Coming back to Ikigai, I feel that it truly resonates with what I feel. You should find your center, your core. That might be something that you are good at naturally without making any effort, one that you enjoy and it brings peace to your inner being. Something that contributes to society, makes it a better place and also something that has the potential to be your livelihood. That is the essence of Ikigai as far as I understand. I have met many people who are such a natural when it comes to certain skills, like one of my Aunt, she is a lovely cook blessed with a green thumb, great at organizing parties or social gathering and best in conversing. If I have to guess her Ikigai (which obviously one can do only for themselves, but let's do it hypothetically) I would say that she host her own TV show. She has the grace, talent, and pleasing tone and presence. Maybe this is food for thought, try and find your Ikigai.
Well in continuation of my storytime, I have another story.
This is the year 1969, Brunei. He was an Indian, a Tamilian, a scholar and had landed this posting while his family of five children (The eldest daughter was married) and wife stayed back in Delhi, India. He thought that his hometown Madras would be a better place for them to be, they had relatives there and his family would be better looked after so he sent a letter to his wife stating his concern of them staying in Delhi and asked them to move to Madras. The dutiful wife along with her four children set in action the words written in the letter.
Shortly after moving to Madras, they realized that it was a mistake to move from their comfortable life in Delhi in Lajpat Nagar, this life was very different especially for the children, she knew that they had been raised in Delhi although being Tamil Iyer, they spoke Hindi more fluent and related to the north better. But she had to make it work. The eldest son set out to get his admission in school but the education system demanded that Tamil be one of the elective language and this was a problem, since the schools which did not have this condition also lacked the admission seat. So he returned disappointed and told his mother that he has to return back to Delhi otherwise his whole year would go wasted. It wasn't easy for the other children as well.
The wife agreed, only he could go back and get things settled there, maybe get their old house back? If she wrote a letter stating her problem of their current situation to her husband, it would take 15 days for it to reach him and another 15 days for his reply. She had to make this decision on her own, so she supported her eldest and wrote a letter and told one of her other sons and daughter to post it.
It was raining hard that day, the brother and sister clutched their mothers very important letter and rushed to the post office, the letter was drenched but they still posted it. It was later received by their father who could not read through the drenched letter and replied asking another legible one.
The eldest reached Delhi only to find that their old flat was already let out to the family. He asked the landlord to let him stay with them until he made arrangements. The landlord suggested him to talk to the tenants and if they are willing to vacate, meanwhile he could adjust with them in his tiny flat. The eldest agreed to sleep in their small corridor next to the staircase. The new tenant said that they would vacate if he can find them another flat in the same complex which would be equivalent to the current rent. This impossible task was the only hope. There was another problem, he had to get his school admission sorted.
The school headmaster was surprised to see the eldest son back who asked for admission again but that was not possible since all the seats were full, maybe he could apply as an external candidate, he can attend all the classes even though he is not enrolled as a regular student, that was the best he could do at the moment. The eldest son was grateful for this and thanked his headmaster.
Meanwhile the wife had sold all the new furniture that they had purchased for their Madras house and packed her things again, they were all going back to Delhi. The mountain of work that fell upon her by just following her husband's decision to shift was unfathomable. But sometimes she felt that we do certain things because at the time they feel that it is the correct thing to do but the price we pay later is heavy. She was thankful that the eldest son had found a small flat for them to stay till they get their old flat back. After reaching Delhi, they did not completely unpack because of the lack of space.
Eventually, they did manage to get their old house back because they found another flat in the same complex with the similar rent. They also managed to contact their father and let him know that they have shifted back to Delhi from Madras.
Now both stories have impacted me in some ways. In the first one, the injustice of human behavior, sometimes I feel that people don't realize how their actions are impacting the other person, we are so careless with our promises and words that we ourselves don't take it seriously and when the other person does and gets disappointed, we ignore it rather than taking responsibility for our actions and sorting it out.
The second one, shows the strength of characters of people stuck in the same situation. The wife, having to lug all her belongings to a new city with children only to realize the misfit and then coming back without making a huge hue and cry about it. The eldest son trying his best to make the situation better and the other children to support their mother instead of blaming the parents for this mishap. I feel that we are privileged to belong in this generation but are more complaining by nature. Even small things are not tolerated anymore like long waiting lines or slow internet.
