Some milestones from the pursuit of Shanti

Here, I am going to share some milestones from my life: the pursuit of Shanti.

Now, who is Shanti? Actually, What is Shanti? When we accomplish something, we get this sense of peace of mind. That is Shanti. This also applies to the phases of life. Just like people say complete school then you can relax, get a job then you can relax. Relax → get Shanti. But, in reality you can never get Shanti. Shanti is the force which drives you forward. It is the ultimate thing you get in life. I can say that life is the never ending pursuit of Shanti.

My life started in a city called Cuttack in Odisha. I was and I am a stubborn kid, it was very difficult to distract me once I set my eyes somewhere. I used to tell the teachers directly, I won’t study today, I won’t wish good morning, I won’t memorize multiplication tables which I never did. I still am that stubborn but I do not lack the empathy towards things which I used when I was younger.

Comes the year 2009, my father was transferred and we moved to Jamshedpur. New school, new people, made new friends. I do not know why but I liked it here. It is my home now. I got to know about the world of Tatas. I came accross this man, JRD Tata. He said something which intrigued me. When he was conferred with Bharat Ratna, he said -

“I do not want India to an economic superpower but a happy country”. This bumfuzzled me, why would he say so? In my pursuit of Shanti, what can Khushi do? How can she help me? I did not understand it until later in my life.

JEE happened, I did not get a good rank. I could get into NITs and IIITs but not IITs. I had to make some decisions. I decided not to try again because I was not happy going through that process again. I was not enjoying. I decided that I will get admission into whatever I was getting. Interestingly, I did not fill in NIT Jamshedpur or BIT Mesra, the best options I had. I went to IIIT Gwalior. I wanted to go far away because I wanted to experience different cultures of our country. Another way, I want to be far away so if ever I feel homesick, I can not have this urge to go back home. I did not get my desired branch there, I got into a 5 year course. I made great friends there, we travel together, experiencing different cultures. We go to each other’s cities, exchanging cultures. Here, I learned an important thing about making decisions, they can never be right or wrong. Decisions are like paths where you do not know the destination. Without the destination, a path can never be wrong. You just need to make a decision and never look back, have no regrets and be happy. Everything will into place eventually.

In my college days, I realised that life is short and definitely not a race, you can never get ahead in life. I need to be the driver of my life and drive as per my rules. I need to be happy.

Seeing my life as a pursuit of Shanti, I run after Shanti, Khushi runs after me and I tend to ignore her being focussed on Shanti but based on my experiences, embracing Khushi is what will simplify my life. Being happy is the least I could do.

Moving forward, cheers to Khushi 🥂