POV-Views-Reviews
Happy Birthday Nishita!
“Oooooops! I did it again!” Do Dragons blow out their Birthday candles??? S/W Bryce.
Being a member in ryze, a networking site, one gets the privilege of meeting some very interesting people. People, who enrich you with their thoughts and experience. People who amuse you with their humor and wit as also ones who open up your horizon with their interests and passions. But of all the people who are there in ryze, the last person you expect to come across is a 17 year old! ffice
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And the 17 year old boldly proclaims: “hey, don’t count me off as a stupid 17 year old with no business to be here! I am here to learn from your experiences, profit from your contacts, and above all, get to know people of great calibre.....someone I hope to be like!!!!! so hope to stay in touch!!!!!”
I don’t remember, as a 17 year old, ever asking people to share their experience so that I could learn from them! Was pretty much sure I knew exactly which way the world turned and why! Guess this one declaration caught my eyes. The writings in Nishita’s page gave a glimpse of her predilection to think and contemplate beyond what is presumed to be mere teenage concerns! Today, August 3rd, happens to be Nishita’s birthday and this blog entry is my Birthday present to her!
There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents ... and only one for birthday presents, you know.
~ Lewis Carroll
Dear Nishita,
Today is your Birthday! The day when you complete your 18th year on this planet! Generally this is looked upon a threshold of entering the realm of ‘adulthood’.
In adherence to your wishes on your ryze page, I asked a few of my friends, people whom I personally admire and respect, if they would have anything which they could present as distillation of their hindsight to you.
One thing we all agreed upon...what we had to say should never stop you from experiencing what you want to experience of life! Anything is information, unless experienced, whence it becomes knowledge. None of us speak to you from any position of superiority due to our having seen some more years then you. On the waves of life all there exists between you and us is a phase difference! We decided to share with you what we would have told our 18 year old selves in case we were to chance by them!
This is our Birthday present to you:
Kenda-Le Pernin
Do not fret over whether you are making the right or wrong decision and never regret the decision you did make. You made the best decision at the time. The lesson learned from every decision is too valuable to regret.
Don't judge nor hold yourself to judgment.
Love yourself first so you can fully love others.
Alexandra Sokol
Learn to laugh a lot!
Love each day as if there were no days after it.
Share deeply and love deeply.
Have compassion and be compassionate with yourself as well as others.
And when you are hurt, cry and then let go of it. Do not keep it buried inside.
Remember to keep the body moving and do not ignore it when it speaks to you...with things like pain or need.
And maybe too...always follow your deepest desires, for only then are you true to yourself.
Be flexible - life doesn't always turn out the way you imagined it would. Tragedies and triumphs occur and you have to learn to roll with it either way.
Love yourself - I've wasted so much time trying to please others instead of asking what I want. I didn't take my dreams and goals seriously enough until a few years ago.
Trust your intuition - I've come to believe that my intuition is really God telling me the best thing to do. It's infallibly right and when I don't listen - it costs me.
Take care of your health - Your body is an amazing gift from God and deserves your care. If you don't take care of your body - where are you going to live?
Create your network by giving more than you expect to receive; it will pay dividends later.
Create a gameplan for the week and for every day and cross off the points on your checklist every evening.
Avoid time-wasters like the plague!
Find one or two worthy mentors in different areas, who are willing to give of their time and personal interest.
Operate out of love and not out of fear. Fear is always of the un’known’! Thus fear always is a sheath to knowledge. Address fear with Love, and not the other way around!
Be thankful! Always! This is not a passive surrender. This is a commitment to be creative with what one has at the moment and make best use of it.
You only regret things which you have not done. Experience life!
You are never so poor to not afford a smile!
As this was a last moment spark of inspiration, a number of people have not been able to revert back. So do expect this post to grow some more. In the meanwhile, if you are looking for some more advice do check the Sunscreen song! :-)
May the Force be with you!
With love and best wishes from all of us!
The Cost of Conflict!
Cost of Conflict! : And they took up their erasers! SW: Bryce, Poser and Photoshop!
