He did not have them as a child.
Neither when he walked to school.
He did not know when they entered his life,
nor where they came from.
But soon,
they became part of his daily life —
constant, familiar
but unnamed.
Clueless about their origin,
their cure,
yet certain of one thing—
They would go away.
Tomorrow, he believed,
would bring something.
Some new learning,
some answers.
“Well,
At least that’s what he believed. As most do!”
And so he walked towards that tomorrow,
as guided by his mind.
He pursued education,
found a good job,
built a career.
He thought they would go away.
He married,
built a home,
felt love through his children
and experienced moments
that should have been enough.
He thought they would go away.
He gained status and respect,
tasted richness, success
and comfort.
And he thought they would go away now.
In the space between achievements,
his mind led him to many places.
And he followed.
He travelled to the Himalayas,
visited ashrams,
sat by the Ganges.
He meditated, chanted,
sat in stillness,
he waited.
Read books on happiness.
Listened to the sacred words of Krishna,
Buddha and Jesus.
He thought they would go away now.
Time went by and
the weight of it,
only grew heavier.
His body was exhausted and his mind wanted answers.
One day,
he simply stopped trying anything new,
and sat alone for a while.
Decided not to look ahead but
for the first time
with the little wisdom he had gathered along the way,
he looked back.
And slowly, painfully
came to a realisation –
They just do not go away.
He was not sure
what to call them.
Maybe problems,
Maybe conflicts,
Maybe suffering,
or life itself.
He did not know.
Perhaps, naming them was not that important.
But he saw this much –
They were never meant to leave.
They were simply a man’s shadow,
living with him all along.
And my friend, a shadow
does not go away.
Perhaps the question was never
how to make the shadow disappear,
but how to live without being imprisoned to it.
