
Hello dear friends,
I hope this Blog finds you in a cheerful mode.
Today’s writing prompt asks a fascinating question:
“What’s a book you never finished but still think about?”
My answer may surprise you.
I could name a famous novel, a classic, or a book that has been sitting unfinished on my bookshelf for years. But when I thought about the question more deeply, I realised that there is one book I have never finished—and yet I think about it every single day.
The Book of My Life.
“Every life is a story. The difference is that we are both the author and the character.”
❤️A Book Without a Final Page
The Book of My Life began on 4 June 1958.
Since then, thousands of pages have been written.
Some pages carry the innocence of childhood. Others tell stories of youth, friendships, dreams, struggles, responsibilities, career, family, travel, retirement and countless little adventures.
There are pages filled with laughter and celebration.
There are also pages I would rather tear out.
But that is the nature of every meaningful book.
A perfect book would probably be a boring one.

❤️Chapters I Never Planned
When I was young, I thought life would follow a predictable storyline.
Study.
Get a job.
Build a family.
Work hard.
Retire.
Simple!
But life had its own editor.
It introduced unexpected characters, changed the direction of the plot, added surprises to ordinary days and occasionally removed people I thought would remain forever.
Looking back, I realise that the best chapters of my life were often the ones I never planned.
That is one of life’s great mysteries.
We carefully plan tomorrow, while life quietly writes something completely different.

❤️The Chapter Called Work
For more than three decades, my professional life became an important chapter.
Joining the State Bank of India in 1985, I entered a world of responsibility, deadlines, customers, transfers, targets, colleagues and countless experiences.
At the time, I was simply doing my job.
Today, when I look back, I realise that I was also collecting stories.
Every workplace has its own characters.
Some teach us patience.
Some teach us leadership.
Some teach us what not to become!
And some become friends whose memories remain long after the office doors close behind us.

❤️The Golden Chapters
Retirement did not bring the end of my book.
It opened a completely new chapter.
Suddenly, there was no office schedule telling me what to do with my morning.
So I began writing my own timetable.
Walking. Yoga. Swimming. Table tennis. Meditation. Painting. Reading. Poetry. Blogging. Music. Travel.
And then came an unexpected discovery:
We don’t retire from life. We retire from a job.
Perhaps retirement is simply the moment when we finally get permission to write the chapters we postponed for years.

❤️The Chapter of Writing
Writing gradually became one of the most important chapters of my life.
What started as a way of expressing my thoughts became a journey of connecting with people.
Every blog post became another page.
Every poem became another paragraph.
Every comment from a reader became a little note in the margin.
And after thousands of posts, I have learned something wonderful:
“Writing is not merely putting words on a page; it is leaving a little piece of yourself behind.”
Perhaps that is why I continue to write.
❤️Pages of Love and Memories
No autobiography can be complete without family.
My wife, my son, my granddaughter, relatives and friends have all become characters in my story.
Some appear in many chapters.
Some appear briefly.
Some live far away but occupy permanent spaces in my heart.
And then there are memories.
- A childhood afternoon.
- A family photograph.
- A journey to the mountains.
- A conversation over a cup of tea.
- A song that suddenly takes us twenty years backwards.
These may look like ordinary moments, but years later, they become the most precious pages.

❤️The Pages I Would Rewrite
Would I rewrite some pages of my life?
Of course.
Who wouldn’t?
There are mistakes I wish I had avoided, words I wish I had not spoken, opportunities I wish I had recognised earlier and moments when fear prevented me from moving forward.
But perhaps I should leave those pages untouched.
Because mistakes are not necessarily bad writing.
Sometimes they are the chapters that teach us how to become better authors.
“We cannot rewrite yesterday, but we can choose what we write today.”
❤️The Chapter I Am Writing Now
At this stage of life, I don’t want to rush toward the final page.
I want to enjoy the current chapter.
I want to remain curious.
I want to keep learning, writing, travelling, creating, laughing and sharing.
I want to turn ordinary mornings into meaningful memories.
Because perhaps the greatest privilege of growing older is understanding that time is not measured only by years—it is measured by moments that made those years worth living.

