It’s amazing how life can make you happy or sad in one instance. Once, my friend was talking to me about his future. The thing is that he doesn’t know what to do with himself. According to me, he is basically an unhappy person trying to get on in life and discover himself. At first he didn’t say he meant himself but I could figure out, of course. So I asked him quietly about it. He admitted. Then he asked a few questions that had me depressed almost at once. But I cheered up when I thought about other things. I thought about the idli-sambar I was about to eat for my dinner, about writing, about music, about a kid’s birthday party the next day. You can make yourself happy quite easily actually. But you think it’s difficult, so it becomes difficult.

Sigh… life is so… so full of everything. It’s difficult to take it all in. I wish I could control life sometimes. But then probably life would lose its charm. It feels good to be alive even when you are in total depths of depression. I’m alive; I said aloud to myself just now, I feel good, I’m happy. Autosuggestion works. I’m going to do it every morning, along with twenty-five deep breaths. I’m going to tell myself every morning that it’s going to be a great day. Every night I’m going to tell myself that I’ll get a good sleep with good dreams; a peaceful night makes a peaceful day. And to control my mercurial temper I’m going to tell myself that I don’t get angry, I’m peaceful and calm. I don’t lose temper.

Music can get you through almost any depressing moment. There I was, totally at loss about everything in life. Suddenly this song began to play in my mind. I switched on my computer to listen to it. Can you believe it? I just forgot everything except the music. I began dancing; both inside and out. I felt great.

But still, there have been times when music didn’t help either. Take for instance, that late evening when I was feeling low for no particular reason. I was listening to old songs lying on the bed with my parents. No, it wasn’t the old music that made me depressed. I love old songs. There wasn’t any reason for unhappiness. I began thinking on what could make me happy. Should I change the CD? Should I space out in front of the TV? I chose neither. Instead I asked papa whether he would go for a walk with me. My father was surprised by my impulsive wish but agreed to come. While going it wasn’t very happy as I was still thinking why I got depressed so easily. But when we reached the bridge things changed. Seeing the crescent shaped moon and the river, I was completely enchanted. How strange it is, I told papa, that humans have invented so many lights but none of them compares to the faint light of the moon. Even in the midst of so many human made structures this natural beauty stands out! Anne Frank has rightly said that nature is one thing that has no substitute. When we were returning I looked up again and saw the stars. I wished that all the lights in the city would go out for sometime just so that I could look at the stars more clearly. What could be better than taking a walk over the river with the moon and the stars above you? I was happy, just plain happy!

It’s amazing how life can make you happy or sad in one instance. You can learn so much by little incidences of life. I learnt to be happy and that’s the most important aspect of life.