A man is made by walking

While flipping through the pages of the book ‘Choices’ by the previous NSA Shiv Shankar Menon, I saw there were quotes before every chapter. As I read them, I saw this written before one of the chapters- “A road is made by walking- Indian Proverb”. Quotes have always provoked my thought process.

What does it mean? How is a road made by walking? Simple translation in Hindi doesn’t make much sense. Proverbs usually represent the collective wisdom of the society, this too can’t be without any meaning. On giving more thought and asking the questions like- What makes me! Is it the number of years I add to my life or is it the experiences I created! The meaning though blurred, started revealing itself.

I am made of the moments I have lived and loved. The journey called life is walking these moments. It is the people I meet, share moments with. I am in parts each one of those moments. My life is my making. I am made by my choices, I am made by the road I travel. I will always have various paths to choose from, but I am defined by the path I decide to walk.

Our’s is a culture which lays stress on the concept of ‘Tirtha’. Travelling changes you fundamentally. Is this travel always outward! What about the inward travel? Questions like ‘Who am I’, ‘What is the purpose of Life’ have often troubled society. These questions seek to understand one’s identity. Individuals have walked far and wide to seek these answers. Walking doesn’t merely carry with itself the pleasure of travel, it also brings along various experiences. But does it always answer the fundamental question? Does travel really make us what we want to become!

We never really know when an individual is truly made! In the movie Siddharth, there is a scene in the end where Shashi Kapoor is sitting on a boat and talking to a traveller. He tells him ‘Life is like the river, whatever flows comes back.’ Maybe that too is true about life. Just like the lyrics of a song from movie Safar-

पार हुआ वो रहा जो सफ़र में
जो भी रुका, घिर गया वो भंवर में
नाव तो क्या, बह जाये किनारा
बड़ी ही तेज समय की हैं धारा
तुझको चलना होगा….

Maybe the meaning too will reveal itself as I walk my life!