Tuesday, February 19, 2013

A letter to me from me...


Dear Me,
I just read what Dagny had wrote to herself and she is the inspiration behind me writing this letter to me. Often times I have wondered what it would be like to go back in time and change things for myself for the better. The mature me says that life isn’t meant to be lived with regrets but the impish me wants to ensure that I emerge scar- free when I live all the years between age 15 to age 25.

What if we are living in a parallel universe? Over here my age is 25 but in the other one I might just be 13. I would, probably, be walking on a beach where I find this letter to myself in a bottle that has floated ashore. Oh the romantic in me is thrilled at this idea! But the sad truth is there is no sea where I stay so there isn’t any chance of me throwing this letter away to reach you in the past. The only bet I can take is imagine that I am 14 again and read this, hoping to derive some wisdom for the years to come ahead.

I want you to know Shailee that you are a super star! Modesty hasn’t really been one of your virtues but then you know and identify your potential as well. You have got to learn how to make full use of your potential! I know you have imbibed the mantra of competing only with yourself at a very early age. This mantra has brought solace to you at times when you need it the most. The world is changing rapidly where rat race has become a fashion trend. Competition is present at all levels and they expect you to be a part of it because you are, after all, the best they have! Thank God mom and dad support you for who you are. Thank God that they have always been extremely happy and content with your performance, academic or otherwise. I say this because in the future there would be many instances where you would be compared to other people. Some of them would be better off than you and the others not-so-better off. It would be at times like these that your mantra would come useful. You will learn to set a bench mark for yourself based on your past performance and not on the performance of someone else. All in all, it will give you an air of being unperturbed by others’ achievements or failures. I think it is completely worth it!

 Enough about you being a super star! It is also my duty and moral responsibility to warn you. You have been brought up in a very protected environment.  You are one of the lucky few whose childhood has been absolutely splendid and safe. You, still, don’t comprehend worldly matters as people of your age should. Your trusting nature and your innocence will go on to become your major strengths but only at the cost of losing many people and after falling many times in life. I don’t say that being gullible is a wrong thing. No! Don’t even think that way. But you have to be wary. There are going to be people who are going to use you for their own selfish needs. Think twice about who you want to allow to be a part of your innermost circle. Of course, you won’t pay heed to my advice right now but after being hurt in love/friendship a lot of times you will automatically start filtering people. I assure you, you will only get better with time, kind of like the best wine that you have ever tasted.  Also may I add that you will grow up to love wine?! (I do hope we are allowed to give hints like these to ensure that we looked forward to growing up!)

Another thing I want to bring to your attention is your complacency. Your lack of ambition bothers me at times. I know you adore your father and you have learnt not to be greedy and over-ambitious from him. You have seen the smile of contentment on his face when he comes back home from work. But my sweet little Shailee, you have to understand that Dad is content because he knows he has a set business. He has been in this profession for 25 years and so he doesn’t have to be powered with ambition and aggression at this stage in life because he has already become what he wanted to be. You, on the other hand, lack passion and ambition. Please ensure that you set a goal and a vision for your life. Your laziness in not doing so disturbs me and has given me many-a- sleepless nights.  You take “living life as it comes” very seriously. I am not implying that is a wrong thing to do but you will realize later that a little planning here and there would have been most useful.
I think I have given us enough of advice to last us this lifetime at the least. What I love about you is your desire to make people happy.  Right now you think that you can make everyone happy (Why wouldn’t you? Everyone around you is perfectly happy by you and because of you) but as you grow up you will realize that there are people who enjoy being unhappy. These people are the negative ones you have to be aware of.  They are out there to suck all the happiness out of you like the dementors do to Harry Potter (Don’t worry you will know who Harry Potter and dementors are in approximately 2 years’ time). Don’t let their negativity affect you deeply, though. Your positive attitude, you will realize, will be like sunshine in a lot of people’s lives. That will give you the strength to go on, which I am very sure you will, against all odds.
Always remember I love you for who you are today and forever. You are an amazing person and I am sure you will stay so always.

Lots of love,
Me

P.S:  In the seriousness of the letter I forgot to warn you about some things that I want you to pay attention to.  Since no one has stopped me from dropping a few hints about your future I am taking the liberty to do so right now. I want you to follow these words extremely carefully:
1) Stay away from cigarettes. You know smoking kills, don’t you? You don’t want to make a habit out of that. Same goes with alcohol.

2) Make sure you eat right and stay healthy. 2 years from now you are going to bloat up like a balloon during your 10th standard exams. Avoid that
.
3) Also, for God’s sake don’t get that ugly bob cut on your hair when you are 16. It looked good on Kajol, it won’t look cool on you.

4) Now is the right time to learn how to play the guitar. At a later stage in life you would want to play it. But you won’t be very good mainly because you didn’t start practicing at a young age. (You know oldies take a lot of time to learn new things, right?)