Year: 2009

I’ve recently been to Delhi. Actually it’s been my first time visit. (Though, I dream of making it many more times)

And though the heat there took the toll out of me, a poor Keralite, I still love Delhi and wish to be back there.

There are two important things that we Keralites must learn from such big cities.

First is transport. One thing that really mesmerized me into loving Delhi is the metro railway. It is comfortable, fast, affordable, time-savvy and reduces congestion in the roads. You do know that it is almost impossible to get from the North to the South of Cochin at 8 in any weekday morning. Metro railway need not be in metro cities.
For roads, one thing that is absent in Delhi roads is gutters. There has been no compromise made with the health of roads, and that gives you a huge relief. At least you can mind other business while driving without hitting anything trying to avoid a hole in front.

And the second, the lifestyle.
We Keralites have a habit of thinking about others. How they look. How they see us. How nasty they are. How rude. How disgusting others can be. How helping others can be harmful. How a “sorry” can lower our respect. How a “good morning” makes us inferior.
How rubbish!
In the city, people don’t care about others. Everyone lives in a world of thier own, in which they need care about matters they are concerned with, and matters that need their attention. Can’t we just try to concentrate on ourselves?
Not that we should replace our styles with their, but shouldn’t we adapt and perfect ourselves.

And of course, Delhi is the capital of India

We are alive. For, we breathe, we move, we do things that pebbles probably cannot.
But what does it mean, “to live”?

There ARE more than 6 billion people on earth. And we are only a few among them. It doesn’t make a difference whether we live or we die. Nobody cares to see what we do, what we don’t. And even if we don’t do something, nothing happens to the system. The sky doesn’t break apart and fall on your roof.
Then, why should we live?

This of course is the question that philosophers have been asking themselves and others for centuries. This of course is the question that makes many men in their harshest times, lie on the railway track waiting for the train, or tie one end of a rope on a ceiling fan and the other end around the neck?

Why?

There are many ways to answer this:

One way is the path of spirituality. You don’t know why you live, you ask why and move, hopefully, towards the answer. These are most often propelled by spirituality gurus. They tell you that God is there, but you can find him, only through unflinching devotion. But betting on a God one whose very existence is doubted, is a risk that no sane human is gonna take. (That’s why we call a saint, insane)

Another way is to accept the truth and just live. You know you are living. And though you don’t know why you are living, you know how to live, so, you live.
And to live so, there are many ways. Some people live luxuriously. Some miserably. Some are happy, that they are living. Some wait for death. You just live the way you lived until this why-question came to your mind.

Yet another way is to know that you are blessed to be living, and more, to be living as a human, and then, to use your life to the best, reach out for the maximum and make it huge.
This is the kind of life that we should aim at.
We are alive. There is only one life. Then why not make it huge???

Socialize. Volunteer. Participate in whatever is going on around. Read everything. Learn anything new. Help every one. Love all. Play for fun. Laugh. Smile. Make others happy. Talk. Teach. Dream. Do big things. Change the world.

And finally you’ve got the answer. Why are you alive?