Author: Amita Raj
How many times have so many of us looked at our lives in horror, ashamed of their tattered shreds? Shouldn’t life have been one smooth silky tapestry, a beautiful panorama of our life’s successes to display to the world? This is the general fairytale vision of our path that is expected.
One is raised by parents, goes to school, then to college with the appropriate degree. Then, one settles into a suitable career or is a homemaker in a successful marriage, has children, buys a house, travels to beautiful places and lives happily ever after.
Lovely dream! However, this is sadly not the case for many of us. Many people come from broken homes, where due to death or discord from domestic violence, children grow up in constant instability and fear.
Illness, financial struggles or simply making ill-advised educational, career or marriage choices can lead to a life that feels hopelessly tattered. What worsens things is that society is hasty to criticise those without that so-called pukka fulfilled dream.
The bottomline here is not about fearing societal judgements, but finding solutions. If one has made a wrong career choice, it is best to start over, taking workshops, courses etc in the direction of one’s skills and talents.
In the area of financial challenges, various possibilities online or in the office options could be considered with the help of classified ads.
In traumatic situations caused in anger-filled domestic homes, one must seek counseling, support groups, well-wishers or in worst cases, walk away from a destructive and abusive environment.
Ultimately, though in the midst of so many storms, ironical as it may seem, one must try and remind oneself that life is eventually a gift, our destinies, the canvas for each of our work of art. Nature’s many oceans ebb and flow as infinite models of the beauty and gift of life itself. Graced by Nature’s magnificent presence, I hope those of us who feel torn apart can seek this vision of inspiration.
Let us steer our ships courageously, rather than passively sink with them in the tattering storms of life!
About the Author
Amita Raj has always loved creating imaginatively rich stories through the melody and colours of language. Her writing talent was sparked off in her childhood at age eight in a classroom assignment where she wrote the autobiography of a pen. Since then, she has been enchanted with writing, also reading and enjoying the works of Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. She has been a contributing writer to Deccan Herald, India Currents, Twist&Twain magazine, and of late regularly to Story Scrapers, ArtoonsInn Poetry Parlour and Soul Craft. She looks forward to her ongoing lyrical journey, writing and sharing with the world many more of her short stories, poems and novellas
