Y.O.L.O.❎ Y.O.H.O.S.✅

While today’s youth is all about “You Only Live Once”, I have a slightly different take on it, which may be phrased as “You Only Have One Shot”!

As we recently concluded our second-born’s Annaprashan (grain initiation) ceremony followed by blessings at the venerated Eastern Dham of Jagannath, it reminded me of a prophesized re-incarnation of Lord Vishnu in Hindu mythology as the Kalki avatar in the present age… Like in alleged past instances, where the Lord is said to have walked the earth in the form of the people of that era, how would we know if such an individual is already amongst us today? 

‘Juggernaut’, a term directly derived from ‘Jagannath’, reaffirmed the idea that the lion’s share of being an adult, let alone a cycle-breaker, is to be able to act as an impervious bund wall for our young ones, sheltering them from any past baggage, be it a loveless upbringing or shortsightedly selfish misguidance. Afterall, our little angels are the ones who shall carry our footprints down the road into the distant vista!

The past year has been one of the sharpest learning curves for me, but as the Swiss Maestro once shared the secret to his 80% matches won with only 54% of individual points: “When a point is behind you its behind you, which frees you to fully commit to the next point”... People habitually zero in on extrinsic benchmarks but fail to realize that a rigorous pursuit of intrinsic milestones often leads to those very benchmarks as a byproduct, albeit with much less burnout from wild card elements.

Now, as the days left in our present tenure seem numbered and we try to lay the groundwork to inch closer to the city of seven cities for the long haul, a quote by our country’s beloved NSA Sh. Ajit Doval rings loud and clear: “It is less important to make the right decisions, than to make the decisions right!”

The Emerging Cohort

Gone are the days when Gen Zs were the only talk of town... And millennials… Well, let’s just say we're relics from an antiquated epoch! It’s amusing that even our two boys born only a hair’s breadth under three years apart, fall in two distinct generations viz. Alpha and Beta respectively... As our eldest took up the reins of studenthood at one of the premier preschool brands in our country the other day, my wifey and I were left mulling over what a spectacular transition we have been blessed to share thus far.

While the term ‘otrovert’ recently coined by psychiatrist Dr. Rami Kaminski, couldn’t be more apt for describing someone like me, it would be cuckoo not to admit that being a full-fledged extrovert probably serves you best in a world built upon and glued together by constructive mass interaction, something that a quality school lays the cornerstone for. Just like the greatest thing money can buy is probably freedom rather than shallow transient worldly possessions, the best thing an elementary school can bestow is probably the means for social compatibility rather than erudition.  

Now, although this past year left us at a cliffhanger in more ways than one, it is farcical how we often shrug off others receiving the short end of the stick, but get baffled when the same happens to us, as if we have a preferential hotline to God. Drawing a parallel with the army, I often hark back to what my father-in-law had once pitched... You may or may not be the finest soldier, but if you remain on the frontlines long enough, you are more than likely to get shot sooner or later. Coming from a fractured past of sorts myself, I can vouch that being hypercritical of oneself only does a number on one’s mind and body, masking the uncomfortable truth that what often makes us inimitable is not what befalls us, but how we choose to respond to it!

WELCOME 2026!!!