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What it takes to be happy!

We are always caught between transience and permanence. A part of us wants to die each day, yet another part craves for a new bright day. All that happens with us is all that was destined to be, yet do we realise this, how meaningful meaninglessness can be!

So I was standing basking under the sun when a sound startled me, it was my grandpa's friend riding his age old bicycle which has been his faithful friend. I wondered what keeps this old man going, his limbs no more have the strength to carry on, nor does his freckled skin talk of radiance but yet he looks so charming when he rides his bicycle. He has this look of content and calm on his face.

So I walk up to him and open my palms for I know that this morning I have been one of those lucky ones who would have a share of the candies he carry. Well, startling right? An old man carrying candies! Well, he owns no shop and earns a meagre amount of money enough to fulfil his needs but each day he invests ten bucks to buy candies and gifts it to everyone he meets on his way. This has been a habit for decades.

So, he tells me the story how he thought of forming this habit. What he says has deep rooted philosophy, he says he once thought that all that would matter was his youth but he found that it had begun to slip away from his hands and even before realising what actually was happening to him, he found out that he had begun to hold on to the transience that the world promised but little did he realise back then that the transience couldn't promise him of permanence. So, it dawned. He started finding meaning in the meaninglessness surrounding him.

He started seeing his life through a new perspective, he begun to think about what could possibly fetch him happiness and whether it was concentrated in what he did or was it somewhere around him yet was to be discovered. Empathy, was what he wanted to vouch for. He began to find peace within his self and with the world around. He started rewarding himself with a little amount as pocket money for the hard day's labour. So, what he would do was buy ten candies each evening on his way back home and go happily to bed thinking he had rewarded himself for whatever he achieved in that day. So, the next morning he would give away those candies to people he met on the road and thus they would smile back at him making his life worth the meaning he wanted to have.

This morning, i was one of those lucky ten. Next morning it would be ten more people and I wonder if he counted his life on the number of candies he has shared till date. This is what he has been doing for decades altogether and isn't it a brilliant way to celebrate life, I thought!

I got lucky today, maybe the next one could be you😊

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