Cutting across is not easy.

It has been quite long that I wrote something. I believe, not to boast about it though; my writing skills have considerably improved. May be I can attribute it to the skin deep analysis of things which tends to get a conclusion at the second or the third layer. I know I should go deep into the flesh for a comprehensive understanding of a situation and a logical inference. But the mind, the state in which it is right now; probably refuses to strain itself any further.

With lot of things happening around, some new and the rest routine, I usually get lost between the second and the third layers. Meeting new people is definitely something new. When you are meeting new people almost every week, the activity becomes a routine. I am not complaining about it, definitely not. It is exciting. It is complex. When you meet a person for the first time, you start sketching him/ her in your own book. I am not a very different person either, I too maintain my own book filled with such sketches;the book of “First impression”.

Ok, now don’t get too excited. It is not about a beautiful girl whom I met, sorry, saw (Ok! Whom I saw) at the Gandhi Bazaar Circle after a brilliant Capsicum Puffs (Read it as: Cyapsikam Pupps) at the Srinivasa bakery DVG road. Although you are free to make certain assumptions on this matter and voice your opinion, I shall take it all positively hoping for some such thing to happen. Ok, let me stop sounding desperate and let me move on. But before that, one free advice: Don’t miss a walk on the D.V.G road on a Sunday evening. You will know when you reach the Gandhi Bazaar Circle that your life is blessed.

Welcoming fresher’s at our workplace was good. New faces at work; not that I was bored till then, It was just new energy coming in. But after nearly a year and a half, both work and life settles into a finely woven routine. You will never miss wearing it. And this becomes tremendously irritating overtime. You need to live with it. But for it taking care of my living, the itch is highly unbearable. Even though it is all happy at the outset, there is definitely a zero decibel cry in the background.

This has become quite a problem now; throwing stones in the air,whacking the heck out of the water in the tub in my bathroom,sleeping late and waking up late, just in time for work. You are physically stressed out, even without doing the smallest activity such as picking a piece of waste paper and throwing it into the dustbin. God! Every time, you end up spending all your energy to motivate yourself. It is a bigger irritation when you realize that all of it is going waste. Back to square one. 

A routine stop on the by-lane for some rest from the rough highway is not that bad an idea; especially when you are travelling on a path that you know for sure that it will lead you nowhere.  The body and mind has got its beating all through till now. At this point I should remember our Shankar Mahadevan singing for a commercial on the television “mind and body, heart and soul”. The state of my mind and body is pretty clear right now. About the heart; it is pretty much intact I guess and the soul, if there is one I am hoping for it to be pure. And speaking about by-lane rests, the mind definitely goes in search of inner peace and the body behind rest. When the stars shine and suddenly the clouds cover it, you eventually end up settling for a silver lining. At least till the clouds move past it. And after the by-lane rest, you continue travelling on the rough highway.

And that my friends, is what is called as too much cribbing for one’s goddamn life.

Anyway looking at the brighter side of life, it has always been in doubt trying to understand its own direction, rather trying to bull’s eye on its destination. And this state is not too bright is it? So, where am I after all this nonsense? I find myself trying to understand the nuances in life and trying to get rid of the itch. Going behind that one idea you believe in, turns out to be not so easy. The amount of risk involved is definitely beyond quantifiable measure,but not beyond Human imagination.

Everything we think of, we are capable of living it. Sometimes people say you need to take calculated risks. I do accept this fact in the world of business. But in life, to take a risk, the limitations become very prominent and the assumptions you make become very critical. This is the time when imagination beats calculation. Follow your heart, they say. Also as Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam says it is a crime if you don’t dream big.

Anyway, when travelling the path that you desired for, you don’t mind a rough patch here and there as long as you are sure it will take you to the desired destination. When the tyres are out of air and the fuel has drained out you need to have the strength to get out of the car and start walking, not back home, but to your destination. And the risk that you will be intending to accept here is quite beyond calculations unless you know the terrain and the route.

Well, the thought process takes a different flow altogether at this point. It tries to pull you down. It wants you to lead a normal life. It wants you to settle. And when you don’t try to sync with it, that is when you start your journey and hopefully it turns out to be all exciting. To bear the fruit at the end of it all is highly dependent on how you manage to walk the path less traveled.

All this is definitely motivating. Although it might seem a bit overloaded and heavy, it is definitely factual. To get a concurrence on this matter, you need to play the time game. Patience is the key to success we’ve been told. Sometimes when the going gets tough, it is very natural to loose calm but it requires great composure and temperament to successfully move on. Considering all this, one is pushed to take the risk, in one single life that one has. It is all so easy to speak about following your dream, as I have done here. I am totally aware of the consequences of taking that big leap towards the intended destination.

The problem with me and I can assume with lot of us right now, is that we all want to travel both the paths. The one less travelled seems exciting but not welcoming; the other is initially exciting but too crowded and plenty of people out there to welcome you on board. With more people comes security. And we finally settle. As Al Pacino says in the movie Scent of a Woman - When shit hits the fan, most of the people run for cover. Just imagine the scene when it is completely crowded, barely any place to stand. You are definitely pushing the person next to you and going for cover. But when you realize that you do not need security based on dependence, you cannot expect support amongst the crowd around you. You need to wade through the hustle alone, and get along on the right path.

When you think you are ready to take the big leap, take it. You might have to still travel the old path to cover up some dues or extract any vital proteins and vitamins out of the almost dry roots in it. Nevertheless, when the destination is clear and the direction is known, you can slowly but steadily cut across.