Life’s beauty often lies in its imperfections, as Graham Nash beautifully encapsulates: Life is not perfect. It never will be
I boarded a flight recently with my family from Phuket to Delhi. As we settled down in our seats, I observed a newly married couple a few rows ahead of us. The wife handed a pillow from her handbag to the husband. It was not the couple that struck me; it was the fact that the lady had kept the item to be used by her husband in her bag.
I was relieved that my two daughters had not witnessed the scene. There would have been loud protestations of sexist or even patriarchal behaviour. The same way that they protest about my wife packing my bags even after almost four decades of married life – for the simple reason that men are, or at least I am, not perfect in that department.
A few years into my service in the railways, I had a short stint in the headquarters as a junior officer. My boss developed a liking for my skills at drafting and putting it on the computer. A zeal to excel made me hand over the draft within a few hours the first time. He proposed changes, which were also incorporated by me in no time most enthusiastically. The process of correcting the drafts continued till the deadline was upon us, when the final version ended up looking almost like my first draft. It did not take me long to learn that procrastination was the better option than going through futile iterations. I started handing over the initial draft itself when the deadline was almost upon us. He was not happy – I was depriving him of his quest for perfection.
In later years, as I climbed up the professional ladder, I found myself guilty of the same eye for perfection, when dealing with my subordinates. I had to remind myself of my own experiences, as also the fact that not all situations merited the best – even a second best would do.
I am also fond of clicking pictures during my travels, like so many others. Advent of the social media, and a quest to share good photographs requires many repeat clicks for that perfect picture. Thus, each of our travels have hundreds of pictures on the computer, not appreciated by my better half.
She contradicts her eye for perfection in this department. Her logic is that there are certain things in nature which would long remain in your heart when viewed with your eyes and not through a lens. The moment may pass you in trying to be perfect for the camera – a sunrise or a sunset, a tiger crossing your vehicle during a jungle safari, a dolphin jumping into the air and then diving back, and so many other beautiful wonders. I grudgingly agree with her.
Graham Nash, English-American musician and singer-songwriter, reminds us, Life is not perfect. It never will be. You just have to make the very best of it, and you have to open your heart to what the world can show you; and sometimes it’s terrifying, and sometimes it’s incredibly beautiful, and I’ll take both.
(The author is an electrical engineer with the Indian Railways and conducts classes in creative writing; views are personal)
