"You see being happy is really not a big deal, just don't do what doesn't make you happy. That includes trying to get along with people you are sure that they have a problem with you for no apparent reason". These are some lines I could recollect from one of the earliest conversations with Sangeetha Garu. She always insists that respect doesn't have to be shown on how one is addressed and moreover adding a "Garu" next to her name she says only makes her look wiser and old. However, that's the least we could do to express our gratitude as She is indeed a blessing in disguise for many of us who until then used to take everything way too seriously in our lives. A charismatic woman with a 'never stop dreaming' attitude, she always makes sure that everyone around her are smiling. Witty, clever and sometimes in perfect moments - her sense of humour is undoubtedly her greatest strengths. Though a colleague from a completely different team, thanks to T.T and journey in cab, I got a really good opportunity to meet few such interesting people in my current company. 'Where else would you get a chance to meet people from different teams who don't talk just about work?' we realised ourselves when tried to understand why we enjoyed playing that game even though when we are not that good at it.
Usually a cab journey to office and home would be a tiring routine for many but ours is a different genre altogether. Different mindsets, different opinions, endless discussions yet a simplistic approach on how to lead life in the best way possible - smile at every silly joke, show concern when needed, ignore the taunts, learn from mistakes and last but not least never lose a chance to do some good. No wonder we are still intact as we always knew how to respect one another, understand other's situations and rarely judge a book by just reading it's cover. It's this aspect of reality, we got to know when Sangeetha started coming with us in the cab. I still remember the time we discussed about our school days and she shared her experience for being mischievous and believably innocent at the same time. Our famous greeting tradition of 'India is the 7th largest country in the world' and 'The mathematical representation of a chemical reaction is called chemical equation' instead of a simple 'Hi' was the result of such hilarious discussions.
The other side of perception
'We are so busy in our lives that we mostly concentrate on how convenient our life style is and to what extent do we go to get what we need and no matter how beautiful our life is we still want something more. Isn't it ironic that we are not even thankful for what we are right now' she once initiated a topic which was not familiar to many of us since these are the issues which we silently communicate with our conscience but never have enough strength to talk to another person. 'Aren't we too young to have such point of views' I replied. She laughed while others continued to listen 'Believe me, I am the last person on earth to talk about philosophy but I am not talking about having sympathy on others or empathizing with others troubles but something even more simpler, thanking yourself for what you are today.' Time flew by like an instant as she shared her side of the story for having such a perception. Dialogue in the dark is a theme restaurant where people are served in the dark. we always heard good reviews about it as many said that it's a great experience to eat in the dark. What we never knew was that the people who served were blind. And it's a restaurant designed in such a way that people who walk in, experience life of a blind person for those few hours of stay.
While many praised its theme for being so enjoyable, She could actually see the other side which actually mattered. 'I became very emotional that day. we went there for our wedding anniversary. I trembled having to deal with such pitch darkness for just few hours. Imagine their life, it's this dark all the time and for no fault of theirs. The person who served us did his best to calm me down. It's ok Madam he said with a soulful voice, don't be afraid you are doing absolutely fine and I was literally shouting in my mind, how can someone live a life like this. Its so scary.' Listening to this we all turned numb for a moment. how true was she?. All our childhood we always complained on how mediocre our clothes were, how dull our past was, how others had a better bike, a better house or a better car not even realizing on how fortunate we all were to have all these senses to at least witness such things. That day I learned something more than just 'life' of a blind person. how blind we all are to our own lives?. We always are keen to think about others but how often do we even know about our own selves. 'Live this moment' she said, 'you can't change your past, future is tomorrow but today just live it and appreciate every moment whether you like it or not' We silently nodded in agreement.
