Thirty years ago my husband gave me Rs. 500 as princely sum those thirty years ago. I immediately went down to Nana’s Chowk  and bought this chunky bunch of keys to tuck into my sari much like the villainous Lalita Pawar in the Hindi movies of old . I loved the jingle jangle of the keys which served as an Early Warning System to my girls who would quickly shut tight their eyes, pretending to be fast asleep when I used to pop in to keep an eye on them.

Today when I returned from my walk, I went to my cupboard and as was my habit, put in the key and opened the door. I realised then that there were several superfluous keys in the bunch : those that opened no doors. Obviously somewhere along the way, I had changed the locks or changed the doors and had forgotten to remove the useless keys from my bunch making it heavier and bulkier to carry around.

So often in life, we have such burdens that we carry needlessly keys to doors that don’t open anything. I realised then that we should do a regular audit, assess those keys that we need and sift out the ones that we don’t. Our lives will be that much lighter and easier to manage.

Once you set sail in uncharted waters, there is no need to hang on to the past. Steer straight ahead without looking backwards , there is always someone to help you. Be brave and cast off the people you don’t need, and do so without guilt or regret. The past only cripples you and hinders your journey ahead.