This question first occured to me while reading the autobiography of Bertrand Russel in college. I am not sure why anyone of you would be interested in knowing how I wish to live my life. In case you are, you are most welcome. :-)
We all dream, hope and live for certain things and I am no exception. For a long time now, I have been intermittently conscious of this question: What do I live for? I started thinking about it. I realize that though I vaguely know the answer, being explicit is not-trivial. But I think following are the things that I live for.
I am fortunate to have felt the intoxication of intellectual understanding quite early in my life. The sheer joy that comes from understanding the queer ways of Nature or from solving a puzzle is precious to me. It is this eagerness to learn more which makes every day of my life a fulfillment. Even more satisfying is to spread this joy to others who care. I believe that the wealth of accumulated knowledge and wisdom over the ages is our greatest possession and it embodies our very existence. I would like to spend my life contributing (howsoever insignificantly) to this ever expanding knowledge pool and also communicate the joy that it entails. The little that I know myself, I do not think I can do anything else even moderately well. So that is my apology for choosing this way of life.
Next I live for my passions too. Music of the soothing kind, books, good food, quotes, sensible movies, dark chocolate, laziness, football, more recently poetry and many more . These constitute the little things in my life. These enrich my heart and improve my mind (At least I hope so). These bring along with them small bits of happiness. Without many of these things life will not be worth living.
But perhaps the most important thing that I live life for is love. Love of my parents, friends, well wishers and others is very dear to me. Love is like the plot of a story that binds all the disparate characters in a common thread. It makes us a part of other lives and others a part of ours. It makes us act more responsibly, laugh uncontrollably at silly jokes, weep at petty things, imagine the world to be more colourful than it actually is! It elicits remotest emotions which otherwise we wouldn’t have known existed. True love inspires and makes us a better person. It is this love that I have sought, fleetingly found and will continue to search for.
So it is in pursuit of wisdom, happiness and love that I wish to live my life. The pursuit in itself is often wonderful but I hope that I may achieve some if not all of these before I sit down to write ‘What I Have Lived For’ many years down the line.
6 December, 2008.
Mumbai.
