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Ananya's Place in the Constellation of the Universe

 


One monsoon evening, Ananya sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the blank canvas propped against the wall. Having bought it a few weeks ago, she hoped to rekindle her passion for painting. “What about painting made her fall in love with it?” she pondered, but similarly to many other attempts to rekindle the passion in her life like coding, writing, Ngo work, dabble in photography or even bake – she couldn’t get herself to re-start.
 

At 22, Anaya felt adrift. All her friends had found their niches, but she seemed to be the only one who had not. She had tried everything, or so it seemed, and she had not yet found her calling. By suggestion, she even read famous books to help people find their calling, such as Ikigai, Atomic Habits, The Secret and The Power of Your Subconscious Mind; hoping one of them would help her start her career in the right direction. 

 

“Why can’t I just figure it out?” she muttered with frustration as she ran her fingers through her wavy black hair one day. Her room was cluttered with remnants of abandoned paint tubes, stray pencils and pens, A DSLR camera, and a half-knitted scarf. Each one of them was a reminder of her distant past of her failures to find her purpose.

 

One evening, her grandmother came to visit her, carrying two small boxes with her. “I thought you might like this,” she said as she handed them to Ananya with a knowing smile. Once opened, she found an assortment of old photographs in one box with a whole bunch of quotes in the other one. 

 

“These pictures are beautiful” Ananya exclaimed. Pulling out a random black-and-white photograph of her grandmother as a young woman. “Who took these pictures?” she exclaimed, ”Who wrote these quotes”?

 

 “Your grandfather, Ananya. Back in the day, he was quite the photographer and writer. He loved to tell stories through pictures (His photographs) and writings,”

 

As Ananya sifted through both boxes, an idea began to take shape. “What if her calling was not just one thing but a bunch of many different things that she loved to do?”

 

The next day, she took her DSLR camera and set out into the city. She captured street vendor’s smiles, children playing and laughing, an old couple walking hand in hand and much more. She spent the rest of the day writing verses in free flow as it came to her mind. She felt so much exuberance just by doing these two activities!

 

The next day she brought out some white papers and began to sketch out some of the scenes from the paintings. Quite a tedious task it took her some time to get the shapes and pictures alright; but soon enough she had pictures which were ready to be painted!

 Spending the next few weeks immersed in the process, Ananya began to derive joy from every moment that passed. Now, it was not just sketching and painting or even writing, for that matter; it was blending her passions to tell stories!  

 

Each painting and writing was like a reflection of her soul.

 

She even got a breakthrough when she came across a local café owner who happened to have stumbled across her Instagram page. He offered to showcase her work in his café. On the night of the exhibition, she stood in the corner as she watched visitors admire her paintings and writings. 

 

For the first time in many years, Ananya had a sense of inner peace. She realised that her calling wasn’t one single thing but was, in fact, the art of blending mediums and sharing it with the world. Whether it was sketching, painting, writing or anything else, Ananya felt her passion finally.  

 

As she walked home that particular night, Ananya peered over the city deep in thought. The city lights flickered in their usual manner, but Ananya had found her place in the constellation of the universe. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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