Serendipity

Life is but an amalgamation of colors. Some bright, some a tad gloomy, but all contribute equally to paint the whole picture, the coming together of these myriad colors is what makes life complete.  It makes life an exciting adventure, a wonderful tale, a dream come true. The following is an amazing and beautifully written article which draws a sublime parallel between colors, passions and emotions. And as is the case majority of times, this is also a gem from the Reader's Digest archives. I am peaceful today, cool, calm and collected, as the saying goes. I am blue, the lovely refreshing blue of a calm ocean. Other people talk about 'feeling blue' and 'blue Monday'. But my blue is the sky making friends with the sun and cotton-puff clouds ; it's the color of welcome water in a heatwave. Red is inside me too. My red is not the usual angry red everyone talks of ; it is a happy red, rising up inside me like a great ball of fire, exploding into the ai

Like my last post, I will be revisiting another moving and beautiful piece of writing here, something that makes one pause and ponder. This came out years back in the Times Of India newspaper. And as was my habit back then, I had diligently written it down in my diary. Thanks to that habit and also due to a much limited internet presence in those days, my diary is now a wonderful collection of evocative and sometimes poignant little sketches. When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my garden. My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on. When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money and I look away. My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile right back. When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't have much rhythm, so I sit self-consciously and listen. My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the

A Clown's Prayer : As I stumble through this life, help me to create more laughter than tears, dispense more cheer than gloom, spread more cheer than despair. Never let me become so indifferent, that I will fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child, or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged. Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people, make them happy, and forget momentarily, all the unpleasantness in their lives. And in my final moment, may I hear You whisper: "When you made My people smile, you made Me smile." h ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clown%27s_Prayer I had first read ' A Clown's Prayer ' in the Reader's Digest magazine years back in school. To say it was moving or inspirational would be just stating the obvious. It is a little gem, iridescent and luminous. I had written it down in my precious diary immediately after reading it, and today, I am writing it down again in a different format but with

“Memory is like a child walking along the seashore. You never can tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasures.” This actually did come true for me on a vacation to Puri in April ’11. It was on a stroll along the Puri beach ( ‘ Swargadar ’ literally translated to ‘ Gateway to Heaven ’ ) that I came across this desolate mansion. An imposing structure, regal and impressive – quite a welcome change for the visitor accustomed to the sight of sundry hotels of all dimensions and proportions burgeoning up and clamoring for a foothold on the populous beach.                                                For the first few days of my visit I had looked on curiously at the house while passing by; the rush for sightseeing not sparing me a moment to inspect it up close. It was on the penultimate day of my vacation that I set out for a closer look at the house, camera in tow. The entrance had almost been blocked by temporary stalls, crowded with tou

Dreams fulfilled. Prayers answered. Smiles,laughter,cheers all around. Extreme ecstasy. Drunk in happiness, delirious in joy. Am I exaggerating? Naah! I don't think so. It WAS a Night to Remember. When an entire nation which had, for weeks, held its breath, hands folded in prayer, fingers crossed in anticipation let out a triumphant roar. It was a sort of victory where every common man felt like an equal winner, everyone had the freedom to share in that indescribable feeling of having the world at their feet. True it would make no difference to their mundane daily existence, it would not swell their bank coffers by even a penny, but for a nation which thrives on passion and emotions (which sometimes borders on plain hysteria) it was the feeling that counted. The right to proudly proclaim  "We are the best in the world", never mind that this 'world' comprised of only a motley group of twelve to fourteen cricket-playing nations. When each day's morning

The latest stuff on my must-watch list these days are Disney's Silly Symphonies. Being silly has never been so rewarding before! Brilliant in conceptualization,masterful in execution, imagination soaring to unprecedented heights - little stories and priceless lessons all wrapped up in a stunning parade of colors and melodies. "Adorable" and "Oh so sweet" are just a few of my oft-repeated exclamations as I watch these shorts back to back. For more information,anecdotes and trivia on one of the most amazing creations of Walt Disney Studios refer to these two links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_Symphonies http://www.disneyshorts.org/miscellaneous/silly.html Seventy-five different Silly Symphonies were created over a ten year span (1929-1939). I have watched only about twenty till now, so I have a long way to go. I will decide on my favorites once I am done with the entire series. However, some of the shorts which tugged at my heartstrings just a

"Life's greatest tragedy is not getting what you want but not knowing what you want."  I came across a dialogue on similar lines in some English movie few days back. And couldn't help but draw a parallel with my life, the way it starts off towards a destination, only to realize half way through that it was but a mirage. Previously I used to wonder when people complimented colleagues,friends with an appreciative “He knows what he wants.”  “What’s the big deal in that?”, used to be my take on such a comment. Don’t we all know what we want! Unfortunately, the answer is no. The road ahead becomes much more clear and easy to traverse when we have a clear picture of the destination ahead. From school till college, it was somewhat easy, though totally predictable, following some standard norms. Easy because 'out-of-the-box' thinking was not mandatory and one could manage to get along without it. Score high in the standard ten b

I did something quite crazy yesterday and surprisingly it made me really happy and pleased. I applied for some online writing jobs yesterday! I duly created a profile filled with sundry details, submitted it and then the site asked me to give a short test of thirty minutes duration. Fifteen minutes of prepositions,verbs etc and another fifteen minutes of writing a short essay about the country I had always wanted to visit. (I wrote about Italy) The grammar part was a piece of cake,the second part had a catch though,I had to judiciously use some prescribed keywords. I am awaiting the results of the test now!  All pretty normal and sane till now. Then,after the completion of the test,I had to list my previous experiences, provide details about the writing style I am comfortable with and the one where I think I require further training. My short answers to the above mentioned queries were ‘abstract’ and ‘objective’ respectively,if at all they indica