The smell of fresh paint came at full blast as Abhimanyu entered his room. Abhimanyu, with his parents had moved to their newly furnished house; a proper house with a big front lawn, complete with a swing set for him to play on. Being a lone child, one had to while away time chasing space fantasies, as the swings become a launch pad to Jupiter, and jumping from the edge of the street at the apogee of the path of the swing became the actual launch. Those 4 seconds of thrill were always memorable.
Abhimanyu snapped back in to reality as he looked around his room. It was well furnished with a bed in one corner, to the right of a large window, overlooking the front lawn, a desk placed at the window and his closet towards the right. His belongings had already been placed in the closet, ready for use.
The house had belonged to another family who had moved out due to financial constraints, though his friends fantasized that it was due to the death of the youngest of the family, and Abhimanyu would be haunted by the spirit of the dead child. His parents had assured him that there were no dead children of the previous family, going as far as making Abhimanyu meet the family and their only child. Abhimanyu had pinched him to make sure he was real !
"ABHI! PACK YOUR BACKPACK AND MAKE SURE YOU'RE READY FOR SCHOOL TOMORROW", his mom bellowed from her room.
School started the next day, and Abhimanyu reluctantly got to his closet to dig up his books and put them in his backpack. As he rummaged about his closet trying to find his school books, in the midst of his story books, novels etc, he found a small piece of paper wedged between his copy of "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe" by Douglas Adams.
He didn't remember ever making any notes while reading this classic, and he removed the piece of paper to see his name scrawled across one of the folded sides, in a familiar handwriting.
"Is this mom? What have I done this time? Seems to be a new form of imparting discipline", he thought to himself absent minded as he sat on his chair and opened up the letter. It said :
Dear Abhimanyu,
How are you buddy? How old are you? I'm not sure when you will find this letter, and I hope that you find it as early as possible. I'm having a great time here. I can't reveal where I am, as it will break one of the most important principles of my work. For now, know that I am a well wisher.
Great things will happen buddy. You're a smart kid, full of intelligent ideas and simplistic thinking. You know what problem we adults have? We make things too complicated. Children have the ability to think of things in the simplest possible way, and this is how their mind works. They are not daunted by the enormity of the task at hand, they are not daunted by the amount of work, or the time taken to do it. When you're a child, you don't know death. You're immortal. Nothing has a time period. You must have heard us adults saying "I want to be rich by 40, and retire". This is because we know death, we fear it, and hence we keep time lines. Don't be pulled into that trap.
I know what you're thinking. If adults know their mortality, why do they bother with timelines? Hell, they may die even before they are 40. I think like a child too, whenever it is necessary and that's why I can measure your response. As for your question, well, that's the weirdal ways of us adults.
As you grow older, you'll also be bogged down an imaginary thing called "Fear". It will enter your system in the form of doubt, and slowly, if left unchecked, it will cripple your system and leave you a shadow of yourself. Remember how you feel you can get to Jupiter, or The Restaurant At End Of The Universe by jumping from the apogee of your swing set? Adults will never be able to feel that. Adults will fear mocking from others and never let themselves go.
Fear will make you believe, that you own something in this world. It will make you believe that you have something to lose. Truth be told, you have nothing. Nothing is ever truly yours. Just like The Conservation of Energy, worldly things too are only transferred from one person to another. Whether you want it or not, whether it be during your life time or your death, you will be separated from your worldly possessions. And at that time, all you will have are your experiences, your thoughts, your memories. Your soul.
This letter might seem like a sermon. I won't be modest and say it's not. Treat it like a sermon, never forget what is written in this letter, and you will live your life to the fullest and successfully. However, you will have to promise me to destroy this letter as soon as you're done with it. You can memorize it, write it down for yourself, but you will have to destroy this original copy. Make sure no one reads this. I can't stress this point enough.
Do not be afraid of what I say next. I know you're smart enough to figure out what I'm saying.
Take care.
Abhimanyu snapped back in to reality as he looked around his room. It was well furnished with a bed in one corner, to the right of a large window, overlooking the front lawn, a desk placed at the window and his closet towards the right. His belongings had already been placed in the closet, ready for use.
The house had belonged to another family who had moved out due to financial constraints, though his friends fantasized that it was due to the death of the youngest of the family, and Abhimanyu would be haunted by the spirit of the dead child. His parents had assured him that there were no dead children of the previous family, going as far as making Abhimanyu meet the family and their only child. Abhimanyu had pinched him to make sure he was real !
"ABHI! PACK YOUR BACKPACK AND MAKE SURE YOU'RE READY FOR SCHOOL TOMORROW", his mom bellowed from her room.
School started the next day, and Abhimanyu reluctantly got to his closet to dig up his books and put them in his backpack. As he rummaged about his closet trying to find his school books, in the midst of his story books, novels etc, he found a small piece of paper wedged between his copy of "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe" by Douglas Adams.
He didn't remember ever making any notes while reading this classic, and he removed the piece of paper to see his name scrawled across one of the folded sides, in a familiar handwriting.
"Is this mom? What have I done this time? Seems to be a new form of imparting discipline", he thought to himself absent minded as he sat on his chair and opened up the letter. It said :
Dear Abhimanyu,
How are you buddy? How old are you? I'm not sure when you will find this letter, and I hope that you find it as early as possible. I'm having a great time here. I can't reveal where I am, as it will break one of the most important principles of my work. For now, know that I am a well wisher.
Great things will happen buddy. You're a smart kid, full of intelligent ideas and simplistic thinking. You know what problem we adults have? We make things too complicated. Children have the ability to think of things in the simplest possible way, and this is how their mind works. They are not daunted by the enormity of the task at hand, they are not daunted by the amount of work, or the time taken to do it. When you're a child, you don't know death. You're immortal. Nothing has a time period. You must have heard us adults saying "I want to be rich by 40, and retire". This is because we know death, we fear it, and hence we keep time lines. Don't be pulled into that trap.
I know what you're thinking. If adults know their mortality, why do they bother with timelines? Hell, they may die even before they are 40. I think like a child too, whenever it is necessary and that's why I can measure your response. As for your question, well, that's the weirdal ways of us adults.
As you grow older, you'll also be bogged down an imaginary thing called "Fear". It will enter your system in the form of doubt, and slowly, if left unchecked, it will cripple your system and leave you a shadow of yourself. Remember how you feel you can get to Jupiter, or The Restaurant At End Of The Universe by jumping from the apogee of your swing set? Adults will never be able to feel that. Adults will fear mocking from others and never let themselves go.
Fear will make you believe, that you own something in this world. It will make you believe that you have something to lose. Truth be told, you have nothing. Nothing is ever truly yours. Just like The Conservation of Energy, worldly things too are only transferred from one person to another. Whether you want it or not, whether it be during your life time or your death, you will be separated from your worldly possessions. And at that time, all you will have are your experiences, your thoughts, your memories. Your soul.
This letter might seem like a sermon. I won't be modest and say it's not. Treat it like a sermon, never forget what is written in this letter, and you will live your life to the fullest and successfully. However, you will have to promise me to destroy this letter as soon as you're done with it. You can memorize it, write it down for yourself, but you will have to destroy this original copy. Make sure no one reads this. I can't stress this point enough.
Do not be afraid of what I say next. I know you're smart enough to figure out what I'm saying.
Take care.
Yours truly,
Abhimanyu
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