The Cost of Conflict!fficeffice" />
Being driven in an open jeep through a battlefront isn’t the most inviting of tasks…but one could be manning an antitank gun in the face of an armored charge! Which of these situations offered a greater chance of seeing the day through...alive?
The captain had thoughts whirling through his head!
A fall back had been ordered! The enemy had breached the front and moved within. As his subaltern drove him through the dirt path of the pastoral terrain his eyes scanned, looking for his troops. He had to warn them as well as pass on the orders to fall back. He hoped of course that he himself didn’t get caught in some murderous fire! Be it friendly or from the foe! But half his thoughts also dwelled on his loved ones...the letter his wife had written remained unopened in his breast pocket though he had received it the day before. There was just the chance that the war would come to an end! It had on the other front!
He suddenly spied the familiar Khaki uniform. Swerving towards the group of soldiers, he shouted, “They are here! They are here! Fall back! Fall Back!”
The soldiers didn’t move! Are they shell shocked? He wondered. “Can’t you hear? Out position has been compromised! Fall back” He shouted at the one who had the epaulets of an officer. The soldiers raised their weapons towards him...something was not quite correct...the officer took off his hat and dusted his uniform. The layer of desert dust gave way to reveal an Olive Green uniform. These were the enemy soldiers. “Captain you are surrounded! I ask you to surrender!”
The situation seemed unreal...no training prepares you for this moment! The helplessness! The surge of pride! The rush of adrenalin...fueling a desire to break free! The fear of staring into the business end of gun barrels at such close proximity! The relief...the relentlessness of conflict had ended, at least for him.
He smiled a wry smile, or was it a grimace? “Well looks like my war is over fellas!” and brought his hand over the Jeep dashboard, to show that he was unarmed, willing to surrender. With 20 gun barrels aimed at you, five of which were sub-machine guns, an attempt at bravery wouldn’t even last the attempt to draw one’s gun. A chapter, painful undoubtedly, had come to an end...or he had hoped so!
His subaltern, for reasons, which would forever remain unfathomable, lurched to reach for the sub machine gun lying between them, between the seats...behind the gears. Guns barked a staccato beat of death till the magazines emptied themselves. The subaltern was dead. Shot to rags. The captain was barely alive. A garland of bullets perforated his torso. He felt the surge of blood fill in his lungs, swell through his throat...sputtering out into a vomit of blood even as he tried to articulate. “The letter...” he gasped, pointing at his breast pocket with his hands, which seemed to weigh a ton.
The enemy officer rushed to him! They gathered him tenderly in their arms...but some situations are even beyond miracles. Fingers, which were only a moment back aggressively pressed on triggers, gently took out his wife’s letter. There was somebody in the company who could read his tongue. The letter went:
Dearest ...
I haven’t heard from you in a while and my only comfort is my prayers. Prayers towards your safety. Your son has just learnt to speak. He said ma! There are very few joys which parallels this...there are few sorrows which can match the ache of not sharing this moment with you! Of not seeing your smile which had won me over now beam with joy looking at our son! Of not seeing the sparkle of pride in your eyes when you would see him make his own attempt to stand on his feet! All these little moments of joy seem empty without you.
I know you do what you do for your nation, our nation! But if this country were to loose you, you would just be another number added to the growing list of casualties…if I lost you, I would loose my universe! Bring yourself back home safe and sound! For the sake of your son! For our sake!
I pray to Allah for your safety!
Yours…
The Captain smiled the smile which one smiles when destiny wins over all the dreams and desires. “ I can’t survive! Can’t survive this...please ease my pain. Please fire that one last round!”
Soldiers are not meant to weep over their enemy. Especially one who was brought down on frontal combat...but not one pair of eyes was dry! The shot was fired!
This is a true story. The captain was an officer of the Pakistani Army. The year was 1971. My father, himself a captain then, was one of the company of soldiers who had been his captors that fateful day. This is the story he told us...not of victories...not of wild bravery...