Eventually things work out in their own way and each struggle becomes a story later. Sometimes we learn from it or sometimes they become a part of our memories which we cherish and relish as stories.
Well in continuation of my storytime, I have another story.
This is the year 1969, Brunei. He was an Indian, a Tamilian, a scholar and had landed this posting while his family of five children (The eldest daughter was married) and wife stayed back in Delhi, India. He thought that his hometown Madras would be a better place for them to be, they had relatives there and his family would be better looked after so he sent a letter to his wife stating his concern of them staying in Delhi and asked them to move to Madras. The dutiful wife along with her four children set in action the words written in the letter.
Shortly after moving to Madras, they realized that it was a mistake to move from their comfortable life in Delhi in Lajpat Nagar, this life was very different especially for the children, she knew that they had been raised in Delhi although being Tamil Iyer, they spoke Hindi more fluent and related to the north better. But she had to make it work. The eldest son set out to get his admission in school but the education system demanded that Tamil be one of the elective language and this was a problem, since the schools which did not have this condition also lacked the admission seat. So he returned disappointed and told his mother that he has to return back to Delhi otherwise his whole year would go wasted. It wasn't easy for the other children as well.
The wife agreed, only he could go back and get things settled there, maybe get their old house back? If she wrote a letter stating her problem of their current situation to her husband, it would take 15 days for it to reach him and another 15 days for his reply. She had to make this decision on her own, so she supported her eldest and wrote a letter and told one of her other sons and daughter to post it.
It was raining hard that day, the brother and sister clutched their mothers very important letter and rushed to the post office, the letter was drenched but they still posted it. It was later received by their father who could not read through the drenched letter and replied asking another legible one.
The eldest reached Delhi only to find that their old flat was already let out to the family. He asked the landlord to let him stay with them until he made arrangements. The landlord suggested him to talk to the tenants and if they are willing to vacate, meanwhile he could adjust with them in his tiny flat. The eldest agreed to sleep in their small corridor next to the staircase. The new tenant said that they would vacate if he can find them another flat in the same complex which would be equivalent to the current rent. This impossible task was the only hope. There was another problem, he had to get his school admission sorted.
The school headmaster was surprised to see the eldest son back who asked for admission again but that was not possible since all the seats were full, maybe he could apply as an external candidate, he can attend all the classes even though he is not enrolled as a regular student, that was the best he could do at the moment. The eldest son was grateful for this and thanked his headmaster.
Meanwhile the wife had sold all the new furniture that they had purchased for their Madras house and packed her things again, they were all going back to Delhi. The mountain of work that fell upon her by just following her husband's decision to shift was unfathomable. But sometimes she felt that we do certain things because at the time they feel that it is the correct thing to do but the price we pay later is heavy. She was thankful that the eldest son had found a small flat for them to stay till they get their old flat back. After reaching Delhi, they did not completely unpack because of the lack of space.
Eventually, they did manage to get their old house back because they found another flat in the same complex with the similar rent. They also managed to contact their father and let him know that they have shifted back to Delhi from Madras.
Now both stories have impacted me in some ways. In the first one, the injustice of human behavior, sometimes I feel that people don't realize how their actions are impacting the other person, we are so careless with our promises and words that we ourselves don't take it seriously and when the other person does and gets disappointed, we ignore it rather than taking responsibility for our actions and sorting it out.
The second one, shows the strength of characters of people stuck in the same situation. The wife, having to lug all her belongings to a new city with children only to realize the misfit and then coming back without making a huge hue and cry about it. The eldest son trying his best to make the situation better and the other children to support their mother instead of blaming the parents for this mishap. I feel that we are privileged to belong in this generation but are more complaining by nature. Even small things are not tolerated anymore like long waiting lines or slow internet.
Eventually things work out in their own way and each struggle becomes a story later. Sometimes we learn from it or sometimes they become a part of our memories which we cherish and relish as stories.
Wow soo beautifully written enjoyed reading this and also felt that it teaches us a wonderful lesson as to how well one can deal with the situation if one has the grit and inclination to do so and also the struggle one goes through one can only relate better if one can phantom such situations thus each day teaches us a lesson to move forward in the best way kudos to you for your blog
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