For the past two and
a half months, I have been quiet… not only because I was neck deep with work
but also because I promised someone that I will try to be positive with my
blogs and it was quite hard to keep up the positive spirit with all that was happening
in the State… I am breaking my silence with a positive note! Okay, not a
completely positive note, but a potentially positive note :-)
Out of the 2000+
junk WhatsApp messages that fill the inbox in a day, finding one that is useful
/ meaningful / inspirational is a tough task. Oh, most of the groups are muted
but still they pour in a lot of messages only to be just marked as read. Only messages
from a few groups and a few individuals are really read. I bumped into this
message and was inspired thoroughly, though I don’t know the authenticity of the message.
The Israeli-American violinist Itzhak
Perlman was the hero of the message. Though he was polio-attacked at the age of
four, he became a great violinist; once during his stage performance, one of
the strings in his violin broke; he continued to play, refusing to recognize
the broken string and went on to produce music that was unheard of before is
the crux of the story. I could not validate the authenticity of the story. But
it does not matter… the story was truly inspirational… someone cursed by ill
health for no mistake of himself, someone whose instrument failed at a critical
moment like Karna's astras, could reject all the potential blockers and went on
to produce the best for himself and for the world was good enough to lift me
up.
Another
inspirational story I listened to today was Malu Sheikha's. In spite of all the
hardships in life like separation of her parents, being left alone to handle
her own needs, the twenty year old has swum against the currents of backwaters
in Kerala. She is aiming - even greater heights - to become an IAS officer. Usain Bolt is
another person who inspired me the same way. In spite of all his other issues,
he is one of the people I like - for his great come back after the serious
injuries and for winning the race in 2016 Olympics in spite of a stumbling
start! The commentator said, if it was anyone else other than Bolt, the game
was over at that moment! I wanted to write an exclusive blog on Bolt since 2016
Olympics. But life moved on from one thing to the other and the last few months
were really very depressing.
Usually anger
triggers blogs. But, this time, it resulted in stunning silence! I thought the
State that was limping for decades has fallen down irrecoverably and I moaned
furiously (oxymoron!). Strings were breaking one by one! The State was still!
Plans ran through my mind, actions initiated but the wound was still open,
bleeding and not to be shown to anyone! But the two messages I listened to
today made me come to my senses again and reminded me of Bolt! If someone can
run the race to victory after fatal injuries and a stumbling start, if someone
with such odds in life can swim thru one of the hardest backwater streams, if
someone can make the best music with a broken string, I can run too, I can swim
too, I can make the best of me too!
I am reaffirming to
myself and to my fellow men! I am choosing love for hate and insults! I am
choosing honesty and integrity for the corruption that is lurking around! I am
choosing to be Malu for all the odds! I am choosing to be Bolt for all the
injuries and stumbles! I am choosing to be Itzhak Perlman for all the broken
strings! Sure, more strings may break and there could be more hatred and
insults! But I am choosing to refuse them! I am choosing not to recognize them!
Let there be Bolt!
Let there be Perlman! Let there be Malu! Why only light! It can dawn anyway!