I am a strong believer in the saying that the purpose of life is to create life. We are bound by our limits. It is extremely necessary for me to never be complacent with myself. Some say that the reason why humans have this innate individualistic nature of fear and desire is that he/she fails to separate their ego with the tool. Here, the ego represents 'the self' and the tool is 'the body' that we are gifted with. We each have a purpose on this planet.
Hence, I declared to myself: "Architha, let's test how far you can go?" Sheesh, does that ring a bell with 'Moana'? Anyways, but as I thought more and more about it, I realized, I wanted to do it better. Better than the old me. Better than any other me. To find out, the best me.
It took me a year of committing myself to stick to this belief. It was quite easy, well compared to what I am about to tell you next. Committing is never harder than when you have to strive to actualize it. Theories never represent the whole truth. Practicality is the basic reality. It was hard.
I started from the end of June, it took me however, I am still on the way to figuring out a daily action plan. I try to keep up as best as I can with the timetable I have made. Sometimes I wonder if my timetable is misguiding me. Over the years, I have learned to trust myself. That's the only real thing. So, I decided to formulate this as my basic daily function. This holds for a week. Weekends are completely different. It is more of a relaxing period. I have a joint family. Very exclusive to Asian families, although there is a decline in the trend seeing how the average upper-middle-class Indians have started favoring nuclear families. Those days are always called 'explosives. Why do I say that?
Should I preserve the story for another day? Maybe I should finish it in a line. Here goes nothing! You know how families gather to share happiness and sorrows. Well, my family is a little different. They call my grandfather, each in their private sphere or so they think(my grandfather keeps no secrets), and schedule one of the Saturdays. Sundays are exclusively for individual families to take a recourse before they go back to the same old 9 - 5/ Mon- Fri. When they do come here, my mom starts tensing, mainly because she will have to experience 'information explosion' and will also have to work twice hard. Indians follow the British tea evenings too. It has been in the Indian tradition since ancient times anyway. My grandfather gestures, "coffee"! My mom sighs. When I question, my dad says, "About a few decades ago, when my dad was like me, we used to travel long distances to see our people. We could not "ping" or "face-time" each other.( Alas, man can only tolerate isolation for so long). When we do reach after traveling for hours of discomfort, we are tired. So it started as a tradition to make them feel at ease."
It takes time for the elderly to understand how the present generation likes to keep to themselves. Limiting their whole interaction. To be honest, it isn't so bad to meet all your relatives and have fun. But this should also be inclusive of working, cleaning, cooking, sharing together. Not exclusive to form these minute groups and share miseries and complain about each other behind one other's back. I guess that is one way to ease tensions. Do we have the capacity in each other to confront and respect our positions? We blame it on the fast-paced life. I do wonder what is it that we are running after.
It is because we are so possessive about our tools that we start believing that the body is us. There lies the problem. Imagine a long journey, you have an open/fixed destination. You sit in a car and travel through the meadows, the dirt, and the sunshine and rainbows. Just juxtapose the same. Your soul in your body is you in your car. The car is the tool and so is the body. You travel in the car to reach your destination safely. Anyways, what is the whole point of all these?
This is my wallpaper currently, to drive my tool towards my destiny. It gets really difficult. On certain days, especially the weekends. I cannot study. My home is small. I can hear everything and retaining focus is a Hercules task. I have to help my mom too. You know how women are bound to "double burden". Being a girl, I do understand what my mom goes through. I want to change this. Call me a feminist. But, I reject the whole ideology of women toiling inside the kitchen, while the men discuss politics. Thankfully, I'm blessed to be in a family where even the women speak and the men help around (the household chores). As I grow up, I have seen that when I confront these aspects with them, they are open to change. They understand where we are coming from and try to participate. Then I conclude to myself, "Ah! They don't realize. What is an ideal man (or woman) for that matter?" We have never really defined that aspect. Why have we created these social divisions? Makes me wonder, do they accept it? Are they willing to learn? Can I live in a world where I don't have to fear?
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