Friday, August 21, 2009

A Brick in the Wall - Again

The dinner was good. In all the hustle and bustle, the self-obsessed cook even forgot to take a snap of the food. But I think I have put enough and more snaps of food on this blog. Thanks to all who wished me luck for the dinner :).

I was taken out for dinner by some “entrepreneurs” today. They are starting a new venture in Sweden, wanted to know if I would join them if it became successful. Tough to answer these kind of questions.
I am going through a lot of dilemmas in my head. Trying to search for answers. I was reading something I wrote sometime back.

For me a look at my past means a read of what I had written 2 years back. So here is something I wrote when I was still in India.. at a juncture where things were a wee bit hazy. And I guess I crossed the phase and came to the crest.. and maybe life is so cyclic, that maybe, just maybe I could be going back to this phase….

----------------------------------------------------------------------

A Brick in The Wall
Written on 20th June 2007...

Sometimes things are very obscure, the color tends more towards grey, and there is an over hanging haze. Uncertainty rules over everything, and life seems to be like a car that has skidded out of control in spite of you being in the driving seat. Sometimes it feels like you're bobbing amidst a huge ocean… struggling to stay afloat and looking around for a piece of wood to grab on to… surrounded by the eternity of things that make you but a speck of dust in the galaxy. You’re just a part of things, a drop in the sea, a grain of sand in a desert…. And you wonder about yourself. You wonder about your identity. You wonder who you are… You wonder if you’re just a brick in the wall…

When you set out on a journey, you have a destination in mind. And the image of the destination, the pleasure and the satisfaction of reaching it is what spurs you on. And there are times when after a long journey, after a lot of toil, a lot of sweat, you finally reach your destination, and look around, and wonder… have I really arrived? Is this what I looked forward to throughout the journey? Is this what I yearned for? And then you wonder… about yourself, about the empty feeling inside you. You wonder if you’ve reached your destination, or just an intermediary stop… You wonder if there is a destination at all…

There are times when you set a goal and try to achieve it. There are times when it seems so out of reach. There are times when it seems just impossible. There are times when it feels not worth it. But you just strive on… and at a point achieve what you set your eyes on. But somehow after the initial exhilaration has died down, and you look around at what you got, you wonder if this is what you tried so hard for, so long for. And you wonder if after all this is what you want… you wonder if this is your target, your goal, you wonder that in life what is your final call…

Right now I feel all of this... and lots more. I have everything I ever wanted and I don’t know what it was that I ever wanted. They say I am a good listener and a good mentor too. So if anyone would have come and told me the same thing that I state above I would have laughed it off and said, chill, its just a phase. Maybe it is… maybe it isn’t. Whatever it is, it is tough. The only thing that’s certain is uncertainty and it stands mighty and tall.

I don’t know where I’ll be in another 2 months time, whether I’ll be in the same role, whether I’ll be in the same division, whether I’ll be in the same house, whether I’ll be in India at all. But I shall plough on. There was a time when some people, whom I had relied on, had counted on, had suddenly moved away. Life almost seemed to have been doing an orchestrated dance against me. And the trough just seemed to be getting deeper and deeper. Till I was actually looking forward to hitting the rock bottom so that I could come back to the crest sooner. But the time is past, and even through the haze I can make out the outline of the crest.

They say that in the journey of life u gain some, u lose some… some friends, some confidence, some valuable emotions. And it has never been truer for me. Even as I bend forward on the edge of the cliff thinking I have support, the support is drawn away from me, and I feel the void, the feeling of being suspended in free space. I realize that the support I had looked forward to was an illusion. Sometimes friendship very closely resembles an illusion, a hoax, and it is difficult to tell one from the other. Just when u start thinking that something is too good to be true, something is a hoax, it blossoms into a beautiful friendship and maybe love too, sometimes when u think you have discovered the truest of friendship, it turns out to be an illusion. In the past 3 years I have experienced both these feelings.

