FATE vs DESTINY

There is very fine boundary between the meaning of fate and destiny. I was left in to a standoff after this small experience from my life which I would like to share. It was 3years back from now when I had been a part of a marriage function of my dad’s very close colleague’s son. We were at the venue as expected. The warm welcome, moving waiters and serving starters, fast food corners attracting the tiny tots, a section heap full of gifts; all the same just like one can find in a typical Indian wedding. Eventually I got a chance to share a word with the groom. He told me about his endeavors. His life was shining with bright career from Harvard University, salary of 60lakhs, marrying the love of his life. Parents of both groom and bride were cherishing probably the happiest day of their life. Their kids are all set to start a well settled new life. It was the time for some marriage ritual and hence I had to cut the conversation with the groom. After spending some time listening to those hymns of their holy bonding, I decided to take a moment to get out of the suffocated and crowded place to get myself some air. I walked outside and found that opposite to the marriage place there was a hospital standing straight boasting of its existence as if it was unaware about the pain of every person that walks through the doors of that lavish building.

I decided to take a walk for couple of minutes and before going back. Thumping few meters on road I found some bunch of people outside the main gate of the same hospital I mentioned earlier. They were waiting for someone or maybe something that was supposed to come out of the gate. Getting bit closer towards sides of the gate, I saw a stretcher being moved towards the ambulance which had a covered corpse, probably one of the family members was no more. I saw an aged man and woman sobbing. I managed to talk to one of the person standing there. He said that the parent had lost their son in a road accident who returned from London to India and was on his way back to home. The boy had just graduated from Oxford University.

It left dropped me between the ocean of thoughts where I had just witnessed scenarios where a family was celebrating new pieces of their son’s life while just within few meters far there was a family who lost their only piece of their life, their son. Then….. then my mind went into ragging confusion of decision of whether it was a destiny or fate.

I wasn’t able to distinguish well enough between these simple yet such important powerful terms. My hands got lighter and body full of goose bumps. I wondered for a while and thought what should be said to what. We generally say ‘…. met with bad fate…..’ for something really bad and sad. For something which is phenomenal and amazing, we generally say ‘…. has a great destiny…..’ and what not in appraisal. I leave it on you my fellow readers to decide. Do fate and destiny go hand in hand or they persist any differences deep in them? Please leave an answer.