RULE NUMBER FORTY THREE

Rule # 43: Seek and You Shall Find.

*WARNING: I wrote this two years ago, in January 2010, so please excuse the bits of melodrama. I think I was going through a phase. Thank you.

What you’re looking for could manifest in the form of absolutely anything. A kind of person you’d like to be with, an event you want to be part of, or just a simple piece of solid matter you would like to acquire. It tends to be unique, different, something that interests us, something unconventional.

We have a picture of it in our minds and might know where to look for it, but the moment we set our goals and make our plans, a billion obstacles suddenly emerge in your path and your precious goal dips and disappears into the horizon.

On the train one day in August 2009, while I was on my way for football practice, I met another sportswoman. She sailed for India and said I should come join them as a guest for a sailing lesson. Absolutely random and just what I needed at the time – something new to learn. We exchanged numbers and schedules, and decided to meet the following weekend for some sailing. I cancelled all my plans for this buoyant event, and then, yes right then, (well, not really right then in the train, but two days later) I fell ill.

Malaria.

Plasmoduim Vivax if you please.

2 weeks recovery, right? Okay. Tolerable, I thought.

So I called, cancelled, did the dance, and scheduled it for the weekend after my recovery period was over.

The Friday before the aforementioned weekend, life decided to knock me off my feet again, this time with bad shoes and water. I slipped on the stairs outside my house and sprained my right ankle. So this means... NO SAILING FOR ANOTHER WEEK. I emotionally imploded.

Eventually, it took me a good 3 months to find a day where I could fix up a lesson. Ridiculous, I say, but we managed, and I now I know the fundamental basics of sailing!

I’m sure you’ve gone through a whole bunch of obstacles to get where you are today, or where you want to be in the future. We all have, right?

Indian Independence, anti-racism/anti-corruption movements, the fight for gender equality – these are battles countered with either ferocity or complete negligence from people with social and political power. Everyone that struggled must have felt at some point that the more they tried, the harder it became to reach their goals. The key is to stay strong, to stay focussed, to stay in the game.

This is where Rule # 21 comes in: TRY AND TRY UNTIL YOU DIE. For those agonising months, I really, desperately wanted to sail even though I knew I couldn’t. But I persisted, made calls, skipped classes and did end up going. It’s a small, trivial example to give you for such a hard-bound rule, but an experience I’ll never forget, and seemed larger than life after the wait.

So what would life be without the chase? What would life be without that passionate yearning or the will to fight for what you believe?

If you could have everything you wanted at the snap of a finger, how long would you want it for and how much would you value it?

Life always has a flipside, an up for every down. There will always be many reasons as to why these rules unanimously exist. True, not all of them apply to all situations. Sometimes, by pure fluke/good luck/chance, you’re served what you want on a silver platter (never happened to me, but I hear it’s possible).

So don’t give up yet. There’s so much more to know. You just need the will to look!

*Happy new year and have a brilliant 2012*

CLEAR SKIES OVER A FORSAKEN CITY