DESTINY

"Do you believe in fate, Neo?” asked Morpheus.
“No.” replied Neo.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life.”

That’s psyche-shaking stuff from The Matrix!

Movies make my life. They move my cheese too! Here’s another gem that jumps up from the memories & flashes across. From the Hindi classic Anand…

"ज़िंदगी और मौत उपरवाले के हाथों मे है, जहाँ पनाह.जिसे न तो आप बदल सकते हैं, न मैं. हम सब तो सिर्फ़ रंग-मंच की कटपुतिलयाँ हैं, जिसकी डोर उपरवाले के हाथों मी बंधी है. कौन, कब, कैसे उटृठेगा, यह कोई नहीं बता सकता! हा हा हा हा!!!"

(Life & Death are in God's hands, Your Highness... Which neither You can change nor i. We're all just mere puppets in a show, whose strings are tied to His hands. No one can predict as to who, when & how will be lifted out...!)

These two portray contradictory ideas - One that challenges & the other that accepts. And these are just two from among the umpteen others that can be cited here. Not just movies, but books-modern & ancient, the scriptures, legends, fables, phrases, sayings, idioms et all, are full of the idea that there exists a pre-design for all of us. They show us the futility of acting & trying to force an outcome against “His will”. Tell me, what good would endless, desperate & frantic flapping & kicking of limbs do, to someone hurtling down a bottomless pit?! Dude, you might as well enjoy the downward flight! Coz there’s ain't nothing to hold on to!

To the atheists, or “realists” as they call themselves these days, the idea of ‘destiny’ signifies meek resignation & passive surrendering. Or better still, it is written off as a psychologically manipulative consolation for the losers!

So what's my take on it?

A dear friend recently scolded me during the course of a conversation saying, “क्यों गड़बड करते रहते हो हमेशा?” (Why do you always bungle up?) She was referring to things endlessly going awry for me in the recent past. i said, “क्या करूँ? बस हो जाता है…” (It just happens...) “i do make mistakes, but i try my best at most times. Yet things just go wrong…” Some hurdle or the other just has to prop up. That’s fate. Or luck or destiny or whatever you may want to call it.

So i do believe in destiny. You know things like, “All for the BEST”, “Nothing happens against His will”, “Que sera, sera”, etc etc…

But it certainly does not imply that i resign meekly to the circumstances. i try as hard as i can to overcome “difficulties”. Sometimes i succeed. Mostly i don’t…

The failures & setbacks have taught me that the worldly order does not function according to my whims & fancies. Try as hard as i might, but some things & some people just remain as they are & as they want to be, respectively. GOD! i HATE RIGIDITY!!!

As i said earlier, i’m an optimist. But sometimes i also feel i suffer from a compulsive obsessive behavioural disorder! Failures & setbacks turn me on & inspire me to try harder. As they say ‘old habits die hard’. So will i succeed ultimately? Maybe… probably… hopefully. Or perhaps i won't… i’m confused.

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A walk down the memory lane;
Produces many moods.

Suddenly the heart is swept by nostalgia;
Soon with regrets, it broods.

The hungry monster mind is feasting;
Hope & despair are its foods.

Father, show me the way please,
For it seems, i’m lost in the woods.