The title of this post should not cause too much problems for most of my regular readers as for as the first part, the curve ball in base ball goes. The second part, googly may be difficult for the same people as, it is a cricketing term. In either case, it is a ball delivered by the pitcher or the bowler which deceives the batsman.
I received the following mail from a dear friend, who saw my photograph, posted on Ranjan’s birthday with a cigarette in my hand. The same photograph that prompted Bikehikebabe also to comment on it. I give below a slightly edited version of the mail from my friend and my response to it too.
“Hi Ramana,
• You lead a healthy life.
• You gave up smoking, I think!
• You gave up the drink.
• You eat well.
But………..what will you do with the extra years?”
AND THIS CARTOON WAS ATTACHED TO THE MAIL!
My response was as follows:
“You have no idea how often I think the same thing dear friend! To go back to the days of wine and whisky; gourmet food and the poker table; races on meet days, and the company of good friends and laughter. “I used to live for the nights that I would never remember, with the friends that I would never forget!”
I missed ten years of what could have been the glory days of my life because of unexpected developments. Now, when I can get back to that, I have got new responsibilities.
There is a blog post there I think!
No, dear friend, I do not want to live the additional twenty years. The sooner I go, the happier I shall be. I only wish that I could go quickly and without too much fuss and trouble to myself and others and more importantly without much sadness behind me.”
What has this exchange of mails got to do with the curve ball and the googly?
Life keeps throwing curve balls and googlies at us when we are at bat. The trick is in anticipating the possibility of such balls being sent your way, developing the skills to bat them away and to get on with the next ball.
My response to my friend’s mail was spontaneous. I did not pause to think before I wrote that. I read the mail, clicked the reply button, and just shot off the mail.
After a few minutes, I realized that perhaps I should have given some thought to the mail before I replied the way I did. I wondered if I really would go back to the life as I had written, which believe me, was very much me. On reflection, I think that I it will be now next to impossible for me to revert to that life style, even if I did not have the current responsibilities.
I have changed too much. I would not dare to say, for the better, but to a different man altogether. There simply is no urge to do things. The urge is more to live a life of study and reflection, and with the new found love for blogging, the blog world.
My friend eagerly awaits this post and I shall simply close by affirming that, even if, by some miracle all my responsibilities were to vanish and my financial situation improve substantially, I would not give up my current life style. There may be some minor tweaking as it were, but no major changes. I think that I have become too lazy! I am prepared to face the doctor in the cartoon!
Would you change if you suddenly won a lottery or something like that?