Muse n Amuse
New Year Resolutions:
Resolutions:
We are such creatures of habits…and some how the habits borne of inertia are so easy to adopt!
We easily slip into crevices of least resistance and complacency. That which was so much a familiar activity…of writing regularly in the morning…today seems daunting!
The act of writing regularly, in the meanwhile, is generating lovely prose at my friend Sunil's end!
His words weave…meander…smoothly connecting ideas…keeping a rhythm and maintaining the novelty of words strung in a different symphony.
He doesn’t blog, however! I claim I do, but haven’t for quite a while!
Fortunately, a New Year, is a self appointed juncture in the time space continuum, allowing for an opportunity to reinvigorate, renew, refresh and reform…all in the shape of resolutions!
As it’s that time of the year…I guess its time for me to make some resolutions of my own!
ffice
ffice" />
Resolution #1: I shall appreciate!
Not that I don’t appreciate…but I guess appreciation happens in degrees! What I’ve marvelled at in my friend Rajesh’s ability to steal moments of wonder from the mundane. He etches these creations of magic with his camera or in the words of his poetry.
Some of them, as photographs, might be average…some simply marvellous, but the fact remains, whatever he extracted was much more then the mundane we, those who were with him at these moments, perceived at the same locations.
Some might call it the Photographer’s eye, however I do think his ability to appreciate plays a major part in it. So I do intend to appreciate more of what life has to offer to me!
Resolution #2: I shall do small things, but do them regularly!
The one thing, which has always impressed me about my brother, is his ability to apply himself to what he takes up, do so diligently and over a period of time until he reaches a particular zenith.
I have tended to do thing in glorious flashes! High peaks, followed by non-active plateaus. Going for big hits and ignoring the accumulation of regular runs (this is a cricketing term, for those who are uninitiated). Mileage is something I’ve to work to accrue.
Whatever I do this year, I promise to do it regularly and with application. Be it working out, running, writing, blogging, socialising, creating…et al. I promise not to pole vault over-night but do a manageable portion and do it regularly!
Resolution #3: I will work on Goals!
Goals have been an anathema for me. They, I feel…errr felt, robs one of a natural impulse, distracting from the natural gift of the moment, robbing oneself from acting on the spur of the moment!
I might have been right...I might be wrong! But I’ve seen Sunil's take on challenging goals, work on them and achieve them! This is a path, which has not been much travelled by me, and one I will travel and find out by myself this year!
Resolution #4: I’ll think them up as I go along! :P
Do you have some resolutions of your own?
Friends
A friend in need is friend in deed!
Friends in need! "Ummmm should I light your pipe?" S/W Bryce.
Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is slow-ripening fruit.
Aristotle
Friendship day! A new reason to celebrate! We had nothing like these in our school and college days. A creation of Hallmark, I’ve been told, as Santa Claus was a coke invention!
Dina tells me:
fficeffice" />
US Congress sanctioned National Friendship Day in 1935 as a special day to honor and celebrate friendships. In 1997, the United Nations named Winnie the Pooh as the world's "Ambassador of Friendship."
Well I don’t know its exact antecedents but I definitely feel that among other things friendship is definitely something which needs to be and is worth celebrating!
What is friendship?
My views are:
A friend isn’t an opportunity to serve my purpose. The friendship is an opportunity to discover a greater self. After all a friend is the mirror of one’s most comfortable self!
A friend is someone who is willing to give me his/her most precious commodity, one’s time, when I need him/her.
A friend is someone whose concern for you overrides his concern for how he looks in your eyes.
A friend is someone who helps you regain balance distances when turning into a crutch.
Friendship is not starting all over again!
To Dina friends are:
Friends - people I feel most comfortable with, can be me with them.
Those I find some connection with at any or a specific level
And those who are there and don’t judge!
A friend helps you grow!
Charlene’s views:
A friend is someone who listens and understands.
My friend can offer me advice, but doesn't get pissed if I ignore it.
My friend knows that I'll keep his/her confidences. My friend takes the time to know me, and I do the same.
Well like a large portion of my life story, this was a last moment-er effort. Opinions are still coming in. But I would sure like to know your views on ‘Friendship’. In the meanwhile wish you a very Happy Friendship day!!!
This post is dedicated to all my friends, can't name all of you, but thank you for enriching my life!
A specially mention about Rajesh and Sunil, my friends in my need! May all have friends like you!
Evening at Shrooms
Sheelu and Frooks wedding at Mahabaleshwar, 2002
Dreams do come true!
A long forgotten visiting card triggered a host of memories!
“Visit us at Shrooms tonight!”
Candle lit small tables, glass of wine sparkling in an illuminated night...groups of diners huddle and dine. Just another evening at Shrooms. Mundane for the regulars...but me half dazzled by the wonderment of novelty.
The floating tips of burning wicks.
The iridescent translucent mushrooms up to flickering shadow tricks.
The smile of the hostess...holding a half made promise...to a query of the mushroomed finery. The visit dreamlike...unreal, yet true. Remembrance of a magic withheld, at the edge of coming through.
The loneliness...despite company. The desire to share one’s appreciative thoughts ...unfulfilled. Memories brought an unsung threnody of dreams suffering fatality.
