Each experience is unique

Kishore

(May 2002)

Life is filled with unique experiences. It is very difficult to recreate some of the experiences. Lot of times we enjoy a particular experience and we cherish the experience and want to recreate the same experience. But it is very difficult to do so. Each experiences is unique with its own factors and circumstances.

There is one example which comes to my mind very often.

In 1992 a few of our classmates had to go to Kanpur to attend interview at IIT. We all traveled together (10 of us) and went to Kanpur and attended the interview. After interview was over we had to come back. We started in the evening. At around 6 PM we took a bus from Kanpur to Jhansi from where we will catch a train. During that particular bus journey the bus stopped at a dhaba which served food. It was around 10 PM and everyone of us very hungry. When we ordered food the dhaba (kiosk) which served some dishes and roti (staple food of north India) we ate the food with high relish. We had a good number of rotis and we found the food very delicious. We also took a sweet lassi which was also very good. Because of our hunger we enjoyed the food so much that we could never forget the food. Even now I can remember how glad we were on that day.

We hoped for a repeat of the experience because we enjoyed it so much. We eagerly looked forward to similar experience. I felt that we may not be able to exactly repeat the experience. That is what happened. We had to make similar journey again when we were going on a vacation. And as the bus stopped at the same dhaba, we didn't like the food at all. We were disappointed and made remarks that food was so good on that particular day compared to this experience.

This simple experience always reminds me that it is impossible to recreate an experience. In our earlier experience our unique situation where we were 'hungry' made the food taste like nectar and the next time we couldn't relish the food at all. 

Summary

One of the important things to remember in life is: Enjoy the present. Live life in the current moment. Don't worry about past and don't worry about the future. Make every moment of life a unique experience. Do what you want to do and enjoy the moment. Each experience is unique. It is nearly impossible to recreate an experience. Lost time cannot be regained. There will be so many good or bad experiences that we can keep thinking and expect things will repeat. Especially our bad experiences make us cautious and we try to avoid repeat of bad experiences and try to repeat good experiences. Like good experiences even bad experiences do not repeat if we take appropriate precautions.

I keep reading the articles in Experiences category. I know for certain none of the experiences can be repeated and reading those experiences makes me glad.