If Only…

If only I had turned off the main switch a little sooner, if only I avoided eating those chocolate chip ice creams in the middle of desperate nights, if only I had broken up before it got too late, if only we all listened to Mr. Bill Gates when he warned us of a pandemic situation such as the current one, if only we preferred spending the amount of INR 2,989 cr on health and care industry when we had it, rather than on alternatives that seem far less precious now, if only…

These are a lot of ‘ifs’; but they are all the ifs of the past. It’s hard to make adjustments to these ifs unless we can make Sheldon Cooper’s dream real and devise a time-machine. Up until then the only ifs we can hold onto are the what-ifs of the future. What if I ask him out? What if the lockdown continues for a year? What if we are embroiled in a pandemic situation again? What if we choose Mr. Trump in the next presidential elections? What if we don’t?

The ifs are all too fragile, they break as soon as we approach them. On the other hand, what stay with us are the ‘When(s)’.

The ifs make us go nostalgic about the opportunities that we lost anticipating the otherwise beautiful memories that we could have left ourselves with, if only…

When I wish for a better tomorrow, I find myself stuck in the limbo of the ‘If Only(s)’, if only everyone was secular, if only there was no caste system, if only people were sensible enough to not force their decisions of marriage on others, especially girls. Honestly, they don’t help much, just a few more reasons to be ungrateful.

The ifs are funny and painful. The ‘when(s)’ give us purpose. Focus on the ‘when(s)’.

Can you do that?

If only…

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