Life is right now: The much-loved Mihir Bijur’s sudden death shows us an eternal truth
My friend on Twitter and one of the most loved people around, Mihir Bijur, was taken away much too soon. But he has left in his wake some crucial lessons about life and how to live it.
“Life goes on, it always does,
Leaving traces of you and I
Those glimpses you see are not just of me
But the world I’ve gladly left behind.”
These words were once tweeted by a friend on Twitter, Mihir Bijur, who left this world on July 3, 2019.
He reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest while returning from a prolonged session at the gym. He had been actively tweeting just a few hours before the episode.
The news of his sudden demise spread like wildfire as the entire Twitter community went into a shock. Mihir was one of the few people on Twitter who spread positivity and kindness. He motivated people towards fitness and following their dreams, having fulfilled his own by opening Door No. 1, a famous resto-bar in the heart of Mumbai. Within two years, it was acclaimed as one of the best in the city with their 'Thursday Bollywood Night' creating a buzz on Twitter week after week.
Fond of music, Mihir started the hashtag #embee (long version of MB) to connect people through the thread of music. It is a playlist of YouTube links he created on Twitter. Eventually, people started adding to the hashtag — and it gave them a reason to smile in the most chaotic times. Who would have thought his last recommendation on #embee would be “Do naina aur ek kahaani” from the movie Masoom.
In the end, every single one of us becomes a story.
And Mihir’s is full of positivity and hope.
Having achieved so much, he was one of the most humble and kind persons one would have ever known. His recent tweet during the Mumbai rains speaks volumes about him trying to give back to society and helping people in need:
Stuck in the rain & don't know where to go? come to @DoorNo1Bar for some (on the house) garam chai & Parle-G! We're here for you. #MumbaiRains Plz RT ???????? pic.twitter.com/a8LS23CIhA
— Mihir Bijur (@MihirBijur) June 28, 2019
When someone praised him for his gesture full of loving kindness for one and all, he replied, “I do what I can do. One Life.”
Most of the time, we take life for granted. We postpone everything, waiting for a ‘perfect time’. But does perfect time ever arrive? The only reason we wait for the time to be perfect is that there is an unspoken solace in this wait. It is just like getting comfortable with the idea of ‘meanwhile’.
Some of us end spending our life living in the ‘meanwhile’. We look at our past with either nostalgia, regret or just plain indifference. We always look at our future with unfulfilled dreams and the hopes of realising them. But we actually live in the time in-between these two — the meanwhile. And most part of this meanwhile is actually nothing except postponing.
Postponing is the easy way out. It is comforting. It kills the restlessness that accompanies doing. We think we have ample time on our hands to live our life the way we want to.
But the fact is that we have only now.
The present we have in our hands is a gift we get to unwrap each day — it is a gift not only for ourselves, but also for the people who love us.
Like sand in an hourglass, the gift is slipping away. It is inevitable. What can be done is to make the most of it while it lasts. If you want to do something, do it now. If you want to say something to someone, say it now. If you want to make someone smile, go for it immediately. If you want to see the world, book a flight ASAP. If you want to work out, start today. If you want to learn to play an instrument, enrol now. Whatever it is, there is only one right moment for it — now. Because tomorrow is a fickle friend.
Amidst all the business of life, we tend to forget living and loving. We believe in the probability of tomorrow. We are too tired to show that we care. This tiredness of making a living has been normalised in our culture so much so that we have stopped caring if we can’t make time for the people and the things that we love.
The last time together passes by without you even noticing. Enjoy the moments you have with your loved ones. They might never come back again. Perhaps to think that one day they would not be with you, at least in the physical sense, would make people live in the moment. To make each day count is the best way to live life because death does not wait for love or happiness to be fulfilled.
Life becomes meaningful because of the realisation of death.
When you become aware of your mortality, that any moment can be your last one, is when you actually start living.
Kind folks of Mumbai, if you do end up ordering food from a restaurant today, please do tip the delivery boy generously. He could have been at home like you, but instead is travelling through this deluge JUST to ensure you don't stay hungry! #FoodForThought #Humanity ❤️????
— Mihir Bijur (@MihirBijur) June 28, 2019
Nobody will remember how much you earned, how big your home was or how many cars you owned.
But kindness is so powerful that it is remembered long after one is gone. People can forget what you did, but they will never forget your one simple act of kindness.
When someone close to us leaves the world, it creates a hollow in our chest. That void is only filled with the memories that they leave with us. In this ephemeral life, it is only kindness that leaves with us healing memories.
Kindness has become so rare, it needs to be preserved.
Preserve it within your soul.
They say the soul lives on.