Let it go! Let it come!

Drop the last year in to silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank god that it can go! 2013, an year which can go. It had to go.

It did start on a positive note. Well, everything new does. But the year was bad. 'Tough' would be a better word. It had everything in it to be called one of the worst years of my life so far. It was imperfect. It can go. It had to go.

But, there is never the lack of a silver lining in any cloud. And for that matter in the darkest of clouds the silver lining shined brightest and for that I am thankful. I am humbled. For the friends. For the family. For those who heard my lamentations, for those who tolerated my nonsense, for those who prayed for me, for those who stood by me, and above all for those who loved me. I am thankful. The places I lived changed, not the people nor their support. They were my silver lining.

New year! New hopes! Looking forward to a close friends wedding, to vintage travels, to many days of laughter, to new opportunities, to many many many stories and indulgences, to the deep changes happening in the country, to many new books, to lovely new music, to many new write ups here, and to the challenges of the exams. Let it come!

Life, in between the "Let it go's" and "Let it come's" is beautiful. isn't it?

 

But for them, the world is a worse place!

It was humbling! Truly humbling. Life had not been good to them. At least that is what I had thought before. But when I saw them dancing and having fun, I think I am made to eat my words. I mean, my thoughts.

Elwin centre for the mentally retarded is a school I had known for years now. My best friend's dad is the principal for years and we are family friends ever since I remember. So it is easy to know the school well. I had been to the campus many times, played with the mentally challenged children on so many occasions but this has not stuck me before.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the Christmas programme of the mentally challenged children of the school. A good friend wanted to take snaps and so I went to the very front of the auditorium and sat there with the other kids witnessing the cultural programme.

The kids I sat with were all excited to see their friends come on to the stage. You can see that on their faces that they wanted good for them. They were happy, plain and simple! There were no remorse, glaring mistakes were not jeered at, no booing, no whistling, no 'boys VS girls' competition, no gang fights. Through out the programme, I watched their faces. Both the ones on the stage and those off it. The smile did not go away. The excitement never wavered. The happiness was there right through!

Suddenly it sparked on me. The purity of the happiness I had lost along the way. The excitement in me wavered. Hatred has become a part of me; Competition has taken away the sheen of pure love. But all of them I saw, in those tiny deformed faces.

May be, I had thought the world would have been a better place without them! Yes, I mean it. But then, truly I am made to believe that the world is in fact a better place. But for them, the purity of love and happiness is all but lost.

Yes! It is humbling; humbling to know that the kids I met yesterday were way ahead of me in their lives for they know not anything but love.