I was quietly sitting on my recliner and reading a book last evening. My DIL was lounging on the sofa and catching up with her messages on her phone.
She must have read about this lottery winner which has been doing the rounds in all our media here the last couple of days.
She suddenly asked me “What will you do if you won a lottery like the auto driver did?”
I reflected for a while and said, “I will put the money in the bank and spend some of it in sprucing up our home and leave the rest for the two of you.”
DIL – “No going to see all the grand children in the family and of friends all over the world, no vacationing in exotic places?”
I – “No dear. My travelling days are over as you well know. I have seen my share of exotic places and modern mass media enables me to be in touch with everyone all over the world. I am now in my comfort zone and am quite content.
I don’t think that she expected that answer and the chat ended there.
This little chat however reminded me of a book that I had read some time ago. While reading the book I could well relate to the dying regrets that the author writes about and even at that time I had placed myself in their position and wondered whether I would have the same regrets and had come to the conclusion that I would not.
The five regrets are:
1.”I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
I believe that I did.
“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”
I never had to work hard anyway! And I am not being facetious. Things were different during my working years.
“I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”
While I did not, till about my late teens, I changed when I started regular salaried employment and performance linked incentives, and was able to express my feelings without being afraid of the outcome or the reaction of others.
“I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”
I have, and continue to do so. The longest lasting friendship that I have is with my Primary-School-mate who lives now in Mumbai and many others from my high school and business school days as well as others who came into my life due to my career, travelling and blogging.
“I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
I have been very fortunate that apart from the sorrow of the death of family, friends and pets, I have not had many occasions to be unhappy. I have been and continue to be quite happy, perhaps even to the bemusement to some others.
How would you rate yourself on these five parameters dear reader?