This is the cost of conflict! Not numbers! Not tanks and airplanes! Not territory! The cost of conflict is measured in the deaths of personal dreams!
A short while back, my friend Ilmas, had asked me to do an illustration for the cover of a report “Cost of Conflict”, a study being brought out by Strategic Foresight Group, on conflict between India and Pakistan! The image, which came to my mind, was inspired by MC Escher’s “The drawing hands”! But instead of pencil in their hands I saw erasers!
Since our mutual independence India and Pakistan has been caught in an endless tussle! A spiral of violence, of chicanery, of conflict, of one-up-man-ship! They say that there’s no more bitter an enemy than brothers turned enemies! And brothers we be! We share all! From geography, to history, to culture, to language, to culinary, to taste, to...
Looking back perhaps partition seems inevitable! Post World War II and the fast palpable and emerging cold war, there’s no way a geo-political resource rich area such as the British India with a nascent socialist leaning could be allowed to remain an undivided block providing rich picking to the Communist block with China already exposing itself as a communist country. Divided things are easier to manage...and if that develops into a fascination for going at each other’s innards, could a greater blessing be asked for?
So the two countries have remained, as gladiators caught in a never-ending fight! And each has provided the other a carpet to sweep much more pressing issues under! Women’s right and plight, poverty, education...the list could be endless!
I guess we can all look back at history and find numerous reasons to point fingers at each other and turn a Nelson’s eye to the three other fingers pointing back at us! I don’t think that the solution towards achieving harmony will be arrived upon by looking at history! It will need certain forward thinking. It is easy to blame leadership for the situation we find ourselves in but aren’t we the ones who have relegated our thinking to somebody else? To an appointed, or non-appointed to that matter, representatives? Don’t we actively remain strangers to each other? And its always easier to shout abuses at strangers! Heard recently of a camp for children of countries at conflict being brought together to less of stranger to each other by seeds of peace. And children from India and Pakistan were invited for the first time! But this is too small a step.
Can’t the creative thinking capability of both the countries address the issue of conflict? Things thought up by common citizens. Not by leaders and ministers!
Being driven around at 2AM in the bitter cold of a London winter, my brother could only think of how grateful he was to his rescuer, the cab driver sitting next to him. My brother, suddenly found that he had run out of baby feed at 2 AM! An eight-month-old child driven by hunger doesn’t care much for hands of a clock! My brother’s only rescuer was the friendly Taxi driver he had befriended a day back, who came to his house at that un-godly hour in the biting cold of an unfeeling English winter! Drove him around till they located an all night shop, which sold them the feed, dropped him back home and didn’t charge him!
The taxi driver was a Pakistani!
I too have a dream of the two countries realizing each other’s potential not through conflict but a mutual creative application towards each other’s problems! The way it is in the original Escher’s illustration!
I end reminded of the quote I came across in “My big fat Greek wedding!”
“Don’t let you past hold your present hostage! Rather let your past be a part of who you are to be!”
P.S. The illustration didn't get used finally! C'est la vie! Do excuse Typos, etc. Its late! I want to go home! Will correct tomorrow!
The original source of inspiration! Eschers drawing hands!
Live-by-wire
Have been enthralled by planes since I was a kid! And, in my teens I heard about a new concept of flying! Fly-by-wire! 
Pic: Boeing Stealth demonstrator. Boeing
Planes used to be built inherently stable! They have Wings, Tail, Fins...all meant to provide them with stability even in worst turbulence. The concept of fly-by-wire turned the tenets of building aeroplanes upside down! Planes are built inherently unstable! And stability is achieved by micro-managing numerous airlons etc, having a unique response to each moment. Thus stability was a result of choice of the aircraft own capability. Not something thrust upon it by design! Not to mention this technology increased the maneuverability of aircrafts exponentially. All the current and next generation aircraft are built for fly-by-wire.
While doing Vipassana, we were asked to observe our breath, as a part of Aanapaan mediation. While concentrating on the immediate area of our nostril, we were also to observe our thoughts and to try and keep any thoughts from entering our mind.
