The Walker

He used to walk every day in the morning… He has been doing more than 30 years! For 30 years he had been walking the same streets every day… People at times thought he was too old to still be able to walk… Not everybody at his age where able to walk… This fellow seemed determined…

Sharp at 6.30 AM, he would be brisking through the streets, some women used be cleaning their frontal area of the houses… a typical custom in south India… almost everyone in the streets recognised him… He was a legend… people could tell the time by seeing him across the streets…

He had a bent back… age did show up in his face… but not in his walk… The determination in his walk was evident… He never needed support to walk… never did he see down nor behind… he surged like a ship… mighty!

The girl had just finished her letter… she had penned every word in the letter at haste… She did not know what she was doing was right… But for her there appeared no choice… She had to do it… She did not sleep all night… the sun was showing up at the east… If it was to be done, it was now! She made the arrangements… These were her last moments alive… Made a last glance at her pet dog through the window… and stepped up a chair and tied the fatal knot around her neck…

Another glance at her pet dog… the window was bright with light… It was summer and the day break was early… Time to say good bye… she lifted her leg to push off the chair… A faint view behind her pet was a man lying on the road… She made an attempt to see him… What difference does it make…? Another glance…

He had fallen down… holding his chest… Something was wrong… he could not scream… or may be he did not want to scream… The girl was next to him… holding his head on her lap…! His face was old… his eyes were shining… she saw his eyes… it did not show pain… It did not show fear… It was calm… there was no scream… He is dead said a person standing in the crowd… The girl had seen him everyday since the time she knew anything…

It was 6.30 AM, the street was empty but the sun was up on the east… The girl was out in the street… she was walking with determination… with confidence… she will live… she will walk… she personified possibility…!

Am I Different?

“Yes… I am unique… I am different” – Proclaimed a person who gives me most of my crazy thoughts. I usually take him for granted… I don’t question him much… But one day when he was trumpeting too much on this, I asked him… In what way are you so unique?

“I did schooling along with so many people, you succeeded some times… failed many times… jus as any other person…”

“I went to college… did my graduation… I did well in academics as well as non academic activities…” so what… there are so many people who have been able to do that…

“I worked for a small company… learnt quickly… was a good performer… good ratings and people knew I am capable…” so what… there are numerous people who have learnt much faster…

“I joined an MBA school… with just about a year’s experience I was able to come out as one of the toppers and got special appreciation for the project done there…” what difference does it make… there are people in even better MBA schools… who are of same category…

He was out of words… “What else have I done…” he murmured…

“Ah yes… I created a website for myself before I was 15…” hmmm... so what… you did become some Bill Gates or someone…

“I can paint… I can act… I can write…” some can do much better… forget it…

“Hey… I have always done some thing which was not expected out of me… No one thought I would become the topper in school… neither in college… neither in B-School…” well… what is the point…

Well… in the above snippet… I end up being both the protagonist and antagonist… Are people destined to be different after all… why nature should create people who are unique…? I can see so many animals… trees… birds… insects… do I say that this only little bee is so unique from every other bee on earth? May be not…

We have heard so much about men seeking immortality… glory… honour… destiny… words which have made people do things which are so weird to comprehend from nature’s point of view… “Hey… why did that guy go almost half through the world killing and ruining everything in his way?”… “What is he trying to do by spending so many hours of his precious life reading and writing?”… In a quest to establish the uniqueness or achieve something called self actualisation… Oh yeah… Self Actualisation… or Destiny…

I would ask… were we destined really destined to be unique?