Thursday, February 24, 2005

Once in a while...

He sat looking at the cake, a part of his 70th birthday celebrations... a once in a lifetime event... and wondered how he loved and looked forward to these once in a while events... from the simple stuff to the really 'once in a lifetime' events...he allowed himself a brief flashback of his life so far...
he loved his birthdays from the time he could remember.. he was the centre of attraction on that day, and would be flooded with presents.... on the birthday that came once a year...
but he loved the simple things too... sleep, for example, because he was awake all day and slept only once, at night... he liked sundays, because all the other days he had to go to school, and later, work... he used to love saturdays too, because that was the only day he dined out...
he had looked forward to his marriage, because he knew he would be married only once.. yes, an old school thought, but thats the way he was... he used to look forward to anniversaries, the day in the year when everything would be special.. he cherished the day his only son was born, because they were sure there wouldnt be a another..he also had fond memories of the day he retired from work, it was the end of a big chapter in his life......
lately he had started to cherish all moments, because he felt he would be wasting his life otherwise, because each moment of life was special...but these days, there was a contradiction.... he wasn't looking forward for a moment that was soon to come, a moment that came only once in life... the moment he would die.... no, he wasnt looking forwarded to it, though life happened all the while and death happened only once, but he wondered why.... because he didnt have a choice? because he didnt know what happened after it??...
until next time, live another day...

22 comments:

Elixir said...

*grin* purv n me were talkin jus yesterday about living. This cudnt have come at a better time *hugs*

Deez said...

always loved this...kal ho na ho...philosophy.

Stone said...

hmmm..each day comes only 'Once' in a life, so no point in marking special days...each day is a special, n life is a BIG celebration.

Arunima said...

Manu, This was very touching for me as dad is retiring soon and I was pondering on this issue. He kind of spoke all these to me just a few days back. Not about dying ofcourse but about living another day. good one!

J said...

Do we die to live or live to die?

Anonymous said...

Well said :)

--Apple

Pallavi said...

life is made of precious memories.. the key is to realize it :)

Anonymous said...

ahhh...nice one this manu..:)

manuscrypts said...

elixir: its always a 'back of the mind ' thought... but we rarely give it the attention it deserves, na??

blokes: thats the way to be.. :)

manuscrypts said...

vanilla: wish i could implement it, though..

stone: only, like other things, we dont get the time to celebrate

manuscrypts said...

arunima: its only when loved ones/ us reach a particular stage in life, that we reflect on all this.. would we be happier if we reflected more??

j: to each their own... sadly, it its subjective.. but good thought..

manuscrypts said...

apple: :)

pallavi: and we are always losing keys!! :(

The Bard said...

live life as if theres no tomorw....n abt life aft death ask me....it's hell ;)

satchit said...

J said it well. Coming to think of it, death is somewhat different. Don't really know what happens after death. Nice post. :-)

Nupur said...

:)
Very well written Manu.

Collect life's precious moments like precious stones and bead them into a necklace that you can caryy around...to remind yourslef how fortunate you are!! We all are!!!

Rapunzel said...

*sniff* i do hate growing old:( actually deaths not so bad, if it comes quick.but imagine having to wait for it :( waaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn now me feeling all heavy :(( and hey! why the dude thinks marrying "ONLY" once is an 'old school of thought':-O i wish people who were nice would live and the others would just....i donno.....jus curl up and die!bah!!*heavy-hearted and vicious*

Anonymous said...

i dread old age.. but maybe when i am there i dont feel it too much..hopefully.. :) and a KISS guy eh? i have to click twice to comment..

manuscrypts said...

ashi: thx :)

la devil: hopefilly wont have to tango with u.. ;)

manuscrypts said...

satchit: one of the missing parts of the puzzle :)

nupur: so long as its not too heavy :)

manuscrypts said...

rapunzel: partly autobiographical, so old school thought, the present gen definitely thinks so.... :)

aqua: oh!! that was the complication, i thought it was about the post.. er,mm, cant have everything, can we :)

Aekta said...

Waiting for death isn't living...

manuscrypts said...

agree, but in all the old people i know, i have seen that it is a thought at the back of their mind... during 20's and 30's a lot of us feel this way abt life, and death.. but the closer we get, the inevitability of it become more real.. and we dont know what might happen tomorrow..who knows what what we might feel 30-40 years later... :)