The Last Lullaby

Sing me a lullaby
Its time I bid goodbye
Ma, sing me a lullaby
Before I close my eyes

Sing me a lullaby
A different world awaits
Ma, sing me a lullaby
They say I'm already late

Sing me a lullaby
Its time I sleep
Ma, sing me a lullaby
Try not to weep

Sing me a lullaby
The angels are here
Ma, sing me a lullaby
They'll take care of me, have no fear

Sing me a lullaby
I wish to leave with my head in your lap
Ma, sing me a lullaby
Its time for the last nap

Sing me a lullaby
As I get ready to leave
Ma, sing me a lullaby
When im finally relieved

Sing me a lullaby
Dont cry for me
Ma, sing me a lullaby
And set me free

For parents who know what's best for their child

"What do you want to become"?

"Engineer! He will be an engineer."

"But what do you want to become"?

"Didn't I just say it? My son will be an engineer. He is great in Mathematics. There's a lot of scope for engineers these days. He will have a job even before he steps out of college, but I'll send him to US for higher education. He will take up a job there. He'll settle in the US and lead a good life. I'm going to be so proud of him"

--

"I want to study literature Dad."

"Literature! It has no scope in the market"

"But I like literature"

"Well, liking it isn't going to help you pay your bills or feed your kids in the future"

--

"Dance is for people who aren't smart enough for anything else."

"But I am smart and I can dance too. What's wrong with that?"

"I didn't educate you so much for you to leave it all and become a dancer."

"Education made me wiser, dance made me happier"

"Happiness won't secure you a career. Don't get carried away by all that they show on T.V. Real life is not like that. You need to secure your future. Dance can't help you do that, a stable job or a business will."

"But I can build a career out of dancing too."

"You can dance all you want in your free time,but I'm not going to let you take it up full time"

--

Strikes a chord? Parents often go out of their way to give the best to their children, sometimes so much, that they end up crushing their dreams. Most times, all that a child needs is not guidance, but support. If your child can be old enough to vote for the fate of his country, he is old enough to chose his fate too. When you make decisions for your child, you unknowingly tell him that he isn't capable of taking decisions, even for his own life.

You definitely have seen the world and life better and want your child to learn from your experiences. When you force your child to follow a path that you know is the best for him, know that he is going to live your life, not his own. You may want to secure his future and provide the best for him, but what if he doesn't want the best? What if the best doesn't make him happy? There is nothing worse than the ghosts of unfulfilled dreams haunting your present. He will always have a little something troubling him in the back of his mind, wondering how would life turn had he not respected you so much and walked away from his passion. Every morning when he wakes up he'll wonder if he would have had to force himself to wake up had he been working in a field he loved. Every night when he goes to sleep, he'll have an incomplete feeling haunting him. All his hard work put into achieving success will have no value when he's not happy. You'll think you did the best for him when you see him earning a fat pay cheque, when he buys the latest car and a huge house. He may stop complaining, but he wont ever stop wondering. On his death bed, he won't have the fat cheque by his side, but he will have his regrets, regrets of not living life the way he wished. Is that what you would wish? 

It's nice to show your child a path to walk on, but moulding that path your way isn't. Be there for your child, let him make mistakes and fall, but what if he doesn't? What if he is really good at what he believes is the field for him. Even if he isn't, let him fall and make mistakes. Remember, a messed up career is way better than a messed up life. You may be taking away his chance of being best in his choice of field and instead pushing him to be moderate in your choice of field. Nothing that's forced on someone can bring out the best in him.

Don't let your child be boggled by your expectation and the society's. Sometimes, all one needs is to be happy, not successful. Give them the gift of letting them follow their dreams, no matter how unsure you are. How else will he learn to fly? What would you rather want? Your child to be happy and do his best in a field he loves or be successful yet not able to enjoy it with regrets stacked in his head?

Don't convince your child to give up on his dreams, convince yourself to stand by him instead.

P.S. This holds true for a doting parent's son or daughter.

Growing up is over rated!

