Success vs. Joy
- XXVI -
Self-delusion
For almost a year after I first won the world title, I would be regularly invited as the chief guest for various functions, the openings of shops and restaurants, launching products. People would listen to each and every inane remark I would make on some television show or the other.
One day I woke up to the fact that I had acquired a rather high profile. All of a sudden, strangers would stop me on the street to shake my hand. I was signing autographs on aircraft boarding cards.
It was all so heady that I almost ended up believing I was indeed the ‘chosen one.’ But chosen by whom, chosen for what? Without realizing it, I had become caught up in an intoxication that was pretty useless for me most of the time. Hence, after the initial euphoria, I realized that I must get back to work on the table, because it was only at the table that I truly experienced joy.
After six months of non-stop social interaction, I went back into my solitude and rediscovered the joy of being happy with what I did and with myself. Society offers too many distractions and this is also the reason why I try to remove the word ‘social’ from my lexicon.