A Fine Balance

by Rohinton Mistry

ophthalmologist sentenced me to impotence,

Please always remember, the secret of survival is to embrace change, and to adapt.

Quote

Memories were permanent. Sorrowful ones remained sad even with the passing of time, yet happy ones could never be re-created—not with the same joy.

“So that’s the rule to remember, the whole quilt is much more important than any single square.”

What an unreliable thing is time—when I want it to fly, the hours stick to me like glue. And what a changeable thing, too. Time is the twine to tie

our lives

into parcels of years and months. Or a rubber band stretched to suit our fancy. Time can be the pretty ribbon in a little girl’s hair. Or the lines in your face, stealing your youthful colour and your hair.” He sighed and smiled sadly. “But ...

“There is always hope—hope enough to balance our despair. Or we would be lost.”

“After all, our lives are but a sequence of accidents—a clanking chain of chance events. A string of choices, casual or deliberate, which add up to that one big calamity we call life.”

Losing, and losing again, is the very basis of the life process, till all we are left with is the bare essence of human existence.”