bhaskar saikia

A bull has four legs. So does a goat. Yet, no one uses goats to plough a field. Why? Because each creature, has a different function. A bull is built for strength and endurance. A goat, for agility and survival in rugged terrains. Each has its purpose; each its own destiny.

Gold, too, is a paradox. Lustrous, beautiful, and highly valued— but place it in a battlefield as armour and it’s all but useless. Gold is soft. It won’t stop a sword or an arrow. In war, iron wins. Yet, wars have been fought for gold, not iron. So gold’s value isn’t diminished—it simply lies elsewhere. Purpose defines utility.

Consider the bumblebee. According to aviation theories, it shouldn’t be able to fly. Its body is too bulky, its wings too small. Yet, no one told the bee it couldn’t fly. And so, it does—effortlessly, purposefully. Nature never consulted man before designing her miracles. The bumblebee does not seek validation. It simply flies, because that’s what it was born to do. Without questioning, without permission.

But humans—ah, we are strange creatures. Unlike the bull, the goat, the bee or the gold, we let others dictate our potential. We spend too much time trapped in the perceptions others form about us. We shape our lives according to expectations, not aspirations. Gossip, opinions, and stereotypes become invisible cages we accept as real.

Yes, people form opinions based on our past actions. But must our future always be tethered to our past? Shouldn’t we be free to reinvent, to take a different road, to start anew? Sadly, only a few manage to break free from the gravitational pull of peer opinion. Most lives by “what will they think?“

And here lies the great irony—most of the people whose opinions we fear are too busy with their own lives. We believe the world is constantly watching, waiting for us to slip, to fall. But in reality, everyone is caught up in their own maze of concerns. Occasionally, they might critique or comment, but they quickly return to their own inner worlds.

So perhaps it’s time we lived more like the bumblebee. Defying logic. Embracing purpose. Trusting our own wings, no matter what the world says.