Helpless and Angry

I feel old when i think about the future of my two children. Yet one thing makes me feel older, that is, when with each passing day, dear friends depart one after another.

News of demise of old friends strike you deep and the anguish you feel is inexplanable. You feel a sense of helplessness because there is nothing you could do to avert it. Also you feel betrayed that the Almighty has to take away all the people that you ever cared for, one after another. Today, i realised, i still have not found the answer as to why i should lose the people i loved and cared for as a brother or as a friend more, than the others. When you undergo such a trauma you ask yourself if you are at fault sometimes, that is how much we care for them, we are ready to shoulder the blame, even for their early demise.

i lost a good friend recently and i know the emptiness i feel inside today. And for all the moments in the future when i will be reminded of the friendship that i cherished so much.

Rest in Peace my dear friend.... i only wished you had some more moments, days or weeks because you were young.................much too young to go!!!

Persistence Pays

There is a saying that when you set out to achieve something with a self belief and persists in that endeavor the universe around you conspires and generate positive energy pushing you towards your goal till you achieved it.

I was reminded of this saying last night when I heard that a junior of mine at school had made it to the final list of the candidates selected to the Country’s elite services the IAS/IFS/IPS/IRS. You might say, “No big deal every Tom Dick and Harry can become an IAS provided he has the desired IQ, knowledge or preparation!” I agree. But his story goes a little further than that.

I knew Mangtinlen Haokip since the time he joined Sainik School Imphal a year after I joined that fine Almamater (school). He was good in studies though I do not remember much of his athleticism or excellence in sport. He was a delight as a companion as he always had a nose for funny anecdotes, noticed funny antics of others and always had us in splits.

One thing his success struck me is his persistence. Right now as we discuss his story, the IPS/IAS as a goal is not important, in the sense that, he could’ve aspired for a totally different goal and still achieved it. What is important is the persistence with which he has pursued this. He got through the written exam a number of times but failed to get selected, since the first time he appeared for the prelims in 1997. He later married and was compelled to take up employment in a bank. Finally after 11 years he has achieved the thing he wanted the most in his life. This I would argue is no joke because 11 years is long enough a span to progress in a given career- to have reached a certain stage in a career or in a married life. A long wait indeed! His is a story that proves that we need to want something really bad in order to achieve it.

So I called him up today to congratulate him. I said, “Man you deserved it!” And he said something like, “Yeah, I have been persistent!” Yes persistence pays indeed. And I just loved his lack of self pretense by admitting that indeed his persistence had paid off in the end. I am glad he didn’t get into one of those clichés like, “Oh God is kind or I am lucky” or such kind of things, at least with me.

To give the man his due he was humble enough and tried persuading me not to write this piece. But I would not hear of it because there was a message I wanted to convey and he provided the best example.