As the year ends...

One of the memorable quotes that I read goes something like this: 'The safest place for a ship is the shores, but that is not where it is supposed to be'. True. Very true.

Every time during this period of the year - this end-December time - I try to sit back and think of what the year offered me. Every year some new things happen - some good, some bad.
In the beginning of the year I lost my dear grandmother. The year took her away from me.In the first month I went to Haridwar (of which I attached a self-made documentary in my blog) and thanked GOD for everything and seeked his blessings for the life ahead.
This year I worked in the headquarters of prestigious International Monetary Fund in Washington DC. I made some good friends during my last working days in the company. Then of course this study, something I don't want to write in this piece and bore you all.

If this year had something really special to offer me, it was to re-discover myself. The motivation to take the ship out in the ocean. The pleasure in rejecting the safety that the four walls of our room provide. The joy in the sorrow of missing your near and dear ones. Rediscovering the student in me after so many years. The list goes on...
My ship is still sailing in the ocean. The problem is as you come to know new things, you realise how much you don't know. The more you discover, you realise that there are more to be discovered. There seems to be no end to it. There is a saying that says, once a man eater tastes the blood of human beings the tiger falls in love with the taste. The problem with the ship in the sea is more than that. You know that there are so many lands that you can potentially go to, so many opportunities awaiting for you. So even when you reach that shore, you are never complacent. You stay there for some time and then start a new journey again. Once you realise the vastness of the world, you are no longer content with the small piece of land that you owned so long. Your journey never ends. You have tasted human blood and nothing sort of it will do. And each time you want to outperform yourself. The game is interesting. But the game is equally dangerous!
So my getting into the course is in no way an end; it is the beginning of a journey. And that's the most valuable thing 2007 offered me. It started a journey for me. The study is not the end of a dream; it is a platform from where I can see many other dreams. It is a stepping stone. And this is what I remind myself of each day - stepping stone.

Last year this time my ship was chained to the shores. Today my ship is out into the vast unknown ocean. I can see, for the last time in 2007, the sun set on the western horizon. Soon, from the east new rays of the sun with new hopes in a new year will bathe the world - my world, your world, everybody's world. And in the new dawn my journey will continue. And so will yours.
This is a small world, my friend. So someday in some shores we will meet and talk about our journeys. Till then, 'Adieu et bon voyage!'