I struggle on. I have surprisingly formed new relations, new emotions, and new love. And it feels so good… like salvaging back a lost treasure. There were some people who were close to me… I have let them fade away. Maybe the verb is wrong, I have after all struggled to hold on, but sometimes a one sided effort is not enough.

Amidst the haze and the fog I grope, I trip and I stumble, but I go on. And I hope that my new relations, my new hopes will overshadow the things that I have lost, I hope they will be support enough for me to go on, even if I do not know my destination, even if I cannot see my next step. I hope that what I have gained is much more valuable than what I have lost. And I hope that wherever I am, in whatever role, as a Team Lead or a Client Manager, in India or Sweden, it will not matter. The haze will not matter. Because for myself and for a select few others, I will not be a brick in the wall.

14 comments:

  1. I remember this post quite well....

    ReplyDelete
  2. very nice post ya..I am wondering what might have happened that made you write this one..there is so much pain and hope for a hope behind each word..I dunno what else to write, as I don't think my words will suffice or justify this one..thanks for sharing..tc..

    ReplyDelete
  3. very beautiful post.. but don't go there again.. fight it this time.. reach out for help if you need it. I agree with you that there may not be a lot of people who genuinely care, but everyone has atleast one person they can count on. And I am sure you are bound to have more because you are such a genuine and caring person yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Life is like a sine wave, you ride the crest and at times you are deep down in the trough...but you know that things will change, life is not static. There will always be someone around you to pull you through. So derive strength from that fact!

    Take care of yourself.

    And next time you cook, post a few pictures! :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. I enjoy your writing. It has a lyrical quality to it.

    You’re just a part of things, a drop in the sea, a grain of sand in a desert…. And you wonder about yourself. You wonder about your identity. You wonder who you are… You wonder if you’re just a brick in the wall…

    Or a part of The Totality? ;-) I'm not actually poking fun, Merlin. That's what your musing brought to mind. "Ah, that sounds like..."

    I think the unknown factors in life always play a part. Security in anything is mostly about perception, rather than reality. Even if you have a great job, a wonderful relationship, a fabulous house, whatever the case may be, these things can be taken away by factors not in our control.

    The company you work for can go belly up, your love can step into the street at the wrong time, a lightning strike may take away the safety of your home. We never know.

    I think that's what contributes to the feeling that this has happened before in our lives. Inability to control all factors is a constant in life.

    In the end, the only thing we truly have power over when it comes to the unpredictable is to control our own reactions to the whims of fate.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Even if you want to, I don't think you would be able to go back to that phase. Look back and look at the old *you* and think... aren't you a stronger person now? Aren't you a better person now? I am sure you are.

    Or perhaps you might go through the same phase but since time has changed, and the people are different around you.. you never know.. they might not let u fall anywhere.

    The uncertainties will always be there. Life is a roller coaster ride. But its fun when you surrounded by people who truly care. Like RB said.. I am sure you have people around you who care. But sometimes you have to reach out as well and let them know that you need help. :)

    P.s. A very beautiful post. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Really beautiful post, I really enjoy your writing

    ReplyDelete
  8. very very well written post..the way u relate life wid things around us is truly disarming..
    jus one word fr this post is coming in my mind
    PROFOUND!!
    keep writing!!
    goodday!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Merlin. I have been leaving comments to your posts but you don't seem to be receiving them...anyway I will try again.

    Very nice post...you seem to be into some soul searching...I hope you get the answers you are searching for.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Insecurity and dissatisfaction will continue to chase us till the time realization of what is happening is happening for good is accepted by us...
    but problem is we r not able to accept it.(

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yet another TAG :))

    YES!!!!You've been tagged again.

    http://r-h-a-p-s-o-d-y.blogspot.com/2009/08/50-points-me_27.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful write up ..what made you write that one??..

    I miss your posts..

    ReplyDelete
  13. where is the post merlin? its been long overdue...

    ReplyDelete