I happened to watch (I agree rather late) “Saving Mr. Banks” yesterday. I had of course heard of the movie as such, especially with the ‘no mention of Emma Thomson’ in the Oscars and the usual Hollywood blahs. But the fact that the movie is such a masterpiece had somehow escaped my notice.

“That’s what we do, we storytellers. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope, again and again and again.”

When Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) says these words to Mrs. Travers (Emma Thomson) in the movie one cannot just help get goose flesh. Especially if you are a writer and an ardent supporter of sharing stories. Sharing ideas. Sharing people with people.

Pic courtesy Vikas Agarwal Photography Location: Tiger’s Monastery, Paro, Bhutan

People. Human beings. Living souls.

People live. They die. They create. They destroy. They be happy. They be sad. They die a little and yes they live again for more.

I was probably ten when my father came home bringing the news of his deceased friend. His friend had taken his own life.

That day brought forth another thought to me.

People also live to die. Some literally.

You see where I am going with this?

People are ideas. They are ways we can understand ourselves and life better. But more importantly, people are mediums for destruction of ego.

And people become ideas through stories. Sometimes ideas become people through stories.

As a child I found it very easy to remember things if I could create a narrative around it.

I recall I was very good at mathematics because inside my head I had a plan where numbers were characters. Where one was dad, two was mother, three was daughter, four was her boyfriend, five was an uncle, six was uncle’s daughter, seven was uncle’s son and eight was uncle’s wife. Nine was often a variable. And together they helped me understand problems after problems better. Sometimes the mathematical ones too.

Where was I? Stories. Yes people are ideas and their lives represent stories. Stories that bring forth these ideas better, these very people better.

Now, too much of beating about stories and people and ideas. Where am I going with this? Like really?

In Bhagwat Gita it is said that if you cannot live the life of a sanyasi then the next best option to worship God is to worship one another. Emulate the human being on the side. His life is a motivation to you in so many ways. And when one does that, understand and celebrate another life, the seeds of ego find no space in heart.

Because what is ego? It is the I. It is the supreme singular, ignoring the relevance of meeting or agreeing with another singular.

So today we ask you. Yes ‘we’ ask not ‘I’ 🙂 what do you believe is the idea that decides who you are? If there is a story that describes you and your sense of being, then what is it? Share and help spread another thread of life with us.