Dolly Koghar and her generation reveal how hindsight is 20/20.
When the carriage of life turns and twists, sometimes on such sharp, hairpin bends, our mental equilibrium gets thrown off balance and we ‘lose it’, succumbing to wailing, crying, beating our chest, sulking, or bashing whoever is near enough; we don’t even spare the Great Script Writer. That’s especially true if we are stuck in a ‘my way or the highway’ mentality, which makes it that much harder when things don’t happen ‘my way,’ which it won’t. It’s then, in our ignorance, instead of looking towards the doors left ajar, waiting for us to enter, we spend our days wallowing in self-pity, grudging the interferences and circumstances that we believe dashed our dreams and high aspirations.
However, time is both a healer and a teacher, and if we could just keep an open and accepting mind, there’ll come a blessed day when a glimmer of light will shine through to give life a chance to explain itself, and if we are ready to hear what it has to say, we’ll experience the ‘AHA!’ moment. Our vision will expand and grant us the wisdom and the understanding that the hindrances and disruptions that once irked us were, in reality, purposely placed across our paths, to strengthen us, and humble our bloated false egos.
Here below are how some of us have come to terms with the hand that life has dealt us:
• “Only enlightenment is now my one final wish, which seems far, and still man lifetimes, away. Nevertheless, I’m happy, and hearing my plea, Guruji found me and is helping me, a step at a time, towards the right direction!”
• “Is hindsight always 20/20 or are the words coined for comfort? It’s open to individual interpretation and can be judged either way, with 50/50 odds of whether a decision was bad or actually helped escape a calamity. There’s no way of knowing whether things would have been better or worse; endless possibilities could stem from my choices. The end result is, again, but one’s perspective of whether you could or should have made this or that decision; or you were saved by circumstances from the risks you wanted to take. Well, I’ve pushed the nagging doubts behind, and I’m very good with where I am!”
• “I’d very much wanted to be a nurse and help the mentally challenged, or work at an animal shelter. Anything where I could be of use and assist a life. None of it happened, but in hindsight, if I’d gone into any of these fields, I wouldn’t have known my husband, and wouldn’t have been blessed with the two beautiful souls that are my children!”
• “I badly wanted to go to college, get a job, and become independent and self- supporting, after which I’d definitely purchase a car for myself. But none of my aspirations transpired; that was the case in our era, and I never even learned to drive. Nevertheless, I’m living life to the fullest; I have a life of ease and independence to do things I want. I’m also having a blast travelling extensively and often. Thank God!”
• “I’d wanted to be a flutist, but my guardian wouldn’t hear of it. I still feel a connection and get transported when I hear the instrument. But what was to be, has been.”
• “Of course, I had wanted to be something, do something and have a career. Maybe doors did open for me, but regrettably, I never made anything out of it. But things work out in their own way, and I think it’s best that you make peace with life as it unfolds!”
• “As a child I watched the maids clean and scrub and that became my aspiration, then as I grew older, the air hostess job seemed glamorous – travelling and seeing the world. But today, I’m thankful those wishes didn’t materialise, as I’m seeing so much more of the world with my husband!”