The Sound Of Music

No, I am not to write a review on one of the Classics of Hollywood movies ever. No, I am not to tell you here that it is my most all time favorite movie ever. This post is about me; about my likes, my beliefs, my principles, in nutshell, my way of living life.

The first time I saw this movie was when I was 10 years old. Today, my daughter is 10 years old, so it’s indeed been a long, long time. And this movie still holds the most prestigious position of “My Most favorite movie of all time” in my life. And today, as I sit alone in my hotel room in Shenzhen, watching the movie for the n-th time, I still feel the same emotions that I felt years before, and everytime I watch this movie – that of Love. This movie manifests Love in all its form and Maria has always been my ideal, she being the epitome of Love. I can’t claim to be like Maria, but I did have one commonality with her, that I loved and appreciated all good things life had to offer. And probably I also shared her innocence at some point of time in my life.

But the Maria in me has grown up. This Maria went through many ups and downs in her life. But unlike Maria, she couldn’t retain her innocence, her spirit and conscience. Slowly but surely, many of her good attributes were gone. She gave up on her goodness and even started compromising on her principles. These changes were gradual, so gradual that by the time she realized, she had come a long way off. But the tragedy lies elsewhere. Even after she realized that she went wrong, even if late, she didn’t do anything about it. She just kept on going on that road of self destruction which was giving her temporary pleasure. Why I say its self destruction is that in every crossroads of life, you will get two roads. One of them would be difficult, full of roadblocks and hurdles, but that road goes towards the ultimate goal of life. This road less travelled, gives you the ultimate happiness. On the contrary, there would be another road, a short cut to all your problems and one that would give you enough temporary pleasure, and boost your ego, help you have "fun" and all that, but this road leads to your destruction. If you travel on this road, you will be destroyed for sure,sooner or later, and along with you your near and dear ones will also suffer. So out and out, it’s your loss. And this Maria has faced it. Though she realized it but she was too busy externalizing the reasons for her downfall and destruction and in doing so, instead of preventing it from happening any further, she went deep down towards destruction at an accelerated rate.

But thanks to some recent events of her life, and ofcourse, The Sound Of Music, this Maria has come out of her Satanic trance. “Goodness” always pays, even if it pays late. Life is not about doing good things and being good when the going is smooth. Our true identity is what we do and how we behave when the going gets tough. It is very easy to take the “wrong” road when the going gets tough. It is even easier to externalize everything and wash our hands off anything wrong that we have done blaming the external “tough” situations. But whether you accept or not, whether you externalize or internalize, it’s you and you alone that face the after effects.

So, as I watch this movie, the memory of who I am, and what I believe in, comes back to me. My “value” remains the same, even if I had fallen down and got dirty. A crumpled, dirty $100 is no less in value than a new note. I am in this world to learn from every success and failure of mine. I am in this world to retain my “inherent” qualities that God has given me and enhance my spirit and proceed towards Self Realization. I am in this world to love one and all. I am in this world to appreciate the goodness in everything and in everybody. This world is God’s creation, we all are God’s children then how can there be a flaw in anything or in any one of us? Temporarily I went blind to all these aspects but now when I look within me I realize it is my conscious and subconscious decision to lead my life. I am a product of my own thoughts, emotions and beliefs. I am who I want to be, and I consciously decide today that I want to be like my childhood inspiration, Maria. Maria is back with her “Favorite things” and one of her most favorite things is LOVE. Maria is back on the road of Love; Maria loves the concept of Love. And everything remotely related to Love is her Favorite Things.