If
Please do not let the title of this post confuse you. I am not hell bent on giving a tough competition to dear old Rudyard Kipling in order to dislodge him from the pedestal that bestows upon him the sole credit for making this two letter w
ord world famous.
“……. If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;………..”
Many a times I have sat and pondered about the many “if”s that flashes in my mind’s eye from the years gone by. What if that had happened instead of this? What if things had turned the other way round? But in no way do I mean to show my dissatisfaction with what I have today. I celebrate each moment of my life, and the “if”s that feature here are again some fractioned fragments of life that may or may not have contributed to my present.
This good friend of mine ran into her old flame (the flame burnt on her side only and the poor boy never had any inkling to what was going on in her mind) the other day in a crowded market place. He greeted her like any old friend would and was naturally elated to have met an old pal unexpectedly. They caught up with the years spent apart over a cup of coffee, and that made her imaginations run wild.
She called me up in the middle of the night and kept narrating tales of what would have happened IF she had expressed her feelings to him. I honestly had no answer to that, just as I did not have any answer to the conclusions of the person who had predicted a long time ago that I would make the ‘best wife’ and the ’best mother’ if we got together (again ‘if’)! She is burning the midnight candles cultivating the fertile thoughts of the million dollar ‘if’ of her past making her present miserable and forcing me to bear the brunt of her ‘what-would-have-been’ conclusions.
Another specimen of a friend wonders how his life would have been IF he had married his more beautiful sister-in-law instead of his wife (though I fail to understand why the grass always is greener on the other side?). Jokes apart, the very fact that the sister-in-law is soon going to marry his younger brother make the situation all the more difficult for him.
Woody Allen wondered about the gravity of this notorious two letter word in a single line,
” What IF nothing exists and we’re all in somebody’s dream? “
I have heard many a times from almost everybody around me speculating about the IF that has no relevance in their lives at the present. I too use the word at times, but I try my level best to keep the demon away from my dictionary. The IFs never offer any solution to any problem; rather it only complicates the matter at hand by incorporating unforeseen angles that never really exist!
IF I ever had the good sense to control my sweet tooth! But then I would have been unfortunate enough to not taste the unmatched desserts and other sugar laced poisons..I could have given the likes of Mehr Jessia and Noyonika Chatterjee a run for their money (and hourglass figures) IF I had maintained my weight with daily exercises and proper diets!
How would have life been IF I had a daughter too? (The very idea makes my husband sweat when he takes into account the school fees and also the result of having a third kid along with the two little hurricanes at home right now!)
Just before capping my pen after speculating on the various IFs that orbit around our lives, I would like to tell you all that we must never let the elusive IF to control our lives. To live my tomorrows, I go over my todays just before I fall asleep, and thank life for blessing me with all the wonderful people and the good moments. If (again the word!) there was something I wanted to happen differently, I try to replay it in my mind the way I wanted it to go. As I feel myself sinking in the comforting world of sleepiness, the only promise that I make to myself is that tomorrow is going to be the most beautiful day of my life, without any “IF”s to mar its beauty.
“If only the dreams were at par with the facts
If only we learnt from our acts;
If only the shadows had ceased to grow
If only God lived in just a stone’s throw;
If only I had the courage to be
You would have been you
And I would have been me……..”
“……. If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;………..”
Many a times I have sat and pondered about the many “if”s that flashes in my mind’s eye from the years gone by. What if that had happened instead of this? What if things had turned the other way round? But in no way do I mean to show my dissatisfaction with what I have today. I celebrate each moment of my life, and the “if”s that feature here are again some fractioned fragments of life that may or may not have contributed to my present.
This good friend of mine ran into her old flame (the flame burnt on her side only and the poor boy never had any inkling to what was going on in her mind) the other day in a crowded market place. He greeted her like any old friend would and was naturally elated to have met an old pal unexpectedly. They caught up with the years spent apart over a cup of coffee, and that made her imaginations run wild.
She called me up in the middle of the night and kept narrating tales of what would have happened IF she had expressed her feelings to him. I honestly had no answer to that, just as I did not have any answer to the conclusions of the person who had predicted a long time ago that I would make the ‘best wife’ and the ’best mother’ if we got together (again ‘if’)! She is burning the midnight candles cultivating the fertile thoughts of the million dollar ‘if’ of her past making her present miserable and forcing me to bear the brunt of her ‘what-would-have-been’ conclusions.
Another specimen of a friend wonders how his life would have been IF he had married his more beautiful sister-in-law instead of his wife (though I fail to understand why the grass always is greener on the other side?). Jokes apart, the very fact that the sister-in-law is soon going to marry his younger brother make the situation all the more difficult for him.
Woody Allen wondered about the gravity of this notorious two letter word in a single line,
” What IF nothing exists and we’re all in somebody’s dream? “
I have heard many a times from almost everybody around me speculating about the IF that has no relevance in their lives at the present. I too use the word at times, but I try my level best to keep the demon away from my dictionary. The IFs never offer any solution to any problem; rather it only complicates the matter at hand by incorporating unforeseen angles that never really exist!
IF I ever had the good sense to control my sweet tooth! But then I would have been unfortunate enough to not taste the unmatched desserts and other sugar laced poisons..I could have given the likes of Mehr Jessia and Noyonika Chatterjee a run for their money (and hourglass figures) IF I had maintained my weight with daily exercises and proper diets!
How would have life been IF I had a daughter too? (The very idea makes my husband sweat when he takes into account the school fees and also the result of having a third kid along with the two little hurricanes at home right now!)
Just before capping my pen after speculating on the various IFs that orbit around our lives, I would like to tell you all that we must never let the elusive IF to control our lives. To live my tomorrows, I go over my todays just before I fall asleep, and thank life for blessing me with all the wonderful people and the good moments. If (again the word!) there was something I wanted to happen differently, I try to replay it in my mind the way I wanted it to go. As I feel myself sinking in the comforting world of sleepiness, the only promise that I make to myself is that tomorrow is going to be the most beautiful day of my life, without any “IF”s to mar its beauty.
“If only the dreams were at par with the facts
If only we learnt from our acts;
If only the shadows had ceased to grow
If only God lived in just a stone’s throw;
If only I had the courage to be
You would have been you
And I would have been me……..”
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