The Swing (Contd...)

All my life I have tried to figure out my path, but never thought that a path is not the one which we make, rather a path is the one on which we move ahead. I did not move ahead, or should I say, I could not move ahead. I do not preach to be a philosopher, but people presume me to be one. When a person can themselves not figure out their life, how can they preach about giving directions to others in life? People have a problem with this thinking of mine. My thoughts and views are my companion; I never push them on others. I do not ask people to agree with me or to accept my views. I guess sometimes silence is also taken for stubbornness rather than submission.

            The more we try to pull the string the weaker it gets and ultimately it breaks one day. My relationships were also strings which I tried to pull but ultimately they broke. It did hurt. I too have a heart. I too have emotions and feelings. I felt pain. Sitting on my swing, with my bleeding heart and rolling tears, I felt pain. But then my swing taught me again. With each movement on the swing, the wind brushed my tears away. With each wind my bleeding heart was easing out. With each wind I was feeling free. It was then that I realized that nobody deserves my tears, none of my relationships were so important on which I should shed my tears and bleed my heart.

            People say that human beings are social animals; we play many roles in our life. The role of daughter or son, the role of brother or sister, the role of parents, the role of a friend, the role of a life partner, the role of a companion and it goes on. With each passing moment of our life, our roles keep changing. Our elders say that it is important to respect each of our relationships and make efforts to make it work. I have a different perspective. We come in this world alone and we leave alone, none of our relations follow. Relationships are mutual and it is the responsibility of both the people to make it work. Are those relationships really worth retaining if one has to make efforts to make it work? A relationship works with mutual trust and love. A relationship should be effortless. But on my thoughts people criticize me. But they can’t give me even one reason as to why my thoughts are not correct, or in their terms socially acceptable.

            In my life only one relationship has been effortless for me that is, the one between my swing and me. No demands, no expectations, and no complain simple and plain friendship and understanding. My swing has been my friend, my mentor, and my companion and my soul mate. My deepest feelings and secrets, I share with my swing. My grief and pain I share with my swing. My success and joy I shared with my swing. Do I need any more relationships now? When life can be simple then why do we want to complex it further unnecessarily.

(More to come...) 

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The Swing

(This is my first attempt at writing a story. I wanted to share it and get your views and feedback. However this post comes with a twist.)

            When that cool breeze touches my face, when the wind plays with my hair, when with each stamp of my leg I fly higher and higher, I feel like a bird. I wander around in thoughts and gaze outside at the wide landscape beautified by the pouring rain. As the raindrops fall harder, my pace increases. I feel the freedom. I feel the sky. I feel the nature. Sitting in my veranda I was flying higher and higher on my favorite wooden carved swing. My swing has been my companion in all these years of loneliness. Every time it makes me feel younger, stronger, independent and more confident of myself. My swing is my best friend, knows all my thoughts and secrets. It has shared my joy, and shed tears in my sorrow, felt my pain and became proud on my success. All these years it’s only been my swing and me, walking on the path of life hand in hand, being the support for each other.

            I often wonder how strange my relationship with my swing is. Sometimes it’s harder to be around with people and so we resort to the lifeless objects around us. I needed someone who could be a good listener. Not someone who would have an opinion on all my thoughts or someone who questions my actions and decisions. That is one of the reasons that I have no other relation left in my life now. Relationships to me were like those tight ropes tied around my neck, tangling me deeper and deeper. But I finally feel so free.

            This swing has been the metaphor of my life, whenever alone it is on a standstill and whenever someone comes, it sways to and fro. It has been a source of my inspiration, I have learnt a lot from it. It has entangled me from the tangles of my complex relationships and failed responsibilities. It freed me from my tags and labels. In my life people came and went by but I was there standing where I had been all the years, on a standstill. I was always there, but nobody wanted to wait. I didn’t want to be the part of this big race. I want to wait and see. I want to wait and think. I want to wait and enjoy. My swing taught me this. There is no point in trying to find ways to mend the past, nor to envision the future. The real life is to live the present.

            Failed relationships and broken hearts was all I got. But the smile to me was given by my swing. Looks are deceptive. Today I know why. When I saw my swing for the first time it seemed to me lifeless but yet alive. It seemed to be dull but yet bright. It was kept amongst the pile of old rotted things but still stood out in the crowd. In that first moment we connected. People told me I was crazy to buy that swing. They wouldn’t have said so if they knew I was buying happiness and life. Life would have been easier for me if people were also like these lifeless objects that I could sell away once its value in my life was over. Had life been that simple it wouldn’t be called life.

(More yet to come...)

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