An Epistle to Pahadi Philippa : 2

 Dearest Philippa,

I was thinking to write to you for long. The thing about which I want to talk about is glorification of people. Sometimes we all glorify some people so much in our lives that we become overwhelmed by their intellect or beauty or kindness or success. It is not bad to acknowledge the qualities or the hard work of people. All I want to say is what we see in a person as his achievement is not exclusively his own achievement. Infact most of the times it is just a game of chance in life. Let me explain myself with an example, remember the most intelligent person you have met. He/She has technically zero role to play in the genes he/she has inherited. If that person is a quick learner then it was the IQ which should be given the credit. If he is polite and well groomed and speaks in a posh way then it was just the surroundings which made him so. 

In stark contrast to that imagine someone who is born with an average or below average IQ, he shouldn't be blamed for his slow learning. If he came across others who are always bitching and finding flaws in others, there is a good chance he might become like one of them. Isn't it all a CHANCE in life?? My point of writing this whole thing is that stop giving too much importance to the people whom you think are phenomenal. Learn good things from them but never forget that for most of the people their circumstances are more important than them for what they become in life. 

My intention is not to promote lazy people who blame luck or conditions for everything in life. No matter how hard you try, there will be only limited controllables. Suppose you want to befriend Zakir Khan (my favorite comedian of course) but what if he doesn't want to be your friend at all. You can not compel him to behave according to your will. In the meantime you work on yourself and make best use of whatever life or CHANCE gives you , someday your personality may become like the most charming person you have ever known. Do not glorify people so much , we all have our own flaws, we are all fighting our own battles, we are all laughing on some or the other comedian's jokes (be it Zakir's or Upamanyu's ). 

My parting lines this time are taken from Dhar poem of Sh. Arun Kamal

"अपना क्या है इस जीवन में
सब तो लिया उधार
सारा लोहा उन लोगों का
अपनी केवल धार।"

P.S. Try to glorify yourself this valentine  ;)

Until Next Time

William