A Tribute

When I talk to people, various subjects come up and eventually the things we talk about change. And I guess, that must be the case with most of us.

A few days back, I had a talk to someone who is one of the most important people and also the one I look up to and admire. He's the one who has been there through my thick and thins and helped me whenever I needed help.

The day was the last day of the Ganesh fesitval and the joy of Ganesh immersion surrounded all around us. All but me. Behind the truth that festivals like this bind the people together lies a fact about what effects it has on the environment. But, what disappoints me the most is the fact that in the country of 1 billion people and 63 crore literates, why can't we stand up for what we feel. There are millions in the country and probably tens around us who know and have a strong opinion that things shouldn't be the way they are and yet, they do nothing about it. Why do we always try to be one of the crowd and not the one whom the crowd would follow? Why are our opinions and decisions so frail that they can be mould by anyone who wants to?

I asked him these question that day. And I got my answers to quench the thirst of the years I had been wondering about them.

He just said and everything began falling into perspective:

"Life will give us all the choices, but, what we choose will decide our destiny."

You can choose to be a either Bill Gates (Microsoft co-founder) or Steve Jobs (Apple Inc. co-founder) and wish to change the way people live, you can choose to be Barack Obama (President of U. S. of A.) or Nelson Mandela (the first black President of South Africa) and change the way people perceive politics and remove the age-old beliefs about it, you can be a terrorist or a gangster and create fear in the minds of people about the nature of humanity on the whole. But, in the end, whatever you choose will decide your destiny.

So true! We want to be one of the crowd and never initiate change. We want to sit back and cry foul at the system, but, we won't get into it and change it. We want all the happiness in the world, but, we don't mind spreading tears in the eyes of someone else in the making.

And here's the answer to my question. If we need change, if we want change, we should change! We should shed the belief of what I can do and rather believe with the fact that only I can do. We can't have everyone on our side in the battle of change. There will be cynics, critics and those who follow these blindly who will oppose us, but, if we lose the courage to fight for what we think is correct, it won't probably ever change.

So, in fact, the onus finally falls onto us. Are we going to lead the change or flow with the change. The choice is yours...

Signing off... Hoping to see you soon...