The String of Self Identity

Wake Up Sid (released last year) was especially liked by the young crowd which goes to college. And it was liked not because it was a love story (though it had elements of love like almost all the Bollywood movies) or a war movie or a period movie or it was of any genre which is very popular among the youth but the movie was adored because it touched a string which connects us to our inner self, the string of self identity, the chord of individuality, the desire to live our lives the way we want to, the desire to do what we actually want to do.

Everybody is born to do something specific, something unique, and something different from the rest of the world. And the purpose of an individual’s life is achieved if and only we do that particular thing. And the best thing about our lives is that we get numerous indications from our destiny about what we are made to do, be it in the form of love for a particular profession or passion for doing something out of the box. Sometimes, the indications can be subtle and can tickle the mind everyday in some form or another and sometimes, the indications can be in the form of a big event or an accident which change the course of one’s life.

But the real conflict arises when a person knows what he or she wants to do but is trapped in the jingle of a so called secure future. People say that happiness is a state of mind. I think that the same can be said about freedom. We are free if we have the liberty to do what we actually want to do. We live in a sovereign state and choose our own leaders and those who make policies for us. But do we live in a sovereign state of mind? Do we choose our own careers according to our wishes by listening to our inner callings? And even if we want to do that, are we free to do that? Is the society we live in liberal enough to allow us to do something out of the box and unconventional? Is our family even liberal for letting us experiment with our lives by the way we want to?

The answer to above questions is a big ‘NO’ if we talk about most of the young people of India about whom we boast with pride and with whom we dream of being the superpower someday. And the irony lies in the fact that even if we become the world leader in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or National Income or some other similar parameters, the Indians would still be running the rat race for a more comfortable life instead of trying and striving for a more fulfilling and satisfying life.

A few days ago, we celebrated our 64^th Independence Day. But at times I wonder about what such celebrations of our ‘physical independence’ mean to our young crowd which bears the burden of bringing the country on the top of the world. For me and all of them like me, these days are nothing more than a holiday (and this year, thanks to Sundays, even that holiday was scrapped). We need and we want to celebrate a day when we are liberated mentally and are free at the mental level.

Everyone in this world strives for happiness and that is the ultimate goal of life. And nobody is happy when the mind is captured in the cuffs of secure future or a comfortable life. It’s time we realise that we can be happy only by connecting ourselves to our inner selves and living our lives the way we want to. And only then we can make our lives extra ordinary!!

Carpe Diem!!