Serendipity

31st March : I still aspire to be a globetrotter. As a kid, my favorite reply to the question 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' was 'A vagabond'. I don't remember clearly but it might have been inspired to some extent from the celebrated poem by Sir Robert Louis Stevenson of the same name. Childhood fantasies die hard. I am trying my hand at travel writing now. Someday when I shall apply for such a job, all this stuff would go into that CV! Anyway, there I was at Riga, Latvia, tucked away on the shores of the Baltic sea, with that particular feature that enthralls me foremost about any place - a quaint old-world charm. We had about five hours to roam about Riga before getting back to the ship for the return sail. I had done a bit of homework and armed with maps picked up from the reception desk of the ship (the helpful guy even marking some of the tourist spots), was all set to take a walking tour. And as in Stockholm, the Old Town was the focal point...

 Hmmm, the title threatens to grow longer than the post itself! Well, just wanted to stick to the 'My Sweden Story' theme, have got into a little flow, so to speak. 30th March -Setting sail! A cruise across the Baltic, aboard a luxury liner called the M/S Romantika, with a Spanish Fiesta theme, to a city with a moniker of  'Little Paris' - it was fabuloso to say the very least! The cruise to Riga was a spur-of-the-moment impulsive decision, (the kind I am always afraid to make by worrying too much about the consequences), then I almost backed out at the last moment (which is actually more like me) scared by gloomy skies, threatening weather forecasts, and the frightening memories of sea-sickness from the last time. And then, it was back to being spontaneous and impulsive! Wow, I was really surprising myself. On way to the Frihamnen port, as the metro passed by Gamla Stan, it was blue skies and white clouds suddenly, and with it the lifting of spirits. Reac...

People and places ~ the essence of a new life experience. "Each of us has a story of our own. When we meet different people at the various turns of  life, their stories become entwined to ours and they become a part of our stories too.", a rough representation of the dialogues in some movie that I had once watched. Stockholm has been such a wonderful experience in that regard. There will be lots of memories that I will carry in my heart always. Solitary walks by the buildings of the Old Town, through the narrow cobble stoned streets, watching the radiant colors of the skies, sitting on the benches by the waters as the lights of the city twinkled all around, feeling the wind on my face while listening to the cries of the seagulls...I could go on and on. These rendezvous make me feel strangely calm from within, its an indescribable feeling, I find myself smiling for no apparent season other than the fact that I feel truly alive and happy, rid of all negativity. There are ...

19th January 2012: It is nine days short of three months that I have been here and I have not yet written down a single word. So much for my resolution to pen a memoir of my Swedish Sonata. But here I am finally and it is this first step which demands the maximum effort. For I have seen time and again, that once I cross this major hurdle of penning the first sentence, I,kind of, rediscover the flow. Hopefully I haven't lost that touch. Also, as always, my memory which is pretty much cent per cent accurate when it comes to all things apart from studies and now office work, will help me out here. So.. "Let's start at the very beginning...a very good place to start.." 29th October 2011...a date to remember. I was scared, nervous, excited, jittery, apprehensive and homesick even before leaving home. I was going through such a gamut of emotions once my travel date was finalized. It was indeed a restless period. This was one huge step for me - moving out of home, bein...

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...