Its like a rhythmic discharge of one's duties consciously,unconsciously and sub-consciously for ages together,in many different ways,at all given times.... Moms : Preach & Kids : Scream!
SO evidently enough,the preach show had begun and our smooth and sweet dessert like-phase of peaches and cream was sort of punctuated with occasional not-so-smooth-p(r)each(es) and (s)cream(s)!It was necessary at times to unleash the preachy-self i decided,to justify my mommy-ness and it was necessary the kids thought to unleash their screamy-selves to justify their kid-ness !
Nonetheless,the stories with morals,anecdotes from the past and the wisdom of ages(haha) kept flowing time and again to keep them on track.. but what i was about to tell them was a one self sufficient tale which had the bottomline,moral,teaching and preaching of all the other stories.. No,it wasn't the story of How I Met Their Father but it was a story leading up-to the story of how,i did in fact,meet him too later in life..
Kids,so it started in the monsoon of the historic-all important-most memorable year 2010,on one fine morning,when your favorite Aunt Wormy asked me a question regarding the internship application she was filling out for THE FIRM of the country in our times.And i answered rather strongly by saying that i'm glad that i never went there to sell my soul to those losers!And she instantly replied "dont say that!" in your typical Aunt Wormy style.Her point being that everyone who went there,did so for a different reason.Which, i totally agreed with and that is when it hit me. The fact. How could i not see it before?? It was so clear looking at me in the face.How could i miss it?!
Kids as you already know,2010 was my year of transition,the year i crossed the finish-line of law school and was sent off to become a lawyer. A Very Real Lawyer. In the big bad Very Real World. Full of things to do and opportunities to be grabbed. And your Aunt Wormy still had two more years to go before she hit the finish line.When i was there,where she was,i did the exact same thing which she did,filled out the internship application(like everyone who goes to law school with you does!)to THE FIRM.There was one thing about THE FIRM, and the likes,which everyone knew.That is--it was a place meant for ultimate corporate-cut throat-workaholic-competitive-top notch-most high strung variety of people.It was bitter but true then and true even now.Still all we wanted,well most of us,was atleast one stint at THE FIRM.One internship to see how it was to be THERE.To feel what THEY felt.And see if you fit in THERE.Knowing the truth it was not hard to imagine how you would be in a place like that.People with real mettle and of course,those up for all those qualities,got in there.When i filled out the application it felt like an ideal situation,I knew i wasn't cut for a place like THAT and i wasn't going to go there and work in the future but what the hell,IT was THE FIRM,THE opportunity,THE ideal-internship-way to be there and still not BE there..all in all,the math said it would be like..THE Experience.
So if 2008-me thought like that,what had happened to the 2010-me??What could 've possibly happened in only two years?? I was just the same person.And then.. It struck me like a bolt of lightning.. Two words Kids,the answer had only two words.. Time & Experience.
Yes,times had changed. And now that they had,the experiences that I would've wanted to have or could've had then,aren't the same that i would want to have now.I was on the other side and there was now no time to experiment with things which i was so sure i wasn't cut for,no loss situation i was in then was gone now,if i chose to work there now,i'd BE there.LIVE that life i dreaded.Have no life or time to even enjoy the oodles of moolah i was earning.But then again this choice was MINE. And only mine.Aunt Wormy still had two years to go before she would have to make a choice like me,between her experiences.And so does everyone ,at every stage and time of life.
Life is a sojourn of experiences but the tricky thing there is that,it is impossible for one human being to have in his/her one life,all the experiences of the world.And the non tricky,most simple and quite obvious and the BEST thing is that..Nobody even expects you to have a life which looks like a ridiculous menu card of ALL the experiences in the world! Thats when this silly choice making and stupid weighing options come into play.With times,priorities change,preferences change,circumstances change and with them change the experiences one can afford to have or are wise to have!Something which is the best sometime back might not even be the worst thing to do sometime later.It all happens with time.
There are a plethora of experiments and experiences in the world but they should be taken and done at just about the right time to make all the difference in one's life.Then again there are experiences which might be allowed to one by their religion or ethics or family tradition and not allowed to the others by virtue of the same..like eating pork is prohibited by those that follow Islam or eating beef by those that practice Hinduism or eating anything non vegetarian by the Jains.These might be experiences for a person who is not a Muslim or a Hindu or a Jain but they are experiences nonetheless which aren't considered good by some,they might do it irrespective of knowing its prohibition for them but that is the choice that they make.There are experiences of a more personal than religious nature,that are more basic than staunch,more simple than any others,like those of getting the adrenalin rush by extreme sports,or doing those crazy fear factor stunts,eating worms and reptiles of all sorts,doing the man v.wild if given a chance.. they are experiences no doubt.But would you like to have them? yes,may be when you are 20 and looking for something absolutely crazy and adventurous and absurd to do..YES. but will that yes still be a yes when you hit 30 ? 40? 50? nada!
The change from drinkers to teetotalers,from chain smokers to non smokers,from non vegetarians to vegans,from leading a copy book playboy style life to being celibate..Speaks of Change and choices one makes.Thats the change in choice,when you might want to do something that you absolutely couldn't think of doing when you were 20 and wanted to have those crazy experiences..One should not aim at doing or having everything for that would be the act of not the wise but of the otherwise! Choose your experiences and choose them right and most importantly at the right time so it gives you the maximum pleasure that it ought to.
Aunt Wormy was on that lucky stage of life when she could afford to have that experience and see if she fitted in but mom on the other hand was not looking at her one month stint anywhere anymore,she was looking at something more "her" and more interesting than a boring stereotypical corporate experience at that stage of her life!Time had passed when THAT could've been THE experience but now the time was for something less experimental..something more stable and something more suited to who I was.
So Kids,as you already know,in the winter that year,Aunt Wormy went on to experience her one month stint at THE FIRM,to see how things worked at THE BEST place ever in THE BEST way ever and if she could fall back upon them for more than a month in the next internship season.. and mom? mom went on to do .. what she thought was THE BEST for her,that time !! And shall we say now..All's well that ends well !! :)
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