Where do I see myself five years down the line?

The quintessential question found in the repertoire of  every interview's quiver of arrows to be aimed at potential candidates, a question done to death in every interview and worse, the score of unimaginative and run of the mill answers given in response!

Though I am not facing a hiring manager, I would still like to contemplate an answer, however there is no easy answer to this superficially profound question.

If I answer I do not know, you will think I am not ambitious or my life lacks direction. If I give a detailed itinerary of my life's journey as I envision 5 years ahead, you will think me over-confident and arrogant!

The world as we know it has undergone a dramatic and perhaps unimaginable change, a change none of us were prepared for! In this fragmented world, the shards of  our illusionary invincibility lie scattered, we are scrambling to find meaning and reconstruct the familiar wholeness. It feels like we are in the middle of a fast paced thriller with no clue to the ending. In this scenario how do I answer this question- it makes me pause and think. 

Five years ahead is a scenario I cannot fathom today, I wish to be a lot of things by then, just not sure if I will be able to achieve it all. So instead of wishing and wanting to be somewhere in an uncertain and  unsure future, I would live in the moment, savor each minute as it comes and not think of what lay ahead. The most constant thing in this world is change : " Resistance is futile" !

Beam me up Scotty! I am ready to live ! :)

“Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?” ― Garth Nix, Sabriel

So it has been a while that I inked my thoughts on paper!

Last couple of weeks have been a struggle- to construe some kind of meaning in this existence, the what and why of this life! There are times  when I  recede into a cocoon of my own making- where in isolation I muse upon some surreal questions; diving into the obsidian depths of my mind . Like a sea slug lying unobtrusive on the sea floor, my question refuses to go away, no matter how much I dive into abyssal depths to run away from it, I keep coming back - over and over! I tie millstones of rationalism around its neck ,burn it at the stake of optimistic contentment , but like the mythological phoenix, it rises up every time! 

The demon confronts me again and this time I chose to take it head on. So here I am trying to figure out an answer to the one question that has ceaselessly rallied like an unabating storm against the windows of my mind-  Are we truly free and masters of our own destiny?

Like all human, I live a glorified chimera we call life- a fable with its share of ebbs and tides. I have maintained the facade that  I am the creator of my destiny and . And a tiny voice inside my head say- "Oh Really!!!" 

No matter how much we wish to continue the illusion, the fact is, there are forces in this universe that are beyond our understanding or control. The best laid plans go awry, years of hard work  lay to naught, your life disintegrate in front of you.... and you cannot do  anything except wring your hands , lament or rage against the inequity. 

I am a firm believer in the concept of TIME. When the time is right , everything neatly falls into place like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and when the time is not- well, one piece will elude you, precluding the completion of your puzzle. 

I am still pondering over the question, sinking deeper into the vast morass as I try finding an answer... and so the quest continues !!!!

Till next time

Akanksha Bhanot