"Every cloud has a silver lining" .. the words that assures us about the good times coming after the bad ones. But when it comes to one's own hair the sight of first silver lining might not always be the sign of good times. Some gets depressed, some runs for a dye and some others take the extreme route - mercilessly shaving off the mustache, beard and even hair in a futile effort to convince themselves that 'all is well'
Somehow I feel different, I was rather thrilled at seeing the first clean grey hair, right at the middle of my mustache. Grey hair in most cases implies you lived at least half of your normal life span. If you look around, or may be look at the newspaper and you see a world filled with war, poverty and disease where too many people are finding it hard to meet this half way milestone. In that kind of a world, a grey hair should be considered a privilege instead of curse. Rather than a reason to worry, it should be reckoned as a trophy of survival and a reason to celebrate.
Sometimes it's also about choices and perspectives. Many of us are afraid of getting older because we believe age takes away the energy and color of life. That it's a transition from an enthusiastic youth who likes to travel and party, to that inactive old guy who prefers not to move from his arm chair. But what if you already belong to that special group of humans whose idea of a perfect weekend is to sit lazily all day in the balcony with a few books on one side a cup of coffee on the other. That guy won't be as worried about the grey hair as many others, will he ? .. or may be for him it really is a silver lining beyond the clouds, who knows !!
Hope you remember Deepa!
Yes, the same Deepa who followed Akash like a fly around lighted candle and eventually got burned by its flames. Finally it took some consoling words from Sid to bring her back to reality !
Wondering what made me remember her after all these years ??
Something that happened today made me recall her or rather one of the dialogue she told in the pub that day
"Akash lets go dance and make other couple jealous"
Today afternoon while gazing through some of the old photos I posted in Face book and once shared in Orkut, a thought or rather a question cropped up inside me. What was the true inspiration behind sharing these photos ? Beyond the various obvious reasons like "keeping friends and well wishers informed", "joy of sharing" etc, I some how felt there was a much stronger motivation behind it. I did an honest introspection and even applied '5 Why' principle to reach the bottom of it. Finally I reached that hard and painful conclusion. It was exactly what Deepa told Akash that day - "To make others jealous"
Now you might think what's so wrong with it. Well, when Deepa told it that day, me (or Akash) made fun of her along with the Sid and Sameer. We jeered at the trivial idea of doing something with a sole purpose of making others jealous. Now a decade later I am doing the exact same thing with out a shade of guilt. Height of hypocrisy isn't it !
The idea planted by Deepa that day seems to have grown inside me. Now I am able to comprehend more with Deepa. I could even imagine myself as a fly around the candle, but here its my own virtual alter ego that I am orbiting around. Each of those photos I shared was nothing but an attempt to bolster the image of my counterpart and secretly imagine the world flaring up with jealousy. May be one day, just like Deepa I might also get hit by the flame. May be that day a Sid will wake up inside me and bring me back to reality !
However it might all take a while... in the mean time let me share couple of rocking selfies from last night's party and then sit back, relax and count the 'likes'.
Going in the lines of Alfred Pennyworth
"Some men just want to watch the world burn .... in this case with jealousy though" !
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NOTE : After reading the whole post if you are still trying to figure out who the hell is this Deepa, I would suggest you go and buy a CD of the 2001 Bollywood movie "Dil Chahta Hai"
