By Shobha Diwakar

There often comes a challenge in life when you stand at crossroads wondering which road to take, which reminds me of Robert Frost’s very apt poem, The Road Not Taken. Many times, you are confused and your mind seems to block your personal responses to a certain problem of which you may or may not be aware but faces you harshly like a ripple in the sea, or a whirlpool that can drag and drown you forever without leaving any traces of your once being alive. You just simply disappear into the deep, deep, depths of no return.

 Sometimes you do things unexpectedly in a frantic mood, especially when you make someone else’s problem your very own and try to react albeit, in a positive manner to put things  in the right order, it is then that things misfire. The ripples keep rippling into your very being until you dive into the forbidden zone of indulging into some fanciful idea or ideas that instead of upholding you shunt you backwards into no man’s land. Believe me, human relationships are the most delicate of all humanly created fabrics that can shred you to pieces in a moment.

 The relationship can be between husband and wife, your parents, brothers and sisters, or your so called near and dear relatives and friends or colleagues. Just as a whiff of a wind can topple your pots so also a whiff of the wind can topple relationships. It is like a fragile piece of glass that once broken shatters to pieces. How does this happen?

 Sometimes you get too much involved in others personal life and take it for granted that no one will mind. Yet, this is not so. Maybe this someone is none other than your own grown up child. You may think that what you are doing is in the welfare of all connected with you in your life but somewhere the link is broken because unintentionally you have crossed the border, the link that had kept you attached.

 Misunderstandings can ruin your life. The thread of hope, honesty and trust once built crashes harshly down within the fraction of a moment like a pack of cards; and washes away the sand castle you built only because you overlooked the trap and were caught like a mouse with bait. Silly things are the most frequent of all such trivial bubbles that can rock your life unawares; by the time you realize, you have already fallen into the ditch of nonentity. Such trite but distressing, irksome baubles can cause unnecessary disconcert and ruffle in your otherwise principled life.

 Many a times these misunderstandings dig your own grave. Of course, no one has tasted or gobbled nectar that will make you immortal. I think all of you remember the ancient myth of Lord Shiva drinking poison to save humanity, which makes his neck blue; mortals are not dressed in the same fashion. Verbal poison can distort thoughts, feelings, and relationships until the end of your days because of expanded egos; they may be your own far and near ones, your own kith and kin whom you have cherished all your life,

So be careful how you use

Your tongue and pen

Your words and thoughts don’t let display

 Time is not the same as before

Your children have outgrown, they say

No longer do they skip and run

Around you as before

So be careful how you treat them

For no longer they are young you know.

You are no one to decide for them

 No one to drill or guide

 For once, the birds have left their nest

Their life, they do better know.

Your advices go around the bend

Your hurts they do not matter

Times have changed my friends you know

The birds have flown their nests

Your kids no longer are the same

For they have outgrown you know.

Their journey up and down the ladder

Pushes them forward so

Don’t mind the bricks and bats you get

Sometimes or evermore

You may be old it matters not

Your heart no one can see

It may cry for days untold

Times have changed you see.

Times have changed my friends you know

Your child has grown up too

 You cannot see eye to eye

For times have changed you see.

 As up the ladder of life you climb

Distances freeze the breeze

Your love grows old your cares are too many

The heartaches bear you down

For life for all is not the same

It’s not a merry go round

So up about your life you wield

Drown sorrows and despair

Don’t think too much

Lest you break your heart

Take all things in your stride.

You did your job you raised your kids

You showed them right and wrong

If now they think otherwise

It’s not their fault, your frictions realize

For times have changed dear friends you know

 For better or for worse

So

           Take things as they come your way

           For times have changed you know.

           Don’t lose your pride

          Don’t lose your stride

          Don’t sit back and cry

          The generation gap is widening dear

           For times have changed you know

About the Author: Dr. Shobha Diwakar lives in Jabalpur, India and retired as the head of English department at C.P. Mahila Mahavidhyalaya, Jabalpur. She has published many research papers, stories, poems and essays in national, international and online journals. She contributes regularly to writerslifeline and Indian Periodical. Dr Diwakar  servers on the Advisory Board of www.writerslifeline.ca and editorial board of CLRI (contemporary literary journal India) for poetry and short story section.