Last month, I got an opportunity to visit Helsingborg, Sweden. It is a beautiful place with very nice people. I did everything that a typical child would do to make my stay exciting. I would be filled with joy just to see the snow and the black billed Magpie on the bare trees. Even walking from my hotel to the office would be joyful. Few people here warned me that its chilly out there, I may not enjoy it. But it was new to me and I loved it. Then it reminds me of my childhood when everything was fun filled and exciting. Just seeing people engaged in kite-fights would be as enjoyable as fishing. I wondered throughout these years whether that child had died. But now I know although the child does not make its presence well known, it is still there.
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| A black-billed Magpie perched on the roof |
When we were children, everything was new and exciting to us. Fear was a foreign concept to us. Thats why we learnt to walk, to ride a bicycle, to read and write, to swim and the basic things that we would require to go on in this world. To do these tasks, we had to overcome many hurdles. We stood up after we fell down. We bruised ourselves when we skidded on a bumpy road when we were learning to ride the bicycle. We faced humiliations when we confused one alphabet with another. We consumed water through our noses when we learnt to swim. We had many hurdles on our way but we heeded nothing. We still managed to learn all these things and we all learnt well. But then suddenly everything stopped. We started paying attention to what people will say about us. We started avoiding things and finding excuses about things that would bring humiliations. We became conscious. We stopped learning. In a nutshell, we all grew up.
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| Scene from outside Helsingborg Central Station |
May a time, I have heard myself saying "I wish I could do this" and "I wish I could do that". When I analyzed the situations myself, I was surprised to find that the only thing standing between myself and my wishes were me. Why was I wishing? All I had to do was to take action towards what I wanted to do, isn't that obvious? We just have to hope that all other things will take care of themselves. If they do not take care of themselves, then we have to hope that we will be able to solve our problems ourselves. We are born with that ability. We are able to modify our situations to our own advantage.
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| I was trying to dust the snow off from the Pulka board courtesy- My D S |
As a child we were curious. We were filled with awe whenever we saw
something new. We were always able to overcome our limitations and
improvise. It is high time that we discovered the child within us again
who does not care about what others say about us. The child who is not
afraid to follow his heart. The child who relishes everyday and loves to
live in the present.
Time and again, we see the glimpse of this child. This can be when you relate your current events to some fond memories of the past or something that makes you happy. You may not notice that but the others who observe us tend to say that our age has reduced by 10 years. Well, if it can make us feel younger, why not embrace that child and let it lead us to our highest capabilities?
The visit to Helsingborg was not only a fond memory but a spiritual journey. It was a perfect opportunity to rediscover myself, to bring out the child within. After some events last year, I was broken but today I can say I am reformed and reborn. A child ready to take flight in this world again with a different perspective. I began to see things differently.
I would not have been able to move on in this journey without my friends. Thanks everyone. Thanks Dath, My, Shafeek, Jazeena, Srijesh and Grishma. I am really glad that I met you.
