LIF101:Introduction to Life.

An amazing thought just struck me this morning as I woke up on a foggy day for a good-for-nothing half an hour lecture from a seriously good-for-nothing professer and since I cannot even go back to sleep now, I decided to reflect further on it. Isn't it astonishing that we spend an enormous chunk of our tiny lives in trying to understand what life really is, in simply making an effort to comprehend bits and pieces of it and in trying to regulate it when somewhere within we know that after a point life is beyond regulation and control by us? I don't know about the rest of the world, and I couldn't care less, but I realise I do engage in all these vain efforts. (And I would take solace from the fact that Í'm definitely not the only soul on this planet who does that, so silliness has company!). Many argue, and perhaps rightly so, that all this is totally pseudo-intellectual thought and activity, and I won't exactly disagree on that either. But frankly, I don't mind it even if it is totally fraudulent and pointless, because somewhere for me, there IS a point.
I have spent the last two days mainly finishing off my hostel magazine work(which is now done and the magazine should finally be out by Monday. Yippee!!), doing a bit of JAMming (my club event, which we stood third in. Yippee again!!) and thinking, alongwith two extremely satisfying conversations with people I really admire( and who've helped me think better, Yippee once more!!). I realise how much of what is written by all those who like writing(going by all the articles I was editing and all the blogs I have forever been reading) and how much of what is thought by all those who don't mind the pseudo-ism is simply about Life. Theirs, of those around them, and of mankind in general. The enigma is captivating, because hardly anybody sounds any closer to a satisfying permanent understanding of life even after centuries of treading the dead path. And because no package, no buy-one-get-one-free deal, no marketing strategist's brilliant innovation matches "life" for it's ability to be a COMPLETE package, paisa-vasool types. It's got just about everything, and more, that one may need or can think of. Perhaps that's the reason most customers don't get bored of it (or maybe it's just lack of alternatives!)
I have always believed 'happiness', in some way or the other, is the ultimate aim of anything and everything we ever do. Even when we are nice to someone and really kind and selfless, it's just because it makes us feel nice about ourselves, for we believe we have done a good thing. And in this theory-of-selfishness, as I like to call it, everything else including money, success, love etc is simply a by-product, if anything at all. I also think that the one thing that would gives us maximum happiness is when we are able to make somebody else happy, even if that happiness is ephemeral. It's immensely satisfying, and that is why people often go to great lengths in doing things for the sake of the happiness of those they care for. That is why I would do a lot of things for some of the people I love, and cannot bear unhappy. It's not pity, it's not sacrifice, it's in a way plainly selfish, but I don't think it's bad in any way at all. Infact I wish everything in this world works on this principle.
Sometimes we overlook the fact that little things, small thoughtful acts bring immense happiness to people, that eventually comes back to us only. For example, try something I recently started doing: Next time you go for say an auto/taxi/rick ride, provided the driver hasn't been fighting with you and driving sanely enough so that your heart wasn't clocking 170 bpm, say a kind word like "You drive very well. It must be a tough job to do it all day in such unruly traffic. Thank you." or something to that effect when you get down. Don't think I'm being silly; you just can't imagine the ripple effect this little sweetness from you can have. Yoú probably forget all about it in five minutes, but maybe, you'd have made the day for a complete stranger, who is very likely to be very warm to his next customer, to be cheerful with his friends and loving to his family for the rest of the day. And all those people would again in turn feel happier, and the ripples continue. Alternatively, try asking the security guard/ the butler/ the local public-servant you see everyday but hardly care about how they are, or how do they find their work, or simply that you appreciate the amount of effort they put in, and see the difference! I don't claim this always works, and I'm not saying go about flattering people or complimenting them even when they're hopeless, but I'm just requesting you to consider not being too miser with appreciation, even a little kind smile, when you can, with people you can. Trust me, it all comes back to you.
Life is nothing but a lot of opportunities to be happy, and unfortunately we ignore and waste most of them. Even if all this sounds pseudo, crappy and immature, I don't care, because it makes me happy, and happiness is all what everybody is living for.
"We took the path less travelled...
and it made all the difference!"