You know when you start out with a box of matches, you start a little recklessly. You light the first match in jest almost without thinking, and then you light another just to see how the bright colors flare up and come to life. You laugh and strike another just to hear the scratchy sound of the match hitting the side of the match box ... and as you light another, you watch with bated breath as the burning flame come closer and closer to your fingers and when it becomes too hot to handle... you let it go, laughing and shaking your hands... there is magic when you play with fire.

The little pile of dead matches grow.. and suddenly realise that you only have a few left. You look around and you realise that it has grown darker, and you truly need the matches now to even see. Your hands tremble. You hope that the ones left would work, that they don’t turn out to be duds. You stretch the remaining matches as long as you can and use them sparingly. The matches are suddenly very precious.

Passion is a little like that. We waste it on people who do not matter, in things that are not really important, we take insane risks, put ourselves through such foolish sacrifices and issues and, in the end we are left with very few matches in our box. And. suddenly they become way too precious.

The people who truly get us, the quiet love that supports, the humor that keeps us sane, the vulnerability that keeps us on the edge, our interests that keep us alive, the people you surround yourself with, the ideas you guard. The things you want to do. The hours that will go.... everything becomes way too precious as our stock looks dangerously like running out.

And, yet some preserve their box intact, never having opened the box. They do not understand fire. And, some burn themselves all out... too soon.

As I look at my box, I would like to pretend that my box is half full, but if I am honest I know I have only a precious few left. And, they will decide my aliveness over my existence.

I wonder what you did with your box of matches ? Have you burnt them all or have you any left?

- Srividya Srinivasan [ 27/05/2016]