Now this was of course easier said then done. Despite numerous efforts, the sate was hardly ever reached. We were then asked to observe our thoughts. We found that our thoughts were basically of two types. It either dwelt in the past or in the future! Never in the moment! Also, all thoughts had either to do with that which met or we hoped would meet our expectations, or on those which didn’t or we were afraid that it wouldn’t meet our expectations! The end result was we were never concentrating on the moment or on what the moment had to offer! This endless series of expectation seemed to provide us with an inherent stability of negotiating time! Expectation provided us with motivation.
We have all encountered the adage: live life without expectations! This seems like giving up claims on hope and motivation. To live life in passivity, accepting all that come our way! An existence in blandness, for without expectations what would be the gauge of the pleasure of an experience? So how does forsaking expectations give us a Live-by-wire capability? Bunkum!
Let’s inspect a situation of expectation. Imagine yourself at the seashore...in the water...moving out...not knowing swimming very well...yet the sea calls you out to experience her. A wave comes along and you feel the exhilaration of being swept up high defying gravity. Lost in this feeling of joy, you are caught unaware as suddenly the wave hurtles you down...you panic, pray, struggle...go underwater and come out gasping. The next time you hope...nay expect, that the wave will be gentle...you will survive it...the sea will be kind...the weather will be favourable...a whole long list! But you are not the only one out there. There are surfers too. They seek out greater waves. Greater the amplitude the better they seem to ride. The exhilaration is constant! How might they be doing it different? If one were to find out, the answer might lie in the fact that they are one with the wave! They are neither bothered about the wave that have gone past, nor the wave that will follow. If they concentrate hard enough, this wave will also impart its present to them.
Pic from: www.sacrs.org.za/ecm21/ gallery/Gallery6.html
A common misconception with forsaking expectation is giving up desire! This is incorrect! Desire stays! Expectation is not to concentrate on hopes in the future, but be with the moment to steal from it all the gifts it can give. And if you get good enough at it, you will surely be able to harvest richer bounties from any of the other waves! Forsaking expectation isn’t a passive process! Its dynamic! It’s Living-by-wire! You have your desire, your flight path, and a faith in time to deliver. Now disengage auto-pilot and take it each a moment at a time.
In “ A brief History of Time” Stephen hawking talks about an event having a past cone and a future cone. A number of events in the past might have led to the moment (event) and a future cone, which might lead to various possible outcomes of that event leading to different paths in future (Chapter 2- Space and Time). Can one imagine the maneuverability one has of negotiating one’s life path? Now let’s bring expectation into play, and robbed off the event cone, as we loose focus on the moment, we are soon passing through a tube of events, not options, through time and space. We then have “Destiny”, “Fate” and other weather conditions come into play in the flight path! (Boy I put in a diagram too! :P Now am sure in to be shot down!)
The thing I like about cats is they have no expectations! No heroes or villains either in their book. Catch it by its paws and hold it upside down, it has neither hope that you’ll be kind enough to land it properly, not is it cursing you for putting it in a perilous situation (in contrast a dog would either bark or whine). It’s concentrating on the moment when it will be released and it will flip over to land on its legs! No expectations...just concentration on the moment! A cat always lands on its feet! Who said lack of expectation is a vegetative state? It’s the way of warriors!
Thus adding a degree of inherent instability is a part of increasing maneuverability! Live-by-wire! Planes had to wait for advance in microprocessors to be able to achieve fly-by-wire. We are born with technology inbuilt!
How one can do it through Vipassana? I think I’ll address it in a future post!
Partner V/S Partnership
Pic: Romantic Island by Ralph Fabri. http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/fabri/items.htm
One only understands the things that one tames. Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me. – The Fox, The Little Prince, St. Exuprey
Recently received another forwarded mail from a friend. It was made out to quite a few friends. Friends, strangers to each other, the common denominator between all, other then the sender was the fact that each of us were single and seeking to “settle down” (I remained intrigued as to how being single continues to remain unsettling...to all who are no longer single!)
