A few years ago, as I was walking down a cobbled pathway, I kicked a stone that was obstructing my path. It rolled and landed next to a child who picked it up and started juggling a bunch of stones together. A few people around him clapped his back and a lady handed him a chocolate. His eyes glistened and maybe, just maybe, today he is a circus master. All because he took a chance.
I went to a temple with my parents last year. The priest’s daughter handed me a flower, tucked it behind my ear and pulled me towards the central square where festivities were raging. She asked me to follow her steps and behold, began my obsession with Kathak. I went on to train in the dance form for an astounding period of 10 years, finding a beautiful medium to express myself. All because I took a chance.
My sister fractured her leg last year. Disenchanted at her inability to take part in her skating competition, she sought to contribute in some way or another. Hence, she did the only thing she could. She sat down to design the bodysuits which would make her teammates shine at the nationals. Now, she wants to pursue fashion as a career. All because she took a chance.
My neighbour got diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. His daily walks stopped because his body lost the physical energy but he did not lose his vigour in life. Confined to his bed, he started filling papers around him with random strokes of a brush he found lying in a corner of his house. Now, he is holding his first exhibition next month. All because he took a chance.
Quite difficult to find the reasoning behind such superficial words when their outputs have not borne commercial or material success, isn’t it? Well, I wouldn’t expect anyone to take my word for it but maybe, there are live examples in the world around us. Examples whose products we see every day but never stop to think about the origin stories behind them. Now, how can a girl like me, blurting out words through a screen, convince you of the same? Why books of course! That’s all I know and maybe, that’s all I need to know.
Frankenstein…need I say anything to describe such a classic. Let me describe the story behind its existence instead. Mary Shelley was on an excursion with her future husband, Percy Shelley, and others (including Lord Byron) during 1816. Bored out of their minds, the group came up with the idea of trading “horror” stories to while away the time. The early 19th century was a giddy time, when people thought things like electricity and science could do anything, and so Frankenstein’s Monster was born of a ghost story challenge. All because she took a chance.
Tolkien, a professor, was grading papers in his office when he came across a blank sheet of paper and wrote down a sentence that came to him from out of nowhere: “In a hole, in the ground, there lived a hobbit.” No one, apparently, was more amazed at the sudden presence of this sentence than Professor Tolkien himself—especially the word hobbit. This happenstance led to the writing of one of the greatest series of all time. All because he took a chance.
We’re at crossroads every single day. There are doors at every end but we have this natural tendency of taking the well-lit path. Comfort has become our toxic best friend. Important in life but not when it impedes our growth. Not when she asks you to stick to your relationship because it’s the ‘best’ you’ll ever get. At that point, you decide. You decide if the first time you fell, the first time you lost, the first time you felt humiliated will define you for the rest of your life. You decide what you owe to the little girl who once dreamt big dreams. I think you owe it to her to shoot your shot. Who knows, maybe a little girl sitting in a sung corner of her bed, wrapped in a cozy blanket, will spread her wings after reading this. I can only hope but at least I can hold on to that. All because I took a chance.