The sip of red delight...mellow...full...heady...alight! The lighting...muted... accommodating the illumination of starlight.
The white alabaster walls.
The checkered table cloths...the tables cozy and in harmony. Inviting romance to those who dared...no room left though for one’s soul to bare!
The menu which tested affordability...the mind which calculated the exchange rate...the smell of spices wafted...teasing taste buds with unknown delights.
The smile of a friend who felt and cared...the hug, not given, but it was there! The visit made at a juncture of time when nothing made sense yet all seemed fine!
The camera had clicked but the reel hadn’t been fixed. The pictures, which were taken, remained committed to memory.
A tropical night...serene...muggy...warm and bright.
A church, which was a had-been, yet celebrated the night.
Singapore...a city...a visit! Made memorable by the love given in surfeit.
Do excuse the disjointed rambling!
Felt like sharing some friends of mine...who gave me their most precious...their time!
Sheelu and Frooks, my friends, thank you for being there...the care...and being you!
The Clam Story
There was this story I had heard! Ostensibly a story for children, it was definitely one of those thought stopping ones.
fficeffice" />
A small clam was sitting with its mouth open, when a speck of dirt fell inside him. “WHAAAACKTHOOO””, he spit it out, his face distorted in distaste! The elder clam next to him said, “Easy little fella, you have to let life happen to you!” But each time a bit of dirt would fall it was “WHACKTHOO”!!!
Some days later the clams closed up for their seasonal sleep! In a few months, they woke and one by one each opened their mouth! The little clam looked around and in each mouth was a glistening round shining ball! “What are those?” he exclaimed! “They are pearls,” said the elder one! “How come I don’t have one?” he exclaimed in dismay! “Well,” said the elder one, “You spat out the dirt and never allowed life to happen to you!”
Guess this would apply to many things in life, but what it essentially says, as per me is, opportunities don’t necessarily come as good looking and promising interfaces presented by life. At times they are just speck of dirt waiting for life to happen to them!
I wondered how many times I have let life happen to me, abandoning “dirt” of opportunity to momentary judgment without letting life happen to either of us?
And it wasn’t enough that I spit them out... I also pat myself on the back for being such a good “judge” of character, situation, circumstances etc. How many friendships, work opportunities, knowledge...have I abandoned for it wouldn’t confirm to my expectations? How many pearls have I lost to a “Whaaackthoo”?
In case you’d like to add a comment (I hope most of you would like to), please add your name too. And in case I don’t know you, please also do leave your e-mail so that I can get back to you. However there’s the risk of a spider locating it, to spam you. In that case do e-mail me! I’d gladly receive a few thousand proposals to enlarge various body parts of mine, irrespective of sex, in my inbox for even one mail, which had some thoughts to share!
In case you’d like to know more about me, visit my ryze page!
What is wealth?
Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess of wealth.
What is wealth ?
Dictionary defines wealth as an abundance of valuable material possessions or resources.
An abundance of money?
And what is money? The lexicon again defines it as “A medium that can be exchanged for goods and services and is used as a measure of their values on the market”. Some say its useable power. But isn’t useable power energy?
Thus is wealth an accumulation of energy?
If so why is wealth not gauged in terms of wind stored?
Imagine...the greatest fart would then be the wealthiest among us! :D
And isn’t electricity an energy too? Would our ambition then center around building bigger power stations? Would we then be desperate to store volts in vaults? The status would then revolve around being Megawatters as against millionaires? Would we then be carrying around more gadgets and gizmos to show and secure our wealth?
The Sun is the basis for all our nourishment, the creator of the food chain. What if sunlight became the basis of wealth? Would we be loosing sleep on whether it would raise tomorrow and at what lumen the stock of Sunlight’s brightness would trade?
The trees and natural vegetation cocoons our existence, providing oxygen for the air we breathe, the basic layer of food chain and holding off flood from washing away the accumulation of our years.
Yet, over the years, the wealth of humanity has increased, yet that of greenery has depleted. Does anybody think a tree might be a better asset then a bank balance?
I could be wrong of course...money might not be energy.
In that case I wonder what it is?
I do hope somebody plants a tree...while I go and attend to my bills...and earn some more money to barricade my loved ones from some fears and worries.
Avi
I think...
Rodin’s famous sculpture the Thinker!
I think...
If a mountain spring had stopped to think about the formidable distance it would have to flow to loose itself to the sea would it have ever gushed forth to become a Mississippi?
Fortunately, for us, it concentrated solely on flowing!
If the bit of vapour had stopped to calculate the odds of it someday forming a cloud would it ever have left the warm embrace of the ocean?
If the seed had wondered at its chances of surviving trampling, storms, herbivores and all the incalculable challenges life threw its way...would it have grown to become a tree?
Did a caterpillar ever think itself into becoming a butterfly?
We think...are we better off for it?
We think...but can we simply ‘be’?
If I hadn’t thought...could I have written this?
But then, would I need to?
And if I didn’t write...what would I ‘be’?
The more I write...the more I think...how many of us have thought and worried...and in so doing had reached their dreams?
Avi