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Perfect Imperfections

Life is like the mountains. While the view from a distance is exhilarating, the climb can be treacherous! Then again, where is the fun if tea leaves when boiled, leave no residue to be filtered out? (An imperfect concoction, if you please!) Where is the fun if everything comes without effort, and if all of us were to be exactly alike- and perfect?

What makes life beautiful is the tiny imperfections you know of your best friend (the way she wrinkles her nose when she wants something but cannot logically explain it!), it is the seemingly innocent words of a child that make your day (like how some seem to think two minutes is longer than ten minutes!), it is the definite weakness you know of a person for whom you are the armour (like someone who cannot for the life of them overcome their shyness to talk to someone new- and they need you to save the day, of course!), and more importantly, it is those radiant beings who shape you into a better human being each day, with each interaction, ever so unseemingly. (By staying back to talk despite having decided to leave early, by going all the way despite planning to go half way, by shouldering truths and containing stabs that they know would bleed you dry).

Any true friendship takes its own time to build, any bond takes its own time to hold, anything worth that can come out of life simply takes its own sweet time. The sun rises and sets in its own time, and the moon too. Then there are the stars that are always around (with the sun stealing their thunder most of the time!), and yet their presence is not lost on all of the human race- there are more men (and women) who wait for the millions of tiny stars to sleep under! (I cannot recollect a single being wanting to be scorched by the sun, but of course the phrase I’m deliberately avoiding, is suntanning).

Like the uniqueness of DNA, and your fingerprint, each of us have our own (quirky) imperfections, which we house and protect like treasure, for of course to us, our imperfections are totally justified! That friend who has an OCD of having to finish one task before even starting the next, and plainly refuses to start the second task parallels? I’m sure she has her reasons! How about that friend who is unreasonably scared of darkness? And the one who has a small private routine that nobody knows (except you of course), which is actually quite.. eccentric? How about that friend who can’t open locks with her right hand? Or the one that can’t drink from big mouthed bottles? Think of five quirks of five people you know, which for sure makes them seem less than perfect. How is it possible to find those quirks anything but cute? (Yes, dictionaries of adults still house the word cute. Go figure!)

None of us are nowhere close to perfect, including those we have instant connects with, or hold in high respect. It might seem like a perfect picture when those around think we have no faults, but the friends whose imperfections I know are definitely more important to me, than the friends whose imperfections I have no idea about. (I know it is just a matter of discoverability, no one is perfect after all :D) The only ones we reveal our weaknesses to, is those we know would guard it with their life like as if it is their own, after all.

Complementing our weaknesses is better than just guarding it, and if you ever have a friend with complementing strengths, you know what I’m talking about! So an unknown angel isn’t such a bad thing, what would you do with the known devil for a lifetime! 😀 An unknown angel, for me, is one who has strengths I could never build in a lifetime. While my weaknesses remain as my known devils, when we meet people whose weaknesses can be complemented by our strengths and vice-versa, suddenly everything seems possible.

But what is the element that adds flavour to life? The lush green of the mountains, or the twigs that need picking, upon a climb? What is the element that puts us in a mixed fruit jam of love? (I originally wanted to say pickle, but love is no pickle. It’s a jam.) The similarities of taste which entice us into togetherness, or the complementing strengths that help us survive when either alone wouldn’t make it? Some elements bring nutrition, some add flavour. Love, I have come to realise, is just like fountain of knowledge. Remember that fountain? Where some go to drink, some to sip and some just to gargle? Well, love can either be treated as a flavour that enhances your quality of life, or as that basic thread with which you want your life woven. And like knowledge, some choose love to be a flavour enhancer of life, never going far enough to either be drowned in the ecstasy of it, or be destroyed by it- Few, still choose it as their basic thread of life, and while it appears that there’s only loss in it, the truth couldn’t be more contrasting. And love is a lot of things, but perfect is not one of them. Between a world that is perfect and one that is filled with a million tiny imperfections, I would choose the latter, every single time. It is not perfection, but vulnerability (of disclosing and displaying imperfections) that is the essence of it all!

Life is in the details, after all. It isn’t that rosy picture that you click on your DSLR, sans the noise! It is all about being drowned in the noise, and yet being tuned to your favourite music. May we all never be hardened by the truths of life, but instead be softened by it, may we never be cut into pieces by the sharpness of our edges, but instead be sculpted by it. Embracing chaos is one thing, but being taken over by darkness is another. May we be stupid enough to embrace chaos and lucky enough to find fools alike along the journey. May we be smart enough to discover what brings darkness upon us, and resilient enough to overcome the storm that seems to come- even if it is just, by bowing low. May we be human (and maybe humorous?) enough to find the imperfections of the close few endearing, and imperfect enough to know who we can call as our own.

6 Comments

  • Shruti Balasa

    Whoaaa!! This is such a beautiful piece! Now I don’t even know if I should say this post is perfect, cos you’ve made imperfections seem so beautiful. This took me to some far away land and gave me some fresh air to breathe. God knows how you manage to do that. Keep writing forever….!

    • Sandhya

      Thank you so much! Far away lands are too much love. 😛 for us, at least. And write, I will. Thanks again! 🙂

  • kala

    ‘I can manage’: 79-yr-old Pune woman lived her whole life without electricity
    Former professor from Pune, lived her entire life without electricity out of her love for nature and the environment. Her house is surrounded by different types of trees and birds, says property is theirs not hers.
    Somewhat like Amish approach but for different reasons.
    An interesting example of a perfect imperfection which may save the environment if others try to follow.
    But can we?

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