“You live only once” seems like such a clarion call.
Get up and do things you like. Enjoy
yourself, burn a hole in your pocket, dye your hair blonde, go off to climb
Everest, watch every movie, get drunk, snort cocaine, in short, be conscious of
every minute that passes you by.
I feel life is all about being
less concerned about what people think of you, and being more concerned about what
you are comfortable doing.
I once read an interview with Bapsi Sidhwa in a
magazine. She said, “Women are under
scrutiny all the time. It is difficult
for them to be natural.” It was such a
deep thing to say. I have never been
able to forget this sentence of hers.
Women of my generation were constantly watched for what they
said, what they wore, how they walked, how they sat. It was very stifling. It impacted your decision making ability, if
you were allowed making decisions at all.
Alright, I won't go into a feminist mode on this. But, under these circumstances, doing things
that you really liked was hard. Even if
your choices were as innocuous as watching a movie or reading a book, forget
about having a boyfriend.
I have come a long and a hard way to earn my right to live
my life on my own terms. There was a
time when I was in a bad situation, a bad marriage. At that time, I had to make a life altering
decision. To stay in the bad marriage, or step out of it. I wasn't really thinking of this line at that
time, but I think it was at the back of my mind when I took my children and
stepped out of my husband's house.
You live only once.
