Excerpt from the Travel Book

 

In Sigiriya, I met one of my relatives. He was quite old and from the things, he said I could never decide whether he was extremely intelligent or a little mad. Over a drink, he started his “advice to the young” though god knows I could hardly call myself young. “ You know what the problem with the world is” began he “ No,” said I. “Well, the problem with the world is that many people walk with only a vague idea of what they want to do.” I wondered secretly whether this accurately described his condition – senility (A decline in memory and other mental functions associated with old age). “Great wars have been fought, and millions upon millions have died because people don’t know what they really want.” “Take Hitler for example, he was a man who walked with a great anger about the injustices to his country after the First World War. But he never had a clear idea of what he really wanted, the result - 75 million people died in the Second World War, “True” said I, (though this was new to me), “and how do you solve this problem” said I, trying to sound intelligent. “A piece of paper,” said he “Just write all your problems on the left side, and the solutions to each of them on the right side, and suddenly everything is clear. No more walking vaguely with anger or greed in your mind” said he. I only wish somebody had given me a piece of paper and said this when I was younger. Come to think of it maybe someone should have given this paper to Kashyapa, there would have been much less trouble and many more lakes.

Then I tried hard to change the conversation to something more interesting like the weather, or something more relevant to him like the latest obituary notice in the newspaper, but he continued…“You know who your biggest enemy is,” said he. “No, I don’t” said I. “Well your biggest enemy is also your best friend, and that is YOU.” Nobody in this world can harm you more than yourself, nor help you more.” “Don’t compare yourself to others, but compare yourself to yourself over time by improving your skills and habits. Are you better at doing something today than yesterday? then you are on the right path.