serendipity

Few year back I read a novel named "The Lost World " By Michale Crichton . the protagonist in that book was Dr.Ian Malcom . He was a scientist at Santa Fe Institute where he teaches Chaos theory. At one point in the story while he was giving a talk about Survival at K-T Boundary he asks

" What Makes you think that Intelligence & Awareness are defining trait of Human Race ?.No Its Not . Our Defining Trait is not awareness but its Conformity .Look at what we as a species are doing to Ecology and biosphere ,The very Foundation of our existence , we are damaging the Biggest enabler of life on this planet ."...

after a pause He says one of the most impressive lines I ever read. he says

"...Life Happens to us in spite of our intelligence not because of it "

Many year later today I realize that this is true not only in Biology but rather in every aspect of our Life .

"...Life Happens to us in spite of our intelligence not because of it "

I don't write this blog with any delusion whatsoever of offering any solution to Grand Question of Evolutionary theory . i have a very limited knowledge but still there are few things about the world and how we lead our life here that never fail to amaze me.one such thing is the seemingly random events which makes us happy , inspired and make us feel an inexplicable urge to do something extraordinary. what are these events ? why are they so random ?

We plan our life by the year but we are forced to spend our life by the day.we plan what we need to do Today so that we can ensure that our life is comfortable 1,5,10 or 20 Years down the line . From study,job,savings,insurance,stock,mutual fund to Buying AC in Winter and woolen cloths in summer ,you name it .

Outside of drinking beer I don't think anyone around me do anything to make him happy "Today". what was the thing that made me happy last time ??

a phone call from friend , Warm Smile from a colleague , a cheer full kid sitting next to me in DTC BUS, Stumbling upon a OLD song on Youtube.an encouraging remark from my boss, 2 hours of 150% of productivity in office because I reached there at 7:00 AM , a chirpy Girl from adjacent office who asked me "Hmm..long hairs ?? So will You be having a Pony tail now ??" and of course receiving comment/link back on a post I wrote 2 year back. all these tiny little things which I have no way to control .

Irony of life is that on death bed we won't remember what happened in Years , We remember moments . Moments of Love,Happiness,Ecstasy, Accomplishment, sadness and Joy. I am 30 years of age. If tonight is my last night what will I remember on deathbed ? what are those moments in my life till now ? funny thing is that none of these moments were result of any meticulous planing . They just happened .Till recently it was very hard for me to explain this ... I wasn't able to find right word for it .

But not anymore.Few days back I had a discussion with my friend Pankaj Parihar and he used a word which was exactly fit for what I wanted to convey.the word was "Serindipity" . Yes serindipity that was it .

"God has a plan for me ..and thats all I want to know "~ Anonymus

Each one of us want to know what's god's plan for us .at times when we are just drifting through the life we doubt;Do god really have a plan for me ?? Why can't I see his plan in action ? Where is the sign ? Where is the angle ? I think that all those serendipitous incidents are sign of god's plan. Take today for example . why i am writing this post today ?? I was thinking about this for a long long time but why now ? Why Today ?

Well because today I read a very inspiring discussion on Slashdot about value of taking risk and following your dreams and how to balance this with Family responsibilities . I received an email from a longtime reader of this blog asking me why I am not regular with posts.

Was there anyway I could have planed for these inspirations ? No . They just happened. I pick up the inspiration and run with it . result ?? I wrote all this in 20 Minute without a single break :) .Thats the power of serendipity . once you pick up the hints dropped by these seemingly random events there is no limit what can be achieved , its ..its like magic . I never typed that much in 20 Minutes . :) .

Unfortunately our whole society teaches us to ignore these hints , they ask us not follow that tiny little voice inside our heart . they give us logic ,rationality , plans , predictability and boredom . life tells us to take chance , society tells us to take precaution.

"Unless something terrible befalls you (unlikely) people rarely regret the choices they made and the chances they took. The regrets you have are the chances you never took. The opportunities you had but never caught. Go to your next reunion and talk to the people who are there. It is usually astonishingly depressing. A huge part of them still remember school as the best time of their life and they always will. The best time of my life is in the future, and it always will be. Take chances, try new things, and that will always be the case. Don't listen to those who tell you to "be responsible" and "content with what you have". There is only one reason they are giving you this advice. They hate to see you on a new adventure. It reminds them of all the opportunities they passed up in their miserable lives. When you get successful some time in the future, and if you try hard enough you might be, they will tell you about all that they "could have done, only it was... [wife, kids, job, weather, house payments, sick mother - take your pick] that prevented them from becoming successful. Oh, and BTW, if you succeed, these people will resent you for it."

~ Terjeber commenting on a Slashdot discussion

So folks what are you waiting for Go Out , Go Ahead take your chance.listen to the hymm of life its telling you something .don't pay attention to what people around you tell you , remember

"Risk is not that you will fail , Risking is that you won't even fail"
you think about it ..मैं चला बीयर पीने ...


Photo credit : Mr. Yogesh Moorjani