Life’s Ledger
Issue #211
In November 2020, I went to Varanasi. It was during the darkest days of COVID.
At Manikarnika Ghat, the fire burned as it has for thousands of years. Day and night, bodies turned to ash. The air was heavy with smoke, yet strangely peaceful.
It struck me that even in the place most associated with endings, life doesn’t stop. It flows around loss, carrying everything forward.
I watched a young man light the pyre for his mother. When the flames rose, he folded his hands and whispered something.
For hours I watched the rhythm of the ghat; the chants, the flames, the quiet acceptance.
A place like that makes you see life differently.
One day, all of us will leave behind a ledger.
And it won’t list our possessions.
It will only remember our generosity.
The Mask Falls Quietly
Last year during prayer meeting of my Grandmother, the priest said something I willl never forget:
‘At the end, nothing remains except how we showed up for people.’
He meant the small acts in our daily life returning a phone call, forgiving an old friend, being fully present when someone needed listening.
All the roles we play - entrepreneur, parent, achiever, provider - fall away in the end.
What remains is who we were when no one was watching.
The Tea Seller’s Wisdom
I sat at a tea stall at Manikarnika Ghat and started chatting with the old tea stall owner.
I asked him if he ever got used to being around so much death.
He smiled.
‘When you see this every day,’ he said, ‘you stop worrying about what you don’t have. You start thinking - Did I laugh today? Did I help someone?’
What Life Keeps Asking
Every few years, life hands us a moment like that - a health scare, a close call, a batch mate or colleague succumbing to lifestyle disease - and asks softly, ‘Are you paying attention?’
Life sends gentle reminders daily: a parent’s trembling hands, a friend’s message we forget to reply to, the dog that waits for you to come back and pat him, a bored child as you browse reels while with him.
Each is life’s way of saying, ‘Count what really counts.’
The Real Audit
If I were to make my own balance sheet today, it would look nothing like the ones we file at work.
It would have lines like these:
Time spent with people who make me better.
Moments I chose silence over argument.
Laughter shared without agenda.
Apologies made without ego.
Effort I gave when no one was watching.
Those are the entries that matter.
Everything else - profit, followers, recognition - is over written.
Five Gentle Reminders for the Living
Presence is the real luxury.
The richest moments can’t be captured. They can only be lived.Let go often.
Old grudges weigh more than we realise. Forgiving is not a weakness.Love out loud.
Don’t wait for perfect timing. People don’t remember the speech; they remember the warmth.Create something that lives beyond you.
A system that helps people, a child you raised well, a workplace made kinder, a routine that someone copies.
Remember, this is it.
The next moment is not promised. This breath, this heartbeat, this day; it’s all we really own.
The Sunset Lesson
As I left the ghat, the sun was dropping behind the domes of old Varanasi.
The same light that had touched the flames now shimmered on the water.
Life and death reflected each other perfectly.
And I thought the point isn’t to fear the final accounting. It’s to live aware of it; to live so honestly, so fully, that when the ledger closes, there’s nothing left unpaid.
Thanks for reading.
If this helped you reframe your own routine or leadership approach, consider sharing it with a friend or team member. It might spark their next big shift.
⏮ Missed Last Week? Here’s What Hit Home
Coming Soon
My New Book - REARVIEW.
Praise for the book from Vijay Sekhar Sharma:
Rearview reminds, that life’s real breakthroughs are noticing the small things we typically ignore. Honest, unpretentious, real living. This book will make you observe joys of life that matter and make us great.Sandeep has an uncanny ability to see the longer arc of life and put it in words that stay with you.
Lovely reminder to pause, reflect and make most of everyday.
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Meet you on the Forty Eighth Sunday (47/52) of 2025. Take care
Beautifully captured!! Jai shree Krishna
Thanks for writing this, it clarifies a lot, iluminating how, much like foundational Pilates, our true legacy is built upon consistent generosity, not ephemeral achievements.