Life, Death, and Everything In Between: A Gentle Reminder
- Prashant Penumatsa
- Jun 13
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 14
Life is unpredictable.
We plan, we dream, we prepare… but life often smiles at our plans and takes its own mysterious course. No matter how carefully we chart the path, life has its own hidden twists waiting to surprise us.
When Plans Turn into Fate
You board a flight, thinking you’ll land in another city… but it takes you to the skies forever. (Air India Flight Tragedy)
You book a peaceful vacation to Jannat (Kashmir—called heaven on Earth)… but you end up with a one-way ticket to the real heaven. (Pahalgam Tragedy)
You plan the perfect honeymoon with the love of your life… only to find she’s also planning your death. (Meghalaya Tragedy)
You join a trophy celebration to cheer for victory… and die in the very stampede meant to celebrate that win. (Bengaluru Tragedy)
These unexpected endings remind us of one thing—life is fragile and unpredictable, no matter how carefully we plan. As the old saying goes:
"Death waits patiently for everyone—rich or poor, planner or wanderer."
Your efforts may keep you alive, but countless forces and possibilities are always at play, waiting to end your life at any moment.
You can neither control them nor predict when or how these countless chances might come together to bring your life to an end.
The Ant's Story: A Reflection on Value
And then there’s the tiny ant.
It walks its small path, minding its own business. It lives for just a few days or weeks, lifts 50 times its own weight, works hard every moment… and yet, it meets sudden death simply because it crossed your foot.
So what makes its life lesser than ours?
Is it size? Intelligence? Purpose? Or is it just human arrogance?
The Human Way: Building and Destroying
And what about us humans—the so-called smartest creatures on Earth?
We spend years making grand plans. We build dreams, hoard wealth, cut down forests, pollute rivers, poison the air... breaking rules, losing morals, and robbing the future from our own children—all in the name of securing a future for ourselves.
But why?
No matter how cleverly we plan, how much wealth we gather, or how high we rise—in the end, we meet the same quiet death as that tiny ant crushed underfoot.
So maybe the real question isn’t about how long we live, or how much we own...Maybe it’s about how well we live during our short time here.
Is the Ant’s Life Truly Any Less Than Ours?
Both are threads woven into the same grand fabric of life.
The ant lives with nature, playing its small but vital part in the ecosystem’s grand design. Humans, on the other hand, often live against nature, forgetting that their survival, too, depends on this fragile balance.
In the eyes of the universe, there is no ‘greater’ or ‘lesser’—only life that either flows with the ecosystem or fights it in vain.
Rethinking Death: Curse or Gift?
Is death really such a bad thing? Or have we misunderstood it all along?
We often think of death as a curse. But maybe… it’s a hidden gift.
If you believe in another life, death is just a doorway to a new story. If you believe there’s nothing after death, then it’s even more peaceful—no pain, no worry, no struggle, no fear.
Either way—whether the story continues or ends—death is the perfect conclusion. It frees us from the exhausting burden of living forever.
Maybe death isn’t cruel at all. Maybe it’s our desperate clinging to life that makes us suffer.
So, What Should We Do? Wait for Death?
Of course not.
As they wisely say in Telugu:"చచ్చే వరకు బ్రతికి చావాలి కదా" (Chache varaku bratiki chavali kada)"
You have to live fully until you die."
Death is certain. But life… life is rare.
A small, bright spark in the endless dark.
So why waste it on fear, worry, or waiting?
Live while you can.
Smile while you breathe.
Love, laugh, fall, rise, dream, fail, try again—because until death comes, you are alive.
And that is no small thing.
The point is not to escape death. The point is to live so deeply, so joyfully, so completely—that when death finally arrives, it finds nothing left to take.
This brings us to a simple truth.
Some people drift through life—simply eating, sleeping, and dying—wrapped in the comfort of ignorance.
Others misuse their intelligence—living at the cost of others, exploiting nature and fellow beings just to secure their own survival.
But true living is something else entirely. It means being balanced, progressive, and deeply connected to the ecosystem—adding value to the world, not being a burden on it.
It’s not about fearing death or mindlessly chasing life. It’s about embracing both with open arms—making every moment worthy of this rare and precious gift called existence.
Stay tuned to the pulse of your existence, like the unbroken line of life.../\._./\_/\
Prashant Penumatsa
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