’s abyss, her eyes widened, the instinct to survive protested but her body was paralyzed by the vision she saw above her – another naïve girl with the same beautiful set of wings, soaring high & high. She could see a part of herself in her guileless smile. She wanted to warn her, but how could she have helped her when she couldn’t even save herself? For a moment, she felt envious of her joy, but knowing the ultimate demise, her envy turned into pity.

Soon, her vision blurred as the water came to rescue her from the torture she was putting herself in by watching the scene unfold in front of her – the gullible girl had what was previously hers & that was the final nail in the coffin of her misery. She closed her eyes, and her heart along with that, effectively blocking out the scene above her. She couldn’t feel a thing even when the water was choking her down; only one thought sustained in her dead body, surfacing on her lips, “Why?”

But the question drowned, just like she did.

Happiness – a mirage ?

Music was blaring loudly in my ears, I was pushing my legs to run even faster, I was feeling a burn inside me, but that burn had nothing to do with the fire inside my head. Earlier that evening, feelings of anger, sadness & resentment, all of them washed over me at once making me depressed & frustrated. I won’t go into the reasons of that but I just stopped sprinting at that moment & tried to take a hold on the storm of emotions which was wrecking my insides. I was breathing roughly, my face was red with exertion & I’m pretty sure I had a monstrous expression on my face due to my inner conflict. I looked around & composed myself a bit. I walked over to a nearby bench & turned off the electro music & sat down.

For a moment, I just sat there in a trance & thought …. WHAT IS HAPPINESS? Is it even real? Or is it just a figment of our imagination? I kept pondering on it until my unripened mind came to the conclusion that happiness is just a notion, varying with each mindset. For some, happiness may come in the form of shopping, it may come in the form of riding an expensive vehicle, for foodies, it may come in delicious dishes, for couch potatoes, it may come in the form of watching television, for alcoholics it may come in the form of booze. You see, everyone has their own definition of happiness. But all of this is just a temporary happiness. A momentary contentment. Not the real deal.

Then I looked it up & according to Merriam Webster, it is – a state of being happy - feeling or showing pleasure or contentment.

Obviously this wasn’t the answer I was searching for, so, I kept on contemplating.

 It was getting dark & then I got up to make a move towards my home. On my way back, I saw two little boys playing with a ball. But what struck me the most was that, they were wearing tattered clothes, bare feet & the ball was also not in a good condition, YET they had joyous expressions on their faces. After seeing that, I mused “was that the actual happiness?”

And then the bulb over my head lit up!!

 “I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.”

 Things like desires, lusts, wants, expectations, greed and comparisons are the weeds checking the growth of happiness into the garden of our life. We should try to eliminate these things out of our lives but, then again, I’m also aware of the human nature of never being satisfied. Throughout our lives, we keep on chasing the intangible figment of happiness. We keep looking for it in transient things without realizing that big things like happiness cannot be fitted into the boxes of materialism.  The real happiness lies within you. When you have made peace with what you have, with your surroundings, with your life, most importantly, with YOURSELF, happiness will make itself known right then. People spend their entire lives searching for “that” contentment, we keep on looking for happiness outside whereas it is right here with us, all we need to do is open our eyes & take a look inside.

“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”

- NATAHNIEL HAWTHORNE

EPIPHANIES IN TRIFLES

I was doing my annual closet clean-up & it was like I had opened my own Pandora’s Box. So many things, that, I did not even know I had, came out of their hide. And a typical “girl-y” girl that I was, I had plethora of knick-knacks from my toddler years till date; hair-clips, brooches, hearts, butterflies… you name it & I had it. But with each pretty trinket, I had an equally pretty memory attached & I don’t even think that I need to mention what kind of memories I'm talking about.
For example, my first pink flowery wrist-watch, my first bottle of perfume, which by the way, was also pink with a Barbie tag on its neck, my first vanity box, my first clutch… the list is endless. {P.s – I'm sure all the ladies will be able to relate, sorry boys!}

Looking at my cherished collection of childhood made me nostalgic & transported me to my former years. For a moment, I just sat there, surrounded by my “girl-y stuff”, lost in the memory lane of innocence… and then, when I snapped out of my haze of memories, I started pondering whether to keep all those remnants of a young naïve Pratibha or to simply throw them away. I was in a dilemma & couldn't decide. On one hand, they were only lifeless, useless things occupying space & catching dust in my closet, while, on the other hand, they were the most precious jewels, the collection of my lifetime & I didn't want to part with them as I felt that they were a part of me, what I've become today. All in all, they were priceless in both ways.

But then, I had an epiphany. In that very trivial experience, I learnt one of the most fundamental lessons of life: Happiness in life can be achieved only if we maintain a balance on the fine line of “letting go” & “holding on”. But then again, it’s easier said than done. & I’ll be completely honest with you guys, I still didn't part with all of them, though, I did muster up some courage to set aside many of them but I still kept some of them with me.
So even in life, we should remember to hold onto the good things. But then, it is also necessary to let go because sometimes, the destiny might have better plans in store for you. Be optimistic. Believe in your fate. Maybe the destiny has planned better trinkets for you, maybe it has planned better memories for you to make & maybe the destiny has planned a better future for you. Who knows?

So, before you make your final decision, ask yourself, “Is it worth your time? Worth your energy? Worth holding on to?” & if still you can’t make up your mind, then, simply toss a coin; it works not because it settles the question for you, but because in that brief moment, when the coin is in the air, you suddenly know what you are hoping for & you shall have your answer.
So, be it a person or a memory or anything else that is significant, we SHOULD maintain a balance between everything in our life. And this perhaps, is the most significant stepping stone to a happy & peaceful life.

& as Henry Ellis said –

   “ALL THE ART OF LIVING LIES IN A FINE MINGLING OF LETTING GO & HOLDING ON.”