The Seven Ages

Life...

You open your eyes to a sea of onlookers. Blink twice and they give u faint smile. Move your limbs around and they heave a sign of relief. And as a closing act, they applaud to your high pitched wailing (somewhere close to note A below the middle C)! Little do we realize that it wasn't our closing act, but more of an applause for entering onto the stage - the stage of life. "Aaawww... wat a darling!"; "he looks just like his father"; "...has his mother's eyes".

Your a 'Rockstar', with all the tugging and shoving, just to get a glimpse of you! Fans screaming your name, and again with the 'aaww(s)...' and 'eeee(s)...'. The first taste of fame, we definietly cherish the moment with a bit of head-banging, rolling around and looking all cute! And you, in that awesomelely cute baby voice, "guuguu....gaa..gaga...gguuu!!", translated: "Ladies... ladies, please, everyone will get their turn, I ain't going anywhere!!". How right we are. From being an infant, thru our teenage lives and finally into adulthood; we're still here playing our parts.

"All the world's a stage", from William Shakespeare's 'As You Like It', talks about the seven stages of a man's life: infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon and second childhood. The monologue goes as such (courtesy: wikipedia):

William Shakespeare

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.

And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow.

Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation,Even in the cannon's mouth.

Seven Ages of Man, 1838, illustrating the speech

And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.

Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

.....sans everything. It is inevitable.

You have made your first impression as an infant (enter, stage right... applause!). Miles to go and roles to enact before we get to play the much awaited and acclaimed part of the 'second childishness' (exit, stage left... standing ovation!)

....Goes On

Choices

The future is always a mystery, and everyday life brings us to the 'fork in the road', which decides what our future beholds. It is true, that our past decisions have brought us to this bifurcation, but who said, “Life was 'a smooth sail' with clear sign boards pointing you in the right direction?”

In Russian tales, a knight comes to a fork in the road, where he sees a large upright standing stone with an inscription that reads: "If you ride to the left, you will lose your horse; if you stride right, you will lose your head". What the knight wouldn't have given for a third and much easier option!

The courage to travel the 'road less taken' can easily get you through harsh realities and difficult times because there is always light at the end of the tunnel. And in this case, the knight (being courageous and brave-hearted) - for sure takes the right bend in the fork - gets to keep his head intact; and moreover nothing was said about losing his horse if he were to go right!

We all should strive to be that knight; take risks, make decisions that people might think are crazy and completely out of this world. Take heart! For they seem to forget, "none but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear".

So today, I chose to take this path of writing my very first blog and share my experiences. After all these years, with my impulsive decisions and choices, I finally decide to take refuge in putting my thoughts in words on a virtual sheet of paper. Neither an author nor a topper in 'The' English language, I would like to think of this Blog as my 'pensieve'. As Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore had his... I Pramod Menon would like to keep one too.