Your dad is changing

Hi little one,

I know I did not write to you last week. I am updating my schedule, I will write to you every two weeks. If you are disappointed, then don't be because I am trying to focus on quality instead of quantity. I have been mostly advising you for the last couple of weeks. This time, it is a bit different, I need to reflect on my own thoughts, feelings, attitudes and philosophy of my life. Socrates rightly said "An unexamined life is not worth living" and I truly believe in that. Self-introspection is a powerful tool and we should use it from time to time.

Your dad has believed in certain principles until now. Love, romance, marriage, a happy family and all that. I would like to believe in all that in the future as well. But, I have been become more open towards other ways of leading my life. I am not so sure that I can spend my life with another person, give them all the love and happiness and grow old together. I have other things that I intend to do - music, poetry, film, photography and they keep me happy and occupied. I also like to keep my own company and have become somewhat less social. 

I have become quite liberated, I must say and exploring a different side to myself which I have kept suppressed all this while. But, this change has been quite scary and overwhelming for me as well. I do not know what the future holds, but I hope it is good. This change has been a result of catastrophic loss about a year back, which I haven't had the courage to tell you about - but soon I will.

Yours (a little bit confused),

Dad

P.S - The cycle of change above.

The universe will give you back your flowers

Hi little one,

Yes, I know it's been a long long time since I wrote to you. A lot has been going on in my life and I have learnt a few things in the process. I just wanted to share one very important lesson I learnt.

Unless, you have inferred from the previous letters, your old man is a hopeless romantic and I hope you grow up to be one too. I hope you receive and also give the brightest flowers of your heart to the altar of the ones you love. I gave it to someone too, along with some beautiful lines from my most favourite voice - Md Rafi. But sadly, the universe had other plans, and someone got angry and I had to throw the flowers in the dustbin and the lines were smudged by my tears. I felt that this world has no place for people like you or me. 

But, you see life delights and surprises us if our actions have been from a pure heart. After a few months, someone gave me flowers and I got my flowers back from the dustbin and straight into my heart. So you see, if you do anything will pure intentions, I feel the universe will give you back what you lost. You just have to give it some time to figure it out how. 

Many of us do not see the beautiful rangoolis the universe creates with all of us as flowers. We should be more open and observant of how the universe plucks and then plants so many people of varied colour, size and shape into our lives.

Yours forever,

Dad

P.S - Never turn down flowers from someone, disagree with them because you want to. But, please never turn get angry at someone who brings you flowers. 

The lion is the king of the jungle. But, is it the happiest ?

Hi princess,

Every human being at some point of time in their lives, questions the meaning of happiness. So many brilliant thinkers, philosophers, artists, scientists and poets have constantly engaged with the question of "What it means to be happy? " If you are currently at the same stage, do NOT get anxious. Take a deep breath and read on.

Our modern society unable to comprehend the true meaning of happiness has designed several indirect or proxy ways to measure it. Wealth, fame and power are some of the yardsticks we choose to measure happiness. We are surrounded by advertisements telling us to buy that life insurance to lead a tension free life, to drink that can of coke to feel refreshed, to take a an exotic holiday, to buy that shiny car to experience pure control or even more ridiculously, to buy those elegant sanitation fittings to achieve some kind of harmony in life. All products and services give us temporary happiness and leave us wanting more of it. Although there is some correlation of happiness with these parameters, they do not tell the whole picture.

Wealth has a linear relationship with happiness, in the initial stages. But, after our basic needs as a person in a society are satisfied, I think it increasingly becomes less and less relevant. Fame may elevate our mental image of ourselves to great heights. But, when we come to realize that most of today's "fame" is fake, we see the impermanence of it all. As for power, Spiderman said it best " With great power, comes great responsibility."

We see so many powerful, famous and wealthy people lead unhappy lives, yet we do not learn.  Do not be "forced into happiness" by seeing people get new jobs, getting degrees from the best places, or getting married or having children. There is no single key or definition of happiness, it depends on us and us alone. You define your own happiness.

The lion may be the king of the jungle, but is it the happiest? Maybe we are not lions, but tortoises or owls in the jungle of life. There are happy tortoises and owls and giraffes and so on. You do not need to be a lion to be happy. 

I think whenever, you find questioning the meaning of happiness, do not look at the outside world. Ask yourself, ask inside. The world will give you all kinds of answers which won't make sense to you. But, your mind and your heart know the true answer already.

Yours lovingly,
Dad

P.S - You make me the happiest person on earth. :)

The story of the lifeboat.

Hi darling,

It has been a long time since Daddy wrote to you. Hope, everything is right in school. I think we should plan a vacation soon. Somewhere really warm. It would be good for me and you too. Daddy has had a couple of bad days recently. He doesn't know what he is doing with his life. Directionless and purposeless. I think everybody has that phase sometime in their lives. Today, I just want to tell you a little story. It's a story you should read when people leave you, knowingly. When anybody leaves you, knowing that you will be hurt beyond measure.

The story of the lifeboat.

There was a deep dark ocean. In the middle of the ocean, there was a yellow lifeboat. Waves lashed around it, rocking it to and fro. But, it remained steady. It had to. Because there was a man in it. He held onto the lifeboat for his life. It was his only way to survive, in these unforgiving waters. The lifeboat knew that it had to keep the man safe until they reached the shore.

But, suddenly the sweet songs of a mermaid reached the ears of the man. The lifeboat heard it too. The man went crazy. He had to hear those songs better, he had to find the mermaids. The man jumped into the water and swam away to the music of the mermaid. The lifeboat was powerless, what could it do. It couldn't save the man. It wandered alone on the ocean. All alone.

After days and nights, of almost being broken into two. After hours and hours of baking under the scorching sun. It found the shore. The people there repaired it and painted it anew. It even became a fishing boat for a young man, helping him catch his fish and keeping him happy. The lifeboat became an indispensable part of the man's life and he took good care of it.

But, what happened to the man who went after the mermaids? He drowned and settled into the depths of the sea.

Hope you find warmth and comfort.
Hope you become happy again.

Yours lovingly,
Dad