No one ever told me that  growing up is over rated
They just smiled, when in a hurry to grow up my childhood I wasted
They didn't speak of friends falling apart
They didn't speak of people who would break my heart
They didn't tell me freedom can be suffocating
They didn't  tell me responsibilities will cut my wings
They didn't  talk of dreams dying slowly
They didn't   talk of the disappointments I was yet to see
They didn't mention fear and pain
They didn't  mention the tears I would soon hide in rain
They hid from me the secrets of a mundane life ahead 
They hid from me the monsters that would reside in my head
They lied about insecurities I would soon feel
They lied about wounds that would never heal
They showed me a different world
Different from this one, so heartless and cold
And when I complained seeing the unexpected and cried
They laughed saying I need to grow up and keep the immaturity aside!

Ten things you need to get rid of

1. A job that helps you afford a more than comfortable life but doesn’t give you the time to live and enjoy it.

2. A relationship that's pulling you down. Relationships are supposed to bring out the best in you, if it doesn’t you’re probably in a wrong one. Worse, if you feel disrespected in a relationship, wear your running shoes and run as fast as you can. When you're out of your mean partner's mean radar, you'll see there is someone out there who will treat you just the way you deserve to be.

3. A grudge on someone for something that they did long back. Learn the art of letting go. Not as easy to implement as it is to advise, but definitely worth the effort. Buddha said “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Let go off the poison.

4. Clothes that don’t compliment your body type.

5. Gifts from an ex. You may want to keep it as a memory of good times, but how are you going to let go off the relationship when you can’t even let go off its memoirs? Yes, you totally deserve the iPad they bought you or the super expensive bag they gave you on your last birthday, but that’s no excuse to hold on to something, unless you are good friends now, and by good I  mean genuinely good friends (Yea, apparently that’s a possibility, though very rare).

6. Footwear that haven’t touched your feet for over a year now.

7. Taking debts that you could live without.

8. Index finger! Yes, I meant that, though not literally. You don’t need to point that finger to blame people or situations for your failure. When life gives you lemon, make grape juice out of it and let the world wonder how the hell you did it. Don’t sit there and blame life for the bad quality of lemons.

9.  Aerated drinks. Go google the damage it does to your body. Now!

10. Comfort zone. Nothing more dangerous can come in such an attractive package. Before it slowly eats you off and makes you rot in one place, push that comfort zone away. Step ahead into a zone that intimidates you, that is scary and makes you feel like if you dare you’ll probably end up failing and people are going to laugh at you like they do at clowns in the circus. Nevertheless go ahead. Because you can never realise your true potential otherwise. It’s better to feel scared than to feel dead within while you are still alive.

Have you lived your life yet?

They looked into her eyes, as she seemed lifeless. She lay there knowing not where was she or what she was doing. All she could see was people looking at her and telling her things. She wasn't sure what it was they were talking, she wasn't sure if they were talking to her, or about her. There seemed to be panic in the air. This is not how she had imagined life to end, this is not how she wanted it to end. Amidst all the pain and fear she clenched her weak fist, hoping the pain on her hand could divert her from the other pain. The pain from the wounds didn't make a difference to her as much as the one in her heart was. "I have so much more to do in life, so much more to see" she thought. "Not today God, please not today" she prayed, but God seemed to have other plans.
     
She prayed desperately hoping one last prayer would make God change His mind but she knew in the back of her mind that this was it. Suddenly the life she lived was boiling down to nothing. She would soon just be a part of statistics on people dying in road rash. A feeling of emptiness filled her. The world slowed down. 

