The two warriors: time and patience

As you lay down at one corner of your bed and a hand of care waves over your forehead, you think of how the time actually flies. You reminisce the memories while you look at the kids through the window, playing hide and seek, with the innocent voices fighting over puerile reasons, spending a part of their day in acquiring victory over their friends in such games and finally returning to their homes in dilapidated conditions, with clothes that seemed as if they loved wrapping dust around. And then, suddenly that lady, who is your mom, asks you what you have been thinking about all the time and you shook your head as if you have been dealing with a tortuous puzzle, and you were emerged deep into getting the answer to certain mysteries of that puzzle. She smiles at you and you smile back, saying you feel better now, and thereby she leaves, asking you to sleep. Now that you are alone again, your mind finds itself entangled in a chain of thoughts and sometimes it finds them standing in a queue, with the hope that they would be answered. And now you are perplexed, not knowing how to decipher anything that your eyes couldn’t even watch once. You comprehend that you lack certain skills that might perhaps answer your queries, you close your eyes, take a deep breath, and dig a quarry to bury all your thoughts in. The moment you enter into that zone of tranquility, your cellphone vibrates! Though you don’t want to penetrate yourself into it, you still do; wondering if there is somebody you can be helpful to, this night. But then you find a notification that says- “Time and Patience are two great warriors” and you just wonder how could this non-living thing sense what you have been trying to answer since long. And the wheel of thought starts rotating again, fortunately, this time, not in vain. And you realize the power of those two words and also the single syllable that defines them. You find yourself at low ebb, you feel devastated, you find your life in a stagnant state, with just an inch of happiness to taste or perhaps not even that. And now that you want your brain to unwind at least for some time before the new day begins, you plug-in your earphones to watch an interesting video on YouTube. You start typing “Comedy Videos” and a list is displayed before you. You watch one, trying to toss away all your worries and let them burn and reduce to ashes. But then, the human eye, with its quality to accommodate a wider area once, proves to be a turning point for your mind. You come across stories of people like Ummul Kher and you question yourself “Is this what you call life or the one you are living”? And again you are left unanswered, you continue watching it further and you remain awestruck with how people have been struggling to fine-tune themselves so as to enter into the world of reality and not fantasy. You wonder if you even had the courage to swallow a chapatti without a liquid served along with it and you get the answer-“NO”. But then you try to picture out in your mind how a chapatti with fungus looks like and how could someone remove it and bake it again to have the same, just to face that precarious footing on the ladder of success? Or how would things be without the support of your family? Or how would you live if the only wealth you had is you, your fortitude; no money, no helping hand, and no good health even? You try broadening your eyes of imagination and you just find tears rolling down your eyes; you ask yourself again? “Is this what you call life or the one you are living”? And meanwhile, the alarm rings, and your mom gets up, you wipe away your tears quickly, knowing you wouldn’t be able to answer her why you cried. You close your eyes, being engulfed in that vicious circle and that clock moves on and on. It covers three circles and wakes you up. And you wonder again how could it do the same, without any hindrance and then you get an answer, this one comes on its own, saying it’s bound to complete the circle and it’s the only one that holds the courage to do so. While you fear taking a turn on roundabouts which tell you how important your life is, this time never lets itself go down in the dumps. Meanwhile, you think of the video you saw last night, and here comes another warrior “Patience”. And now your mind says, “time or patience”, it again says “time or patience”. It repeats until it gets the answer but finally it does; it answers everything that has been crippling your mind. You understand the value of the quote you came across a day before and you understand how they both prove to be the best of friends for some and the inevitable enemies for others.

Time – It told Ummul “I have to be the way I am supposed to be, for that’s that how the world reveals my identity; being my partner in crime, let patience sit beside me and taste some wine, maybe it goes down the lane of hope I show or maybe I step upon the same rope. Or else, if this selfish partner, yes, I call it “selfish”, time says; when Ummul looks at it, astonished; because it demands “me” when it’s lost- time says. Now she asks “can you have this selfish partner with you for some time, just for the sake of some good, perhaps? Time smirks and answers “I don’t mind you getting fish out of troubled waters”. One last question please, the girl says “Do I need to have a chip on my shoulder or you would be best of friends for some time, till I return”? Time says “Go ahead, even I love people acquiring victory over me”.

The conversation winds up, the girl sighs and moves ahead, the time continues its journey of conversation with others, and one day it recognizes Ummul while she moves towards it and says, “You are tough to handle, but with your partner, you make everything possible” she smiles, this time with no pain hidden behind. Thank you for helping me wear this badge of pride today. She then shakes her hand with it and says- IAS OFFICER-UMMUL KHER. And that’s how their interaction answered every query I had. Life is also a game of hide and seek, the only difference is you can’t locate the solution to the puzzles smoothly. You need to tread a long way, full of thorns before you reach the goalpost. “I have hidden ways for you, it depends on how and to what extent you struggle to seek for them, and that’s how we can play”, said life to my mind when the dawn arrived