The missive was one in similar vein to most management self-help literature (which is so readily available occupying prodigious space on shelves at bookstores!). It talked about how, by asking the right questions, one can arrive upon the right person to give up one’ unsettledness. Like most single digit steps self-help directions (writers have very low faith in the readers stamina! thus keeping the number of steps within single digits, and fill up tomes per step! This seems to be the modus-operandi for writing self help literature) all it takes is 5 questions to get you on the track of Mr./Ms Right and zero in with the precision of a cruise missile! (The steps were attributed to Dov Heller, M.A. A relationships coach, however being a forwarded mail I’ve no means of verifying the verity of this claim or the procedures)
Question #1: Do we share a common life purpose?
Ummm I don’t know about you, but I haven’t maintained a single purpose anytime within the last 5 years! At one time I wanted to be George Lucas, at another just settle in Bombay and be an internet tycoon and the next millionaire, at another have wanted to find deeper meaning of life and realize how important things like Family, friends, Love is! Now I’ve found my purpose constantly shifting! And I reserve the right to be dynamic! Thus, how do I seek out common purpose when I know my own purpose is evolving? Also how does another find a common purpose in me!
QUESTION #2: Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this person?
Well at one point I was hesitant to express my opinion anywhere. Today I have no problem expressing my opinion anyplace or with anyone. To me that’s airing my thoughts! Other’s put in their thoughts and that’s how the thoughts intermingle and get enriched! Therefore, a naturally shy person would find nobody to safely express his or her thoughts. Do they remain continuously unsettled? And do people like me, given to verbal dysentery have a legitimate reason to a wide playing field?
QUESTION #3: Is he/she a mensch?
Here I’ll quote,
“A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person. How can you test? fficeffice" />
Here are some suggestions. Do they work on personal growth on a regular basis? Are they serious about improving themselves?
A teacher of mine defines a good person as "someone who is always striving to be good and do the right thing."
Hmmm “good” and “right”, by whose terms? I know of a number of people, immersed in search of spirituality, good “mensch” material, but completely immersed in themselves! They make good partners? And what are the parameters of refinement? Demure? Stable? Sober? I know at least 8 couples right now hurtling towards divorce cause the “mensch” partner has had enough of being stymied to express oneself caught in an image they feel themselves trapped in. Now how safe is the “mensch” bet?
Ummm Mensch is further qualified as “There are essentially two types of people in the world: People who are dedicated to personal growth and people who are dedicated to seeking comfort.” Well, I must be getting this wrong, but wouldn’t people, who are firstly uncomfortable in the state they are in, seek personal growth to reach a more comfortable state? So how are they being different from those who seek comfort?
QUESTION #4: How does he/she treat other people?
OK I’m willing to buy this. Showing consideration for others shows that you care for an extended environment other then your own. But what if you showed consideration, because you wanted to be popular, cause you are insecure inside? Now do these people make “good” or “bad” partners? And in case they make “bad” partners, can’t they change around?
QUESTION #5: Is there anything I'm hoping to change about this person after we're married?
Ahh finally the trick question! “Change” the person. Hands up please for all those who say that they have remained unchanged for the past 5 years! Can I have a count? For myself, I can say I’ve changed a lot. In fact if there’s one constant in my life, its change. I’ve also found that people around me have changed. We’d like to term the change as evolving! To most of us it’s a natural process! But are there people unchanged. Umm yes, a few, but its very difficult to keep their company for long. They are caught in a cocoon of time wrap, which becomes very difficult to identify with! Now would this kind make great life partners? I shudder! I also shudder at the fact that somebody might actively want to mould me if I don’t conform, over a period of time to that person’s expectations! The redeeming aspect at this point is, as per the advice: “ “You can probably expect someone to change after marriage...for the worse!" If you cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then you are not ready to marry them.” Ahh finally we talk about accepting things...not impose expectations...hey hold on there’s more... “ It pays to be as objective as possible when you are dating, to be sure to ask questions that will help you get to the key issues.” Isn’t there a presumption that the issues, which are key, now will continue to remain key issues?
