Stack up life?

Life, if at all it can be separated from death which I doubt one can do so, is remarkably far larger than the sum total of its parts. Have never been able to put a hash total to it. I guess there's no math here. Just enjoy the bounties.

Judgement

Judgement is anathema to reason, sometimes even antithesis.

Burden of Legacy

My dear Rahul,

You should be bothered. It’s no use saying that you may also be killed one day. It’s not your profession to be a martyr. That’s what your predecessors did. No one will wish that on you. You yourself have not done any harm to anyone so far. In fact, that’s the point. You have not done anything so far, let alone harm. Don’t ride on a high horse and shout hoarse. It’s not going to work for you.

Today, the country needs a leader who will confidently take the masses on his strong shoulders ahead in this century. Not hiding behind a legacy and cribbing. No one likes a crying leader. Here you are, a bright young man, committed to a public career. All you have to do is to start it somewhere. Not giving speeches to rural masses that you are asking for votes to get elected and then your party will do the magic. It does not cut any ice. What will would be your toiling for at least ten years in public life, in government work, in international forums and then put it up for scrutiny. Then ask for votes. They will come aplenty. Your showcase is very ornate and opulent, but empty. There is nothing in it. Even a clerk has to write something in his application against the item Experience if he wants to move up the ladder. But to write something against that item, you have to first gather it. Nobody is going to help you do that. Everyone around you including the youngest generation of legacy children like you, are all sycophants and piggyback riders. They will drop you like a hot potato the minute their worst fears will materialize come 2014.

We believe in you because you have a clean slate, and yes, even if there is nothing else to show up, at least you have an effective surname. So grow up. Start filling up the form in the right way. Make it big. The country needs you. 

Manoj Mehta

Remembrance .....

This is not mine. I read it somewhere.  ....People don’t remember us for what we have done to ourselves, or achieved, or made ourselves into. (If anything, they smirk after sometime.) They really remember us for what we have done for them..... 

Hmm…  Good one. 

This need not be confused with altruistic leanings. You may still continue to achieve for yourself what you might. It’s for your own remembrance and deriving a sense of happiness out of it. What you do for others, or their perception of what gets done for them, is for their remembrance of what has happened. Here’s the rub. Is the objective behind what you do for others, meant for your own remembrance, or is it for your expecting them to remember? Those others will remember anyway, more out of gratitude than anything else, but if your objective is also their remembrance alone, then it is neither out of self-interest nor altruistic. It is self-centeredness. 

Quite slippery. But you got to hold on strong.

It will be quits, probably.

I am quite at ease by now. The questions that were hounding me for the last may be forty five years have a less deleterious effect on me. There is less of shall I say, perniciousness and more of salubriousness. That’s right. That’s what it is. Quite at ease. Quite at peace too. It’s not abdication of intellect though. The struggle continues but the animosity between the duelists is gone. It’s like there is a whole lot more of a bonding between a tenacious student and a mystical teacher. So far it looked like a fight to the finish. No more. It’s more like we will end it quits.