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Zest for Life


The ability to view each day as our favourite day would be one of the best possessions we can have.  Looking at the crack of day with renewed zest as well as gratitude, breathing in the smell of freshly mowed grass on the campus, and watching the new buds on the roses are a few of the blessings I begin my days with.  There are many gifts that life brings every day helping me surmount the cynicism tickled up by various reports in the newspapers and the television channels. 

Life is magnanimous enough to bring occasional, unusual surprises too.  A meeting I happened to attend just a fortnight back was one such experience.  I wrote a blog about it to celebrate the joy it added to my life.  The city of Delhi which invariably comes across in the news reports as a place of ruthless selfishness and heartless rat race revealed a new face to me that day.  I witnessed the city’s altruism, the readiness to render help to the needy and the oppressed irrespective of religious or ideological affiliations. 

My optimism that floats nimbly above the grimness and sordidness of the reality is born of simple things such as that meeting. It is the optimism that Howard Zinn erected “on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.”  What we choose to emphasise will determine the course of our life, added Zinn.  We can choose to love even when we see hatred spreading its tentacles.  We can choose to help others in spite of the mounting egotism all around.  Utopia need not be a romantic dream; our little deeds of goodness create our little utopia. 

Days after that meeting of the NGO, there is one face that refuses to fade from my memory.  It is the smiling face of a young girl of about twelve years.  She was the anchor for a small part of the meeting: the cultural programme put up by the children who were some of the beneficiaries of the NGO’s programmes in Delhi. She stood on the stage wearing a white gown and a beaming smile.  While introducing the song and the dance she spoke about what the NGO did for her people.  She didn’t rattle out any litany of deeds and achievements.  Her words were expressions of joy, an idiom of the zest for life that welled up from deep within, an ode to unflinching optimism. 

Such spirit is contagious.  Such spirit connects people with one another in ways that are perhaps intangible.  That spirit is like the rain which originates vaporously on the earth and then returns to its birthplace giving it renewed vigour.

Inspired by the Look Up theme of Housing.



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Comments

  1. Nima DasMarch 5, 2015 at 7:31 PM

    Sometimes we do come across such occasions in our every day lives, when our faith is renewed and we optimistically hope for good things to happen.Little things that add joy to our mundane lives.Another beautiful piece of writing ,sir,salute!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 5, 2015 at 7:41 PM

      Thanks for the salute, Nima :)

      Such occasions make our life worthwhile, meaningful.

      Delete
  2. Roohi BhatnagarMarch 6, 2015 at 10:43 AM

    The ability to choose only goodness in everything is optimism and it is irrespective of our circumstances. It is the biggest gift that anyone can possess. I am trying my best to achieve that state. Your post is again another piece of beautiful writing that is provoking my thoughts to choose only goodness in plethora of negativity around..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 6, 2015 at 1:49 PM

      Truly, Roohi, it is a great gift. I don't think I possess it though I'm trying my best to cultivate it. Reality comes creeping around us much as we try to rise above it :)

      I'm thankful for whatever pleasant experiences come my way.

      Delete
  3. Anita SabatMarch 6, 2015 at 1:10 PM

    Truly.
    Enthusiasm is infectious. Hope we all are optimistic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 6, 2015 at 1:50 PM

      It's a choice, in the end, Anita. We choose optimism or cynicism.

      Delete

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