I for Imagination
"Are they imaginary or real?" She once asked. It took a bit longer for me to understand that question so she asked again in a more simplistic way "your characters from the stories you write, are they imaginary?" Though it puzzled me for a moment I replied without a second thought "of course all of them are imaginary" and for the next few days this question kept popping up in my mind and every time I had the same old answer. 'Of course they are, they have to be and They will always be' I thought. That's the whole point of using one's imagination to write stories which may never happen in reality. Sure there are instances where people just pen down what happened in their own lives but such versions go by the name 'memoir' or 'autobiography'. My narration is neither fiction or non-fiction but just an another dimension of human emotions. Sometimes from a simple thought or an instinct, sometimes from a quote or a line spoken by people around me, stories I write always get drafted from the world I live in. Characters might be inspired from reality but I always knew they were purely my imagination and resided in my head until I wrote them down.
That's when it hit me hard, one true reason why my stories had a good response from the readers. It's not just because of a good narrative style or a gripping content but mainly because of the characters and their perspectives towards a situation they are in. Going back when I read my own stories I understood that most of the characters always stayed true to their nature no matter how dire the circumstances were. This is what most of us always wished to be and may be that's one of the reasons why I was so sure that such characters were imaginary. I would have never travelled down this road of thoughts if I was never asked such a simple question 'Are they Imaginary?'. It also opened up a new possibility to try not to imagine about people who exist and never restrict imagination to simple laws of reality. What I see is real, What people speak is the only reality. For years I was trying to put into practice a simple idea that 'One can live a peaceful life without worrying about what others would think and ones actions need not always impact others life along with his'. If 'Never talk bad about people in their absence' gave me a good start, then this latest approach of 'Stop imagining or assuming about people who exist for real' helped me more than I ever imagined.
Saraswathi Namasthubhyam
Well this brings me to the most intriguing aspect of why I treat Sangeetha garu as Goddess Saraswathi - Goddess of knowledge. Since childhood we were made to believe that books are worshipped in Her name and anyone who was smart or intelligent, getting good grades or reading a lot of books were praised as the ones blessed by the Goddess herself in other words 'Saraswathi Kataaksham'. Knowledge is never restricted to just books. Movies, Music, Arts, People, Plants, animals, living things , non living things - everything and everyone had their unique way of teaching us something and it always depended on our interpretation. Even 'time' is not an exception for that matter. This is my interpretation of Goddess Sarawathi who created an ocean of knowledge and gave us infinite ways to learn based on 'our own interest to live this one life to the fullest potential' but not 'by our intelligence'. Just a simple question about my stories made me realise how imagination could be used in a better way to attain peace.
Even when some of the stories started happening for real, I was purely delighted to accept that such coincidences were only meant as a part of a greater journey ahead. And that's how finding answers became one of my favourite ways to learn what I wanted, explore what I wished for and gain knowledge irrespective of time as 'Answers' were the true path of knowledge. May be Goddess Saraswathi wanted to take a different approach too and instead of taking full credit by blessing anyone and turning them into a pure genius as mentioned in our mythology, She now asks questions and sets her believers to find answers on their own and thus taking no credit at all. What a great teacher indeed. I always treated God as a very good friend and it only made more sense to me personally that I see God in all my friends, strangers and everyone around me. So yes Sangeetha garu, I will always treat you as Goddess Saraswathi for your kindness, your attitude towards life, your vision for a happy world, your compassion towards people in pain and surely for your questions as they guide me to the right direction. Learning classical dance and playing violin - these two arts looked almost impossible to achieve in the past but they never gave up on me. I do hope that someday I will learn those and when I do, please accept my invitation as a 'Guru Dakshina' to witness me living my dreams as that's the least I can do to show you my gratitude.
Sruthi Neevu, Gathi Neevu
This song from 'Swati Karanam' aptly denotes my respect towards you. My mind is like a little kid constantly learning and making the best use of my skills while you, as a great mother continue to bless this world with your unconditional love. Thank you for being such a great person. We are truly honoured to have known you and words are never enough to express how awesome you are. What else can we say other than bowing to you in humility with 'Sharana gati neevu Bharathi'
Wishing you a great life ahead
Happy Birthday andi
Keep smiling
Stay Awesome
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