She thought of her people at home. She remembered how rude she had been to her mother that morning as she was getting late to office but the old woman insisted on her having breakfast before leaving. "I did not even get a chance to say the last good bye" she thought as her eyes filled up. "Had I waited back and listened to her, I would not have probably been here this way." For a change she blamed herself. All her childhood memories came flowing back to her mind and she smiled. The smile didn't last long though. With childhood memories came the memories of the later times when she took off all her frustration on her Mom. "I should have been more nice to her, and now I'm never going to get a chance to tell her that I really do love her. I was so busy living life that I forgot she is growing old too." Tears fell down her eyes. People watching her pitied her thinking of the pain she was going through. They had no idea of what that pain really was. "I should have listened to Dad, I should have rode slowly" she thought and cursed herself for all the times she got pissed off at him for being overprotective. "I don't want to leave" she squealed with the little energy she had left in her. Nobody could listen, but even if they could, they couldn't help anyway.The world seemed to become a little slower now. Had her life become so worthless? She wondered. "I haven't seen life yet", she cried to herself. She wasn't crying for not having seen life, she cried for not having seen life when she had the chance to. "I'll text him later" she remembered the words she said to herself last night when her friend, now in another city texted her saying he missed her.The pain of not getting the chance to let her friend know that she missed him killed her inside. "I should have replied right then" she thought. Ironic, he was going to miss her again and sadly forever. It was time for her to go, but she wasn't prepared. A hundred things in her list remained undone, but what saddened her more was the fact that they were not done by her when she had the chance to. From long she had wanted to pursue writing as a career. But her well paying corporate job that tuned her into a robot, did not let her get out of her comfort zone. Life turned into a repetitive wait for weekends and salary day. She complained to her friends of how she wanted to be a writer but is instead stuck in a 9 to 5 job. "Then quit" her friends used to say. "I don't know where to start from, I cannot just quit. What if i end up sitting at home with no means to earn at all?" she used to argue, rather make excuses. Comfort zone was not an easy place to bid goodbye to.
    
She regretted not giving herself a chance. She wanted to make it big in life but was waiting for the right time to come along. She regretted not having made "Now" the right time when she could. Now she would only end up being a piece of news in a local newspaper. "Did I live all these years to end up this way"? She hated this feeling. She hated it. "Please let this be a dream" she cried. She couldn't see people around anymore. They were still around but she was now caged in a world of solitude and regret. Life flashed before her eyes as she thought of all the times she weeped her eyes out for the wrong guy not realising how special she herself was. 

She regretted the times she said life sucked. Given a chance, she would live it all over again, just a lot better this time. A second chance was all she wanted, but that was the only thing that she would never get. The only thing, that was about to deprive her of everything! She thought of all the times she let go of a chance  thinking "Next time."

Somebody shook her, or so she felt. She wasn't sure, for she couldn't feel anything anymore. She thought of all the times she did not feel the breeze on her face because she was too busy texting someone. Somebody poured water on her face, or so she felt. She thought of all the times she walked in the rain with her thoughts elsewhere. "When did i ever live in the moment?" She felt helpless now. "I was either too stuck in the past or too hopeful about the future". She broke down, crying as hard as she could, but she wasn't able to feel  that either now. The only thing that she was now able to feel were her regrets, and slowly with her last breath that disappeared too.
 
People looked down and sighed on seeing a life end on the middle of the road. She breathed her last with regrets!

----

"Her hands moved"! She heard someone screaming. And there was silence again. "Hurry up!" she heard a new voice instructing somebody else. She opened her eyes slowly to see familiar and new faces both, looking at her like a new born baby. Her head still hurt. Tears welled up her eyes, as they did in the eyes of everyone around her. "I am alive" she mumbled through the pain, both physical and emotional. "You are baby" her mom said as she hugged her, carefully enough to not hurt her. Through her tears she saw them all, her dad, the friend who was yet to receive her text and other friends. "She's out of danger" said the new voice, the doctor's. More tears rolled down her cheeks through the bruises on her face. "So my last breath wasn't my last after all" she thought. She suddenly felt blessed than ever before despite the broken limbs and a plastered head. Life did give her a chance after all when she least expected it. "I wont let you down" she promised herself, she promised life! She raised her hand slowly. Her parents leaned forward to hear what she tried to mumble. 

"What can we get you?" they asked. 

"I love you, And wont ever let you feel otherwise" she said "And you" she pointed her shivering fingers at her friend "I missed you a lot" . They smiled in surprise and confusion, but most of all, they smiled in joy. 

"Now can someone please type me a resignation  letter?" she said hiding a smile.
 

She could be you! Still waiting for the right time to live life?