It was Dec 2006, and though unofficial but classes were suspended and almost everyone fled away to their natives.For some strange reasons,i opted to stay there only and thought of something like a self-imposed exile.The only thing that i ensured was that i would live all alone with none to interfere in my lifestyle,watch me and pass comments on what i was going to do and what not.Sometime earlier Rahul,a close friend of mine had mentioned while gossipping that while he was in his first year RL hostel,he used to go to that Lord Shiva Temple,some 330 stairs up on a hill and that too on a regular basis.On inquiring him about the time that he consumed while climbing up he said that it took hardly 5 mins for him to reach the top.I might not have believed him had he not been Rahul because i had tried that hill once long back and it had taken me more than half an hour.Being totally free and lonely too i thought of giving it a shot.Next morning i woke up earlier took a shower and headed for that Temple whose foothills were nearly 1 km away from my room.I always knew that it was not a tough deal for me but then i wanted to do it in 5-6 mins and that was no doubt tough,at least for me.Anyways i headed with a subconsciously confused thought but a firm ambition and also a gameplan.With time nearly closing to just six minutes i was ringing up the bells of the temple. Having offerred my prayers, i took my T-Shirts out to dry my sweat in the soothing free air at the hilltop and rested my back on one of the pillars of temple.Soon I started wondering as to what made the differrence in the time consumed for climbing on both the ocaasions .I quickly decided to give it a serious thought to check the issue and i decided to come the following morning as well.This time i started with a clear thought and the same gameplan and to my utter surprise i was up once again in less than six minutes.
Climbing there was no doubt satisfying but what was more satisfying was that i learnt a lesson in due course.What i did was that i kept it in mind right from the beginning of the journey that i had to reach the top and then never looked after that top in the middle of the journey but kept my focus on the immediately next stair to me.The result was effective and i could soon learn as to how long races are won and that too within no time.I came back to my room,streamlined all my tasks and started working with the same action plan.Target was to cover the entire book but the focus was on the chapter immediately ahead me.By the time other guys came back to college,i was almost over with my targets to prepare for my Campus Drive.Life for me changed.Now i had a cool approach to bigger goals.In fact i made it a routine for me every morning.I recall that i had climbed up for not less than sixty times if not more.That lesson apart,i also learnt an exceptionally outstanding way to start a day fuelled with lots of energy,blood and promptness.Yeah those who know me in general might not believe but then thats the fact that there was a time when i stayed all alone in Gunupur,climbed up that hill top each morning and covered a lot of things for the then upcoming campus drive and in due course i could also understand myself better.
The point here was not to boast myself but to share an experience.No target is big if it is taken bitwise one at a time with a subconsciously transfixed mind for the final target and the focus on small modules of it.Big races are won with that modular approach only.That apart,when i talked about that self-imposed exile i meant that "Often you get too much from this life to serve your appetite.Better take a break and spend sometime in complete solitude and total resignation to fate.It helps you ease off.It also help you understand yourself better.Yes it works."
Composed By
Mihir Jha,"On A Self-Imposed Exile"



