Life and its tragedies

Here I am once again, chilling at home and writing to all of you who're reading this. Hope you're all havin' a great time and I wish the subsequent speculation makes you want NOT to be having that 'great' time, and for the better, make you more insightful than you were.

No, I'm not going to talk about the so-not-fair life of people, nor am I going to exhort-ate the bitter and somber certainties of life. I'm sure not going to sermon any grief of unfulfilled wishes or broken friendships. Perhaps, I'll leave you heavy-hearted. But, I strongly wish to make you cry.

The "Detroit of India", Chennai is my home for another two and a half years. The fourth metropolis of India. This one time, in the noon I was travelling by the local train, wanting to reach Central. I was happy and my ordinary self that day when this happened: A beggar lady with probably a five/six months old child in her arms and another girl, probably 4/5 years old sat down on the floor of the train. The girl looked cold and pale and shriveled. The mother had but a face enervated with indifference. She wanted pity, sympathy and of course money. She had a duffel kinda bag hanging on her right arm from which she removed some paraphernalia- a steel bowl and a long thin metal rod. She began to tap the bowl with the rod, trying to make it sound systematic and rhythmic. Slowly she caught a tune and played it while her 5-year old daughter danced to the composition. She performed child stunts like wheelcarts, rolls and flexing her entire body through a metal ring. Once the show was over, the mother handed over the bowl to her and this girl with her forbearing eyes started to ask for money from the audience travelling. I continued to stare at her thinking and only thinking. I slowly took out a five ruppee coin and put it in her bowl. She smiled.

Perhaps, that is my enunciation this time. Helplessness. That girl was helpless, so was her mother and so was that tiny little baby in her arms. With great introspection, I kept looking at her, thinking of whether 'the dancer girl', I'd call her, will ever be able to wear good clothes, taste rich food, travel the world, maybe use a good phone or learn the Alphabet. I wondered if she will ever share her dreams or express her love for something. I wondered whether she'll ever know about the Internet or whether she watched movies or read books or listened to music. I wanted to know what was happiness to her. And for that moment I wished I had all the money in the world to give that innocent little child things she never even knew existed. I was helpless. The world is a helpless place.

For all one knows, this may not be a big deal because these are not rare sights in our country. But have you ever noticed, or reflected or contemplated or wished you could do something great for such people? I have. I say, don't be selfish to think you're too lucky you are not in their place.

That reminds me of Walt Whitman's poem from the Leaves of Grass, titled 'I sit and look out'. The last few lines are:

I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these—All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look out upon,
See, hear, and am silent. What more? The dancer girl and the mother with her young one, with their money, I'd like to call it their piece of pie, got down the train as it halted, waiting for another.

To new beginnings.

 "When the past echoes in your heart; there, right there is your new beginning."

So, I am here writing my first blog entry. I wanted to write a blog since I was in my tenth grade, but oh! books have kept me busy ever since. A college student and nineteen, a hogger and foodie, one with wanderlust, one who loves to write, and the one who LOVES, -yes, you got me right with those Capital Letters- taking pictures. That, is whose blog you are reading right now. So, here is to new beginnings and unkempt pasts. Here is to, crazy philosophies and a lot of stupidity. Here is to friendships to always be kept. Here is to the gigantic dreams you and I see, Here is to make them come true. And here is to the forever days of happiness and joy yet to come!

When you've worked hard all day, you're exhausted and fatigued, and when you return home, you eat and sleep. As you wake up to the first ray of sunshine that enters through the window and hits your eye, you smile for a new day and a new opportunity. That is a new beginning.

When you pass from one grade level to another. That is a new beginning.

When you're lost, broken and shattered. When you give up and give in to everything that ever made you smile, and you find someone to share your feelings with, someone to help you, guide you, and make you feel alive- That is a new beginning. 

This blog, is a new beginning.

A simple "hello" can lead to million things. That is a new beginning.

You live, you graduate, you work, you earn, you get married, you have children, you age. These are new beginnings.

You die. That is a new beginning.

To start afresh doesn't mean that you've let go the past. To start new doesn't mean that you gave up on older things. To start new doesn't mean you were hurt and you didn't have the strength to go on. To begin only means you value what you have. To start new only means that you deserve better than what you got. And, to start new only shows that you can forgive easily and you have a big heart!

It's a big big big world, and what you have is very less time. So don't let it go, keep holdin' on. Grab on to it. Tight. Very tight. Scream for what you want and work hard equally. And don't panic. Let things begin each day, each moment, let them open up to you. Watch, trust, believe in yourself and make a move. 

Look around the world, every moment is a new unfolding. Every passing minute is a fresh opportunity to make the most of NOW. To live it all up and to never give up. And when you will see these moments around you, and when these reflections in your eyes become thoughts of your mind, you will want to begin.