THE MOONRAKER
| Date :11-Sep-2019 |
BY BIRAJ DIXIT : “Nothing succeeds like success.” Indeed, success is the ultimate destination for every dream cherished, every step taken, every effort made. And yet, like an elusive maiden, it may not smile on every endeavour. Upon the long chequered path, at the end of which success resides, many have lost their way and many have slipped in the final moments. Only a few make it to the other side. Success, the sweetheart, has given immense joy and acute sadness to so many. And then there are those even-headed blokes who greet even the beautiful, heart-warming success with equanimous smiles and proceed on with their journey. It is to these seasoned travelers, unperturbed by bitter taste of failures and undaunted by the sweetness of successes, that mankind owes its every lengthening stride. On a dark, cloudy night, a wakeful nation glued to the beautiful space, wasn’t even counting its ever rising heartbeats as it waited for the most alluring success. And then the screens went blank. Hearts missed beats.
Eyes were heavy with hopes and breath muttered prayers. But success, the temptress, remained elusive. The night passed and on the morrow, the elusive success saw a resolute nation marching on in its further journey. Sweet success was left behind looking at its own momentariness. (May be days to come will reveal a greater story – of success, on its knees and bowing to the very charming resoluteness – who knows!) For now, though, the tale to be told, imbibed and inculcated is about the loveliness of the journey that even-headed blokes march on after every success and every failure. Moon, the astrologers say, is the heavenly body responsible for giving the oceans and seas their tides and human beings their imagination, dreams and emotions.
By that logic, Moon is the one entity responsible for fomenting all the restlessness on earth. It is the one guilty party that has made human soul impatient with curiosity and resourceful with imagination. Why would it do that unless it itself wants the, tiny little, thinking earthlings, reach to it and unravel all its secrets? Not for nothing has it been illuminating paths for weary travelers, showing directions to those lost and inciting passion to know about the infiniteness of the sky. Not for nothing has it bestowed upon human faculties fervour for a relentless chase.
Not for nothing has it taught us that waxing and waning are but part of the cycle. For long, the wise men have taken Moon’s advices with utmost seriousness and have embarked upon journeys lovingly and longingly without wasting much time on momentary failures and successes. Be it a nation’s missions or individual goals one must understand the momentariness of successes and failures, most of which are just perceptions. A certain Columbus embarked upon a seafaring journey for the rich shores of India. He did reach a shore but that was not India.
A failure, was it? Thomas Alva Edison famously described his 1000 failed attempts at making a light bulb as “successful discovery of 1000 ways how not to make a bulb.” As a young lawyer, M K Gandhi was found wanting in skills to cross-examine and argue for his clients and yet his arguments on a nation’s behalf are perhaps the greatest success story of all times. And what to say of the success story that is mankind! For years, mankind looked at Moon with awe and admiration. He weaved it in his stories, poetry and music, chased it and understood the beautiful relation that lovely white ball enjoyed with Mother Earth. He felt the heart of the gigantic waters of oceans and seas beating at Moon’s command. He looked for his God in Moon’s celestial light.
Then, a little desire to know more about it, to understand it, to feel it forced mankind to do the seemingly impossible. He did touch the magnificent Moon. Perhaps blessed by Moon itself, the story of human ingenuity continues expanding its own horizons every single time. Earlier, those who revealed in enterprise use to say “Sky’s the limit.” To them, the every expanding human genius (in words of Paul Brandt) says ‘Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit where there are footprints on the Moon.” So, till the time this lovely ball of enchantment reveals all its secrets to us, there will be many Chandrayaans orbiting it letting the Moon know that its lessons are well-learnt and human imagination and perseverance ever growing. And that the humongous human journey, undisturbed by the short phases of failures and successes, would go on and on and on.