A few days back, a friend of mine and i were sharing a conversation over lunch, in the hostel mess. The menu is not important, but I would like to mention one specific item on the menu that day. Finger chips. Some colored red, while the others plain yellow. I unexpectedly found myself in the need to grab one of the chips from his plate and unknowlingly I grabbed a red one. His eyes lit up and he said, “No, not the red one”. I couldn’t help but laugh at his sheer desire to save all the “coloured” chips for himself. While I laughed he looked at me and asked, “Whats wrong with you?” I replied, “I wish I could figure that out myself!”
You can ask me why I laughed, the reason did not dawn upon me at that very moment when he asked me that inevitable question. I laughed because, I couldn’t fathom why would a 21 year old, having to deal with the enormous pressure of academics and various other stuff people claim us teenagers going through, would bother if he had red chips or yellow chips. Food for thought one could say! The answer according to me is, “SIMPLICITY”.
As I sit inside my train compartment heading home, looking outside my window, in a total poetic manner, I can confidently claim, simple people are the happiest and they are people whom you want to be with forever. My finger chip friend had nothing else on his mind, only that he wanted the red, appealing item of food for himself. You could say he was childish, but whats wrong with that? It is a quality that appeals to most of us. Is it wrong for a 21 year old to still crave something different, something normally “grown-ups” do not need or may be laughed at and made fun of if he did so? Well, if you know someone who does that ask him this, “When was the last time he had ‘FUN’ ”. Someone had rightly said “Add life to your years, not years to your life”
Being a child at heart has its advantages, in fact, it makes you lovable and carefree. It gives you an open mind, helps you to shun negativity perceive the world in a different way.
Simplicity is the best medication for study-ridden minds like ours. Take a break from chaos that is life, find a “Finger-Chip-Friend”, grab a big jar of “Nutella” and use only your fingers for having it! “Live life Child Like”! And for those of you lost in “adult-hood”, reach out to that kid inside you who still loves pokemon, awaken him, and I assure you will be set afloat in the pursuit of undiluted happiness.
Siddhartha Bhattcahryya
KIIT UNIVERSITY, Bhubaneswar
'Campus Writing' 