A High Rise Building of Life

R.D. Bhardwaj “Noorpuri”

Once, there were a brother and a sister who lived in a very high-rise building located in a big city, on the 80th floor. They were studying in college. One day, while coming home from their college, they realized to their dismay that the lifts of their building were not working and that they have to climb all the stairs to reach their home. After struggling upto the 20th floor, sweating and tired, they decided to keep their satchels on that floor and collect them later on, as and when the light comes and their lift starts functioning. They left their satchels on one corner the the stairs and started climbing again. When they struggled their passage upto the 40th floor, they were left with very little energy to go further as they were sufficiently exhausted and irritated. The brother started to grumble with his sister and both of them began to quarrel over the matter as to why she spent more time in playing and frolicking etc. here and there while returning from their college and thus, got delayed for reaching their building and by that time, the power had also gone out. However, after some quarrelling and grumbling over, they again resumed to walk upstairs to reach their destination, and thus, they made their way upto the 60th floor.

Then they sat on the stairs hoping that they have only 20 levels more to climb up and decided to stop quarreling and continue climbing in peace. No doubt, they were feeling thirsty as well by that time, but they did not have any water with them to quench their thirst. So they silently but with a lot of difficulty, continued moving upstairs and at last reached their home. They heaved a huge sigh of relief as their most difficult phase of making their way to home has been finally completed and they looked at each other calmly but with a great sense of satisfaction. As they again moved slowly towards their home, they again stood before the door of their house and looked at one another to open the door. But soon thereafter, both of them again realized that the keys of their house were left in their bags which they left on the 20th floor.

This story is a true reflection of our life and hard times we had to face sometimes. All of us climb the high rise building called life. Some people climb upto to the 40th floor, some 45th and some even 55th floor, but still there are a few of people who are not even able to make it even make their way upto the 40th floor. Of course, just a few amongst us certainly reach all the 80 floors and somehow complete their journey and thus reach their homes. Many of us climb under the hopes and expectations of our companions and many other close relatives. Time to time there are our friends and parents till the 40th floor, then our spouse or some other our dear ones till the next level of the building. We seldom get to do the things that we really like and love and are continuously under a lot of tension, pressure and stress, so that by the time we reach the age of 50 or so, we get tired and decide to dump our load somewhere else so that we are eased of our heavy loads. Once, we are free of the stress and extra burden, we again resume our work with a lot of recharged enthusiasm, vigour and hope to realise our long cherished dreams, ambitious wishes and some of the unfulfilled desires.

By the time we reach 50 or 55 years old, we start to lose a part of our vision and dreams. We begin to feel dissatisfied and start to complain and criticize others for the causes of not realising some of our dreams and aspirations and goals. We live life as a misery as we are seldom satisfied. Thus, by reaching 60, we realize that we have little time left for complaining anymore, and we begin to walk the final episode of our lives in peace & calmness. We think that there is nothing left to disappoint us, only to realize that we could not rest in peace and harmony with our close relatives and friends because we have a few unfulfilled dreams and aspirations.

A dream we abandoned 60 years ago ……… So what was your dream? Know your dreams and chase them so that you do not have to die with a lot of regrets and frustrations. Accept yourself and try to know your potentialities as to know what you can do to achieve your dreams, Believe in yourself and work hard with a focused mind and undivided attention, to that you do not loose the sight of your targets, and lastly

Learn to love and respect yourself, as without having this personality trait, you can not learn to love and respect others who are close to you as your spouse, friends, relatives and neighbours etc.

Also, do not forget that the almighty God has given each one of us a lot of powers so strong, treasures so rich, possibilities, probabilities and potentialities so endless, that we can channelise them so as to form a new and recharged synergy to get the remaining works and jobs done at least nearer to our choice, if not hundred percent as we had initially planned or wanted it to be done. Do adopt and inculcate some hobby which you can pursue regularly and ensure that it is positive and keeps you busy, besides making you and your family’s life somewhat easier, comfortable and convenient. Also try to help others to the extent possible and by doing all these and such type of things, you can certainly make a positive dent in your life and also in the lives of others close to you and your actions would change the history of the society surrounding you, in some discernible manner, if not the whole country.