In the Zone

Life – a mixture of ups and downs,

No wonder the latter makes him frown

 

Moving forward- a difficult task

Reaching his destination is all he asks

 

Weary- jaded into a sudden lull

Steers him to many protracted a struggle

Sedated- by this tedious crawl

Often pushes him towards a brawl

 

Traffic- breathing now so slow

His exuberance has become shallow

 

But then…

 

Survive – becomes the magic word

Surmounting all that he feared

 

Thrill - a catalyst for us all

Drives him to top the tallest wall

Brazen - by these exploits

Powers him ahead like an asteroid

 

Tempo- the breathing is calm

Making way for the incoming alarm

 

Life – a mixture of ups and downs,

Overcoming the latter makes him fit for a crown

World's Toughest Crossword: Life

Quite recently, I (M) had a talk (when I was having a walk) with an elderly man (U) (though he did do the main talking). I am not going into the details of how the talk started, but gradually we ended up talking about what I am about to share with you now.

U: 'Many of us have heard our teachers/ elders telling us that there is no work in life which can be done without the help of math. Though that might arguably be true, but I am not going to harp on that point. Instead, I will talk about another important aspect in our life: CROSSWORDs (puzzle).'

M: 'What is this guy rambling about? I have better things to do than think about those silly crosswords... There are surely thousands who don't bother with such an annoying waste in time!'
U: 'True. If something along those lines (the above one) is coursing through your mind, then I am on your side.'

M: 'HA! From where to where is this talk going?'
U: 'Let me explain. Crosswords have been an integral part of our life, and there is no guarantee that a person proficient in solving the crossword puzzles on the papers (that you get to see every day), will be any better in solving the toughest crosswords experienced by us- LIFE!!!'

M: 'OKaayyyyyy!!!' -__- 'What does a dumb crossword have anything to do with Life?'
U: 'EVERYTHING! I neither know as to who introduced crosswords (the ones on the paper) nor why, but there can be a lot of similarities drawn between Crosswords and our lives.
Similar to crosswords, our life:
- Isn't a fairy tale (with smoothly curving paths, where one good thing leads to another with little or no worries).
- Has various blank (black) spaces which are outside our control.
- Has various clues as to how we proceed.
- The way we go about solving it determines as to whether we attain success or not.
- Once one is solved, there is always another to face the next day/ time.'

M: 'So, you say there are multiple crosswords in our lives, not just one symbolizing Life as whole?'
U: 'Yes and No. Yes, because as you said there are multiple crosswords we come across our lives, and no, because we can also consider our entire life as one huge crossword with all the smaller crosswords forming words as rows (across) and columns (down), something which arguably none have been able to solve. Therefore, solving few problems or overcoming certain obstacles, do not in any way guarantee a happy or successful life, as there are many more words/ crosswords to be solved. This is where, we have to prioritize, but I do not intend to discuss about priorities.'

M: 'Where else are these crosswords applicable?'
U: 'There are few other attributes which have the basis of a crossword, such as
Our DNA: There are innumerable researches working in this direction, in order to understand the importance of our DNA, though there is a general understanding, but to get a more in depth understanding, we try to make use of all the clues available.
Our character: All of us are unique in our own way, and in order to get a good understanding of an individual, once again we need to comprehend the clues we sense present in the individual.
Similarly, there are various other places where we have Crosswords ingrained.'

M: 'But we have heard similar lines, such as our life being full of puzzles...'
U: 'I agree. Crossword is only a type of puzzle and hence the same holds good. Life is a big puzzle, and those who take pains in solving it are the ones who taste sweetness at the end of their journey (even though if they haven't solved the whole thing).'

As I came back near my house, I finally said:
M: 'This has been a nice talk with you and I have learnt a lot'
While saying this I turned towards him only to find that he wasn't there...

Knowledge- The Limiting Factor?

Here I start with a very small anecdote about my friend, his name was Knowledge. All respected him because of his easy grasp of all information. All seemed fine with him until one day he came to know that people behind his back were all calling him by different names (barring me), as days passed by he became aware of all the names he was called by:

Kooky
Nerdy
Oddball
Wobbly
Lackadaisical
Empirical
Deranged
Gauche
Egregious

These names were invented to explain his actions with some finding him isolated, boring, crazy at times, careless and shy. Till now he had always been aware of what only he thought of himself, but now hearing what others think of him, he was worried.

We have so often heard that Knowledge is perhaps the most important thing to all of us. There are infinite places that you will find having written about the importance. I am not going to contradict that ever, but is it all green grass on this side of the fence? Does knowledge have some limitations? Yes, I do feel it has.
You might have seen during your younger age, cartoons which showed that, the lack of knowledge of gravity, allowed one to walk high in the air with no physical support, which is actually not possible, but still, in a similar fashion knowledge does draw some unexpected boundaries...

Am I going to put knowledge in new light? No!

Knowledge can sometimes be inconvenient. For example: In my country, it has been common to eat fast/ junk food sold near the road-side for at least many decades, but of recent this has been reducing. Partly it's because people have come to know that these foods are unhealthy in various ways. This has caused people who used to eat the same food near the same road side shop/ cart to stop eating that anymore, or even if they eat their stomach's have become more sensitive to these foods due to these occasions becoming rare occurrences.

Knowledge leads to a confused state of mind as we are spoiled for choices. These days, there are innumerable sources for gaining additional knowledge, but many end up being contradicting. This does not mean that knowledge should be put away by all. It only becomes the job of the receiver to sieve through them (the choices) and decide which path to follow. For example, some say dieting helps in reducing weight but others say it does not. At the end, this has been argued about a lot, but at the end it is hard to argue the basic fact that exercise can healthily bring down one's weight or at least keep it constant.

For those of you reading this article too, some might find it in contradiction to what they believe in, but in places like this it becomes important to know that though there are many ways to interpret information, there are only some ways which actually give out the intended meaning. In this case, I am not castigating knowledge, but just approaching it from a slightly different viewpoint.

As can be seen here, knowledge can become a limiting factor unless properly chosen, used and interpreted. This knowledge molds all of us into what we are, and hence knowledge becomes all the more important and is the deciding factor making each of us unique in what we are. This topic though hasn't been given its due as it will require pages upon pages to describe its true effect but I hope I have done justice with this minimal space that I have used.