I tend to represent ordinary women

Dear Diary,

What makes some of us extra-ordinary and why? The other day my friend Urmi and I were watching a television program. I don’t recall exactly what they were showing as I had only one ear cocked towards it. Suddenly Urmi sighed “ How minuscule and ordinary we are, aren’t we? I mean look at them, so extraordinary. Achievers. And here we are, still struggling with our daily routine, doing nothing worthwhile. ”

She seemed sincerely upset and to console her with some funny comment, I blurted out, “ so what is so extraordinary in being extraordinary and what’s so ordinary in being ordinary ?” I honestly thought I was being funny but I found Urmi staring at me with a new found wisdom, eyes alight, smiling with gratitude. Err… what did I say now? Something stopped our conversation and turned it elsewhere. Later on at night I started ruminating about what I had so innocently uttered and how it impressed my most level headed friend. You see I don’t easily impress people. It impressed me as well. (#PJ)

Hmmm…achievers and underachievers…I sometimes wonder why everyone is so obsessed about achievements and extraordinariness. I mean, why do we have to try so hard that we get desperately obsessed with it? Not that I have anything against achievers or extraordinary people. I swear, it’s not a case of sour grapes if you are thinking so. Nor is it a – give a damn attitude or smugness .I do admire them and look up to them for inspiration. They are the bright spots in our dull life. Believe me, I really mean it. They either worked hard or were bestowed by nature (sometimes its a combination of both) and now are basking in its glory. Fair enough! And I do feel pleased and proud when someone I care about accomplishes an extraordinary feat. But should that make me feel like a failure?

Urmi is a working girl. She takes home a DECENT salary from her job. She has hobbies, I wonder how she manages to squueze in time for those, and she manages home, taking care of parents and pets. A lot of young women do the same. But should that necessarily make us feel minuscule? You give your best, you work hard, you believe in what you do. You are ordinary as defined by the world. But, sometimes He has other plans for you, so hard work and our so called extraordinary plans fail. Sometimes I feel extraordinary plans are meant to fail. (REALLY???) Nature is known for its asymmetrical symmetry (or was it symmetrical asymmetry? Ah…Whatever!) When will we accept this fact and stop being so morose about it?

I fail to understand WHAT IS WRONG IN BEING ORDINARY? I believe comic cartoons reflect our society. The most popular cartoons are based on ordinary man, look at Chacha Chaudhari, Common Man, Suppandi etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Even our very own Wise Bachelor is an ordinary man. It sounds a little warped but it is our ordinariness that makes extraordinariness so special, isn’t it? We will always want to excel, we will always set targets for ourselves. That after all is the way of bettering one’s own life and living it the best way possible. I believe that God put us on this world to be ordinary and not extra-ordinary. This sounds a bit clichéd but, as someone said (Arghhh… I keep forgetting names), “Nothing is cliché, when it is happening with you.” I hope I do not get sucked into the rat race to such an extent that I forget to enjoy what I have achieved so far however “ordinary” it may seem to the world. Anything hard earned is an achievement an “extra” to our ordinary living. And I hope I do not forget this little truth. This is what makes my bed-ridden grandmother, my government employee father, my housewife mother and my school going siblings EXTRAORDINARY. Somewhere it makes me an achiever too -every time I brew that perfect cup of coffee to keep myself up through cold nights full of work or write that perfect report for a company meeting amidst a dozen odd anxieties. I wanna stay ordinary, EVERY SINGLE DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, MAJOR HOLIDAYS INCLUDED. I wonder if Urmi felt the same when she looked at me with those grateful eyes…

P.S. – That almost 90 N.D. Tiwari is super extra-ordinary. 😛

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