“It is two and a half years since you retired.” Lulu, my
parrot, observed.
“So? What are you trying to say?” I asked.
“Oh, how time flies!” Lulu said eating guava.
“Yes indeed. Time flies. Perhaps faster than light. I had
thought that the pace of my life will slow down after retirement, but not a
bit.”
“Life does not slow
down, people do.” Lulu handed down a gem of wisdom.
“You are right.”
“So how did the last 30 months go?” Lulu asked.
“Well, there are some good lessons learned.”
“Like?”
“Like doors start opening when you engage in a good
activity. When we started, rather rejuvenated, the Thane HR Group I did not
know that I will have so many new friends. They are not the people who make
friends for any business reason; they are really good friends.” I said as I
reflected on the recent past.
“That is true. You are seen often at Costa Coffee with some
of them.”
“Oh yes.”
“And any more lessons?” Lulu asked.
“Like the real energy comes from having your own ‘always wanted to do - but could not do it so
far - so now I am going to do it’ agenda.” I responded as I looked back.
“Ha ha. That is interesting. What’s your agenda?”
“I am learning painting!”
“I know I have heard you tell that to so many people.”Lulu
said hopping on my shoulder.
“Painting directly with a brush is one of the crazy things I
have experienced.”
“Really? What do you mean? What’s crazy about it?”
“When you begin you only know that you are going to draw
some flowers. But you have very broad idea, and sometimes no idea, of how the
final picture will look like. For people who have spent more than half of their
life in the corporate world, it is a crazy thing. Creative experiences are
strange experiences to us.” I said.
“Or you are a stranger to creative experiences! Ray Bradbury
said “Don't think. Thinking is the enemy
of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You
can't try to do things. You simply must do things.” Lulu handed down one
more gem.
“You are a well informed parrot! Ray Bradbury was a science
fiction writer who was touched on the nose by an entertainer with an
electrified sword, which made his hair stand on end, and the entertainer shouted,
"Live forever!" It was from
then that Bradbury wanted to live forever and decided on his career as an
author in order to do what he was told: live
forever.” I mentioned the little I knew of Ray Bradbury.
“Very interesting.....very interesting, indeed! This
experience of creativity seems to have touched you. And so has the Ray Bradbury
story of ‘Live forever.’”
“You are right, Lulu, it has.”
“We wonder why there seems to be no meaning in life. Meaning
does not exist a priori. It needs to be created.”Lulu said.
“I see your point.”
“So only if you create it, you will discover it, right?”
Lulu jumped on my head, rubbed his against mine, and flew away.
Vivek