Today Pappa (my uncle) celebrated his 60th b'day! Wishing him made me sit back and think where would I be at 60 ?? What would I be doing ?? How successful would I be ??
In today's world one's success is measured by how much wealth one has accumulated. In other words whether he/she has “settled in Life”.
Well this definition of "settled" has changed from time to time. There was a time when taking up a Government job was considered being settled. It dint matter what job he/she did as long as it was for the Government. Then came the era of brain drain, when being an NRI or being married to one was considered to be "settled". Well we still see the shades of that in our society today. Thanks to the recent debacle in the software industry nowadays people measure your success based on whether you have a H1 or Greencard or you are a Consultant !!
Well this is not anything new for Indians like me who have forever been taught "survival of the fittest (read best)". We have been told again and again that "settling down" is nothing but getting a good job, getting married, having children and so on. And that is exactly what almost everyone is busy doing because failing in any of the aforesaid would mean being "unsettled", "unsuccessful" ...
So is "making a living" the only yardstick for measuring success ... what about doing something you love, something that makes a difference, something that only you would be remembered for ?? What if people like Bhagat Singh, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and many such others had decided to just be "settled" in life ??
I am not hinting that one should not get a good job or get married and have kids and so on. What I am suggesting is that while "making a living” we should surely find time to “make a difference”. We should all be like the farmer who is supposedly the biggest devotee of Lord Vishnu, because he would take time to pray and worship the lord inspite of his very hectic work in the fields. We all should indulge ourselves in doing something that we love, something that will add value to our existence, something that we can be proud of at 60!
All in all 30 years from now I want to be living (read making a difference) rather than merely being "settled". Am gonna call it being "Differently Settled" ;)
