I am one of the lucky people in this world who’ve never really had to struggle for anything. At least that’s what most people think. But before I attract the evil eye, let me tell you that things have not always been easy and they are not what they seem. While my struggles may seem trivial, they have been there, but what makes them seem insignificant is largely due to the fact that I have been lucky to have been brought up by a mother who always thought nothing is impossible and by a father who always thought that nothing really was good enough. These two philosophies have shaped my own attitude that everything has an end.  If you have this attitude in life, nothing becomes impossible and everything is good enough and every thing seems easy to do or bear.

There are many things I’ve managed to do thanks to the encouragement I’ve got from the people around me but there are also many things I’ve never had the courage to do. If I really could, I would

• do just what I wanted, meet the people I wanted, whenever I wanted to : I am a firm believer in John Donne’s statement that No Man is an Island – and that we all have to live in a society that is both accepting and restrictive. We cannot live insular lives in our own little cocoons so there are many times we have to do things that we don’t really want to do such as being nice to Mr. Grumpy, travelling in the same lift as Mr. Bringer of Bad Luck  (yes I know this is irrational but!)

• tell people exactly what I think of them : Being brought up to be polite and as an offshoot of wanting to be part of a society, we all have to be nice to most people we meet. There are so many times when I feel like telling someone – Hey you are a crashing bore- Or I think you are a stingy old miser – Or you are the most self opiniated person I’ve ever seen – Or I just want you to stay far away from me.