Carving my Elephant

Dedicating to my friend who helped me sort out a major chaos of my life.

It is funny when I see my life as a third person. I see a chain, a sequence very well placed and synchronized that constitutes my life. The ambiguities there always had a meaning that I found out as I lived. I see getting all that I needed; not all that I wanted. And then when I close my eyes and open it back again to get to my present, a gust of chaos and uncertainty hits my face; I am clueless as  to what should be my definition or what I am up to; the rampant broken links are prevalent. I find myself walking through them, and it does not take much time to realise that I am walking with a faith, something that I have gathered from my past, that every questions that crops into my mind shall be answered, and that shall happen if I walk past through all that is in front of me. I know for sure that I do not need an answer to every question right at this point. I then feel good that I am still walking.

The story:

There were two carpenters in a village who were known for their craftsmanship. As a test, both were given a log of wood to curve out an elephant. People wanted to see who is best among them. After the carpenters were done and the miniature elephants were brought in front of the entire village, the people were clueless as who is better as both the sculptures were astoundingly beautiful. The confused villagers went to the carpenters, who happened to be very aged and also very good friends; they were having their evening tea. One among the villagers walked to the carpenters and asked them the secret of their marvellous skill.

The first carpenter: When you people said you want an elephant and gave me this block of wood, I visualized an elephant and started carving to make a trunk, body, legs and all parts that an elephant has. When I was done I gave it to you.

The second carpenter: When you people said you want an elephant and gave me this block of wood, I visualized an elephant and started carving out the portions of the log that were not supposed to be parts of an elephant. When I was done I gave it to you.

*———-*———-*

This story is very important to me. Like the the villagers, it took sometime for me to understand what actually was said by the wise carpenters were not just about their sculptures but about the two ways I get to live my life.The first one is to choose what I want to have in my life; the second one is not to choose what I do not want in my life. Though both of them sound the same but I know for sure, living both of them is not the same.

As I walk through the randomness of my life, I find, though I may not know what is right but certainly I get the feeling what is not right. So I am the second carpenter. The thing right now is, do I carve the elephant or just plan to do it.

It is again so funny how I feel that other’s lives are so much guided and mine is so lost. For the person I am thinking such, surprisingly, looks at me and thinks my life is guided! Now I get to realize that how disrespectful I had been by not letting my life to be my life, but tried to manipulate it by comparing. It also feels good at heart when I now understand that for someone, one’s life is not his own but every member of his family has a share, and for others one’s complete life is about oneself, and if that is true for anyone, there is nothing wrong in it. I believe now I know to live the best way.

I too understand how my life is about the bits and pieces, but I think the largest chunk is mine for all the choices I made in my life. So this time I am done with the planning and I can clearly visualize the elephant; I chose to carve it.

 

Image Curtsey: http://www.portofafrica.com

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