DISCLAIMER: The events, characters depicted in this article are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead(or somewhere in between) is purely coincidental.
-"I am going Kanu. Take care of yourself. Get your frame repaired. Wake up on time. I will miss being your alarm clock and your stabilizer."
-"Hey HEY Hey, don't do this. Is it really necessary? No. Nai..(gets interrupted)."
-"Just promise me one thing. Do not stop in life. Atleast do this for me." (blocked).
In my school life, I read this short story called "The Postmaster." It had one highly impactful line: "In life, there will be many separations, many deaths. What point was there in looking back? Who belonged to whom in this world?"
Easier read than done, what followed the separation above was nothing short of a tragic time for Kanu. It was a tragedy. In fact, let us put the first two letters in CAPS to give an idea of its magnitude. T.R.agedy. The year was nearing its end and Kanu never thought that he would have such a disastrous end to the year. You see, there is always one go-to friend, who is always there for you and keeps those secrets of yours which you are hesitant to share even with your family. For instance, suppose you had a bad day. Some of us aren't comfortable with opening it up with our parents, thinking they will feel stressed on getting to know about your bad mood. So you share all of that with your "go-to-friend." For Kanu, that go-to friend was gone. A blanket of loneliness surrounded him. Of course he had 2-3 great friends or rather brothers who were occasional shareholders of his tragedy. But some feelings can never be expressed in words and hence, can never be shared. His nights were unbearable. His feet were cold most of the times and often he would wake up from a happy dream at around 2-3 AM, only to realize the harsh reality that whatever happy moments he saw in the dream do not exist anymore. The very next morning, the marks of tears were evident on his cheeks.
But life had to go on, right? So Kanu decided to focus on what lied ahead of him. An all-important academic project, an exam for higher studies, a contest, etc. He did prepare for them and performed satisfactorily in every field. Seeing his usual smile, it was easy to overlook the storm that baffled inside his mind. The code of his life had a line added to it:
void Heart() throwsHappinessException
Woah woah! This line looks strange. Let me explain. His heart now had a big void. He did achieve things post the T.R.agedy, but still his sense of happiness was incomplete, as the person he often attributed his success to, was missing. The preparation for all the exams and events mentioned above wasn't a bed of roses. It's not the goodbyes that hurt. It's the flashbacks that follow. Kanu's journey was filled with thorns of flashbacks. He would start each day on a positive note, but his plans would often get ruined if he heard a sad song, seen a woman wearing an identical kurta etc. These gave rise to those flashbacks. Relapse of lost-self-esteem and grief followed. No eating. No water. Thanks to his wise friends who stopped him from entering the territory of self-destruction. He would cry it all out. Then, he would wipe off his tears and ask himself this question: "I may have lost a precious thing. But what did I learn out of it? What did I gain from this T.R.agedy?" The answer to that was simple. A T.R.easure. A Promise to Keep. "Do not stop in life. At least do this for me."
People often take promises in courts by putting their hands on a holy book. What he had was black clip. Holding it with moist eyes, he promised never to stop in life, the least he could do for his vanished friend. Now the question is, why am I narrating a tragic story of Kanu? This is to make you realize that: Some T.R.agedies have a T.R.easure hidden inside them. Try your best to explore that T.R.easure. Sometimes, moving on may seem very hard. But this T.R.easure will at least start a process. A process of learning from the past. A process of building a strong foundation of achievements to come in the future.
Even today, in an entirely new environment, Kanu still sees many pair of people together, walking hand in hand, eating in restaurants together, doing all he had done with his companion in the past. Do the clouds of flashback still surround him? Yes they do, but Kanu never lets them pour the rain of grief. Thanks to his umbrella: His Promise of never stopping in life. His T.R.easure. An unstoppable Kanu is still hopeful for a bright future. Companion or not, he is faring well in his hunt of becoming self-sufficient and his quest of moving on. The void in his heart is yet to be filled and he is trying to fix it by achieving more and more. A Companion (old or new) will just add icing to the cake. But right now, Kanu prefers enjoying this tasty cake of life without any icing on it. More power to all Kanu's out there. Use this pain as your gain.
