Be aware of all that life offers

Sitting in the rear seat of my car, I was watching a video clip on my phone while on the way to Panchkula from Chandigarh to attend the mehendi ceremony of a friend’s daughter. Thereafter, I opened my Gmail to clear some pending emails. I was so immersed in the virtual world in my phone that I realised that we had reached only when the driver braked and awkwardly cleared his throat. Oops!

A friend asked, ‘Did you see the beautiful flower decoration at the roundabout?’ I was blank. I had seen only my screen. Someone said, ‘There was a terrible traffic jam around Kala Gram.’ Another friend said, ‘I saw that on Google maps, so we came from the IT Park road.’ She asked me, ‘Which route did you take?’ I was blank again. I just knew that I had cleared most of my emails and WhatsApp messages.

Oh Lord, the phone is the culprit. It takes up all my time. Just then my phone rang! Haha! Now the phone was my saviour! I quickly took the call, while signalling an apology to the lady to say that I really needed to take that call (and sidestep the question to which I had no answer).

The next day, I sat attending the prayer meeting of a friend’s husband who had died at the age of 58 due to a series of heart attacks. It seems there was no history of any ailment. It dawned on me that for the departed soul, the journey had suddenly come to an end. Perhaps he was not prepared for it, just as I was not prepared to reach my friend’s house so quickly!

Truly, life is going by faster than I had envisaged. I must learn to be more aware of all that life offers, lest I have to live in regret. There is more to a drive than watching videos or clearing emails. As I sat musing over all this, I realised that in my effort to do so many things I was missing out on experiencing the beauty of life and being thankful. I was oblivious of the pains and sorrows of those lesser fortunate. Life is a fusion of good and bad, happiness and sadness, beauty and despair and much more…. But to be aware and alive and to live each moment fully is important. Let us live in complete awareness and gratitude. Let not the journey come to an end and catch us unawares. Let us be aware of life, lest we have to beware of life!

This year too is coming to an end. It may be a time to make new resolutions but it’s also a time to reflect upon those made earlier and how many were lying hanging midway!