The goals are set, the path decided & the journey begins .but there is one aspect that is often overlooked. May be, never taken into consideration the fact that other paths will cross ours .the fact that along the way we will meet other travelers who may influence us and our thought processes, the fact that new experiences may change our perspectives, that we may change the route of our journey midway, even though our goals remain the same .

Call it preordained by fate or desired by the supernatural forces all of us have, time and again, deviated into paths which were not in the reckoning when we first began the journey. And each and every time we have come away enriched by the experience . Even the most harrowing experiences have taught us some valuable lessons on how to get on with life especially, how not to make the same mistakes again as for the happier experiences well they are meant to be treasured A detour may make our journey a little longer but will also make it more memorable. It will help us more if we realize that a little more time does not usually make our goals vanish

The business of living, often, takes the joys of living away from us. Bound and restricted by the concepts like time and success, our fear about being "left behind" makes us overlook the beauty that surrounds us in our daily lives. In the process of chasing success, we often get desensitized to our immediate surroundings.

I remember a photograph of a bird I had taken in my uncle's house quite a few people had asked me at which bird sanctuary did I spot that bird and were very surprised when I told them the place. They found it hard to believe that such birds can exist in the vicinity of our daily lives .

Yet, ever since I learnt to relax (or rather was forced to by life) and enjoy the pace that life has set for me, I have found that everyday life itself is a veritable voyage of discovery there is a smile waiting for us at every corner, we only need to look beyond our preoccupation with our "duties" to notice it and smile back! It's sad that in doing our so called "duties" we forget our own duty to our inner self—–that GOD resides within our soul and it's our divine duty to seek soul satisfaction in the course of living and that is possible even within the limits of everyday life, we do not really need to go away to far off places to seek solace for the soul….no matter where we call out from GOD will definitely respond…

An association that started anonymously has today become a very special one in my life. A neighbor, who works closely with orphanages, as a medical advisor asked me to visit one of the nearby ones and help the children with their studies. I agreed. On the way, as I had run out of change, I went and bought a cake from a nearby shop to be able to pay the cab driver. I went inside and gave the cake to their supervisor and asked her to distribute it among the people there.

Then I got busy interacting with the children. Their talents are awesome especially in painting and singing. I as taken aback by some of the "drawings" that I saw!  They had laid their souls bare on the paper, and colored them with the hues of their heart. I wondered if these immensely talented children will ever get any recognition for their talents.

Sometime after lunch, the supervisor brought in the cake. There was tremendous excitement amongst the children there. "So big" "chocolate hai" "red flower mujhe chahiye"etc. were words that were flying in the air. But two little children one about 6 years old and another about 4 years old, both wanted to cut the cake! Their argument refused to die down. So, the supervisor decided to cut the cake herself. While the cake was being cut and distributed, the 4 years old child came up to me and asked me whether I could bring two cakes the next time, so that they could both cut a cake. He added that he had never cut a cake before. I told him; of course I will, and tell his aunty to let him cut it, too. Looking into those guileless, innocent eyes almost pleading, I am sure no one could have said anything else!

When Ihad carelessly bought the cake , not for a moment did I think the kind of joy it would bring to these children’s lives. And, consequently to mine as well…

As usual, he was late. Rushing toward the auto rickshaw stand he cursed the whole world for "conspiring" to delay his departure to office everyday! Tomorrow he will definitely do something ..

 "Hello", a little voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.  He turned to see a pretty little girl in a pink dress smiling at him. She looked well-off, and wasn't a beggar child by the remotest chance. He was immediately perplexed . The natural cynicism of a city-bred mind came into play. He looked around to see who she was with. There was no one else nearby. That made him extra cautious. Did someone just leave her here and go away. He avoided her smile and moved on.

She started walking behind him. She asked him, pointing to a tree nearby, "Hi, you see those lovely flowers everyday. Aren't they so beautiful" The truth was that he had never seen them even though he walked down that path everyday!  Then, pointing to a litter of tiny puppies playing in one corner of the footpath she asked, "Don't you think they are very cute?" what he really thinking of was how to shrug off this girl!

Then she pointed to a tree on the road, "look at that bird .so many colours, isn't it beautiful?" she asked .Without looking or answering he continued walking.

He could see the auto stand now and he increased his speed. The child was panting now trying to keep pace with him. She said, "Why are you frowning? What are you thinking of."  He managed a feeble smile in reply. He was thinking of production figures, installments on various  loans and credit cards, the meetings lined up for the day, convincing his superiors the figures couldn't have been better under any circumstances so much stress, so many tensions, he thought with a sigh. Wistfully, he thought he would take a leave and go and spend a few days somewhere in the lap of nature. Where he would have the beautiful sights and sounds nature for company and forget the tensions of daily life.

 At this moment he reached the auto stand. As he eased himself into the auto rickshaw, he saw the little girl moving away with a skip and a hop .  Just out of politeness, he called out after her, "what's your name?" she stopped for a minute, turned her head and smiled, "my name is Happiness"

"Howzzaaaat!" shouted many voices together. Immediately 11 years old, Rohan's head turned towards the windows .his mind was already there. He shot a quick glance at the door to see if his mother was watching him. Thank God!  Her friend had called up, so she was talking on the phone she was laughing and talking at the same time seeing an opportunity, he ran to the window, asked in a voice that could only be described as a loud whisper asked, "who's team winning?." one of the boys answered , "mine."

A sudden sound made him turn around. He saw his mother standing behind him. Without batting an eyelid, he told her that the ball had fallen into a flowerpot on their window sill, and he just threw it back. He didn't want to lie to his mother but was afraid of angering her. She told him to finish the math exercise first and then his homework, after that he could play . He wanted to tell that by then his friends will go home.

This often happened with him. Without really wanting to, he would lie to his parents. When his friends called up just to chat with him, he would say that they called up to clear doubts about studies. His parents felt immensely proud to hear that.

Rohan was the only child of an upwardly mobile, well to do middle class parents. He represented the statement they wanted to make to the world, the embodiment of all the things they had wanted but couldn't be. They genuinely believed that the plans they had chalked out for their son was the best for him. They wanted him to excel in everything.

With great pride they would relate his achievements to their friends and colleagues .1^st in debate, 1st in essay writing, always 1st in class .they wanted their son to shine like a star.

His mother came into his room with a plateful of cut fruits and a glass of lassi. She ran her hand through his hair and told him to study well.  She told him that he cannot afford to do poorly in studies . What will people say? After all he had to get a full scholarship for an Ivy League college in the USA. Those who had that degree got the best paid jobs. Once he got a dream job, he could do whatever he wanted

Soon Rohan started dreaming about what he would do when he got the "dream job"—- he would play cricket throughout the day, drink as many bottles of Pepsi as he wished, eat at McDonald's everyday, watch cartoons and sports channels  as much as he wished and  put all his school books away and read only the Harry Potter books .

The doorbell rang. He opened the door. It was his private tutor.