Remembrance

When we look at our bygone years, we often say, 'Well, I am wiser now, I will not be repeating those mistakes'. But, do we ever say, 'Good that I made that mistake, I am wiser now because of it'.  As clichéd as the saying might be, it is also true - We learn from our mistakes. Yes, we all do, however, how many of us are really ready to make a mistake? How many of us could say, 'Let's do it, let's take the risk, I might be making a huge mistake, I may fail, but who cares, I would not know if it would be a mistake if I don't do it at the first place!'  We live our lives conditioned around so many factors - our family, peers, friends, society et al. There aren't any scope for mistakes, for failures, we want to blend in and not stand out. So, everyone is taught how to run the race and try and stay ahead of everyone else. Fun part is, this race never ends, we just keep running. And, then we stumble, just like everyone else. That's when we realise ...

Life could be harsh, but at times some things make it worth going through the trite of 'living' it. A rainy Sunday evening spent with your favorite yellowed book, earmarked at several places, reading it again brought different emotions & perspective that you did not feel the first time you read it.  A long-forgotten song that suddenly plays in the car radio while you are stressed out to reach to your next meeting on time, bringing the deluge of memories you shared with your friends in school/college never worrying about a dime in the world. A tenner in your jeans pocket that had been washed & ironed, & you find it just when you are short of a tenner. A poem you wrote when you were a starry-eyed young-thing & loved all that you wrote, & discover it just when you had edited your article for the nth time & still think it's not making the 'cut'. A discolored picture from your childh...

It's not black, Nor is white Definitely not the shade of gray No blues, no reds, no yellows either The myriad color that makes us - us Are colors that are beyond this realm Let us bathe, You and I In an ocean that is deep within Tide-less and clear The crystal water, shines As the sun sets in it Where is that life we seek so much? Where is that place we dream in dreams? Where is that where, Where it holds it all - The dreams, the colors, the water that gives life? Some say within, Some say above Some say beyond this world you'll find I say, why not now I get What I want for Now and beyond...

How would you define grief? Is that an emotion where you feel extreme pain of loss or mourn for something that is lost forever? In whatever manner you want to see it, there is one thing that is common, the excruciating pain, the pain that threatens to tear you apart and make you a walking dead. You feel that extreme anguish and often want to hang on to it, because somehow that grief becomes a thread that binds you to your loss, it makes everything real, that final straw that you don't want to let go. No one can understand what one has lost, it is deeply personal. The piercing pain is theirs and you cannot partake in it. But, you know you can silently stand besides them, wrap your arms around their shoulders and wipe off those tears. You know you can do that, don't you?

What if life is just about moments. You live in one moment and then hop on to the other, without any connection between the two. It is just a series of moments that you live in. But, we mess up these moments with our past experiences or future expectations. And, that is when the problem arises, that's when the complication starts. When you live in the present, you don't worry about what happened 10 years ago or what would happen 10 years hence. The simple fact is, what happened could not be undone and what is going to happen we have no control over it. So, why worry and waste what we have today - the present, the current, the moment to live in. From the Buddha to Osho, everyone advocated this mantra . And, maybe, with practice we can live in the moment, in this present time and soak in it - the associated happiness or the sadness.

At one end of a flyover, I saw men, women, kids fighting to get a bucket of drinking water At the other end, I saw sprinklers spraying gallons of water on lush lawns and gardens What do we need - essentials or aesthetic values?

"The moment you're ready to quit is usually the moment right before a miracle happens . Don't give up .” No one knows who said that, but everyone knows that it is true. Still, how many of us really hang in there – in the dark pit, at the lowest ebb, not giving up hope to do whatever it takes to fulfill our dreams? When the life-giving oxygen is depleted, the throat is so dry that you can’t even utter a word, you forget what hunger really means, that is when you are shown some quick fixes, some quick way outs. What do you do? Take those detours or still hang in there, testing your endurance, just because you have a dream to live. I say hang in there, miracles happen, you just need to believe in yourself...