Idyllic Thoughts

In the lives of each of us, as we look back and review them in retrospect, there are certain desert wastes from which memory winces like some tired traveller faced with a dreary stretch of road.                                                                                                                                                                  --- P.G. Wodehouse  Looking back, I can clearly see the futility of our words, actions, emotions and despair when they have the power to change nothing. In fact, as Wodehouse says, my memory winces as it looks back and turns away quickly, to avoid recalling the days of sorrow, humiliations and frustration. Lucky are those whose memories are filled with laughter and contentment.

Until now, I refuted the very idea of a universal truth. It was my belief that all truth is relative. But today I'm sure I have an observation nearing a universal truth. We often believe that no one else around us suffers as we do; that our trials and tribulations are unique, our grief is singular. This belief is universal, in all cultures and in all countries. Unfortunately, we remain ignorant of the fact that lakhs across the world are walking the same path as us, may be worse. Perhaps, it's because we rejoice in self-pity.