The mist looks both beautiful and sad. An etheral heavenly curtain falls, milky and hazy... soft and dull is the day. A woe unknown is twisting a forlorn heart. Its day, but all day is night and time is still for a famished bosom.
Come, read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day.
Not from the grand old masters,
Not from the bards sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of Time.
For, like strains of martial music,
Their mighty thoughts suggest
Life’s endless toil and endeavor;
And to-night I long for rest.
Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,
As showers from the clouds of summer,
Or tears from the eyelids start;
Who, through long days of labor,
And nights devoid of ease,
Still heard in his soul the music
Of wonderful melodies.
Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,
And come like the benediction
That follows after prayer.
Then read from the treasured volume
The poem of thy choice,
And lend to the rhyme of the poet
The beauty of thy voice.
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Friendly resistance
You have a new idea? And what if someone bounces it off?
Its helpful when the person who threw the cold water is a good listener, thinker, holds reason, and is willing to concede to a valid argument. Being with people who think exactly alike has its perks but sometimes distorts the reality. The act of disagreeing is essential to identify problems, provide contrary perspectives, consider alternatives and make changes. Like the two sides of a coin, agreement and disagreement is both beneficial and painful.
“When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I'll like it or not. Disagreement, at this stage, stimulates me. But once a decision has been made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.”
Colin Powell
If you have learned how to disagree without being disagreeable, then you have discovered the secret of getting along.
Its helpful when the person who threw the cold water is a good listener, thinker, holds reason, and is willing to concede to a valid argument. Being with people who think exactly alike has its perks but sometimes distorts the reality. The act of disagreeing is essential to identify problems, provide contrary perspectives, consider alternatives and make changes. Like the two sides of a coin, agreement and disagreement is both beneficial and painful.
“When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I'll like it or not. Disagreement, at this stage, stimulates me. But once a decision has been made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.”
Colin Powell
If you have learned how to disagree without being disagreeable, then you have discovered the secret of getting along.
Monday, 27 October 2008
Today
What is philosophy? The love of wisdom! The first step to wisdom is to question everything. Well, i had thought that philosophers are just (great) thinkers! Einstein has said that, "Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it." Every man's work, be it literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself, said Samuel Butler.
Have you read before what Kalidasa has written about "today"?
"Listen to the urging of the Dawn, Look to this Day! For it is life, the very life of Life. In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence. The bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendour of beauty, for yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this Day! This is the greeeting of the Dawn!"
Have you read before what Kalidasa has written about "today"?
"Listen to the urging of the Dawn, Look to this Day! For it is life, the very life of Life. In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence. The bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendour of beauty, for yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this Day! This is the greeeting of the Dawn!"
Friday, 24 October 2008
Serendipity
A poem i loved since school days... did not know then that it was equally loved by a most dear friend. Is it then a coincidence that our meeting was just the same as described in this poem? It is when we steal moments to ponder over these happy chances ... that destiny's hand is visible. That secrets were put in our hearts to be rediscovered together... time and again!
Read on "The Arrow and the Song" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
I shot the arrow in the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
Read on "The Arrow and the Song" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
I shot the arrow in the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
Nostalgic escape
It is amusingly difficult to predict what flowers a child walking in a garden might pluck? Its the same with memory... we can never say what is picked and stored away in the pages of our lives as treasures. We might forget hours, days and years, but we remember some moments. Life gives us brief moments with another... but sometimes in those brief moments, we get memories that lasts a lifetime.
It is when you suddenly meet a good old friend briefly that you realize that distances never separate hearts that care. Getting back in touch with Tanuja and Indu most recently on Orkut brought back a rush of sweet memories from Alliance days. They were not colleagues but friends. Guess me being the extremely serious kind and them being extremely jovial and carefree brought a rush of lightness in my life.
My sister Priya and Vishnu making us go red with embarrassment as they had fun at our expense in the office lobby, group lunches :), the potluck every afternoon, long discussions, serious work... Mme Ashok - the terror and the perfectionist :), Anthony, Lakshmamma, the other colleagues, Mme Dargnies, Mme et M Faucher... all perfect memories... it was a great place to work. Sigh! It was not work... it was having fun at work. It was like my second home. The parties, dinners, flights to Delhi... always a festive mood... and all the fun people!!! So many people, that its almost impossible to write down all the names... A close network...all bound by the love of a language, a culture... the French! :)
""Back on its golden hinges
The gate of Memory swings,
And my heart goes into the garden
And walks with the olden things.""
Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life. But every memory of friendship shared is like a shower of rain refreshing the earth. Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, all the things you never want to lose.
