For me, one of first signs of loneliness is Half a bucket of water.... The first thing I do when I'm alone is to fill half a bucket of water and keep it in the bathroom.... as a contingency measure in case, water decides to run out on me and I dont have anyone to get me out of this predicament.. and as I look into that lonely bucket, I see only myself... I dont think there is anything as depressing as the sight of looking at your reflection in the mirror and realizing that you are alone in that reflection...
I always feel that the world is divided into two kinds of people.... People who love themselves and people who hate themselves.... I dont see much scope of people being indifferent about themselves.... Either you are a narcissist or you are masochist, no middle ground.... There is no harm in being either one of the two; as long as it doesn't become conspicuously obvious in your behavior towards the outside world... also, the way you feel about yourself is quite dynamic by nature.... in a span of moments, you might go from loving yourself to hating yourself... so what ever you are feeling right now, this too shall pass...
One more, rather, strong belief of mine is that it is really very hard to lie to oneself... you really have to be desperate in order to do that with even some degree of perfection..... hence, reflections are quite revealing.... in that bucket of water, I see myself.... and the way I see myself will determine if I'll be depressed or not.... sometimes I'm not.... right now I am... I did not wrong in the recent past... I have no guilt bearing on my soul.... and that's the problem with your perception about yourself.... it is hardly ever logical.... and even rarer to have some proof to substantiate your views about yourself....
This one is for you, Motu...
There always comes a point in all our lives, when we are more happy for someone else's happiness than our own.... It is in our destiny to be unselfish, at least once in life.... This is my first blog for a specific person, rather than a specific topic..... for a person, whose happiness is so tempting that sharing it just as a friend; didn't seem good enough.... hence, this blog is for a wonderful sister; in a hope for a wonderful life ahead....
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A very close friend of mine is planning to get married soon... Makes me think... we grow up reading great works of literature....Each one describing life in their own specific way... Shakespeare calls it a great play stage.... Shelley calls it a dome of many coloured glass.... we accept each view-point quite passively.... as if the value of that philosophy extends only as far as the next term exams.... but the real truths in life are those which are self-realized.... the best philosophies are the one you make on your own... based on your own experience....
Life is a constant change.... just when you feel that you've got the key to life; life changes the locks.... I feel as if I've reached another cross-roads in life.... a cross-road from where nothing will be the same again....
the future holds a new set of friends whom I'd rather call "Colleagues".... A new family in which everyone will be looking up to me for all the decisions... endless responsibilities, limited rights.... Less time before the mirror, more time before the exhaust pipe of the vehicle before me... Less movies, less t.v. but a life that will resemble a script, nonetheless.... a life where everything that could be counted, need not count and everything that counts, need not be counted....
This bend in life is at an uncertain distance for me.... in an uncharted territory.... but for my friend, it is more real.... more cognitive, more tangible..... and I am proud of the grace, poise, maturity, happiness and contentment with which she is embracing this bend.... We may still flow in the same course of life.... we may drift away.... we may cross path some day.... we may dry away.... but one thing is for sure.... no matter who reaches that great sea before... the water of that sea will be a lot sweeter for the river coming in next...
With all the best wishes for, Motu.... and in the anticipation of all the happiness in store for her...
Murthi
(Living in a constant hope)
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A very close friend of mine is planning to get married soon... Makes me think... we grow up reading great works of literature....Each one describing life in their own specific way... Shakespeare calls it a great play stage.... Shelley calls it a dome of many coloured glass.... we accept each view-point quite passively.... as if the value of that philosophy extends only as far as the next term exams.... but the real truths in life are those which are self-realized.... the best philosophies are the one you make on your own... based on your own experience....
