Where do we go from here?

My thoughts as of January 1st, 2021

2020 just passed me by. It started off with lofty ambitions before nosediving and finally settling itself on a precarious cliff. The sights from the cliff are beautiful, the light on the horizon is magnificent but there's danger and harrowing depths all around this cliff. I don't know how we got here and have to figure out where to go from here. I share this confusion, this lack of direction and the same precarious situation with billions of others around the globe.

For the first time in a long long time we had a year which united us. We were:

United in our confinement
United in having our lives stalled mid-way
United in our inability to chase our dreams
United in our frustrations
United in our solitude

I never knew misery could unite us the way no happiness or victory ever did.

But if we put the misery aside for a moment, aren't we fundamentally all lucky to at least have a roof on our heads while this pandemic rages on?

What about those of us who have a job while there are many highly talented and qualified candidates out there with no means to earn a livelihood?

Do we just spend our time counting our blessings during these horrendous series of lockdowns?

Where do we go from here? (Courtesy: Antoine Da Cunha)

If wrestling with the above questions was not enough, I was also wrestling with a series of reflections that struck me during my (first) lockdown days. I will try my best to put them down here:

Today I am not as sure as before

Today I feel a lot less formidable

Today I ache not too much for the future

Today I shall quit thinking of what I deserve

Today I resolve to be a bit more humane

As life ground to a halt, the answers could no longer be found outside. They laid within. Irrespective of what I expected from life, life was expecting me to give a better account of myself. It expected better thoughts from me, better actions from me and better behavior from me. It expected me to be a better and a more considerate human being. It reminded me that in order to receive you have to give and this was my time to give. Give back to those who supported me and give back to life just by being positive and taking each day as it comes.

I couldn't argue with that takeaway which would come handy where ever life takes me next. What are your takeaways from the year gone by? Do share!

Until Next Time,

Your Life Analyst,

Chaitanya J.J.

Comments

Mahabharata by C.Rajagopalachari

There are books which you read and then there are books which make you read them and change your life. Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari's (Rajaji's) Mahabharata belongs to the latter category. Mahabharata introduced me to the joy of reading books as a kid and today I couldn't have picked a better topic for my 25th post. I cannot describe what a pleasure and honor it is to extol the virtues of this classic book during this holy festive season of Makar Sankranti . Mahabharata by C.Rajagopalachari The story of Mahabharata is as old as the mountains and has been retold several times. Mahabharata by Rajaji however stands out in my mind because here is a story which is spiritual yet not religious, is thought provoking yet not preachy, is compelling yet not tedious. The story left an indelible impression upon me for several reasons which are: Rajaji uses extremely simple language to convey some of the finer aspects of the saga. I was 10 years old when I read Mahabharata

KBR National Park

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the fifth largest city in India - Hyderabad lies KBR (Kasu Brahmananda Reddy) National Park . It's difficult to imagine a natural habitat in the center of a concrete jungle but that's exactly what KBR park is - an oasis in middle of an urban desert . One of Hyderabad's prized tourist attractions which in my opinion doesn't get the attention it deserves. The Entrance I don't remember when I first noticed the park but it soon became a sight which I couldn't miss during the course of my everyday commute to work. I always wondered what lay beyond the entrance but never found the time to check it out for myself until last year. But let me back up a bit, there's a back story to my first visit to the park. In my ' Count Your Blessings ' post, I talked about how a walk around my office building started a positive change in my life. That incident made ' walking ' a fixture in my everyday ro

Zamarrud Theatre Hyderabad

More than two decades ago a 5 year old boy (yours truly) found himself in Abids which was certainly then the microcosm of Hyderabad. Abids in the 80s <Courtesy: OkaTeluguAbbayi > The occasion was a family outing to Zamarrud Cinema. And we are stepping out for not just any movie my friends, my parents decided that nothing less than the Raj Kapoor blockbuster Chori Chori was good enough for us. To be honest I wasn't exactly enthused about watching a black and white film of a bygone era even though the movie had all the credentials of a classic. But that was before I saw Zamarrud, the theatre where the movie was being played. Nested in the heart of Abids, Zamarrud was the perfect amalgamation of Hyderabad's old world charm and new fangled ways. Zamarrud was not just any theatre, it was one of the first air conditioned halls in Hyderabad, a premiere cinema hall which used to host the best of what the film industry had to offer and the place to go for Hyderabad'

Chhatrapati Shivaji Biography - Challenging Destiny by Medha Deshmukh-Bhaskaran

I guess it was destiny that the 150th post of Life Etc Etc had to be about Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji rose like a phoenix from humble beginnings in the 17th century and laid the foundation for the Maratha empire which changed the course of history. The history I studied at school restricted his life and achievements to a single chapter and quite erroneously credited the British Rule with the decline of the Mughal empire. I found out later on that it was in fact the Marathas under the able leadership of Shivaji who hastened the Mughal empire's downfall. They were the preeminent power whom the British had to checkmate in order to wrest control of the Indian subcontinent. Despite such monumental achievements my history syllabi had very little information about Shivaji. It was therefore a no-brainer for me to pick up this book and discover for myself why the history of India would never be complete without the mention of Shivaji. In order to understand any historical c

Black Eagle (1988)

I have a soft corner in my heart for the action films of the eighties . I am also a huge fan of movies where stars are cast against type ( see Vera Cruz ). So, when I got a chance to watch 1988's Black Eagle pitting international action star Jean-Claude Van Damme as the 'villain' against acclaimed martial arts guru Sho Kosugi , I just couldn't let it pass by. Black Eagle 1988 Plot When a US F-111 jet carrying a laser tracking device goes missing in the Mediterranean, agent Ken Tani (Sho Kosugi) code-named ' Black Eagle ' is summoned to retrieve the device before the Soviet KGB acquires it. Ken unwillingly lands in Malta and is immediately targeted by Soviet Agent Andrei (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Will Ken acquire the tracking device? Who wins? (Guess that answer is obvious!) The Cliches Cliches are the life and soul of action movies. When you have a martial arts movie in the spy genre those cliches only double. So here are all the noteworthy cli

Life Etc Etc

Search This Blog