हम हर दिन निर्णय लेते रहते हैं—आधे बिना सोचे-समझे, आधे अपनी इच्छा के विरुद्ध। अगर हम इसका विरोध न करें, अगर हम खुद को बदलने दें, तो एक बार जब बदलाव आ जाता है, फिर हमें और भी कई चीजें करनी पड़ती हैं, और यह सिलसिला तब तक चलता रहता है जब तक कि हम जो इंसान बनना चाहते थे, वह अतीत में इतना पीछे छूट जाता है कि हम उसे बस एक हसरत भरी याद की तरह याद करते हैं, मानो वह कोई प्यारा अजनबी हो।
We keep making decisions, every day, half without thinking, half against our will. If we don’t fight back, if we allow ourselves to change, to be changed, then once it’s done we have to do other things, and on and on until the person we wanted to be is so far away in the past that we only remember her, longingly, as if she were a beloved stranger.
We keep making decisions, every day, half without thinking, half against our will. If we don’t fight back, if we allow ourselves to change, to be changed, then once it’s done we have to do other things, and on and on until the person we wanted to be is so far away in the past that we only remember her, longingly, as if she were a beloved stranger.
लेकिन पिताओं को हमेशा अपनी सबसे छोटी बेटियाँ कुछ ज़्यादा ही खास लगती थीं।
But fathers always thought their youngest daughters were rather special.
But fathers always thought their youngest daughters were rather special.
उसे आधी रात के बाद वाला वह अहसास होने लगा था, जब विचार खुलने लगते हैं, खिलने लगते हैं, किसी ऐसे नए सच की तलाश में ज़ोर-ज़ोर से टटोलने लगते हैं जो असल में उतना ही पुराना है जितनी सदियों से लड़कियाँ रात के उस सुकून भरे एकांत में एक-दूसरे से अपने दिल की बात कहती आई हैं।
She was beginning to have that feeling that comes after midnight, of one’s thoughts opening out, flowering, groping out loud for some new discovery, some new truth that is really as old as all the hundreds of years girls have been confiding to one another in the relaxing intimacy of the night.
She was beginning to have that feeling that comes after midnight, of one’s thoughts opening out, flowering, groping out loud for some new discovery, some new truth that is really as old as all the hundreds of years girls have been confiding to one another in the relaxing intimacy of the night.
लेकिन वह जानती थी कि तमाम नेक इरादों के बावजूद, लोग एक ऐसे मोड़ पर पहुँच जाते हैं जहाँ से वापस लौटना नामुमकिन होता है, और वे बस यही उम्मीद कर सकते हैं कि किसी तरह सुरक्षित उतर जाएं।
But she knew that, despite their best intentions, people reached a point beyond which they could not return but could only hope for a safe landing.
But she knew that, despite their best intentions, people reached a point beyond which they could not return but could only hope for a safe landing.