Life is a constant change.... just when you feel that you've got the key to life; life changes the locks.... I feel as if I've reached another cross-roads in life.... a cross-road from where nothing will be the same again....
the future holds a new set of friends whom I'd rather call "Colleagues".... A new family in which everyone will be looking up to me for all the decisions... endless responsibilities, limited rights.... Less time before the mirror, more time before the exhaust pipe of the vehicle before me... Less movies, less t.v. but a life that will resemble a script, nonetheless.... a life where everything that could be counted, need not count and everything that counts, need not be counted....
This bend in life is at an uncertain distance for me.... in an uncharted territory.... but for my friend, it is more real.... more cognitive, more tangible..... and I am proud of the grace, poise, maturity, happiness and contentment with which she is embracing this bend.... We may still flow in the same course of life.... we may drift away.... we may cross path some day.... we may dry away.... but one thing is for sure.... no matter who reaches that great sea before... the water of that sea will be a lot sweeter for the river coming in next...
With all the best wishes for, Motu.... and in the anticipation of all the happiness in store for her...
Murthi
(Living in a constant hope)
of the clever and the wise...
How I wish I could learn from other people's mistakes!.... I would never have to commit another mistake in life.... I have read much, but I remember less.... If God lies in details, I guess I'm a little too religious.... I had read once that a person is clever if he learns from his mistakes.... but he is wise if he learns from other people's mistakes...
But I know too well that learning from other people's mistake is not a luxury that I am privileged to indulge in..... for me to learn, I have to commit my own set of mistakes..... Because that is one of the inherent characteristics of mistakes.... No two mistakes are ever the same.... they may be similar but never the same.... We commit mistakes in our own environment; our own domain..... and the environment is different for each one of us..... at least we perceive it differently.... That is why even twins who are born and brought up under the same conditions, turn out to be completely different.... each one unique in their own respect.... You are unique.... Just like everyone else....
Come to think of it..... if we cant learn from other people's mistakes, then how are we to learn from other people's success?? Because, just like mistakes, success is also unique to an individual domain.... what I may consider to be a success, may not be the same for you... The answer to this question has the potential to destroy a Billion dollar industry.... that of self-help books, motivational literature and for that matter, even autobiographies....
I can proudly say that I have never actively read an autobiography.... let me repeat, I have never ACTIVELY read an autobiography..... because I would never want my success to be scaled in a parameter, set by someone else.... My idea of success is different.... but it'll always be a success for me...
I do not wish to say that you are wasting your time if you read self-help books or autobiographies.... They do motivate at some levels.... but still, one has to succeed on one's own steam and for one to success.... one has to live with one's own set of failures.....
a Wise man is not an ideal.... an ideal is constrained by the limitation that it can never be achieved.... to be wise is difficult, not impossible..... this world is filled with people who are clever and wise.... and at different times and under different circumstances, the wise or the clever will inherit the earth.... it also depends on who is writing the blog....
But I know too well that learning from other people's mistake is not a luxury that I am privileged to indulge in..... for me to learn, I have to commit my own set of mistakes..... Because that is one of the inherent characteristics of mistakes.... No two mistakes are ever the same.... they may be similar but never the same.... We commit mistakes in our own environment; our own domain..... and the environment is different for each one of us..... at least we perceive it differently.... That is why even twins who are born and brought up under the same conditions, turn out to be completely different.... each one unique in their own respect.... You are unique.... Just like everyone else....
Come to think of it..... if we cant learn from other people's mistakes, then how are we to learn from other people's success?? Because, just like mistakes, success is also unique to an individual domain.... what I may consider to be a success, may not be the same for you... The answer to this question has the potential to destroy a Billion dollar industry.... that of self-help books, motivational literature and for that matter, even autobiographies....
I can proudly say that I have never actively read an autobiography.... let me repeat, I have never ACTIVELY read an autobiography..... because I would never want my success to be scaled in a parameter, set by someone else.... My idea of success is different.... but it'll always be a success for me...
