Life is a Comedy of Errors

Photo courtesy: www.nosweatshakespeare.com

Back in 2012, during my sister’s wedding party, we played a fun game – Words of Wisdom. All the guests were given blank paper chits and sketch pens to write down messages for the married couple. The messages needed to be thoughts that would enable the couple to navigate their life together.

We received many wise messages, but the one that bagged the prize came from my maternal grandmother – someone we dearly loved and lost later, in 2016. She wrote, “Life is a comedy of errors.”

Back then, she won the prize but the message truly landed home for me many years later. As a carefree college-going person, I didn't fully understand this description of life. Let’s just say I was too naïve, and she was too wise.

Looking back, while we knew of some of the struggles in her life, maybe there were countless internal battles that she never exposed us to. Perhaps that was the 'comedy of errors' she was referring to.

Cut to today.

Life has unfolded in ways I never imagined. The ‘Ups’ have been breathtaking, but the ‘Downs’ have been heart-wrenching too.

More than anything, on this day, I wonder: had my grandmother been alive, would I have poured my heart out to her? And more importantly, would she have related to me and offered more of her Words of Wisdom?

Would there be a chance that she went through similar pains, even though decades have passed between us? Or would she just have been a silent support, a sounding board, a hand on my shoulder, hinting that everything would – one day, someday – be okay?

Maybe that, in itself, would have been enough.

Yet, as I lament and count the ‘what-ifs’, I also resonate more and more with her golden words from back in 2012: “Life is a comedy of errors.”

And I am filled with respect for my teacher grandmother, who so effortlessly encompassed the lives of many in six simple but powerful words.

Comments

Make Me A Man (for a week)

Make me a man for a week , Let me feel what Freedom feels. Let me have guilt-free rough hands and hairy legs, Let my grooming tools be scissors and blades. Make me a man for a week, For there is only one life and here I am - a woman. Not ever knowing what dominance feels like, Nor having a natural right to call the shots. And if it can't be done on this earth, Then make a man in Heaven. And bestow upon me wisdom, Like you did on the first man Adam. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for women. But haven't we seen and been through so much agony! If only I got to be a man for a change, I'd know how carefree life can be!

A hometown wedding!

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Exercise!

Photo Credit: Flickr Think of the word exercise for a moment. What other words would you associate with it? Sweat, gym, workout, burnout, and what not. Do you notice how, by and large, we associate a negative sentiment to it? Why don’t we most of us associate more positive words such as flexibility, strength, rejuvenation, me-time, etc. to exercising? Culturally, we have had very limited exposure and encouragement to exercise and even play sports. These are considered as “extra-curricular” and therefore, by consequence, less important and optional activities. Earlier, I too had a negative and dispassionate approach towards exercising. It was my health-conscious sister, who initiated me to the gym, then to yoga and other forms of exercises. Prior to this, my mom had initiated both her daughters to swimming, which is a great full-body workout, apart from being a fun-filled leisure activity. These were my early experiences with exercising, and frankly, they weren’t even ...

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