Life is not fair- Accept and Act

While flipping through the pages of Raghuram G. Rajan, s famous book ‘Fault Lines’ in a book store located in the buzzing and the busiest mall of the city, I had a glimpse of a familiar face passing by through a small slit between two large book shelves laden with the books of all genre ranging from ‘One Minute Manager’ to ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’. I ran behind the shadow shouting his name without worrying about the sensitive ears of the sophisticated people around. After, initial burst of joy of meeting each other we rushed to the nearest Coffee Day stall for finding some space for a nice uninterrupted conversation. We chatted incessantly about any thing and every thing we could think of. At moments we felt nostalgic about the golden old days of our campus life. Discussion slowly drifted towards the challenges of real life and the obvious story of success and failures. He proudly shared the tale of his successful foray into software business. He kept on telling about the arduous challenges he had to surmount which was not possible without the sheer hard work, unmitigated passion and prudence. He did not utter the word ‘fortune’ or any synonym of it even once during the long and lively discussion. Finally, our conversation came to an abrupt end as the shop was all set to close for the day. With customary parting pleasantries we said good bye to each other.

While walking back to my house, the very question of ‘The role of fortune in life’ became my silent and annoying companion. It was probably my first serious encounter with the intriguing subject of luck in life. My confusion and curiosity to understand the subject grew exponentially with every passing hour of the night till the bright day emerged from the shackle of the darkness around. Exhausted and enervated, I slipped into deep slumber, when the birds and habitual early risers awake to enjoy the soothing calm and freshness of the morning breeze.

Next evening, I was a bit relaxed but still inquisitive and eager to unravel the complexity of the relationship between hard work and reward. I recalled my formative years when we were conditioned to believe in the simple mathematical equation that ‘Hard work is directly proportional to the reward or success one gets in life’. Alas, ideal world of my formative years was so different from the real world around me. My thoughtful journey into the past got punctuated by the sudden knock at the door. I opened the door for the cook whom we call as ‘Bua’ with respect and asked for a cup of tea.

Nice and nasty experiences in life have made me understand that the hard work and persistence are necessary but not sufficient for achieving the mundane success or even spiritual nirvana. Perfect career planning and years of grind and toil without the blessing of the ‘Goddess of Fortune’ helps an individual to lead a dignified life on the planet earth but it falls well short of the impetus required to open an imaginary door of the elite club of successful people. Some of the sensible souls and a few fellow companions would deject my over simplification of the complex subject. They would feel embarrassed with the implied relationship between ‘Being Successful’ and ‘Elite Club’ and would happily decimate it with the supposedly cogent and more intelligent argument. I understand that the success does have different connotation and interpretation for different individuals which is solely based on their understanding of the life and its objectives, however would refrain from getting into interminable debate for the sole objective of losing the focus.

Finally, after a long wait Bua got the tea ready and offered me with her usual advice that too much of it is dangerous for health. Ignoring her sympathetic advice with a gentle smile, I came out of my house to enjoy the beautiful sight of evening melting into the darkness. Relishing the bitter tea and thinking of the world well beyond the intellectual and academic debate, I could observe and recollect the score of the examples floating around that strongly suggest the presence of mysterious force that acts surreptiously and silently to make the things happen in one’s favour or otherwise. This hidden force which we call as the ‘fortune’ tweaks the presumed linear relationship between hard work and reward. It is the non linearity of the relationship that many a times trouble or torments us, if the swing of the curve is not in our favour.

Phrase ‘Nonlinearity’ reminded me of the famous book ‘Fooled by Randomness’ by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. There is one chapter devoted to nonlinearities of life where he has explained “how a small advantage in life can translate into highly disproportionate payoffs or more viscously ,how no advantage at all , but a very, very small help from randomness, can lead to bonanza” (Chapter: Loser Takes All – On the Nonlinearities of Life ).

For me this element of randomness comes from the individual’s luck or fortune.

To alleviate the mental fatigue caused by the continuous thinking about the unnerving abstract variables of success, I asked for another cup of tea, switched off the light and played the music player to listen the recitation of poetries of my favourite poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz. His poetries are spellbinding and have always inspired and instilled hope and faith in me

In the darkness of the room truth whispered ; There is none but only one choice, there is only one variable which an ordinary individual can control; “working hard with sincerity and persistence” .It will certainly create the posivitive chances even though it does not translate into necessary success it deserves. Faiz words are resonating in the still silence of the room, creating ripples of positive energy all around

abhii garaani-e-shab me.n kamii nahii.n aaii
najaat-e-diida-o-dil kii gha.Dii nahii.n aaii
chale chalo ki wo ma.nzil abhii nahii.n aaii
(Night weighs us down; it still weighs us down
Friends, come away from this false light.
Come, we must search for that promised Dawn.)