I do not wish to say that you are wasting your time if you read self-help books or autobiographies.... They do motivate at some levels.... but still, one has to succeed on one's own steam and for one to success.... one has to live with one's own set of failures.....
a Wise man is not an ideal.... an ideal is constrained by the limitation that it can never be achieved.... to be wise is difficult, not impossible..... this world is filled with people who are clever and wise.... and at different times and under different circumstances, the wise or the clever will inherit the earth.... it also depends on who is writing the blog....
Happy New Year!
Everybody, I know, is going ga-ga over the new year.... there has been a flurry of resolutions made and broken in front of me in the last 3 days... Chain smokers 'deciding' to stop smoking... and five minutes later, deciding to 'go slow'.... Hybrids of man and sloth deciding to get up early... starting from 'tomorrow'..... over-weights deciding to lose weight and under-weights deciding to do the opposite... I knew that you would ask..... No, I did not make any resolutions.... I don't need the date on the calender to be January 1, 2008 in order to decide to do something (or not to do something, whichever the case might be.)
I don't understand why whole of India is going gung-ho over the new year.... I mean, we have at least 2-3 new years every year!!!... Tamilians and Ahoms have it in april (and i strongly suspect that there are more in this list)... Gujaratis have it in October.... or is it November?? (who cares, by the time its October or November I am also halfway into my year!!)....
The only reason I could think of is that.... this is probably the day when you can let out your deepest wish in the form of a 'resolution' and test the ramifications of what would happen....
Ladies and Gentlemen, time for some revelations!!!.... when an obviously obese person resolves loudly in your vicinity that he wants to lose weight.... what he is secretly aspiring to achieve is your sympathy and a word or two like "oh! you look just fine"... "you are smarter than everyone else".... "size doesn't matter"..... Think of it this way, if your wife/girlfriend/partner asks you if she/he is looking fat... how would you reply??..... exactly!!!.... you are expected to use that same diplomacy on 1st January as well!!
I do not want to be perceived to be a party pooper.... at the end of the day, the only thing that stands between a resolution and a success, is the will to do so.... So, there are obviously many cases of successful resolutions as well (although, I've not come across one so far)..... so if you are one of those who resolved.... and who resolved successfully.... then I guess you wasted your time in reading this blog.... this was supposed to be an ode for nincompoops like me!!!..... and for everyone who resolved and then absolved...... Let us firmly resolve that we will stick to all resolutions we make on January 1, 2009.....
P.S.: I know that its not going to work.... but like I always say..... "We all live in a constant hope"
I don't understand why whole of India is going gung-ho over the new year.... I mean, we have at least 2-3 new years every year!!!... Tamilians and Ahoms have it in april (and i strongly suspect that there are more in this list)... Gujaratis have it in October.... or is it November?? (who cares, by the time its October or November I am also halfway into my year!!)....
The only reason I could think of is that.... this is probably the day when you can let out your deepest wish in the form of a 'resolution' and test the ramifications of what would happen....
Ladies and Gentlemen, time for some revelations!!!.... when an obviously obese person resolves loudly in your vicinity that he wants to lose weight.... what he is secretly aspiring to achieve is your sympathy and a word or two like "oh! you look just fine"... "you are smarter than everyone else".... "size doesn't matter"..... Think of it this way, if your wife/girlfriend/partner asks you if she/he is looking fat... how would you reply??..... exactly!!!.... you are expected to use that same diplomacy on 1st January as well!!
I do not want to be perceived to be a party pooper.... at the end of the day, the only thing that stands between a resolution and a success, is the will to do so.... So, there are obviously many cases of successful resolutions as well (although, I've not come across one so far)..... so if you are one of those who resolved.... and who resolved successfully.... then I guess you wasted your time in reading this blog.... this was supposed to be an ode for nincompoops like me!!!..... and for everyone who resolved and then absolved...... Let us firmly resolve that we will stick to all resolutions we make on January 1, 2009.....
P.S.: I know that its not going to work.... but like I always say..... "We all live in a constant hope"
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