-"I am going Kanu. Take care of yourself. Get your frame repaired. Wake up on time. I will miss being your alarm clock and your stabilizer."
-"Hey HEY Hey, don't do this. Is it really necessary? No. Nai..(gets interrupted)."
-"Just promise me one thing. Do not stop in life. Atleast do this for me." (blocked).
In my school life, I read this short story called "The Postmaster." It had one highly impactful line: "In life, there will be many separations, many deaths. What point was there in looking back? Who belonged to whom in this world?"
Easier read than done, what followed the separation above was nothing short of a tragic time for Kanu. It was a tragedy. In fact, let us put the first two letters in CAPS to give an idea of its magnitude. T.R.agedy. The year was nearing its end and Kanu never thought that he would have such a disastrous end to the year. You see, there is always one go-to friend, who is always there for you and keeps those secrets of yours which you are hesitant to share even with your family. For instance, suppose you had a bad day. Some of us aren't comfortable with opening it up with our parents, thinking they will feel stressed on getting to know about your bad mood. So you share all of that with your "go-to-friend." For Kanu, that go-to friend was gone. A blanket of loneliness surrounded him. Of course he had 2-3 great friends or rather brothers who were occasional shareholders of his tragedy. But some feelings can never be expressed in words and hence, can never be shared. His nights were unbearable. His feet were cold most of the times and often he would wake up from a happy dream at around 2-3 AM, only to realize the harsh reality that whatever happy moments he saw in the dream do not exist anymore. The very next morning, the marks of tears were evident on his cheeks.
But life had to go on, right? So Kanu decided to focus on what lied ahead of him. An all-important academic project, an exam for higher studies, a contest, etc. He did prepare for them and performed satisfactorily in every field. Seeing his usual smile, it was easy to overlook the storm that baffled inside his mind. The code of his life had a line added to it:
void Heart() throwsHappinessException
Woah woah! This line looks strange. Let me explain. His heart now had a big void. He did achieve things post the T.R.agedy, but still his sense of happiness was incomplete, as the person he often attributed his success to, was missing. The preparation for all the exams and events mentioned above wasn't a bed of roses. It's not the goodbyes that hurt. It's the flashbacks that follow. Kanu's journey was filled with thorns of flashbacks. He would start each day on a positive note, but his plans would often get ruined if he heard a sad song, seen a woman wearing an identical kurta etc. These gave rise to those flashbacks. Relapse of lost-self-esteem and grief followed. No eating. No water. Thanks to his wise friends who stopped him from entering the territory of self-destruction. He would cry it all out. Then, he would wipe off his tears and ask himself this question: "I may have lost a precious thing. But what did I learn out of it? What did I gain from this T.R.agedy?" The answer to that was simple. A T.R.easure. A Promise to Keep. "Do not stop in life. At least do this for me."
People often take promises in courts by putting their hands on a holy book. What he had was black clip. Holding it with moist eyes, he promised never to stop in life, the least he could do for his vanished friend. Now the question is, why am I narrating a tragic story of Kanu? This is to make you realize that: Some T.R.agedies have a T.R.easure hidden inside them. Try your best to explore that T.R.easure. Sometimes, moving on may seem very hard. But this T.R.easure will at least start a process. A process of learning from the past. A process of building a strong foundation of achievements to come in the future.
Even today, in an entirely new environment, Kanu still sees many pair of people together, walking hand in hand, eating in restaurants together, doing all he had done with his companion in the past. Do the clouds of flashback still surround him? Yes they do, but Kanu never lets them pour the rain of grief. Thanks to his umbrella: His Promise of never stopping in life. His T.R.easure. An unstoppable Kanu is still hopeful for a bright future. Companion or not, he is faring well in his hunt of becoming self-sufficient and his quest of moving on. The void in his heart is yet to be filled and he is trying to fix it by achieving more and more. A Companion (old or new) will just add icing to the cake. But right now, Kanu prefers enjoying this tasty cake of life without any icing on it. More power to all Kanu's out there. Use this pain as your gain.
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