Imagine two people- Ram and Shyam. Both are in their early twenties, living life like any ordinary person, one moment loving it, another, wondering why the grass is greener on the other side. Lets present them in two different situations. Ram pays a visit to the doctor one day with an unsuspecting stomach ailment that turns into a dreaded stomach cancer. He's left counting days. While lets spare shyam of this deadly curse, rather lets assume we know that shyam doesnt live any longer than Ram, even though he is not given any kind of hint about his impending death. So Ram and Shyam die at the same age, but do their lives remain the same anymore?. Shyam-yes, but what about Ram? Poor Ram is intrinsically dying each day. I donot remember where I read this, but when a man is just about to die, the scene of his entire life passes before his eyes. And this very well describes Ram's thoughts and feelings now.

But why this sudden difference in their perspectives? Just knowing when we are exactly about to stop breathing or how many days we have left, makes so much of a difference... this thought never struck me till now! But ironically speaking, it helps us to live every moment of our life (atleast those remaining days) to the fullest. Yes Ram is miserable, he thinks some kind of injustice has been done to him, he experiences immense pain, but amidst all this, he learns to live, appreciating even the smallest things in life. I donot want to sound like a rabbi, but if any of us were in his shoes, wouldnot we want to make the best of what we have left? Isn't that natural? While Shyam lives each passing day like any other day, not realising that this may be the only chance he gets to live life as "shyam"!
I donot intend to turn tonight's blog into a chapter on why life is precious ( in fact I myself dismiss this with a shrug, if someone tells me the same), but I was just wondering how it would be if we all of us came to know how many days we have left. Would it help? or would life turn into a living hell?