Unbent

It was the summer of 2014, that welcomed me first to my college. I’d rather say, a confused summer (people staying here would know why). Fresh out of school, I thought I knew the world. But, as stupid as it sounds already, I learnt that learning is the way. You can never know EVERYthing. And, I’m not talking about the medical literature. 

At 18 years, going out of your hometown to live in a completely different city, with new faces who’ll be there with you for the next couple of years, the idea had always tempted me. But, I soon realised that things weren’t as sweet. I can definitely, with no exclusions, say that colleges are all about sugar-coated drama. 

A few months in, I learnt how pinky-promises could turn into “I promised Pinky, I won’t tell anyone, but I trust you” and so this chain with truth deciphered into awful lies that ultimately reached Pinky had got too many loops to just about circumferentiate the bounds of our ‘tiny’ planet. The greater cause of burden on humanity is that the mere efforts one puts in, to be called a professional are all flushed down the sink because they can’t keep ONE promise. An early conclusion of trust being a myth, was generous to start with.

Living in a hostel puts you at war front. And quite literally, so many times. Each battle of unworthy words, won or lost, teaches more than the bestseller on your bookshelf. 

There have been a few glittery artefacts amidst all this dust. That temporary feeling of home with people you call your “best friends”. But, just a slight wind blows and erodes that golden top. It’s then that you know where you stand. 

It’s like staying at the top of a volcano from where you feel like a boss and get the bird’s view, the best view, but you never know when you're at the bottom of nowhere, surrounded by the flames of your agony, struggling to just about stand straight on the level, if after all, there’s still some of you unburnt. 

“Nanak dukhiya sab sansar”  

The closest I can get to the explanation of this quote by Guru Nanak is- Suffering is universal, everybody is going through hardships and you do not know what the other person may be experiencing. It’s how you deal with it that matters. Your positivity may not reflect the obstacles in your life but it definitely influences your outlook on them and how others perceive you. No, you do not have to knock all the doors and seek for sympathy, you stand stronger than ever, because this is the time you have got to show your real worth. You cannot hide away on moments hand-crafted to observe your excellence in handling the life in its truest, unadulterated forms. It is not the happiness that is supposed to be constant. It is this. The battle. If there were no moments of downfall, how would you ever know what victory tastes like? Get used to these sufferings and build faith stronger than your toughest problems. 

The world beyond the four walls of home is an adventure. The memories I’ve built in my college so far, may not be the sweetest. But, these scars that I will, for the rest of my life, bear with me, will constantly remind me of what I had gone through to be where I will stand. College must have been just the place where wisdom caught me in awe of realisation. To all the places I will ever be, experiences like these will forever be etched. And, when I face a similar encounter, it will be my instincts fighting. For I will continue to learn till I embrace life. With due support from viscous blood bond, I stand unbent

“It matters not how strait the gate,How charged with punishments the scroll,I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul”

(These are lines from the poem “Invictus” by Willian Ernest Henley)


Comments

Post a Comment