While the flock fought over food and sex, Jonathan experimented with flying higher, faster and farther. The more he chose to rise above their mating games, the stronger the flock's disapproval become.
Very similar to my situation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Livingston_Seagull
Have you seen people fighting like the gulls in Jonathan's flock ? If they only got out of their narrow mindsets they would realize what riches awaited them.
Last week, I wrote about my experiences navigating professional job opportunities as an unmarried woman. Approaching professional contacts for career opportunities sometimes resulted in matrimonial-style Jeevansathi photographs and unsolicited Godfather videos from middle-aged men, rather than meaningful professional conversations.
These are unspoken expectations, but they also reveal an uncomfortable reality: unequal access to professional job opportunities.
I have encountered this since 2018. Nothing about it is new. It feels as though I am expected to play a never-ending game of Snake and Ladder, competing for the rewards of food, sex and social acceptance.
But do you know what the real game is?
It is refusing to play by someone else's rules and finding the courage to fly beyond the flock.
I am a virgin, and I have never sought attention through sexual relationships. What surprised me even more was encountering such behaviour from middle-aged men who had been married for over 20 years.
Were they treating my single, unmarried status as an opportunity to pursue their own interests?
How can professional networking become an opportunity for such personal opportunism ?
This never ends even after 9 years.
People dont change.
The flock measures success by conformity.
And when I refuse to participate in such games, society labels me old-fashioned, unconventional or difficult.
But I would rather explore possibilities than compete for social acceptances.
My only financial ambition now is to repay my home loans as early as possible. I intend to leave my Bangalore home to an orphanage after my lifetime. I want to contribute something meaningful to society before I die – yes, the very same society that labelled me unconventional because I refused to fight for sex.
I may not have won the flock's French fry, but I have found my own sky.
When an orphan performs your Pitru Karma after your death, it makes everything else insignificant.
It reminds you that beyond wealth, relationships and social expectations, what truly matters is the good you leave behind and the lives you touch.
Sometimes, the greatest rebellion is simply refusing to join the squabble/game and choosing to spread your wings.
Ironically, some married men and women, despite spending over 20 years in marriage, still measure success by the very game I have chosen not to play.
After two decades of sex and physical intimacy, they still seem invested in the same game.
I am a virgin, and I have chosen a different path. I refuse to measure my worth by marriage, sex or society's expectations.
Sometimes I wonder, Lord Vishnu, how did I manage to walk a path so different from the one society prescribed for me?
Perhaps it is your grace and blessings that have given me the strength to remain true to myself.
And then there is the fourth man I find myself attracted to, whom I met just a couple of months ago. There was an energy that drew me towards him. That energy must be divine.
Lord Vishnu. Nothing will happen without your consent and blessings.
Do you know Tallapaka Annamacharya (Annamayya), the 15th-century saint-poet of Tirumala, renowned for composing 32,000 Sankirtanas (devotional compositions) in praise of Lord Venkateswara.
I often think of the game of Snakes and Ladders as a metaphor for the game society expects me to play: climbing the ladders of social acceptance through sex, relationships and conformity, while navigating the snakes of desire, judgement and expectations.
Society seems to believe that winning this game is the ultimate measure of success.
Not every game is worth winning. Not every ladder is worth climbing.
The final composition of Annamayya appears in the second part of this poetic narrative.
Even today, Annamayya's statue stands in Tirumala, commemorating his extraordinary legacy of devotion and poetry.
His Poems beautifully explains the snake and ladder game the society wants me to play.
You never made lust the driving force of my life. Then why do I find myself repeatedly placed in situations that make me so uncomfortable?
My grandfather, who recited the Bhagavatham in several Vishnu temples in Kerala, taught me something profound: the real victory in life is not climbing the ladders of lust and worldly desires, but rising above the game itself.
I have tried to live by that wisdom. Then Why is my life so poor ?
So, Lord Vishnu, why must I keep explaining to society that I have chosen a different path?
My Grand Father sang this particular mantra inside many of your temples in Alappuzha for many years ...............
Please show me that prosperity that I can win without playing a sex game I never wished to enter.
I was doing great outside India - My career slowed down after returning India.
Comments