Thursday, August 7, 2008

Dial 'D' for Destiny

I’m a firm believer in the saying “Everything happens for a reason”.

Many people trash this philosophy. Essentially people who don’t believe in destiny. They believe our destinies are in our hands. It works for them. Fair enough. But my life has been full of events & occurrences that were completely out of line with my plans. John Lennon knew what he was talking about when he said “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans!!!”

I can’t explain the events in my life except by saying that there IS destiny at work. That life already has a plan for all of us. It’s been true for me - as I believe it is for countless other people - academically, professionally as well as in my personal life. I’ve known just what I wanted & how I wanted to go about attaining it. I’ve put efforts in that direction but hey! I ended up in a completely different place!!

So what do we do? Do we leave our lives completely up to this invisible force called destiny that we have no control over, or do we continue to make our choices in life, continue working towards them & watch our plans fall apart right in front of our eyes, while we take consolation in the fact that at least we tried?? Because after all, you can’t just take what’s dished out to you. You can’t sit & pray for the good things in life to fall in to your lap. Isn’t that what we’re all taught growing up…in school, at home? Maybe it is to instill a fighter spirit in us…maybe it’s done to teach us to never give up hope.

Whatever the reason, this is one of those questions that has perplexed the human mind since time immemorial & will continue to do so for generations to come. Do we TRY to command destiny (and fail miserably, every time falling prey to frustration but picking ourselves up valiantly again) or do we let life sweep us up in its wake?

Think about it, it’s fun!

4 comments:

Kalyan Karmakar said...

but wouldn't be boring to sit doing nothing. Example, I decided to shift Bombay...then met my wife. Destiny? I don't know. Would we have met if I just sat at Cal fretting...I don't know. I guess the jury is out on this one. But if nothing else if sure there is quite a bit of fun in the chase

Scarlett said...

I share your sentiments. That's why I said it's a question we'll keep grappling with & we will keep making efforts to attain what we want to attain. The key is, I guess, to go ahead & make those efforts, but also to let oneself get swept away with life, as & when it happens to us...

Moonshine said...

Swept away with life? I dont know... i am not too sure... at the end of the day.. its your gut feel.. intuitively you know where you need to be.. where you need to be going.. there are decisions we take.. movement to another city.. spending life with someone.. yes maybe fate does have a role to play in it.. (esp in things not in control).. else its decisions that we take consciously, sub consciously.... It is not fate we have landed up where we are.. we are where we are because of the choices we made.. like i said i am sure fate does have a hand in it.. you cannot be controlling other things , other reactions!

But yes, there is an element of doubt.. like i said earlier, some astrologer predicted what i would be doing.. and here i am!! That was weird!!

Scarlett said...

@ Moonshine - What I meant was, and I'm sure this has happened to you many times as well, that you'll be planning something all along...working towards it...and then something totally unexpected happens that steers your life in another direction altogether! You might make choices in the process, but you hadn't foreseen the situation that would present itself. For example, when I was in 12th, I was preparing to go to DU for my graduation but then I had an opportunity to go to the US for graduation. I had a choice - to go to US or stay back in India - and I made my choice. But I had never thought that I would have an opportunity to go to the US in the first place. That is what I meant.