I donno why now-a-days I become so nostalgic!

There are lots of factors which are governing me these days. One of them being longing for olden days again. The childhood ecstasy is lost. What have I become today? A 23 year old male, who can earn a decent 5 digit salary, by being himself busy all time from Monday to Friday. The possibility of taking some time off, from the hectic work schedule is only a weekend happening. So, what is that we have gained by being an adult? I get very less time for my family. I find less time to go out. I do not get any time to splurge in the non digital thing out of my cubicle.

Well, lots of things are in list that I cherished the most. The train travelling, for instance, is one of the most lovable one in my list. I’ve not been to railway station for quite a long time. It is obviously my work schedule that imprisoned my freedom. From the dusk to dawn, I keep fidgeting with the chunk of code that governs the so called Mainframes. I reach home at night and then have something for my tummy and then sleep. During college days, I used to frequent to Chennai for holidays. Those platforms, announcements, Higginbotham book stall, the trip charts are few things that kindles the past memories even today.

We used to get lots of holidays during school days and college. When we leave for our relatives’ place, I love those platforms were you see swarm of people ranging from a small 1 year infant, 18 year girls who are more concerned about the few inches of cosmetic that encroaches their face, those romeos who would show off their styles in front of a group of girls, those strict fathers who are more worried about their son’s/daughter’s marks in the coming semester examination, a sick old lady who expects from a newly married son, to see her grandson to play with her soon after they come back from honeymoon. And there are more in this list too. I always loved to practically feel the Doppler Effect whenever the super fast express approaches and leaves the station.

“The Doppler effect (or Doppler shift), named after Austrian physicist Christian Doppler who proposed it in 1842, is the change in frequency of a wave for an observer moving relative to the source of the waves. It is commonly heard when a vehicle sounding a siren approaches, passes and recedes from an observer. The received frequency is increased (compared to the emitted frequency) during the approach, it is identical at the instant of passing by, and it is decreased during the recession.”

It’s like I have lost something in life. I donno something keeps pricking me. Corporate life has given me glass doors, Air conditioned work place, and ergonomically designed cushion chairs, free coffee, large food courts where you get thing you wanted, Smart card based Identity Card with which you will be able to enter areas only into which you have been given access, security and most importantly Money. But what it is that I’m losing? Sleep, Rest, Peace and friends and something more

Those days were like you had lots of time and lot more friends. Now it is totally different. We have lot more time for work but very less friends. You should appoint a weekend for meeting up. You leave home by the time people are yet to wake up and reach home by the time all would have dozed off. The next day again the same routine and it goes on and on and on. Why all this?

I hated exams but now, it was something tolerable. I wanted to get back to those times which were spent with someone who you do not know before – the times, when you expect a new roommate in your hostel, the time when you pass a sheet of you exam paper, during the internal examination and both of you pass, the times when you go for dinner together with friends and share the happening of the class, the times when you do group studies for the next day exam, the times when four or five spend together in one’s room during a weekend, chatting all day and sleeping all over the floor with 4 to five alarms set.

Is it the life’s play to the human beings, which makes us long for the past, than to live in the present?

We always say that, those good old days were memorable, cherishable and all those adjectives which makes them long for the past. We listen to jungle book song and say, “wow..that was a good old song,..”. We have it as the caller tune and boast about it. We listen to old songs and say, “those were oldies melodies”. We still keep those old clocks with pendulum and hesitate to buy a new one. We still keep the old model mobile with keypad in its very bad state, with all those numberings scrubbed and display scratched and we say, “It’s the first mobile, I got”. We still say “Madras” instead of “Chennai”. I do understand that it gives a sense of belongingness, but why is it that the present is so uninterested at times?

Why don’t we like the present? Is it because, it is bitter at times? I certainly do not have answers for these questions. But one thing is sure. Unless, you feel comfortable yourselves in the present with your surroundings, you won’t be able to love the present as it is. Only when you get peace and happiness, you will be able to appreciate the present. Only when you get time for everything, you may pat the present and say, “Good Boy”.

I’m trying to make myself comfortable with the present. Hope, I’ll get peace and happiness in whatever I do. I do not hold grudges to accept this. But the Nostalgia is always there.

There are also people who always think about the future and they forget to live in the present. We study hard in 10^th standard to get into good school for 11^th and 12^th. We study hard in 12^th to get good marks in the board examination. Once we get into a good college, we are asked to study hard to get into good company. Once we get into good company, we struggle hard to save money for the future. We struggle hard to get a good bride to our Home. We get things in loan; build houses in loan, irrespective of our inadequate earning; we pay the dues in EMI, so that something big will be left behind for us in the future. We get married, have children, then we need to save things for their education, and then we need to worry about their education, college, and…

Excuse ME. Gimme a Break. Pleeeeeeeeeese !! Life is a vicious circle

But what is the ultimate requirement? Are we living in the present? We forget that, we are attaining the future every second and we should be able to live in the present and think about the future, without subjecting ourselves to agony in the present. But people are so afraid of seeing themselves in the near future with nothing in hand, so they always strive hard to preserve things for the future in spite of their tormenting life in the present.

Well, in this way, few minds longs for the past and forget about the present. Few minds which always think about the future and forgets to live in the present.

Let me make few things clear….

1. Always live in the present.
2. Do think about the future, but do not take actions that will put you in restriction in the present
3. Always, olden days may look beautiful, but it has nothing to contribute for the present. So don’t waste time thinking about the past all time.
4. Live your life truthfully and peacefully in the present. Do think about future occasionally
5. Cherish each and every moment of your life. After all, you don’t know what next!

One SMS I received long back, which tells about life….

“Life is a strict than a teacher.

A teacher teaches the lesson and

then keeps the exam. But Life

Keeps the exam first and

then teaches the lesson !!!!”

Really True !…..