A Chapter

My best friend always said that our life is a book and that different phases of our life are just like the various chapters in a book. The cover of the book is named ‘life’ and is the same for each one of us, but only the chapters are rearranged; as each one of us pass through the same things, but at a different period of time. And now, I shall read out to you one such chapter from my book. For me, the present chapter had been filled with a lot of turmoil. As I read (experienced) each word (minute) in this chapter (phase of life), there had been a great unrest in my mind and I had to read all of it not knowing what’s in store in the coming pages (days). I did not expect that there would be any peace or happiness in these pages, but arrive it did, in a little sub chapter- as a pleasant surprise. Suddenly, though in deep turmoil, my body and mind had been filled with renewed strength and courage. And as I read each word from those pages, my heart was filled with unconditional bliss. To make it simple, it was something like, after a couple of years of being dead, I was born again.

But, the fact is that Mother Nature’s rules can never be broken. And one such rule is- what goes up must come down. Similarly, the chapter too is coming to an end. I try to slow down thinking that it would take sometime to finish, but I fool myself. Because even though I read slow, the words will not continue to build by themselves and provide an extension to the chapter. As the end nears, a big bold ‘full stop’ stares at me. Deterred I am, but unmindful of the end, I pause and go back to the beginning of this sub-chapter and start reading it all over again. Each time I re-read, the blood in my veins is rejuvenated, the heart beats with increased intensity and Goosebumps follow naturally. But as each time I do this, my heart says to me, “Kamal, don’t forget the ‘Full Stop’ as eventually, you’ll hit on it”. Then, I silently wish to myself-“if only this book of mine had even more chapters of this peace & bliss”.

“Do I really take this as an end ? Are there or will not there be anymore full-fledged chapters of this ‘Intense, Little, Beautiful sub-chapter ??” these are the questions that I ask to myself as I continue reading through from where I’ve paused from and wait to see how hard will I hit onto the ‘Big Bold Full Stop’.

Last but not the least, this chapter was the main reason of making me do something, which I’ve not done in a long time - Steal, that too right from God’s own abode. And previously I had only one reason to not leave my homeland and I just realized that now, I have not one, but two. And yes, given a chance, I would Steal yet again, this time it would be the beautiful chapter itself !!!!!

Anger Management

Anger, seems to be the most important of all the emotions that has to be expressed out in a balanced way. Express it too early, you are tagged "Short Tempered". Express it too late, you cause more damage than a terrorist. The former makes people move around you with constant caution, who rely on your face for the signs of outburst and act accordingly. With the latter, you trip him off the first time, the face fools you with a decent smile. The innocent victims unknowingly gets comfortable with this smile and trips the same person off a couple of times more, until one fine day when they get shot point-blank; from the same face that smiled all these days. The recovery of the victims from the first kind is almost instantaneous, while it's with the second kind that leaves a deep crater on both sides.
On the positive side, this emotion in it's most balance form has pushed an individual in various forms- warriors, athletes, artists, etc., from the abyssal depths of defeat to dizzy heights of victory, etching their names in the pages of history, forever. Yet, the same anger has forced these very individuals to the other side of the fulcrum to take the most hasty decisions in a split second which would throw them again in the same pages of history, this time on those which nobody wish to turn back.
The Shaitan always rides on the waves of this emotion, New moon or Full moon, here the tides are always rising high. This new found sport has been pumping adrenaline in full doses but rarely being productive. There has not been a single "No surfing day" in the past few months as the Shaitan has almost been addicted to this sport. The catalysts for him can be anybody and anything. Shaitan has realized that he's been wasting valuable energy for the wrong reasons, but the "Shaitani" attitude refuses to leave him,no matter what.