To be fair to the piece it does give some “objective advice”. My objection remains that the advice continues to consolidate a person’s fears! I also object to the mode where by a person, beyond you will guarantee a proper life partnership, provided you asked the vital five questions right at the beginning!!! Bunkum! How does it accommodate a butterfly still in its cocoon? An ugly duckling! We are living organisms for heaven’s sake and we are constantly evolving!
But it’s easy to debunk something without having any solutions to offer of one’s own! Which is more important? The partner or the partnership? Giving it some thoughts, I decided to look at Cricket, the “gentleman’s game”, to see if I could come up with some answers!
The Fine Art of Partnering!
A player could be the best batsman in the world, but what sees the team through is reliable partnerships! I guess like cricket, life too is a team play and a partnership offers the first scope for anyone to offer a united interface to life, to live beyond a singular ourselves, into an extended ‘us’. Having seen through numerous cricket matches and wishing for big scores for the team being cheered, I wondered if I had observed enough of cricket to get some pointers towards partnerships?
Here’s what I found:
Partnership is about understanding. This understanding is born of experiencing together and communicating. The greater the channels of communication are open and more frequent the communication is the better the understanding.
A partnership is built on trust. Of putting trust on the other and of living up to the trust placed on us. When we fail the trust we fail ourselves. Implicit trust brings about better response to life and helps change adversity to opportunity.
It’s not about proving superiority but accentuating complementing. At the end of the day what counts is the score the partnership put up, not individual achievements.
It’s about putting all you have in the partnership you are in right now, not the partnership you want to be in. For any partnership is essentially a means to evolve oneself further and a failed partnership always takes toll on either player!
It’s about being focused on each delivery coming your way, not the one, which have already passed, nor the one, which is yet to be delivered. But on the ball which is coming your way right now! It’s when both players concentrate completely on each delivery, not perceiving them as threat but as an opportunity. It’s about accumulating small runs snatched from pressing field rather than flamboyant strokes of grand statements. It’s about dedicating each action to the partnership not one’s own score.
It’s about playing to each ball with the focus on the delivery yet the objective at the back of one’s mind, not playing each ball to expectations of others. No partnership can withstand the weight of cumulative expectations! When you are on the wicket nobody knows the ground reality better then you and the only thing you can invest trust on is yourself and your own skills. If your partner performs too it helps, but if you hitch your expectations on your partner’s performance, the partnership is a non-starter!
The more one can play to one’s strength in a partnership and has the scope to be creative the better and longer lasting the partnership is.
It’s playing for a cause greater then oneself! The immediate cause being the partnership and the extended cause the team.
It’s about working for commitment over expectations, support over complaints, sharing over hoarding!
It’s about knowing that each is capable of highs and lows and helping each other ride them out.
It’s about not centering the achievement of the partnership on the other’s performance but centering on one’s own ability to play.
It’s about settling down and not rushing in! It’s about beginning with commitment and ending with enthusiasm.
It’s an act of will, which commits oneself to stick to the wicket.
It’s about realising that each partnership has a life, some extended some not but at the end of the day what still matters is the next ball to be faced. The next partnership remains to be built and if one sacrifices one’s wicket it’s the team, which suffers.
It’s of realising that the partnership can end with the next delivery and thus making the most of it from each ball!
When choosing partner, consider carefully the player’s team performance and weigh it over individual score!
It’s in knowing that a great partnership always provides one with a great personal score and also no individual achievement can surpass the victory of the team.
Did I miss out on anything?
I feel its important to provide the vital piece of information...I’m myself padded and sitting at the stands! All I have to say comes from observation and some net practice! Please take these advices at your own risk! More experienced batspeople are welcome to comment!
The fox : It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.
A Tale of a King and initiating changes!
Get orff my Planet!: Have always rooted for the ‘little guy’! The incongruity of a puny technologically regressed guy telling the Big Gunned Do Gooder Invader to buzz off!! appealed to me! But this was of course much before the Shenanigans in the Gulf! Done with Bryce 3D.
