Life of a candle....

Here's another piece...I wrote this a long time ago....fortunately had a soft copy so saved the trouble of typing this out...

To most maybe all of us a candle is only an object which can be burnt to provide light. Here I have written this article portraying myself as a candle and have only written the thoughts that a candle would have if it ever had a mind and could think as any human being would.

Being a candle is not as easy as it appears to be. My maker poured molten wax into a mould and cooled it along with a thick wick running through the length of my body and this was how I was born. Basically, unlike human beings I am made up of waxes which are a form of fat made up of very long chains of natural acids. The sheer length of these chains disables me from answering chemical reactions for organic acids unlike my smaller cousins (you know acetic acid don’t you???).What pains me is that candles are made to be immobile and we have no freedom to take the shape that we want either by will or by liking.

The candle maker makes us and here we are lying on the shelf of a fancy store. Some candles are even perfumed (so, they smell).People like candles which are perfumed (so, they think) but to us it smells your equivalent of dirty socks and rotten eggs. All of us just hope that somebody buys us because we don’t intend spending a lifetime on some shelf accumulating dust.

Ah, I see a new person entering the store and asking for candles. Each of us has our eyes fixed on the prospective buyer and our hearts pounding (exactly what humans would call an adrenaline surge). Each of us are vying for the buyers attention and try to put on a better show in terms of color ,size ,smell and what not(just like a beauty pageant only that the best one is burnt first Ha, Ha…….).

It sometimes strikes me why any person has not brought me while other candles who arrived at the store more or less the same time as me have already been bought and probably been used already. I began attributing it to my rather plain design and white color and no perfume. Ah, here come more people to buy candles. Oh, my god, I’m so happy that the lady who just entered the store asked the store manager for me, me and only me. Wow!!! I’m exhilarated, I’m being bought and to hell with all those thoughts of not being beautiful. YIPEE!!!!!

We candles as all of you know are rather fragile and may develop a crack even for a minor fall. The store manager is packing me in straw along with a few other candles (my brothers, if I can say so, because they were created by the person who made me).At last I could relax at the thought that somebody has brought me and I will surely be able to give light. I learned quite a lot sitting on the shelf at the store for such a long time. I realized that no matter what happens it is necessary not to lose hope, after all hope is the elixir of life. Also, everyday and every moment is new and things must not take us by surprise. Of course I was happy when the lady brought me but on the other hand I was very anxious that nobody might buy me. However I can now confidently say ‘I dint lose hope’.

On arriving at my new house the lady put me into a cupboard. Now that one hurdle is crossed here comes another………When are we going to be lit????? Anybody reading this might feel why on the world would anybody want their life to end and might say by staying in the cupboard I might retain my youth but I’m sure that life isn’t about sitting around and being cozy, its about taking control of it and my intention in life is to shed light and only on doing so do I have control over my life and I’m sure there is no point sitting in a corner trying to procrastinate the inevitable. All I get by being in a cupboard is dust and dirt and I’m sure I don’t want that in my life. Ah, somebody opened the door; I just hope it’s for us. YES!! It is for us. Being so fragile gives me an opportunity to be ‘pampered’……… My mistress took me and fixed me in a beautiful intricately carved silver candle stand right on top. It made me feel like a king looking at all his subjects. I feel like I’m on top of the world. This is what I was looking forward to and it happened only by keeping the intentions right and this is what has helped me in achieving me what I wanted and I realized that the only thing that matters is the intention.

I suppose I am going to be lit in the evening. I guess the only thing which I want to notice is the strike of a matchstick to light the candle and the noise of the match striking against the box is all that I want to hear. Ah!! I just heard something. Is it the matchstick?????? No!!! It was the noise of the latch on the door. What a disappointment. The problem with having expectations is that it disappoints you when it does not go the way you want it.

The designated hour has come. I’m so excited and I guess so are my companions. My mistress struck the match and protecting the flame in the cup of her hand she slowly approached me and put the flame to the wick. Ah!!! Feels like I’m in heaven. I stood there tall and strong on the highest candle stand and was the first to get lit. What else could I ask for??????

The flame slowly melted the wax and a slight excess poured over the side and solidified forming a design (wow!! a designer dress – even Calvin Klein would be jealous of) the flame is bright and lending light to the place around it. Slowly the flame burns inch by inch of my whole body. The steady flame is sometimes disrupted by a sudden gush of wind through the open window – that hurts; it feels like somebody just kicked you in the head and sends you reeling. GASP!! I almost suffocated with the previous one. The gushes of wind taught me how to fight. Life has many troubles in store and when we struggle out of these and living give more joy and strength than
what is achieved by a life without facing any trouble at all.

I’m nearing the end of my life and I’m happy to have lived it the way I wanted to –
- a way I saw appropriate
- a way I could brighten the lives of all others around me
- a way which brought joy to me and all others around me.
This is my life and I have control over it and this is when I BEGAN LIVING AND STOPPED WISHING………………