Moment of Truth

it was a lazy afternoon. i was watching a movie when i casually looked at my cell phone and saw a message from a friend of mine, Gaurav. it informed me that Mita, a common friend of ours had lost her father in an accident. i tried calling him but simply couldn't get through. so i called up Mita's husband. he was at the hospital as the police were busy with his father in law's post mortem. he couldn't talk much, but he told me that he had died in an autorickshaw accident. that's all. and he disconnected.
later on i came to know that he had died in a freak accident. he was returning to work after his lunch in a rickshaw when a crane that was being used to build the metro that would connect andheri, a suburb in west mumbai with ghatkopar, a suburb in the east of mumbai overturned and fell on the rickshaw. his body was smashed. so was the rickshaw. but by a miracle of some sort, the rickshaw driver escaped with minor injuries.
for a year now, i ve been asking every rickshaw driver i travel with if they believe in fate. almost everyone i ve talked to believes in kismat. and its that very kismat that saved the driver. it reconfirmed my belief in this thing called fate. once again.
the incident also made me realize that the most important thing in life is to be happy. more important than being ambitious or passionate. it also taught me to live every moment from here on. to just surrender to this wonderful thing called life.
we are fools to believe that we make our own lives. we can merely "live" life! that's where the magic lies. within ourselves. what we pursue in the name of happiness is nothing more than pleasure. for how can we pursue something that is always with us?
its remarkable how much a death can teach you!