❤️And the Story Continues…
So, coming back to today’s prompt—“What’s a book you never finished but still think about?”
My answer is simple:
The Book of My Life.
It remains unfinished because I am still writing it.
There are blank pages waiting for new experiences.
There are empty chapters waiting for unexpected adventures.
There are sentences I haven’t written yet and stories I haven’t imagined.
And I don’t know how many pages remain.
But perhaps I don’t need to know.
I only need to make sure that the next page is worth reading.
“Don’t worry about how many pages are left. Make the page you are writing today a beautiful one.”
The Book of My Life has no final page yet.
And as long as there is a new morning, a new thought, a new dream and a little ink left in my pen—
the story continues.

BE HAPPY… BE ACTIVE… BE FOCUSED… BE ALIVE
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Categories: infotainment
very nice .
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Thank you so much.
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What a beautiful and profound reflection, Verma ji. 🙏
Your answer to the writing prompt isn’t just an answer—it’s a gift of wisdom wrapped in memories and sprinkled with gentle poetry. The way you’ve framed life as an unfinished manuscript, with yourself as both author and character, is deeply moving.
I especially love how you’ve reframed retirement not as an ending but as “permission to write the chapters we postponed for years.” That perspective shifts everything. And your observation that “we don’t retire from life” is something I wish more people could truly internalize.
The paragraph about ordinary moments becoming precious pages over time—childhood afternoons, journeys to the mountains, conversations over tea—that’s where your writing truly shines. You remind us that meaning isn’t always in the grand events but in the quiet ones we almost overlook.
Perhaps the most powerful part is your acceptance of the unwritten pages, the mistakes, the unplanned chapters. “We cannot rewrite yesterday, but we can choose what we write today.” That line alone could be a bookmark for anyone struggling with regret.
Your book is still being written, Verma ji, and what a privilege it is for readers like us to glimpse its pages. May the blank ones ahead be filled with laughter, unexpected adventures, and many more cups of tea shared with loved ones.
Keep writing. Keep living. Keep inspiring. 📖✨
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Thank you so much for your beautiful and heartfelt words. 🙏
Your comment itself feels like a beautiful page added to my own unfinished manuscript. I am deeply touched by the way you understood the thoughts and emotions behind my writing.
I truly believe that retirement is not the closing chapter of life—it is the freedom to pick up the pen again and write the stories that were waiting patiently inside us. Every morning gives us another blank page, and perhaps that is one of life’s greatest gifts.
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As always, there is adding and subtracting people in our lives that surprised us. Life is just interesting and unpredictable. Wonderful piece, Verma
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Thank you so much for your thoughtful words. 🙏
You are absolutely right—life is a continuous process of adding and subtracting people from our journey. Some arrive unexpectedly and become an important part of our story, while others leave quietly, yet their memories remain with us.
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Yes, my pleasure, Verma
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Pleasure is truly mine.
Stay happy and keep sharing.
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Wonderfull my dear friend 🙏
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Thank you so much for your appreciation.
Your words mean a lot.
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Such a beautiful reflection Verma ji🤍 I loved how you described life as a book where every experience, person, and memory becomes a meaningful page. A beautiful reminder that our story is still being written, and every chapter planned or unexpected adds to its beauty. Wishing you many more wonderful pages filled with joy, creativity, and love. 🌸🦋✨
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Thank you so much for your beautiful and encouraging words. I truly love the thought of life as a book—some chapters bring joy, some bring tears, and some teach us lessons we never expected to learn.
You are absolutely right: our story is still being written, and perhaps the unexpected pages often become the most meaningful ones.
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A beautiful reflection, Verma Ji. What stayed with me most is the idea that retirement is not the final chapter, but the freedom to finally write the chapters we postponed. Your metaphor of life as an unfinished book reminds us that meaning is created page by page, not discovered at the end.
May every new morning add another thoughtful sentence to The Book of Your Life. 🙏
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Thank you so much for your beautiful and thoughtful words. I truly believe that retirement is not the end of the journey, but the beginning of a chapter where we finally have the freedom to explore the dreams, passions, and ideas that were often postponed during our working years.
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