Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray. — Lord Byron The voice of an eager intruder spoke while entering the room, “I beg your forgiveness for this annoying intrusion. The raging tempest trapped me while I was far from my home, so, I thought of taking refuge at your beautiful den, Readers’ Abode and maybe borrow a book.” “Reading is an art.” said I, (in my characteristic (annoyed) tone of voice, which is better unheard) to the intruder. When the reason to pick a book is an urge to know (genuinely) what is in the lines penned by ‘another’s thought’, happy reading happens. It is then natural for the other’s ‘I’ to find a slight bearing on our own thoughts and then our own “I” begins to dream. It was one such reading then, that was beginning to ignite a concept, based on the beautiful and inescapable torrent of thought, ‘viewing of a rainbow’ sets in motion. (In short, sight of a rainbow sets an unpretentious train of thoughts in motion, especially if you have been reading a book.) “Climb every mountain, Ford every stream, Follow every rainbow, Till you find your dream. A dream that will need, All the love you can give, Every day of your life, For as long as you live.” (-from The Sound of Music (Rodgers & Hamme-rstein) This then is what life is all about if you actually live the life you are born to.

 

Many people just decide to exist, to inhale, exhale, to eat, to sleep and to repeat the process when they wake up. It is a beautiful feeling to express gratitude as soon as we open our eyes, wake up from deep slumber. We have the gift of another day when so many whose space ‘Mrutyu Dev’ visited, did not wake up. It is not a negative way to accept but as Omar Khayyam has beautifully expressed: “ We are no other than a moving row of magic shadow – shapes that come and go round with the Sun – illumined lantern held in midnight by the master of the show.” Would we have a masterpiece to leave for posterity before our exit is announced? Intruder then, spoke as if reading my thoughts. “Let us again talk about the rainbow – a sight which immediately gives life to a dying scene, exploring the vicissitudes of life and living. Rainbow is inimitable and is a beautiful poetry of ‘Self’ (which blossomed from the debris of unfathomable and unpredictable circumstances) as it has been subjected to the accident of surrounding impressions.” In life, we need to move on and face every new tomorrow without the burden of a not so successful past.

 

The fact remains -tomorrow has three ‘O’s (Opportunity), today has one ‘O’ and yesterday has no ‘O’. “Albeit, the light explodes at the end of tunnel / and, an end of a sojourn from darkness eternal / Or, resembling calmness at the end of a storm / A rainbow concludes the rain and promises a new norm." — Priyavrat Thareja Why is it, therefore essential to conduct our life in a dignified, beholden state? It is because: “The moving finger writes and, having writ, moves on; nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.” (Omar Khayyam). Let us believe in every rainbow, follow it. Think how distinct an identity is every colour, yet it makes it visible as a beautiful whole. The intruder borrowed the book ‘Beyond the rainbow Bridge’ bid adieu and promised to yet again intrude upon my space. I smiled, my eyes followed the fading rainbow.