If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. - Saint-Exupery
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Looking at the happenings around us, I'm reminded of a story I had come across as a child.
It's told of a great King, in the days of yore, that he liked to wander through his kingdom incognito, to get to know first hand the state of affairs of his kingdom and his subjects. On such a visit, through one of his cities, he came across the city uncared for and dirty. Street corners were unkempt, the roads littered with rocks and stones, the gardens untended too. Even the city dwellers had slipped into poverty and the accompanying apathy. A complete contrast to the marvelous palace built for the city.
The king was saddened and wanted to change the state of affairs of this province of his. Looking around him, he hit on an idea. In the dark of the night he stealthily hid a purse of gold beneath a large rock and went away.
The very next day the King arrived in his Royal regalia. Passing through the road he came across the rock where he had hidden the gold beneath. "WHAT IS THIS DOING HERE?!?” He roared and before his awestruck subjects, got off his carriage, and moved the rock.
"My what have we here?" he exclaimed and lifting the bag of gold in his hand started counting out the coins. "The streets here must be really paved of gold!" he exclaimed. "Finder's keepers!" said he and with a wave of his hand was away!
Soon all citizens were shifting through the rubble, rocks and stones looking for hidden gold! As a by-product of their effort, the city soon start looking clean, and the citizen started then making a serious effort towards cleaning up the city. As, the cleaner the city got, the better the commerce improved.
I guess we could easily label this as a parable for cleanliness. But looking a bit further I found there was more to discover.
Guess the King wanted to initiate change. Things change more permanently and harmoniously when the system is induced to change from within. Imposing change from without might mean that you'll take up the job of an un-appointed janitor! Also change works best when it’s offered as a choice!
I guess the king could have always have ordered “I WANT THIS CITY CLEAN!!” But how long would the effect last?
Secondly, that which attracts us to something, let’s say a dream, is only an initiator of process. The payback might come to us as a result of the process, but from quarters not completely expected.
Finally, when confronted with a disharmonious situation, I guess we could go along and blame religion, society, governments, countries...what have you, forever! But eventually very little gets done and that which is uncomfortable persists till the point we raise our threshold of discomfiture to accommodate it!
Change comes about when all contribute in their own minor ways towards the desired result. Not wait for greater structures to implement change. For, after all, greater structures are reflection of the smaller units, which constitute and make it. Also there’s always something, however small, within our own sphere of activity, which we can change if we so desire! But these are my thoughts. Would love to hear yours on it!
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!
An ode to a rainy day!
Pic. provided by Rajesh.
I felt like celebrating a dull, gloomy, cloudy rainy day!
Most would have been unhappy on such a day. So, I asked myself, why was I happy?
Well, for one, this day was different! The one thing about rain is, you can't completely predict when it'll fall! Every moment you have to live it.
Second, there is a contended sigh that earth lets out, when its thirst gets quenched! You have to experience it! This can be anything but gloomy! It's against the dull, dark gray of the sky that the greens of the vegetation seem all the more resplendent and vibrant! A celebration of life!
Like stains, a deluge washes away appointments, timetable, schedules and other such structures and props built of expectations. Leaving you again with the option of living each moment for itself! Breaks the familiarity of routine into unfamiliarity, so that yet again you discover novelty.
There must also be a wonder in existing in the twilight of the clouds, for the illusion that is life seems a wee bit more dreamlike…unreal! And even while you battle the odds to retain your routine, the adversity in itself forces you to view the mundane anew.
And despite all these fanciful reasons, the real reason that my heart sings when there's rain are reasons, which are, well, quite indefinable!
For, what could be the reason for acting a little silly…getting wet…letting yourself hum some tunes, which you heart wants to sing, despite the lack of musical ability, just because you want to sing in the rain!
What could be the reason for wanting to splash through puddles of water…wade through flooded streets…smile at perfect strangers…other then the knowledge that the child within you exists and exalts!
Thank God it poured when it rained!!!
Pic. provided by Rajesh.
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