If only.

Time lost and opportunities missed, can never be made upto by any alternative later. Time is of the essence and opportunities are time bound. Losing time and chances can have regrets and rightly should. Those that claim to not have had any regrets aren’t being completely honest to themselves. Who hasn’t, and why shouldn’t we atleast imagine being at a better place than we are already are at. Boring and unimaginable are you, if you can audaciously still claim to have no regrets.

The book we always wanted to read. The concert we desperately wanted to attend. The college elective we didn’t select. The course we wanted to study. We’ve all had a fair share of regrets. The parties we missed out on. The weddings we couldn’t go to. The bike rides in winters, we missed out on. The road trips in summers we could not leave for. The friends we lost to time. The sweethearts we never got to see again. The ghazal we could never hum with them again. The regret of not punching idiots in an argument when we could have.

Every step that we didn’t take, every sentence that we didn’t say. That “yes” or a “no” that could have changed our lives forever, that we couldn’t utter. The conversation we could never have. The bus that we couldn’t take, the phone call we didn’t make, the text we didn’t type. Those that haunt us, and those that we choose to forget consciously. Nothing can ever make up for the lost time behind bad decisions and regrets. All these things that we did not do, could not do, have shaped us as much as the things we did. This trail of regrets have made us value our wise decisions.

Regret you must, openly or privately or maybe even to none other than your self. It is but how man was made to be, rebel you should even to your previous self. And dream higher than you can achieve and be remorseful for it shows you had a self you thought would do better.

Jaane kis mod pe, kis raah mein kya beeti hai; kis se mumkin hai tamanna’on ke zakhmon ka hisab.