Life and Death

I, being an introvert had very few friends since my childhood. This nature of me didn't change even after coming to college. It was during the first days of my college, when I had barely started interacting with my batchmates, I got to know this boy of my section... 'Dip'. We had common hobbies and interests like photography and reading. We both were very fond of Mathematics. This made us good friends. Gradually, as I got to know him, I found out our thoughts and perspectives about life matched a lot. This made us even good friends than before, and I found "someone like me" in such a big college with so many new faces. As I started knowing him even more, I found out he was brilliant in Mathematics, a great coder and photographer and a district level cricket player. Apart from that he loved playing chess, riding bikes, reading storybooks and travelling. Unlike me, he was an extrovert. He knew almost everyone in college. He used to be there in everything, from taking part in college events enthusiastically to buying gift for our mentor on his birthday to helping his batchmates solving their problems, he was always there. His life seemed like a "perfect life" to me. I used to feel a little envious of him because of the talents and the number of friends he had. He seemed like an "All rounder " to me. One day, I told him "Your life is such a great one. You are such a brilliant student with so many talents and have so many friends. Everything is so much balanced and perfect in your life. Your life seems like 'the ideal life' to me. He remained silent for a few moments and then said 'It seems like that. Everyone's life seems great to others. Having friends isn't a big thing. At last you have to be happy with yourself. I was a bit surprised hearing this type of answer from him. I asked him, 'Aren't you happy with yourself? '. To this, he replied, 'Happiness has no such definition. But I am enjoying life and that's what matters.' His answer seemed very mysterious but I ignored it and started talking on other topics with him. At that time, during the first days of my college, I used to remain very sad and depressed because of the mistakes and wrong decisions I had made in my past and the consequences that I had to face for that. Being upset, I used to put up sad quotes on social media. Seeing those quotes, one day Dip messaged me, 'Seeing your posts, I feel depressed. Why do you remain so upset? Just chill and take life less seriously.' Seeing this message, I felt very irritated. I felt like saying " How could an

'all rounder' boy having a 'perfect life' understand the pains and frustrations of my life! "But I didn't say anything, just kept silent. I always used to see Dip putting up pictures of him drinking and partying. Seeing those things, I had a very bad impression about 'Dip', as I considered him an 'ethical guy'. 

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     It was the day our exams got over. Everyone was in the mood of enjoyment, when I saw Dip smoking and drinking in a pub whose pictures he had shared on social media. Seeing this, I messaged him 'Today I saw you smoking and drinking. You have put pictures of it in the social media.' He replied, 'Yes, we had so much fun today. Enjoyment is so much important to survive.' To this, I replied 'Yes, enjoyment is important to survive, but don't you think doing all these will affect your health in the long term? '.He said, 'Yes, I know it affects my health. But for me living for thirty years is enough.... A good thirty year life is far better than a struggling seventy year life'. Hearing this, I was shocked. I asked myself "How can a person be so ignorant about his health? And that too a boy like 'Dip' who is so sincere about everything!" I asked him, 'Do your parents know about this? 'He replied, 'Yes, they know. Drinking occasionally isn't a bad thing. And you can't have an impression on someone with the essence that they drink or not! ' To this, I replied, 'No, I am not judging you on that basis. I am just asking. Don't get me wrong!' He said, 'Nope, See this things aren't cool and neither do I do all these things to make myself look cool in front of other people. But you have to enjoy life and everyone has different definitions of enjoyment.' I replied, 'Yes, enjoyment is important in life. But there are also other ways of enjoyment apart from smoking and drinking. These are not the only way through which you can enjoy your life. These things will affect your health in the long run. You can still have fun without doing something that will hurt your health.' To this, he replied 'Listen, I have chronic pancreatitis and it's incurable....! So, I already have a health problem that's going to take me when I am twenty seven or twenty eight.' So, I want to enjoy the rest of my life to the fullest... be it coding or hanging out. Don't tell anyone... I just told you because you might think me irresponsible towards my health or something like that.' Hearing this, I was speechless. I was shocked, upset and astonished. I understood why he used to give such mysterious, philosophical answers to everything. I understood then that his 'perfect life' was so much tougher than our so called 'imperfect lives'. I came to realize that, "Death is the ultimate truth of life that cannot be denied. The problems that we face in our day to day lives, are just 'illusions of mind' and are very small when compared to the ultimate truth of life, 'death'. Life is very fragile and so it's a beautiful miracle to be alive in this world when our chances of being here are nearly zero. All we have is now. So, today is the right day to love, believe, do and most importantly live because a tomorrow is not guaranteed."