Everything happens at its own time and place. Life works
at its own pace – no amount of kicking around, or getting frustrated, can
change anything.
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| Ganesh - Picture Courtesy: Internet |
I read this remarkable story of the Tamil film
industry music composer (of the famed Sankar-Ganesh duo) Ganesh in The New Indian Express (TNIE) this morning. A letter bomb he
received in the mail on November 16, 1986, exploded in his hands and injured his
fingers and his eyes. He lost much of his vision in one eye and was left with
blurry vision in the other. This incident marked the beginning of a downhill
run for his career as well. The Ilayaraja era arrived first and then A.R.Rahman
swept the Tamil film industry. For 27 years, Ganesh has been in oblivion. Three
weeks ago, Dr.Amar Agarwal, of the Agarwal Group of Eye Hospitals, convinced
Ganesh to go through a special surgery which involved implanting an
intra-ocular lens with a glued technique. The surgery was successful and Ganesh’s
vision has been restored completely! While grateful for this medical miracle,
Ganesh says he’s always been accepting of Life. “From my young age I have had only
one policy – be happy and keep laughing. Now, I can do it without glasses,” he
told TNIE’s Daniel Thimmayya.
There are two learnings I take away from Ganesh’s
story. First, this story reiterates, yet again, that there will be times when
Life will push you on the back foot. No matter who you are, your career or a
relationship or your health or your financial fortunes – something, or at
times, a few things, will get impacted. I call it an intermission, like the one
we have while watching movies in cinemas in India. While you wait for the movie
to resume, you just relax – maybe you have a Coke and some popcorn. The movie
will resume only when the Cineplex operator
turns the machine on. So it is with Life. There will be times when an
intermission will be forced on you by Life. In all such times, take the second
lesson from Ganesh – “be happy and keep laughing”. Because your being
depressed, anxious, angry or frustrated is not going to make Life happen the
way you want it to. In Ganesh’s case, it has taken 27 years. There are people
who also never recover from a Life-enforced intermission – like R.D.Burman (RD),
for instance (to take a film industry parallel), whose brilliant career ended
in the early eighties, and he died a heart-broken, beaten man, in 1994, as nobody
wanted his music anymore. That today, people worship RD and his music is one of
the travesties of Life!
So, the simple truth is, that Life has a mind
of its own. What goes up will come down. And what goes down will come up. Or,
at times, what’s down may just get buried. Or, what’s up, may just fly away!
Even so, everything, absolutely everything, in Life happens at its own time,
place and pace. We simply have only one option – accept what
comes our way, be happy and keep laughing!
Inspired really.
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