Dichotomy of Fate...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I have started with this beautiful poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost( Of "After Apple Picking" fame in the Whispers of Immortality). This is truly a beautiful poem, a rare diamond among the countless riches made during the Romantic era.

What actually influenced me the most in this poem is that the dilemma faced by the the author then is being faced by all of us now. Which way to turn? Infact, the author had a comparatively easy choice compared to all of us. He had only 2 roads to choose from. We have quite a lot.

I am the kind of person who believes that fate is non-consequential and just an excuse for either being pig-headed or being unable to do something. How much ever one may try not to link everyday happenings to fate, in a country like India it is not possible to disdain the influence of fate. It is every person's favourite escape route. Put on a grin or a smirk or scowl, run your index finger across your forehead and say "It is my fate". Though it is irritating from my perspective while writing this, some of us invariably tend to forget what we were supposed to be thinking and repeat the age old practice of pinger-across-forehead. That is mainly because of almost 2 decades of brainwashing that we have been continuously exposed to ever since we first entered this world.

Fate is inseparably linked with luck. Luck IS NOT fate. So what is this fate? Is my fate decided already or do I have any say in it? These questions probably cannot be answered.
Fate supposedly means your future. Your gains and losses in life, supposedly pre-determined by some 4 headed God sitting on a lotus. For someone who has a lot of writing to do, due to the increasing population, its amazing how He also has time to meditate and stuff.

The point I am trying to make here is that it doesn't matter what is written in your life. Its is nonsense if you lose some money on a bet and someone says "Its your fate". All it is just bad judging. If done properly, irrespective of whichever rashi is in whichever house, irrespective of what that God wrote, you will win. Fate is an excuse for failure. It is NOT something that one should try to understand, even less think about in life.
Suppose by some freak accident you are able to read your supposedly existing fate, then what fun is your life? It is always the prospect of a better tomorrow that drives humanity. It is the journey that is exhilarating, not the destination.

Coming back to ourselves. We now face a lot of roads. All with their own share of ups and downs. One thing is sure though. The road that slopes upwards, though difficult to climb, will certainly give a better view of the world in the end. The road that slopes downwards, though easy to travel, will never help you grow.
The fact that makes this decision very tough is that all roads are one way traffic. You can go, but cannot turn back. Each has its share of thorns and stubble, roses and ferns, dangers and adventures. Pick your best path and follow it with full earnestness and the latter part of the road will be easy travel.

What is it then that prevents us from taking up the path less taken? FEAR. the four letter word eats up many lives. Fear is the best mate of fate. Fear of tomorrow reduces one's productivity dramatically. It does take a lot of guts to do what one actually wants to do in life. Everywhere around us, we have people who induce fear. Nobody, absolutely nobody pats you on the back for thinking up an alternative solution for a problem. India is stuck in the quagmire of conservativeness. Anything swaying even a little from the average/normal becomes a source of fear. Being a quagmire, it easily extinguishes any bright spark that attempts to actually show the way out. People are happy enough sinking more, rather than accept the fact that there was actually a solution they could not think of.

Let more bright sparks shed light in this quagmire. Think about fate. Think about what it is and how your fate really doesn't matter in life.

Ciao.