Monday, August 26, 2013

The Book of Your Life


 “You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend, or not.” 
― Isabel Allende

Right now in this very moment, you are writing the next page of the greatest book ever written for you. You are writing a book of the story of your life.
 

We all have a story to tell this world in the way we live our lives. Every second of the day is like another alphabet or word that adds to the great epic of our individual lives. For each one of us, it is the greatest book ever written, it is the story of our individual lives.


This thought struck me last night after reading a wonderful book by P.G Wodehouse titled 'Ring for Jeeves'. In the book, I saw several instances of excellent comic writing. It sure did give me a laugh.

I went to a bookstore near my home to pick up another copy of the Wodehouse series right after I finished reading this one. I  walked around the store for a while to just browse a few other books. 

As I walked around the store, I saw two very funny incidents happen.

1) A child had pulled a book from the bottom of a pile of stacked books, bringing the whole pile falling down, and creating a panic situation in that part of the store.
2) A lady browsing books at the store, had just stepped on the recently swept tiles. She almost slipped and lost her balance, but then regained it and kept browsing like nothing happened.

These two incidents would have been well described by Mr. Wodehouse. I experienced both in the span of five minutes. In the book, I experienced two-three similar such instances after reading over 200 pages.

Sean Penn once said in a an interview, "There is drama and speech in people's lives, as we live them."

The walk back home from the bookshop to my apartment is 1.5 km long and there is a bazaar and a mini shopping district on the way.

I decided I was going to look for and observe everything around me on the walk back home that night. I was going to find the drama and poetry of my life.

I saw this

1) Cars Honking
2)  A tourist couple checking pictures on their camera
3) A shop keeper asking me, 'Tell me sir, How can I help you?'
4) Food stalls, juice stalls and fruit stalls coming to life.
5) A policeman reprimanding a group of shopkeepers for something.
6) A family walking by, with the the father on the phone doing business and the mother telling the children not to walk on the main road.

In addition to the above, each person I observed on the street had a story of his own to tell. Another great book in the making. Wow.

I then started thinking all these scenes would make great material for a best selling book. I was not reading this, but living these scenes. In addition to this, I experienced all these scenes together in a Fifteen Minute walk back home. If I stay this observant, how many more such scenes, I will be able to observe. I may then start appreciating the great book of my life.

The great writers of our time, had a talent for bringing the above scenes to life through the words they wrote. Shakespeare did this excellently with his many characters in his plays and sonnets. Marcel Proust explained and observed French High-Society with his work. 

But let us sit back for a moment and think about this, 'You may experience life in the words and work of a great author, but you experience life, in every second of the day of every day of your life. Because in all the events and happenings of each day of your life, you are scripting the great book of your life.'

1 comment:

  1. Its Really nice... And inspiring too..
    Best from you as always... :)

    ReplyDelete