A note from Teddy's diary

They come. They hug. They go.

 

I sit there with my arms stretched out, my sophisticated demeanour being the only factor differentiating me from a scarecrow...a constant smile pasted on my face like static on a television screen.

 

I listen to them when they want to speak. I speak when they want to listen. I wipe their tears when they cry and laugh with them when they are happy. I allow them to have me around when they are alone and need company. I allow them to keep me aside when they have others to give them company.

 

They say I am adorable. They say I am sweet. They say I am their best friend. Am I? Really?

 

Or...am I just a Teddy Bear?

 

Do they know that deep inside all the sponge, there is a heart? ... a heart pretty much like theirs? Do they realize...

 

that I can 'feel' as much as they do?

 

that I want them to listen to me as much as I listen to them?

 

that I want to hug and be hugged not just when they feel like, but also when I feel like?

 

that I cannot switch roles between a Teddy and a Punching Bag as and when people want me to?

 

that just because my black buttony eyes do not shed tears, it does not mean that I don't need a shoulder once in a while?

 

that I too want to be able to express my feelings and emotions when I feel like, without being like a petrified investor constantly monitoring the volatility of their emotional stock exchange?

 

that affection is neither for charity nor on sale?

 

that I want them to be my best buddies in the truest sense?

 

Do they realize? ... Will they ever realize? ... I don't know.

 

However, what I do know is that... I don't want to be a Teddy Bear anymore.

The Inevitable...

While we walk through the winters of life...we learn a couple of lessons. We never forget them, but these lessons settle in the dusty shelves of our minds when the good times come...

And then, Life knocks...to remind us that we are still in school and we should not forget what we have learnt. A recent incident in my Life reminded me of one such lesson that I had learnt a long time ago...

Right from our childhood, we all strive for something, constantly, throughout our life...and that is 'Belongingness'. Abraham Maslow has included this in his theory. It has been weaved into us. We always want to belong and we want someone or something to belong to us.

Sometimes when I look at life through a prism, it looks like we all 'live to belong'. Be it our family, friends, organization or social setups...we yearn to belong. The moment we land up in a new environment, we instinctively look out for groups of people among whom we may fit in. We do so many things just because we want to belong. We go all out to do things that we may not be in tune with, just so that we belong...

But the truth, as strange as it may seem, is that we DO NOT belong....we do not belong anywhere or to anyone. We are not inevitable. None of us is, no matter how important we think we are, we are not important enough to bring the world around us to a halt. Forget about the world, not even our friends and family would halt in our absence. There had been souls who created empires, which continues even in their absence.

Perhaps the only one to whom you belong is yourself. But the irony is that you do so less for your own self so that you could belong to some place or someone you can never belong to.

The only person who truly travels with you in your life is 'you' yourself. Belongingness is important, but remember....

There is no Game Over... The Game goes on....