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.

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 as we try to lay the groundwork to inch closer to the city of seven cities for the long term, 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!”