Sanchari Chattopadhyay
( This creative writing piece emerged from ‘Aatman- Emotional well-being session)
“If winter comes can spring be far behind?”
The quote has a clear resemblance with my life not only because my life has been full of ups and downs just like anybody else’s but the universality of the sentence became meaningful to me specifically because it became the driving force of my life. Ups and downs, winter and spring are common but to be frank I could never distinguish between the two because all the happy sunny days were accompanied by the gloomy clouds of winter and all the chilly winter days had a silver lining. I remember during my school times one of my friends told me that why can’t you have a simple life without any drama. All I wanted was a peaceful day in my life where I could just sip into my coffee, open my Austin, sit in the balcony, enjoy the sunset and go to sleep. When I did exceptionally good during my high school and people came to take my interview I thought it was spring when my father’s prompt direction of studying in a nearby town instead of a big city reminded me that winter followed.
When I graduated with average marks not enough to make it to any university and the neighbors beaming with sadist smiles referred to me as an angel gone rouge type I thought winter had come but then again when I finally went against my father and made it to Kolkata via entrance examination I thought it was spring. Then again when I fell in love I thought spring has finally arrived but then his mother rejected me for not being ideal what do u call that again not ‘woman enough’ and my love could not even pronounce a word to keep my dignity, I thought that winter I could not but I did and spring definitely followed because I did not end up marrying a wrong match like him. Now I am 26 without stable career and no love life however I cannot say if Shelley was right to say if winter comes can spring be far behind but I definitely know both are long lost siblings and I will have to beer with the sun at the day and cover myself up to resist the chilly winds of winter at night.