Entangled

Part 19

Manik changed his mind and continued to volunteer at the orphanage. He had joined the club for their own benefit, but he stayed back now for Nandini. Earlier he involved himself in the activities reluctantly, but now he did so willingly.

        Manik's initial approach was to advice Nandini and change her mindset. He initiated the conversations by linking it to Nandini's actions or activities going on around them.

When he found Nandini helping someone,

        Manik : "You always seem to be concerned about others and their well-being. Don't you think that you should take your well-being into consideration too?"

        Nandini : "Why are you saying like that? .. I do take care of myself."

        Manik : "I haven't seen any change in you since the time I have met you. Neither do you seem happy nor healthy."

        Nandini : "In order to appear happy or healthy, the mind has to be at peace and it isn't easy to calm the mind."

        Manik : "It may not be easy, but it isn't very difficult too. You can influence your mind by changing your surroundings if other things you have tried hasn't worked."

        Nandini : "I have moved to a different city, what more can I do than that to change the surroundings?"

        Manik thought for a while.

        Manik : "Let's start with the clothes you wear .. it looks as though you are grieving someone. .. Are you grieving?"

        Nandini didn't respond to that question.

        Manik : "Even when someone loses a dear one, they are in such attire for a few days, but I myself have seen you wearing such pale clothes since many weeks. May be you should try something that will lift your mood."

        Manik : "Also you are at the orphanage every day. If you look back at how things have been going on here, no doubt you are helping others, but is it helping you? You are stressing yourself. I am not saying that you should stop volunteering, but you can reduce it and replace it with something that will have a positive impact on you."

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        On another occasion, when a group was practicing a song for the charity event,

        Manik : "Being a musician myself, I am curious to know how you are able to stay away from music?"

        Nandini : "I was under the impression that music would serve as one of the means to reach my destination. But then I realized that it was the root cause of everything that happened. Moreover, the destination was also not right, so it lost it's importance in my life."

        Manik : "I am not able to understand how music can cause a problem. It has helped me find a solution to my problem most of the time."

        Nandini : "Did you forget? Music would have landed you in the hospital."

        It wasn't only music that would have landed him in the hospital, he gave that as a reason because he couldn't tell the actual reason.

        Manik : "How was music at fault? What wasn't right was how and where I used it. I will be careful next time, but I am not going to discard it from my life. It holds good for other things too, not just music."

        Manik : "May be the destination wasn't right, but that doesn't mean that your journey or whatever you focused on during your journey has no importance. May be you only need to retreat a few steps and the same path or the means may lead you to a different and a better destination."