“Known is a drop, unknown is an ocean”
This proverb certainly stands as a backdrop for many a men`s crave for Achievements and Success! For they never stop learning and make it as a habit throughout their life. With such ambition, goal in life to learn things, to learn people and to learn the world, I chose my destination which I know would be harder to lead, but I always ask myself, what life without challenges is. Challenges are what I live for and strive for, not just to make my presence felt but to lead the way for others to carry upon. A life, away from home, might be tough, but the real toughness lies in leading a life in the new place. New people, unknown languages, fresh environment, enthralling challenges! Wow, sounds interesting, but it is not that fancy as it sounds.
When I faced, a similar situation some three years ago, I never panicked at any point of my life all those years. I played, I enjoyed, I fought, I cried, I won, I lost but, in all those situations, I had my angels near me. Angels? I call my friends as angels, who never left me at any point of time, they guarded me, like angels do, they loved me as mothers do, they shouldered me, as fathers do, and they supported me as brothers do. I felt nothing could happen, when they are with me, and what if anything happen when they are with me, I will be happy to bid a bye to life, with them. Friendship- sorry, I neither have a metaphor nor a quote to describe the beauty of it. Everything seemed the best in that past phase of life!
Moving on, I was happy to meet some new people, eager to learn the new language, ready to lead the crucial phase of life, geared up for the uphill tasks to climb. Each task, every work I did it with much anticipation and expectation, trying to improve upon in whatever way I could. Days passed, the seminars went well, the presentations looked colorful, and the challenges were met. But somewhere something was missing; I was not happy, never happy. I was perplexed, not knowing what is happening. Felt lonely, the dark days of my life till now, I refused to move upon before discovering what was wrong with me. After days of deliberate thoughts and anticipation, I got an answer for my dark mood. Friendship- the sweet word, which gave me everything in life, has lost meaning in this phase. I found people not knowing the real value of friendship. They had a dustup of friendship with only partying and celebrating. The flaunted culture spoiled the true meaning of friendship and love. Selfish, jealous and covetous people were looming through my life. At times, I found it hard to breathe through, though my only support would be couple of well matured men I luckily got to meet.
The next part seemed worst than that. I found myself at the hard end again, with people I met were looking at me, as if either I was from an alien planet or I myself looked like an alien. From educated people to uneducated, everyone possessed the same attitude of racist. The dark colored nature made people stare at me, as if I was adulterated. For me it was hard to believe and swallow what I was going through.. I started to have anger for my meat. I grew patient with each passing moon. Intolerance is hard to fight, because it is willing to buy revenge. It was definitely harder for me, and it might be the same for the days to come too, but I believed, what they lost, is what I gained.
People never had a reason to criticize or knock down others. Most of them forget, all human beings regardless of whether they come from east or west are equally in need of happiness. But at the end of the day, it was a worthy experience of leading a challenging life of one year. Instead of being a toad in a well, it`s always better to see the world around you, irrespective of how good or bad it is. It’s always better to live than to die. The message I unfold at this minute is, problems and troubles are omnipresent. The real challenge lies in coming ahead of everything, which we are put in to, as humans. Because that`s what describes us best, who we are! And I always hold my head high, for what I lost and what I achieved!
Aravind
