Idyllic Thoughts

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both.... Then took the other, as just as fair... Oh, I kept the first for another day! I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. --Robert Frost We had this poem for our degree English syllabus and I don't remember how many times I have read it, enjoyed it and pondered over its kaleidoscopic nuances. When I was young, like all I too used to wonder where the road takes me. I would wonder about the stones, thorns and flowers strewn on my path; the shelters I would get; my fellow travellers and how they would treat me. I used to wonder who would lift me up when I slip, who I would meet round the bend, who would push me further down the crevice. I had no hope that the road would be smooth; but knew I would not be afraid of the weeds along the way. I was not hesitant to meet fellow travellers; in fact there was a mild curiosity as to who would be drawn to me -- to...

On most days I thought nothing ever happens in my life, that it is dull and stagnant. Now, since three months, it seems life is moving too fast. I feel I am on a roller-coaster which is throwing me to its sides; hope I won't fall off. And I am happy after a long time. They say no reason is needed for happiness, but you need a reason. There is a difference between being calm-happy enjoying a good breeze and exhilarating-happy for a reason. And I am experiencing the second one, which I hope lasts longer than a good breeze. It leaves you dazed, smiling at everyone. It makes you uncaring for criticism and tolerate even the meanest person. Wish there were more such days in everybody's life.

When we surrender ourselves fully to something or somebody, be it god, human or a cause, it becomes quite difficult to tear ourselves from it. It is like a baby tearing itself from the womb of its mother, resulting in rupturing and bleeding of the womb wall. But does that surrender also make us blind to the outside world? Does the process of pulling ourselves away give birth to a new vision, life?

A Chinese curse says 'May you find what you are looking for.' In the same way, I heard someone say, 'May you be free,' meant as a curse. Freedom here means the availability of choices. And when there are choices, you are bound though you are free. You are bound or obligated to make a choice and live as per the choice you made, along with its repercussions and consequences. But when you are not free, free enough to make choices, then that is when you are really free, free to follow the single path in front of you. I am being reminded of this whenever I see what is happening in the country of freedom, of democracy. We have too many choices, and not educated about the good and bad choices. And we always end up choosing the rotten ones. Making a blind choice is as dangerous as not having one, and being compelled to walk on the single available rotten path. I just wish, we all gain enough intellect to choose rightly. And only then will 'May you be free' turn into...

As far as I can remember, I have been jealous on two occasions in my life. Once, when my sister was born; she was more beautiful than any doll, with the fairest skin and honey-coloured microscopically thin silky hair. Everybody adored her and I, being a five-year-old, went and complained to my uncle that everybody loved her and cuddled her and all had forgotten me. He said a golden sentence, "You too love her like everybody else." That was a lesson I have remembered all my life and when I feel she is getting more attention than me, I too bestow my attention to her and go to cuddle her. From then on, I never felt neglected. Another incident happened one day in high school when I sat watching a girl of my class dance. She was so graceful that it looked like she was born to dance. I felt I could never dance like her. It was a fleeting moment of jealousy seeing everybody admiring her. Then suddenly I remembered my uncle's words. I stopped the onslaught of jealousy and joine...

ಜೀವನ ಮುಂದೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾ ಇರುತ್ತೆ, ಯಾರಿಗೂ ಕಾಯದೆ, ಆದರೆ ನಾವ್ಯಾಕೆ ಕೆಲವೊಂದು ಸಲ ನಿಂತಲ್ಲೇ ನಿಂತು ಬಿಡ್ತೀವಿ? ಬರದೆ ಇರುವವರಿಗೊಸ್ಕರ ಕಾಯ್ತಾ, ತಿರುಗಿ ನೋಡದೆ ಮುಂದೆ ನಡೆದವರ ಒಂದು ನೋಟಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾತರಿಸುತ್ತಾ? ಚಿಕ್ಕವಳಿರುವಾಗ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಬಂಡೆಕಲ್ಲೊಂದರ ಮೇಲೆ ಮಲಗಿ ಗಂಟೆಗಟ್ಟಲೆ ಆಕಾಶ ನೋಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ. ಆಗ ಈ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರೂ ಇಲ್ಲ, ನಾನೊಬ್ಬಳೆ ಅನ್ನೋ ಭಾವನೆ ಬರ್ತಿತ್ತು. It was a wonderful feeling. ಎಲ್ಲೋ ಕಳೆದುಹೋದ ಹಾಗೆ, ಆ ಅನಂತತೆಯಿಂದ ಕಣ್ಣು ಕೀಳಲು ಮನಸ್ಸೇ ಆಗುತ್ತಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂಟಿತನ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ, ಇಷ್ಟ ಆಗೋ ಏಕಾಂಗಿತನವಿತ್ತು. ಭೂಮಿ ಮೇಲೆ ನಾನೊಬ್ಬಳೇ ಆದರೆ ಏನು ಮಾಡಲಿ ಅನ್ನೋ ಹೆದರಿಕೆನೂ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಂಥ ಏಕಾಂಗಿತನ ಈಗ ಹೀಗೆ ಒಬ್ಬರೇ ಹಾದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತು ಎರಡೂ ಕಡೆ ನೋಡುವಾಗಲೂ ಇದ್ರೆ ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿರುತ್ತಲ್ವ? ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂಥರಾ ಶಾಂತಿ, calmness, ಇರುತ್ತೆ. ಗಡಿಬಿಡಿಯಿಲ್ಲದ, ಧಾವಂತವಿಲ್ಲದ ಶಾಂತಿ. It's beautiful.

I don't remember if I have written a post about this. I am always surprised by people who love to sit in air-conditioned rooms with locally circulating stale air but close the windows when fresh, natural air gushes in happily. Why do they go and play in artificial water parks which re-circulate water and in which hundreds of other people bathe (in addition to releasing their own bodily fluids) when they curse pure rain water pouring from heavens and run towards shelter. They look at me incredulously when I walk in rain and one woman even took her child who was staring at me inside so that my influence would not make her child want to get wet in rain. I don't understand why people hate nature so much but love the artificiality created by them. They then beaming say that they love nature because they went to a man-made resort in the middle of forest for the weekend. Why do they forget that resorts are made after killing so many trees and destroying the surrounding ecosystem so t...