Alchemy

Someone said that there is nothing we can call the right plan or the correct decision and for that matter the wrong plan or the wrong decision. It is the future course of events and how we handle the plan that makes it right or wrong and correct or otherwise. In retrospect it is  pretty easy to pass critical judgment. If we had the sagacity and the vision as to the outcome of our decisions we may have seen a much different life than we live now. Ratan Tata has said that he does not believe in making the right decision, but in making one and then toiling to make it right. Sensible indeed!

The Road not taken and treading the path less travelled makes all the difference! The subject that bothers me is the decision of A, my son. It has not rattled me but a bit apprehensive. He has been harbouring the idea now for some time and he finally after seeing much huffing and puffing from me since I came to know of that from his mother, called me up a few days back and narrated his plan.

He graduated in Visual media and has been into some practical works in a couple of films with a few friends of mine who are in the film industry. He ostensibly has planned to do Master’s in cinematography. And he has been scouring the net for avenues – and institutions where he can go to. Fair enough. But his decision to take time away from the immediate priorities (as I gauge it) is a matter of consternation to me. He wants to be in Bangalore or Chennai for a while and be participating in English theater activities. This is when he has concrete offers to work in films as an apprentice in cinematography and that which will aid in providing him much practical knowledge when he files his resume for the Master’s course where ever he chooses.

However he has his decision made. And though I have my apprehension – the fore most being the possibility of wasting time in something he will not dwell thereafter; ignoring offers to involve him with acclaimed faces in the films, may be construed as rude and indifference.

So finally when he called me and spoke on the matter, I had to shun my reservations and fear to tell him that if he has found his choice of the road, the one that he thinks is right, to go forward and make it right. Can I stand in the way of a young man who must have weighed the pros and cons of his choice and who is tenacious that he has to follow a certain course to reach his destination?

I do not see the idea of something called destiny as Paul Coelho did in his novel “The Alchemist”. I find no reason to believe it as a predetermined city square to where we eventually reach. Each one of us is unique in our own way and we are the only ones responsible for our decisions. If he can be comfortable in his decision, he can exhibit a single minded purpose in reaching the destination which people call in retrospect- destiny, it can then be the treasure which “Santiago” the shepherd boy searched for. If that see him forging the road not taken or less traversed so be it. He needs to be his own alchemist.

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”                                                                                                                W.Blake

But as a parent who has had half a century of vicissitudes to remember it is a tad difficult for comfort.