What we desire...

It's good to be free. We all want freedom. But freedom from what? Constraints, of course. We all know that. But what most of us fail to recognise is the scope and reach of the idea of 'constraints' as used in this context. We may have dreamt of a beautiful future. Under certain circumstances, that dream may come crashing down. What would we feel during such a situation? Disappointment. Distress. Frustration. Anger. Despair. Dejection. I think we would also feel a certain sense of freedom - that of being freed from the pressures of having to work toward that dream. People have spoken about the need to have big dreams and to work toward them with zeal. Looking at it from another perspective (at the risk of being branded a cynical pessimist), are we not burdening ourselves with a huge responsibility of realizing our dreams? So, when a stage is reached where the dreams cannot come true (fine, nothing is impossible and all that, but there are times when certain things cannot happen without certain compromises, and it is very much possible that certain individuals would not be willing to make those compromises), aren't we being freed of a certain load? Isn't that a certain kind of freedom? So, maybe things like being fired, breaking up, getting broke etc. aren't really that bad. Maybe, they only give us what we all most desire...

P.S. : I am not theorizing anything here. This is just a small thought. And I am not saying that it is useless to have dreams. Rather, I am suggesting there is a life even beyond what one considers one's biggest dream.

So, what's the name of the game?

Why do we try to find a pattern to the ways of life when all we have to do is acknowledge a simple fact that it is all random? Given the unconscionable inquisitiveness embedded in us, it is not difficult to understand one's urge to know about one's future - what rank will I get in the second term unit test, where will I earn my first salary, how many of my kids will be female...Since its easy to illustrate the randomness involved in determining the answer to the last question, we'll consider the first one. Unless the kid is talking to one of those deified souls whose minds travel ahead of time, the answer should be "I don't know!". If the person (read father, mother, grandfather and the like) feels slightly more obligated to giving an elaborate reply, it would be something like "Depends on how well you study, [insert the colloquial version of the benign child address] ". So is that it?! Study well and get a good rank? Wish it was that simple! So what else does it take?! To make our job easy, we'll consider all kids of the class to be of equal intelligence. Then, our answer would've to depend on how much the others study, how much the teacher likes our kid, and more importantly, how much she likes the others, how quickly our kid writes his answers (don't forget he's got to complete the paper!), how annoying the 'friend' sitting next to him is, how healthy he is during the tests, how much of what he studied he actually bothered to remember, so on and so forth.

Lame as the previous statement may seem to be, the point being made here is that every small occurrence in our lives is influenced by a myriad factors - few in our control and many beyond us. And most of those factors that are beyond us are at the mercy of fellow humans - Tada! Now we know where they enter our lives! So, determining what would happen to you would essentially have to take into account what would happen to every other individual you encounter throughout your life. Now, how easy is that?! Would your astrologer at least be able to tell you how many people you encountered on your way to his place and how they affected your journey?

The name of the game is 'random'. If you're someone who is really happy about the way your life has turned out, then kid, you're a rare piece! But remember, its random. [Smirk] If you're someone who thinks you've not got your due, well then join the club! In either case, my dear fellow being, get a life and give your astrologer a break. Peace!