All the World’s a Stage

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts

Indeed, apt words by William Shakespeare. As I enter my twilight zone, these lines carry more meaning for me. Yesterday a classmate succumbed to cancer. I am still healthy and alive. While she was being taken to the cremation ground, I was doing puja shopping because I had to play my role.

We come to this world not by our choice and we have to leave it without our consent. Till we are here, we have to play many roles… son/daughter, brother/sister,  colleague, spouse, son/daughter (in-law), parent and many more. How do we prioritize our roles? Is each role equally important at a given point of time?

And what about death? Do we prioritize it? I mean, we cannot schedule it since it comes unannounced. But are we ready for it? There are days when I think about death. I am sure of the fact that my family will be able to manage in my absence. For the past one year, I have been practicing detachment, by reducing the level of “well meant advices” to some extent, refusing to visualize the kid’s future, trying to adopt a minimalistic lifestyle and above all practicing GRATITUDE. No longer am I cribbing about what life did not give me or about unfair deals that life dealt. I now see past unfair deals as ‘mock sessions’ that helped me be future ready.

Even after doing all of the above, I am not a hermit. As long as I am alive, my energy has to be channelized for productive work. I refuse to be a recluse. I will use my skill and knowledge to be a contributing member of the society while waiting for my exit from the stage called ‘the world’.  So I still continue my shopping and travelling and playing the multiple roles in my life.