Hopelessly Hopeful

He:  I am an atheist. She:  Should that concern me? He:  Only if you are the religious types. She:  And, what if I am. He:  Too bad, we could have been friends. She:  So you make friends based on their belief in God! He:  Hmm, not really, it is just convenient to have friends who would not blame God for their miseries, for their inefficiencies and luckless lives. She:  Are you a believer of  karma  then? He:  No, I just believe in myself. I only know me. She:  Really, who are you? He:  That’s not hard to define. Besides the usual stuff that my resume states, I am someone who is completely focused on my goal. She:  What is your goal? He:  You ask too many questions, but I don’t mind answering this one. My goal is to build a log cabin high up in a lonely mountain. She:  You don’t want to be disturbed is it? He:  Yeah, besides that’s the only way to move away from this din of human existence. She:  Escaping from life or situations could never be an answer

You may deceive the entire world, but how would you ever be able to deceive your own self, your own heart? A question you may often ask, but prefer not to answer. That's the dichotomy of life. Peace prevails when this duality collapses, and that happens only within you, because it’s you who creates your own reality, your own duality. The other reflects back what we are thinking, what we are within, mirrors ourselves, our thoughts. Expand your thoughts, your horizon and there you would see/find what you always sought in your life. As the great Bard once said... This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!

“I do not intend to pain you anymore," she said looking into his eyes. “I never thought that I will ever be the cause of your pain and if my behaviour makes you sulk more, makes you more cocooned and reclusive, I think it is better that I no longer be a part of your life. You no longer need to worry about me. Just go and live your life, like the way you always wanted to. This should not change anything,” she continued. “What about you?” he asked, concerned. “Don’t feel guilty for me. Life is too short to live in guilt. I have found my path. I know where it leads to. No, I won’t lie. It would pain me, immensely. But it’s ok, as long as you are happy, I am happy too. Just promise me that you would be happy,” she said with tears brimming in her eyes. She amassed the courage to continue, "You know, some relations are never meant to be and this is one such. Wish it could have been." That’s all she could say and left the restaurant knowing now there is no turning b

When we detach from the past it creates a vacuum inside, as we hold on to our pasts in  a guarding manner. Suddenly, we have nothing to fall back upon. Our personal history has all of a sudden obliterated. Does that cause anxiety? Or the need to fill it up again with those memories? No, it creates uneasiness, but not anxiety or the need to fill it back again. However, it does create certain nothingness inside, a gaping hole, though in a comforting way. I don’t really know how to define this. Reminds me something that I read in Paulo Coelho's 'The Zahir'. ----- “According to the tradition of the steppes – which is known as the Tengri – in order to live fully, it is necessary to be in constant movement; only then can each day be different from the last. When they passed through cities, the nomads would thing: The poor people who live here, for them everything is always the same. The people in the cities probably looked at the nomads and thought: Poor things, they hav

I saw a few images through a cracked mirror, a few lives, a few stories, and tried to interpret them below: Boy, girl and the mountain: He is the literary kind, values education and loves intelligent people. She is the carefree ( bindaas ) kind, hates studies and loves to party. He wants to marry her, but there is a clash of values. He is trying, but is she? Lovelorn: He is a brat, a brat who got everything in life easily. She is a brat, a brat who got everything even before asking. They are perfect for each other, then why love is hammering him down? Man and his house: He is a responsible man. He wants to keep his family happy, his house safe and him richer. He had to leave home to earn money and fame, then why is he downcast? Girl without eyes: She is from a broken home. The old lady brought her up, but now she is gone. Will someone ever give her back the brightness of her eyes? Three figures and two shadows: He always looks up to his dad. He is his superhero. His shadow

Bread is life. Without bread, I, for sure would have starved to death. I am not sure if I can ever manage without bread. Interestingly, my love for bread is not because I am overtly fond of this baked lump of dough. Instead, it has everything to do with me being lazy and not someone who likes to cook. So, when hungry, the perfect wholesome food is bread. The base is perfect for a sandwich, bread omelette, bread jam et al. And, if I feel a bit adventurous, then maybe bread pakora  (deep fried bread dipped in gram flour mix) or french toast. Beyond the basics, I prefer not to experiment. After all, why bother when you have food ordering apps such as Food Panda and Swiggy spoiling you for choices. Open, tap, tap, tap and tap, and you are done. Name any cuisine and it's delivered at your doorstep. Yes, it's not too healthy to order in every day, and that's why for people like us bread is a saviour. Plus, there are too many variants these days as well - multigrain, milk

"April is the cruellest month." That's what T.S. Eliot had once said famously, and I often wondered why? How could April, the month that ushers the beautiful season of spring could be a cruel month? Frankly, I still don't know the answer, but there is something about April that makes it a melancholic playmate you don't want to mess with. It is the month that lets you tear through your layers of clothing to bare your body to the onslaught of summer sun (i.e. if you are living in the northern hemisphere). In the south, it's the beginning of  harsh winters. It seems as if April is that 'impasse' from where things just go to an extreme. In the north, you get to enjoy nature at its full bloom, with cheery blossoms, amaltas, pansies, lilies,  tulips and many more love bombing Mother Earth, sometimes just for a few weeks. It's like the illusion of romantic love, that starts with the quickening of hearts, blinding your souls and then rapidly d

They say ‘there is no purpose to life’. You just exist and that’s all. Living without a purpose is depressing, emptying your mind of everything is scary. You seek validation for your existence, whether it is through your work or family, there is something, some life story that validates that you are alive. Even people who profess about the purposelessness of life are also living a life of purpose. When they ask you to be mindful or focus on your breath to be present in the moment, they are giving you a purpose.   Each day, at every moment, even in your sleep, you are fulfilling a purpose, which could be as mundane as wearing a sock. Your mere existence has a purpose. That is, to live this life. And, while you are at it, live it in a manner that gives you happiness. And, what makes you happy? Believe it or not, happiness, a form of content, comes when you make someone else happy. Next question, how do you make another happy? Easy, just by being kind, compassionate an