The pursuit of happiness

It was as if the castle of my heart has been all morose because of her absence. Then there was news that she was coming back. And then she came, with all her grace, with that charming gait, stunning everyone around her with her quintessential beauty.

“She’ll be coming round the mountains when she comes,She’ll be riding six white horses when she comes.

Yippeee yi yi yippee yippee yi”

Everyone rejoices at her arrival. The trees salute her with greener leaves. The clouds, her guardian angels, always roam around to keep her safe and sound.

Monsoon has come!!

The sudden squeak of the microphone breaks my flow of thought. I came back to the harsh reality. The reality of competition, the rat race for jobs, MBA, entrepreneurship, Capital Markets, statistics and bitter ugly rivalry in all spheres of life. There is no time to sit and brood about the beauty of nature. Everyone is running. People are running towards some unknown invisible magnetic force whose nature nobody knows. Some say they are running in pursuit of happiness. Some are running for recognition, fame, money. But at the end of the day all that one wants is happiness. So would it be fair to assume that we are running after happiness. But at the end of the day are we happy? This entire saga of struggle, the study, the competition, the sleepless nights does it all make us happy?

I do not know.

Yes, we are happy when we achieve something. But sometimes I think that it would be so much better if I could leave everything and settle in some small village, with a river nearby. If I could watch sunset sitting beside the river with no worries in my mind.

But reality does not let us paint such a romantic picture. Reality has mosquitoes which tend to come and scare of people who would be watching sunset beside the river.

“Let’s take 10 mins break and then we’ll resume with the subsequent portion.”

People scurry out of the class. Some hurry to the loo, some to grab a coffee to help him combat the torturous boredom of the class. I wait. Wait and watch those incessant drops of rain coming down from the heavens. Yes even the heavens are crying on the sad plight of the human race. The race that had advanced so much, that they have forgotten that the basic right of all beings is the right to be happy. The dark clouds roam about menacingly over our head posing. A harbinger of some great calamity. A possible check to the humans who are becoming menacing to the earth’s existence itself. The heavens keep on crying on man’s plight, on the sad state of God’s favorite creation.

Krishanu Mukherjee (09-11)

Are we really happy??

Have we ever thought what are we running after?...

Aren’t we running this rat race and ignoring the little things in life which are the real source of happiness.

Do we remember when we made someone smile or made someone’s life better?....Do we remember when we went out in the rains to have a splash?...Do we remember when we had a long walk along a beach?..”Woh kagaz ki kashti , who barish ka paani”

Aren’t we so much engrossed in the petty issues and giving them undue importance. Getting half a mark more than our peer has become a priority, earning a fat pay package is a matter of pride without any clue how to spend that sum.

We have stopped loving each other and running in this mad chaos for better marks, better jobs without realising that we are postponing our smiles and happiness in this journey called LIFE . We strive to get into the best of colleges, in turn to get the best of the jobs; without realising the fact that the end result we aspire for is happiness.

But, happiness does not come just as an offshoot of owning a BMW or a beachside bungalow at Juhu beach.

Vice President ,strategy at Lehman Brothers in New York during the crisis said” At a time when all wealth disappeared overnight for me,the only thing that stood steadfast was the meaningful relationships with family and friends that I had nurtured through a lifetime”

The subprime crisis has brought people back to the roots. The meltdown is a reminder to everyone to put aside the deafening daily din and to put one’s ears to the inner voice and calling of life.

I feel happiness is a factor of relishing small things in life…remember when we were children, played small indoor games felt elated in winning them, when we won our first ever prize in kindergarten , that small prize or that sense of recognition when we were on the top of the world.

But, now we crib on small things in life…crib for half a mark ……or a better job for that matter.

We have become so self-centred ignorant to the fact that we are not happy inside. We have stopped making true relationships and every relationship has become an interest of self-gratification. Its all directed to the self. We have failed to recognise that we have a definite life span for all of us…a day will come when our lives will come to an end.

We don’t realise that we have almost covered 20-25 percent of this life god has bestowed upon us..why not to make the most of what 70-75 percent of what is left now?

Do we dare to ask this once we die whether the world will remember us from the grades we get or the amount of money we have in our bank accounts, but how much we have made changes to their lives?

What matters is the number of smiling faces all around and how much happiness one spreads along the way.

“After all there are things which money can’t buy”

We should get back to our roots ….there is no end to materialistic pleasures.

Samarth Gupta (09-11)