Roller Coaster Ride

Written by Ishita Joshi
Leadership Open Elective taught by Jibrael Jos
Nov 2018 at Christ University

 I interviewed my cousin sister’s grandmother Kalyani Devi Bhagat. She is a 72 year old woman who has lived a meaningful life.The conversation i had with her was very informative and insightful. It gave me whole new perspective on life and its meaning.

                When asked about what the purpose of life according to her is, she said that the motive or purpose should be to be happy and keep others around you happy. One should always be there for one’s family and friends and help them get through life by creating happiness for them. She believes that one should always have faith in oneself and in god , if that is there then everything will eventually fall in place and things will be peaceful. Her life has been no less than a rollercoaster ride and her key learning has been that life is a mixture of both good and bad things. Even when things are going downhill, one should not lose hope and no matter how hard things are, life goes on. We should never give up or get disheartened because things are not working fine for us. Every cloud has a silver lining and bad days will make way for good days. We should learn to make the best out of each day and learn something out of each experience.The one advise that she wants to give to the youth of today is that they should value relationships more and not be slaves in the hands of technology. It’s the relationships that build which help you in the long run and not your mobile phone. All of us should be there for people in need. The one incident that changed her life and the way she looked at things was when her son died. After his death his daughters stopped talking to him and she realised that sometimes people are selfish and do not care about your feelings. She realised how important it is for family to be there for each other in difficult times and it was a shock to her  when her grandchildren cut her off after her son passed away. She realised that sometimes people are not what we expect them to be or want them to be. Certain things are not in your control and we should just let them be the way they are.

                  According to her relationships should be more meaningful and giving. We should put others first in relationships and not give up so easily, just work on making things better.