A few weeks ago, I caught up with my friend Ed. Ed is 31 and a few years back he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. When we first became friends, it was only much later that I found out. I never treated him differently because he never made it an issue. We never talked openly about it until that day when we were sitting outdoor in the sun eating my favorite cheese cake at Sift.

He said, The only good thing that came out of it was the weight I lost during the battle. I was definitely overweight before.

I said to him "What a terrible thing to say because I don't want you or anyone to be thin because of some horrible illness".

His answer was somewhat touched a bone in me," Of course no one wishes to be sick but sometimes in the bleak-est of situations, you have no choice but to try and find that silver lining".

That elusive silver lining..

In the last few days, I came across many people telling me they have now lost their jobs. I read in the news that suicide level is going up, up, up....

I read somewhere in a book ( the title escaped my mind) that before the age of commercialism or laissez faire, we were slaves and after the age of commerce, we became paid slaves. How true is that and most of the time, we don't see ourselves as one. That institution of working/ having a job is how society is defined and it has become so difficult for us to see otherwise. Like it or not, we are fucking paid slaves. We go to work at a certain time, we leave at a certain time. We are given tasks, jobscopes, K fucking PIs.

If I lost my job today, I would be distraught but I want to find that silver lining. I want to free myself from being a paid slave. I want to own my business. I want something that is mine. I want to remind myself that a job is not going to be the only thing that defines me..

And I hope that you all find that silver lining too in everything that you do.