Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Doing anything easy

Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

Go-getters Making light of a difficult situation is an art

The feeling is akin to your brain getting scraped off, chip by , flaky chip. Time kills him and he kills time. All that Satish Chandra, a degree second year guy now does is brood, brood and brood. When he was in intermediate, he was, like, ok, casual . Life seemed a carefree ride-on. It sounded easy and felt cozy. But, “something has really changed, I had an awful first year,” he says, “things blowing up on my face, it’s the same with my studies, my parents, my friends, my everything.”

Being a sad, bleak impersonation of himself hurts him most. Things that were a cakewalk now seem to sap him of his spunk. Whenever, whatever he tries anything, luck goes blank on him. That scours the stuff out of him. “I am awfully worried about failing , even when I am sure.”

Social implications are many. “My friends razz me,” he says: “They call me luckless. My old friends pity me.” For him, stigma of being a loser, of a permanent goof-up far outweighs the successes he achieves. Fed by negativity from all corners, fuelled by doubts about himself, heacts and talks as if he has a solemn commitment to spectacular cock-ups. Unlike Satish Chandra, some have the knack of pulling off things when it matters most. Somehow pieces fall into place, invisible hands reach out and help. Uma Maheswar is one such enterprising chap with ‘let-me-throw-it-on-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks’ attitude. “Normally I don’t find doing things, moving with people and stuff all that difficult,” he says with a brio that would mightily please even the grandma of Lady Luck. “It’s not as if everything is o.k with me or with the world,” he goes on matter-of-factly, “but why brood over it? You simplygut it out, whatever is bugging you instead of choreographing a dance about it.”

Talent doesn’t come gift-wrapped. Neither are abilities given pre-packaged. “Sometimes everything seems ok, seems possible,” says Srinivasa Sarma, a life skills counsellor. “Sometimes nothing works, whatever you do goes to pieces.”

That’s when people start haemorrhaging off. “Especially youngsters have this problem, wanting to do something with their life, uncertain future,” he says, “and the issues of earning a living.” The situation is not so bad now, he hopes, that any skill, if honed and sharpened, will give one enough chances to make it in life. What holds back people is, he emphasizes, “this brooding, the same guilt-trip, the same self-flagellation after anything goes haywire.” “You kind of invite the outcome,” he warns, “with your own thinking. We cannot really expect to succeed at everything.”

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail