Faceless stories.

Everyone has their own reason for waking up every morning or a reason of 'being'- "ekigai". I first heard the word "ekigai" in a TED Talk titled "How to live to be 100+" by Dan Buettner. We all have so many different reasons to jump out of our beds (or crawl out, in my case). It could be compulsion to meet the minimum attendance percentage required in school (most of our cases, haha!), or maybe, looking forward to meeting your friends, to take up a new challenge that life throws at you- carpe diem!, to hug your mother, or cuddle with your pet, or even crank up some good music and dance around in your pyjamas. Maybe you just like to see the sun rise and hear the birds chirp. The dawn gives you hope, light beyond the dark, and a chance to start afresh- a new beginning. Since you can grab that chance, why not? Even though we might not be all morning persons, there is always that one reason in your life that gives you the belief and the hope of another day. Its the belief you take with you to sleep at night and hold on to-and that is how life goes on, really. Days, months, years pass by for these little reasons that make us 'want' to wake up to a new day. Reasons that keep us alive. What does this have related to the topic, you might think. These ekigais are something that just makes us so much more similar to each other than we realise. These ekigais are faceless stories that are common to you and me but stories we do not perceive, or realistically, choose not to perceive.

Faceless stories. Pic courtesy: Self.

Last year, I had the unbelievably amazing opportunity to participate in the Horlicks Wizkids South Asian Finals and the lessons I learnt- I could not have learnt anywhere else. Amongst the many life lessons, Wizkids taught me that wherever you go, whatever language you speak- everyone is one and the same. Flesh and bones. With the same hopes and dreams, same reasons to wake up every morning, same fears and insecurities. You watch the same movies, listen to the same songs and fight the same battles. I learnt to not be as judgemental as I earlier used to be, which brings us to the topic of my post this week. Faceless stories. And these stories are merely just every single person around us. The crowds that we get lost in, in shopping malls or in a crowded street. Even our classmates our colleagues. Our parents. Our teachers. Even the celebrities we adore and worship. How much do we really know about their lives? Have we stepped into their shoes and seen for ourselves what living their life felt like? How many times before placing a judgment, have we stopped to ask ourselves what the person's life has been like? Have we lived each and every day in his life? If not, then, What gives us the power to decide for ourselves what 'might' the person be like, or what his life 'might' be like. We paint a face for what in reality, is nothing more than a faceless story. A novel that we are NOT the author of. This serves as the building block to all the pandemonium that we see around us, today. Clouded judgements and influenced perceptions. 

Pic courtesy: Tumblr

I understand that asking anyone to not be judgemental is perhaps, asking too much as realistically, it could be humanly impossible. All I want to say is- Yes, we may be different from each other- but if we are different together then in that, we are similar. So yes- we are in all entireties, the same. I do not ask you to not judge. I ask you to not judge people by your own standards. Everyone around you is trying to hold on to their ekigais, fulfil their dreams, fight their demons, win their battles- and all unbeknownst to you.  

Here's a quote that would probably give you a clearer insight on what I have been trying to say so far:- 

If we all understood that everyone has their own battles to fight, insecurities to face, loves to contend and goals to attain, the world would be a gentler place.

Faceless Stories. As you walk home after a tiring day, a cute little 8 year old skips along the pavement, holding his mother's hand. You smile to yourself. "What a cute little kid!", you think and then something else catches your mind. Little did you know. The cute 8 year old won her first poetry recital competition in school that day. Her principal awarded her a certificate in front of the whole 3rd grade and everyone clapped, the certificate now safely kept in a folder in her pink school bag, slung across her mother's shoulders. Her mother can't help but smile a proud little smile. This reminds her of her school days- when she loved to debate and speak about various issues. Perhaps her daughter might follow her footsteps and love public speaking as well. She can't wait to tell her mother-in-law that granddaughters were as good, in fact, better than grandsons. Oh, and her best friend would love to hear that her goddaughter won a prize- she would go ballistic with joy and post 10 Facebook statuses proudly announcing this to the world. And then Daddy would give his little daughter a hug and tell her to keep it up.
The cute little 8 year old giggles, as she clutches her teddy bear close and snuggles underneath her blanket. She drifts off into dreams and fantasies of 20 other certificates and trophies adorning her bedroom and more claps, more hugs, more Facebook statuses and more 'keep it up's'. Her mother stands by the bedroom door. "Thats, like my little angel," she says, as she turns off the light.

There are so many more faceless stories just like these. Everyone around us, making their way home by the roads they know best- roads that we probably would have got lost on, till we made them a phone call and asked them to repeat their address again. Let them write their own novel, a novel that you do not need to write a book review of. 

Bubbles of love, 

Ankita :)