Life is difficult

'Life is difficult'. These were the last words of the techie who committed suicide yesterday morning in our office parking lot. This guy was just 23years old and had joined our company a year back. From the time I heard this news, I was wondering what might have prompted him to take such an extreme step. Was it work related stress or had his girlfriend dumped him or some other stupid reason. But whatever be it, nothing can justify his action. I was just thinking what would have been the condition of his parents when they were informed about his death.

I really fail to understand the mindset of people these days.On one hand we boast of being technically connected to each other every minute of the day. On the other hand, are we so alienated that we cannot even discuss or share our problems with our closed ones. I really don’t understand how reasons like failure in exam, stress at work place, heart break can trigger such extreme emotions in us. Why has our generation become so fragile and vulnerable? Why are we so hell bent on proving that our lives are miserable?

Trust me life is as difficult or as miserable as we make it to be. A friend of mine always says "there is no problem which does not have a solution".

If you fail in an exam, what’s the worst that can happen? You will have to continue in the same class for another year. That’s it. Next year you can again appear for the same exam. You might even score cent percent.

If a relationship doesn’t work out, at the most you will miss that person for few days. That’s it. Life will again go back to normal and after some time you will again find yourself falling for someone even better.

I have always been a firm believer of the fact that life always gives you a second chance. So we should make the best use of it. Every failure marks a new beginning.
Each one of us has our own struggle. There is not a single person who has a perfect life.

Suicide is never a solution to any problem.

Life is not difficult. It’s very simple. It’s we who complicate it.
Love life. Love yourself and everything else will fall into place.

When heroes fall!!!

Was thinking of writing something since the last few days. But somehow was not able to come up with any topic, interesting enough to excite my brain cells.

Then suddenly one fine morning I read about the 'Oscar Pistorious case' in the newspaper. Honestly speaking, I was not aware about him before the famous or rather infamous Valentine’s Day shootout. Since then I am following this case like anything. Came across one such article today where I read that he was the first double amputee runner to compete atOlympicsalongside able bodied athletes. His records are nothing short of magic.

Anyways this post is not about Oscar Pistorious or his histrionics.Rather all those people who have fallen from grace during the recent times. Lance Armstrong is one such classic example. Before writing anything on him let me first confess I am a huge Lance Armstrong fan. Yes, I still am. For me and thousands of other sporting enthusiasts, he was a hero. Someone who overcame cancer to win seven consecutive Tour de France. So obviously I was completely stunned when I read about Armstrong’s confession to Oprah Winfrey. Within a weeks’ time he went from being one of world’s all time sporting legend to a cheater, a doper and God knows what else. Similar was the case of Tiger Woods who went from being the most successful golfer of all time, a perfect family man to a sex addict, a national joke. We have many such examples from other fields as welllike Bill Clinton, Ramalinga Raju, Phaneesh Murthy, Rajat Gupta and so on. All these men were geniuses in themselves. Heroes, who lost everything because of the choices they made in life.

But the thing that often crosses my mind whenever something like this happens is ‘Public memory is so short’. In matter of a second that person becomes a villain. He/she becomes the butt of so many jokes. Sporting stars are stripped off their medals. All their sponsors pull out. In some extreme cases they are even jailed.They start appearing in Forbe magazine’s lists like most hated sportsman, entrepreneur, politician, etc. like what happened in the case of Armstrong. All their achievements are washed out just like that.
But is this kind of treatment fair? My take on this is little different. I feel everything in life cannot be in Black or White. Most of the times its grey. But the mass is generally very judgmental. For us, a person can either be a hero or a villain.

I think though these people might have made wrong choices in life, we should not forget their achievements. If you ask me I still want to become as emotionally strong as Lance Armstrong. Someone who despite being diagnosed with advanced stage of testicular cancer not only overcame it but was a living example of the fact that “where there is a will, there is a way”. Then we have a Bill Clinton whom I always consider as a survivor. Someone who despite having faced an impeachment was successfully able to finish his second termin white house. There is also a Ramalinga Raju who laid the foundation of an IT giant Satyam. There are many such examples.

Though I am not trying to justify the mistakes these people committed. All I mean is we should not be always black and white in our opinion about these people. But whatever the opinion be, there will always be an outcry, a brouhaha because that’s what happens “When heroes fall!!!.”