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Destiny


Whatever happens to me and is beyond my control is my destiny.  Natural calamities like earthquakes are beyond my control.  If I happen to be in a place where the terrorists have planted a bomb, that’s my destiny.  Accidents, diseases or other chance occurrences can alter my destiny in ways I could not have foreseen.  The stars that shine in the firmament above me are as much part of my destiny as is the darkness that descends ineluctably into the nooks and crannies along the way.    

What I am is my destiny.  What I am is not entirely beyond my control, I know.  Except my genes and hormones.  Except the environment that brought me up and certain impacts of that upbringing.  “I am the sum total of everything that went before me...,” as Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Child says, “of everything done-to-me.”  I am a product of the history that went before me as much as the one that is unfolding around me.  The martyrdom of two Prime Ministers of my country is part of my destiny as much the stratagems of the reigning one.  A lot of people came and went, and still come and go, leaving their marks on my destiny. 

I try to produce art out of the marks.  Scars refuse to change shapes.  Scars are beyond my control.  Otherwise, they wouldn’t be scars.

There is an invisible pied piper playing his tune to which the cosmos dances.  The planets move round prospective black holes.  Meteors collide.  Even the microscopic bacteria sway to that music.

In spite of all, in spite of all, there’s much that’s within my control. 
I choose certain steps of my existential dance.  However, inelegant they may turn out to be.  I have some choice, after all. 
In spite of the inelegance.

Many times, when the steps are inelegant I find my way.  My way. Such discoveries are not miraculous epiphanies.  Those are the ways in which I create myself.  Ways in which I alter my destiny.   

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  1. UnknownFebruary 16, 2015 at 8:14 PM

    Beautifully written. :)

    When you write so wonderfully even that is not completely because of your destiny. It is made possible by some tiny-big carefully chosen steps and the decision to learn and work hard.

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    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 17, 2015 at 7:09 AM

      Of course, Namrata, quite a few things are under our control - apparently, at least.

      Delete
  2. Ashwin KumarFebruary 16, 2015 at 9:11 PM

    Impressive writing :)

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    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 17, 2015 at 7:11 AM

      Thank you. One usefulness of unpleasantness is the poetry it can produce. :)

      Delete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2015 at 9:43 PM

    You have a good choice of words here...I can alter my own destiny; likewise, I can have an impact on somebody else's...but then that could be a part of their destiny already. So, i think it is difficult to put everything in black and white.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anand MaraladFebruary 16, 2015 at 9:54 PM

    Nice post.

    Yes, one's life can not be a mathematical model but the efforts to make it one provides a living to astrologers and the likes.

    We are product of the times and we influence outcomes of future too. Continuation from Rushdie's novel says '"I am anything that happens after I'm gone which would not have happened if I had not come".

    That is because we altered our destinies!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 17, 2015 at 7:14 AM

      And those of others too. If we realise the full import of that probably we would be less insensitive.

      Delete
  5. wingsFebruary 16, 2015 at 10:45 PM

    Very thoughtful blog which would pass my mind several times since my teenage, but would lack so beautiful an expression like this. I still feel that even that could be the thing which is with in my control. I'd soon find an expression. I'm on the way. I'm the maker of my own destiny. In my own way... My Way. Thanks for reminding me.

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    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 17, 2015 at 7:17 AM

      It's a relentless struggle, I guess, between my way and that piper's music. The struggle makes life worthwhile, perhaps.

      Delete
  6. Ravish ManiFebruary 17, 2015 at 11:46 AM

    As I see, it is just a matter of individual's perspective. I too wrote a post on "Free Will or Fatalism" here: http://successfulbeing.blogspot.in/2013/09/free-will-or-fatalism.html

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    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 17, 2015 at 12:02 PM

      I read your blog on the topic. You have tried to be philosophical. Mine is more of a poetic attempt to look at the topic.

      Delete
  7. Dipanwita ChakrabortyFebruary 17, 2015 at 12:55 PM

    Thoughtful indeed. It makes one sit and think over our choices too since what we do may change someone else's destiny. Loved the entire read. Good day!

    I also love what Mr. Amitabh Bachchan once mentioned in his blogs..."Fate is funny. It overshadows us in all departs". These lines are from Mr. Bachchan. Source- http://srbachchan.tumblr.com/post/101016434946

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 17, 2015 at 12:59 PM

      Thanks for sharing Mr Bachchan's view. There's no escape from fate, I suppose. Einstein was of that opinion. For him, however, fate meant the unbreakable laws that govern everything from the grass to the stars.

      Delete
  8. UnknownFebruary 17, 2015 at 2:47 PM

    That was an amazing piece of writing. The language and choice of words powerful and apt! superb! I would have a very similar perspective on Destiny!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 17, 2015 at 6:41 PM

      Life takes to some crossroads occasionally and forces us to stare ahead ... and poetry takes weird shapes. That's what happened here.

      Delete
  9. Lancelot QuadrasFebruary 18, 2015 at 10:04 AM

    I began my morning reading posts, and i'm glad i came across your's.
    Maybe that was my destiny.
    Liked your view.
    There are just a few things we have a control on.
    We often give extra attention to things which are beyond our control.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 18, 2015 at 10:27 AM

      If we stopped doing that (giving extra attention to those which are beyond our control) and started taking charge of things within control, life would be quite easy an affair :)

      Delete

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