Where should I start to narrate the story of my life? Should I start with my childhood stories, those during the wonderful school years, or those during college? How about the ones when I used to walk with friends enjoying an egg roll in Kolkata? Or the ones where I enjoyed the monsoon rains of Bombay holding hands with my boyfriend? How about those stories amidst a snow filled land of Narnia or in the sunny state of California? Suddenly it seems that my life is a collection of short stories. Interestingly, these stories are all about me but they are all so different and so unique!
Is it like this for everyone? I remember once my Dad telling us that he had met an old friend after 30 years. I must have been 15 then, may be 20, I don't remember exactly...but I wasn't 30. The concept of meeting a friend after 30 years seemed so alien, so irrational actually. How could you possibly meet a friend after so many years, how do you even call that friendship? And today when I congratulate a friend of mine on his 14th peer-reviewed publication in a well-respected scientific journal, I utter words such as "who would have thought 25 years back that you Tiktiki, out of all the people that we know, would go on to become such a successful scientist?"
So I am guessing that life is a collection of short stories for everyone, all the time holding on to a common thread. Some characters stay constantly by your side...others come and go while there may be others who come into play a specific role; then there are some I think inspired by Bollywood- their contribution is an item number that remarkably shakes up your slumber and makes you watch and follow your own movie of life. And with all these people contributing in their own ways, suddenly life isn't anymore a straight line connecting birth and death. Life then is helical with twists and turns, supercoils stored with energy ready to eject at any moment.
My life's story hasn't yet been written to completion....its a work in progress much like scientific research...one step forward...5 steps sideways and may be 10 steps backwards before you find another opening to take that one more stride forward. I don't know about the exact number of short stories that will eventually make up this collection but I am sure it will be more than fifty shades of gray.
Is it like this for everyone? I remember once my Dad telling us that he had met an old friend after 30 years. I must have been 15 then, may be 20, I don't remember exactly...but I wasn't 30. The concept of meeting a friend after 30 years seemed so alien, so irrational actually. How could you possibly meet a friend after so many years, how do you even call that friendship? And today when I congratulate a friend of mine on his 14th peer-reviewed publication in a well-respected scientific journal, I utter words such as "who would have thought 25 years back that you Tiktiki, out of all the people that we know, would go on to become such a successful scientist?"
So I am guessing that life is a collection of short stories for everyone, all the time holding on to a common thread. Some characters stay constantly by your side...others come and go while there may be others who come into play a specific role; then there are some I think inspired by Bollywood- their contribution is an item number that remarkably shakes up your slumber and makes you watch and follow your own movie of life. And with all these people contributing in their own ways, suddenly life isn't anymore a straight line connecting birth and death. Life then is helical with twists and turns, supercoils stored with energy ready to eject at any moment.
My life's story hasn't yet been written to completion....its a work in progress much like scientific research...one step forward...5 steps sideways and may be 10 steps backwards before you find another opening to take that one more stride forward. I don't know about the exact number of short stories that will eventually make up this collection but I am sure it will be more than fifty shades of gray.
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