One of the things i would like to do is a reunion with all my friends - from School, college, Alliance and Paris... seems like an impossible dream...everybody is scattered all over :) but someday years from now, we'll sit beside the candles glow,
exchanging tales about our past, laughing as the memories flow, and when that distant day arrives, we'll rediscover a most beautiful discovery that friends can grow separately without growing apart.
Do we know when we are making a memory? Life brings us simple pleasures and it is upto us to make them wonderful memories. There's a world of wisdom in our personal stories. Your life is a legacy, a gift that only you can give.
It is when you suddenly meet a good old friend briefly that you realize that distances never separate hearts that care. Getting back in touch with Tanuja and Indu most recently on Orkut brought back a rush of sweet memories from Alliance days. They were not colleagues but friends. Guess me being the extremely serious kind and them being extremely jovial and carefree brought a rush of lightness in my life.
My sister Priya and Vishnu making us go red with embarrassment as they had fun at our expense in the office lobby, group lunches :), the potluck every afternoon, long discussions, serious work... Mme Ashok - the terror and the perfectionist :), Anthony, Lakshmamma, the other colleagues, Mme Dargnies, Mme et M Faucher... all perfect memories... it was a great place to work. Sigh! It was not work... it was having fun at work. It was like my second home. The parties, dinners, flights to Delhi... always a festive mood... and all the fun people!!! So many people, that its almost impossible to write down all the names... A close network...all bound by the love of a language, a culture... the French! :)
""Back on its golden hinges
The gate of Memory swings,
And my heart goes into the garden
And walks with the olden things.""
Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life. But every memory of friendship shared is like a shower of rain refreshing the earth. Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, all the things you never want to lose.
One of the things i would like to do is a reunion with all my friends - from School, college, Alliance and Paris... seems like an impossible dream...everybody is scattered all over :) but someday years from now, we'll sit beside the candles glow,
exchanging tales about our past, laughing as the memories flow, and when that distant day arrives, we'll rediscover a most beautiful discovery that friends can grow separately without growing apart.
Do we know when we are making a memory? Life brings us simple pleasures and it is upto us to make them wonderful memories. There's a world of wisdom in our personal stories. Your life is a legacy, a gift that only you can give.
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Gifts
"Oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away."
~Dinah Craik, A Life for a Life, 1859
We come from somewhere... wherefrom we don't remember and learn to call this our home. There is no surety of where the path leads to... you just know that you are on it...because you wanted. And so we walk, excited to discover new sights, new sounds, new vistas...unafraid. To find friends then...like gems...rare, blemishless is indeed a blessing from the heavens. Friendship is an attachment by feelings of affection, devoid of hostility, selfishness or personal gain.
The best, a person you value and trust can do for you is to be true and non-judgemental. But, in a cut-throat, fast paced world, it is wrong to expect a friend in everyone you meet, although you can set your standards to be a friend. Most of us could probably relate to experiences where the people we love, who we learned to trust and depend on... hurt us knowingly or unknowingly. But it has been so for centuries... since the beginning... it exists even in nature if you observe. Termed as the fight for survival! Over time, some experiences cloak us with impurities and dust. But the first glimpse of a fresh spring is too tempting to resist and we let the coolness wash away and purify our souls.
Maybe the higher power cuts and polishes the gem in us this way. And oh! it is a blessing to have a true friend by your side... to share the misty path.
This is my sweet spot...u'll find me here... feet dangled in the flowing spring waters, eyes raised to a travelling sunbeam... to catch again the sight of the first kiss from the sun to the earth.
~Dinah Craik, A Life for a Life, 1859
We come from somewhere... wherefrom we don't remember and learn to call this our home. There is no surety of where the path leads to... you just know that you are on it...because you wanted. And so we walk, excited to discover new sights, new sounds, new vistas...unafraid. To find friends then...like gems...rare, blemishless is indeed a blessing from the heavens. Friendship is an attachment by feelings of affection, devoid of hostility, selfishness or personal gain.
The best, a person you value and trust can do for you is to be true and non-judgemental. But, in a cut-throat, fast paced world, it is wrong to expect a friend in everyone you meet, although you can set your standards to be a friend. Most of us could probably relate to experiences where the people we love, who we learned to trust and depend on... hurt us knowingly or unknowingly. But it has been so for centuries... since the beginning... it exists even in nature if you observe. Termed as the fight for survival! Over time, some experiences cloak us with impurities and dust. But the first glimpse of a fresh spring is too tempting to resist and we let the coolness wash away and purify our souls.
Maybe the higher power cuts and polishes the gem in us this way. And oh! it is a blessing to have a true friend by your side... to share the misty path.
This is my sweet spot...u'll find me here... feet dangled in the flowing spring waters, eyes raised to a travelling sunbeam... to catch again the sight of the first kiss from the sun to the earth.
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