Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum

Many a times there has been many up’s and down’s in life and I know this doesn’t happen only with me but with everyone. Every time when someone is upset the entire scenario around them changes and similarly when they are happy the scene around is different. When compared happiness at it’s extreme is better than sadness at it’s extreme but both are dangerous in their own way [hope everyone agrees… if not take this as just an opinion of mine. Handling situations of such is extremely difficult for anyone. I’ve also seen a few exceptional friends of mine who handle these with ease but have observed most of others failed. Let me tell you I am one among them who fail though I used to pretend that I’m not one.
Some time back home when I was watching a television along with my mom I got to listen to a veteran actor who is now researching on literature and philosophy. He was talking to a set of collage students and was telling them a story. I was really really impressed with the narration and the story and would like to share that this story has seriously made an impact on my approach towards various things from then on. The story goes as follows.
Once up on a time there was a king who was so nice and made sure that his people were not left out with any dissatisfaction. However he one day heard a news of a suicide in his country and was deeply hurt because of the same. He called all his ministers and counselors to deeply think about it and consult philosophers and come up with possible solution so that these things can be further avoided in his country.
His ministers and counselors came up with the result that a person becomes uncontrollable or thinks out of mind either he is in extreme sorrowfulness or extreme happiness, hence we need to find a way to control their emotions during the same. King then announced the country that whoever brings a solution to this will be rewarded with gold and diamonds. There were lot of people who came up with possible solution and after a long round of short listing the king was castled by an old man who had two tied rolls in his hand claiming that he can solve the problem with just 3 words written in each of the roll [one for happiness and the other for sorrow]. The king was enthused and wanted to know about what it is and asked the old man to disclose it. The old man replied that this should be read by the person who is undergoing either of the emotions so that it could be related and also refused to take any reward for the same. The king took the rolls and thanked the old man and kept the two rolls with him.
A couple of years later the king went unwell and was counting his last couple of days. He called his two sons and gave them the rolls and said that please use them if needed when anyone is experiencing through such phase… a couple of months later both the sons got into quarrel on who will become the successor to rule the country and fought for it. The younger one defeated the elder and sent him out of the nation. While doing so he with due respect to his father knew that his brother will be in deep sorrow and handed over one of the roll to his brother and kept one for himself as he was in extreme happiness.Both the brothers stood in front of each other and opened the rolls to read the 3 word phrase before they take any further decision on their life… The 3 word phrase which was written in that was “Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum” [This too shall pass (in English it comes out to be a 4 word phrase :D] ]. It didn’t even take a minute for the brothers to come together and realize that whatever decision they would have taken before reading the same would be wrong…
This applies for every individual who goes through such a phase and remembering the phrase would help any one to overcome. I have personally experienced it a couple of times now and hope it would help in the future as well :)