Dearest Sister,
I know life may seem scary at the moment. Number of things that might be new to you and bothering you like anything… All I want to say is that, have faith, all this will end and memorised too… There are certain things that I’ve learnt from life…I wish to share them with you…not like a sermon but rather like an evening chat…
Life is strangely familiar and familiarly strange… It’s full of opportunities and success but on the other side it also has compromises and choices… You don’t get to choose lot of things and you can’t create all the opportunities by yourself. You don’t get to choose your family and surroundings…(For us god chose our family and our family chose the surroundings and they couldn’t have been more perfect) but you do get to choose your friends and the path you want to walk for rest of life… You do get to choose your attitude and most importantly you do get to choose your attitude towards all that happens with you… You get to choose whose advice you want and with whom you want to share things with… Things may happen once in reality but they remain in our conscious mind, they define your thinking and response to similar event in future …So it’s best to keep positive attitude and bounce back with same vigour but let me tell you it is not simple... It will help you when your mind replays the sequence of events in life, you have a good feeling… that you have learnt from the situations giving confidence and strength… there is something good in even bad situations no matter how bleak they may seem to be… there is something to be learnt in all the struggles that life gives to us…more often than not, it takes courage to be able to see and sustain that good…it is not possible for everyone (:-p and that is what differentiates men from boys)…Whenever you feel that life is being unfair to you, remind yourself those stories of grandma, and by the way victory itself is not fair… the main point is that you are most probably not alone facing the blues of life…and in fact, if life ever poses such a unique situation before you which nobody else has ever encountered, what more joy than conquering it for the first time in human history?
There may be times when nobody might believe in you… there may be times when the world might challenge your abilities in a harsh way (you might have seen them happening to others)… the crucial thing which will take you to victory is belief in yourself…no matter what happens, never cease to believe in yourself…no matter what…because in the end, we all are what we think of ourselves to be…. And don’t forget anyone who believed you and put faith in your capabilities.
Amongst the many people in your life, there might be a few who care for you…but fail to understand you…they may not understand your deep emotions, your passion…learn to live with these people and care for them too… And there may be people who understand you and care for you still not support you, try to confront them and know their concerns. Address them as much as possible. And then, there may be people who understand you…but don’t really love you or care for you…Learn to identify such people and learn from them as much as you can…learn how to deal with them, learn how much to believe in a gold valley in Mumbai when you are in Latur… Another important thing, don’t house too many bad feelings for anyone… Life is really too short to waste in hatred…Ignore them but don’t hate them. If something disturbs you deeply, instead of letting it turn into despise and hatred, turn that into a fire, a passion to change that…Life is colourless without passion…so have a deep rooted passion… Don’t forget what our parents has taught us, they are not the things which will earn millions or stylish friends but somewhere they will give you satisfaction, incomparable to anything in greedy world.
There will be times when your own friends might turn into foes (intentionally or unintentionally)…so place your trust in people with due care…talk to many, but speak only to a few…
There are all kinds of people in the world…and each of them can teach you something...Don’t miss the chance to learn from them…Don’t necessarily make them your friends…because not all people deserve your friendship… and remember you never meet the same person twice. The person you met today is different tomorrow. The person you met in colony is different in office. The person you met in class is different in a restaurant. Don’t judge hastily. Stay away from negative influences (I remember how I used to influence you into doing things to keep myself safe :-D)…but every living being deserves humanity from you…You owe a responsibility to this world of ours…Go out and do some good…Then you can be truly proud of yourself…
Surround yourself with good, happy and motivated people… with great music, great books and great friends and great memories… Understand that nature is the best soother…and Time the ultimate healer…Give time its time…Life is not at all bad… in fact for most part its beautiful…
Finally don’t forget where you belong… Even Ramji believed that your fatherland is more lovable than heaven. I hope you won’t forget the prayer sang all over our student life. (I feel happy that I didn’t have the reason to change my prayer every 2-3 years and still remember all of it) While doing so remember that others do have the same right. I pity those who do not have proud feeling of where they belong and want to project themselves as citizens of global world. One day or other they will need a land to call their own and then desperate attempts won’t lead to same pride and peace.
There are various treasures waiting to be found…a million pebbles of knowledge on the shore of wisdom…Go ahead and explore them… Believe in life but most importantly, believe in yourself…
I believe you have all the abilities to live a very fruitful and enjoyable life... and I hope I have not given you any reason to trust me as a friend (except some but I know you will take them with sportsmanship and try to counter and fail) or fear me while telling anything.
I have jotted above certain things that I learned and used…see if you can use them too…
Love you and always there to take care of you…
