Just a Thought : Thirty Five

Where will you find yourself
If the mirror does not look back at you

Margins

Resolute and charged
The champions arrived
Promising an epic
Difficult to pick
Ecstasy and agony divide the camps
The end result difficult to fathom
Triumph and defeat is merely margins
Cross over the camps, blur the lines
Walk away proud and strong
Win or less, such epics are few

PS: Wimbeldon + CWC Final 2019 

Just a Thought : Thirty Four

It takes a lot of heart and character
To do the right thing and walk away
Despite every breath screaming otherwise

Just a Thought : Thirty Three

To fight your own demons
At times you have to overcome demons of others

Hope

Through the dreaded days, stormy nights, painful meetings and tough decisions that we have to make every day, the one thing that keeps us going is hope. Hope fuels faith and the belief of a better moment than the one we are currently experiencing.

Hope also sucks the joy out of life the moment it goes missing. The moment one realises that there is no hope, life caves in.

Hope is the elixir of life. 

Shout out Loud

There seems to be an obsession for deafening loud music these days and I simply don’t get it why. I understand everybody wants to enjoy, have a good time and dance the night away, but why the deafening music. Will the party become less happening or will the fun be diluted if the music is a wee bit softer so that the ear drums don’t burst?

One can’t even go out and enjoy a beer at a decent pub without some damage to the ear drums. A dinner out with friends ends up being a dinner with your respective drink and plate as having a conversation is equivalent to scaling Mt. Everest. Just look at this paradox: A leading hangout place in Delhi is called Social but the loud music that it plays enables anything but socialising.

I know I might sound like an old bragging man, but if being young is damaging your ear drums and going out with people just to end up staring at their faces because a conversation is not possible, I’d rather be old.    

Just a Thought : Thirty Two

Hope is the elixir of life

Why so serious?

A crooked path

An indefatigable journey

limitless time

And a far-off destination

Why so serious?

The path is gloriously beautiful

If you pause and take a look,

The journey is full of intriguing tales

If you stop by and listen,

Loads of time

To enjoy the journey

And the destination is but a notion

Don’t let it beat you down,

New Beginning

The gushing wind causes havoc

The rickety plant needs to be strong like a rock

Strength of the foundation will keep it grounded

Years of hard work will now be tested

Time has come to shed the baggage

Beat the storm for a ripe old age

Letting go of the old will lay a new foundation

The flower that’ll bloom will usher elation

Weathering the storm is a test of character

Nature teaches us, yet we falter 

Just a Thought : Thirty One

That moment when every inch of your body is screaming one thing
And your soul other
The winner decides the road less taken

Mountains

The scale of balance seems skewed
Negativity is gradually getting brewed
A sense of injustice hovers around
Self pity restricts to gain ground
From far away empathy takes a look
And finds a similar story in every nook
She wants to reach out and help
But realises each one has their own mountains to climb
Some large, some small
But seemingly insurmountable to one and all
A change of perception will turn the table
The demonish mountains are conquerable

Just a Thought : Thirty

No matter how satisfied you feel
With what you've achieved
All the hard work you've put in
A sense of entitlement creeping in

There's that one honest, humbling moment in a day
When you realise how blessed and lucky you are
And that one grateful moment makes all the difference

Embrace Sorrow

Most of us spend the bulk of our lives in the pursuit of happiness. As a result we shy away from anything that brings us sorrow or try to avoid those situations. As an optimist I would try to look at the positive side of all situations and drive away all negativity.  Putting up a brave face in such situations is also something that most “positive thinking” people would suggest.

Though this is what even I would do but embracing sorrow at times is not such a bad idea. Loosening the tough façade and exposing the emotions can actually do wonders at times. Just like yin and yang, happiness and sorrow go hand in hand and together the two can do wonders.

I’m not suggesting that one becomes a grieving bore, all I’m suggesting is that embrace the difficult times with equal graciousness as the good times as both are equally important in building one’s personality, character and “core memories”. This concept is very beautifully shown in the movie – “Inside Out” and I recommend that everyone should watch the movie.

P.S. :  Keep smiling as it’s contagious but don’t be shy to shed a tear once in a while        

23 years on...

25 March 1992, it’s been 23 years when I first stepped into the world of Welham and what a journey it has been. Dishing out something I wrote in 2003

The river flowed by

The birds flew high

The quite surroundings

Compelled a lady into thinking

To think of an institution

Which would shower perfection

An institution where a privileged lot

Will spend time that one can forget not

Generations have taken beautiful memories

Standing testimony to which are these long standing trees

The home away from home is truly awesome

It’s none other but a place called Welham

Just a Thought: Twenty Nine

The most drenched out wretched day can be turned around

By a heart-felt caring smile

Make someone’s day .. J

Jekyll or Hyde

The moment slyly creeps in

Drowning out all the din

The stony silence leaves you alone  

Staring at the fence

The illusion of similarity unnerves you

With grey on both the sides

The thin line in between is shouting aloud

Choose … Jekyll or Hyde

No Quid Pro Quo

I sincerely believe that one of the true tests of a person is the attitude of the person towards someone from whom he/she can derive no personal gain/ favour or towards someone who is lower in stature (either position wise, socially or economically). One always exhibits the best behavior when dealing with someone from whom one can derive some value but the true colours are shown when you deal with someone from whom you can derive no personal benefit.

The attitude with which we deal with our helps at home or the cab driver, the lift-man etc. go a long way in showing the depth of our character. The easiest thing is to get swayed away as one progresses in life but it's difficult to remember that at the end of the day everyone goes back in the same box. So go out there and be empathetic, even if you don't derive any personal gain. You never know when you might be at the other side.     

Singular Focus

Often in life we are driven by certain goals for which we go that extra mile. It’s like a dream which has been relived, practiced and thought about numerous times. It’s something which always brings a smile when one is thinking about it and brings in a fresh lease of energy in one’s actions.

What it also does at times is that it brings about a singular kind of focus in one’s actions which makes one feel that everything apart from their achievement of the goal is trivial. The pursuit of the goal can lead to neglecting many aspects of life and may take one away from the very things that actually matter. However, the realisation of the same is always a bit too late and by the time the realisation set’s in, the things that matter are far away and the goal very close.

A scene from “Up in the air” actually captures the emotion very well when George Clooney becomes the 7^th person in American Airlines history to accumulate a million miles. He’s been thinking about the day and working towards it all his life but when the moment actually comes he’s at a loss for words. Maybe even wondering if it was all worth it.

Maybe it never is, but that's a subjective call and I'll leave it at that

Just a Thought: Twenty Eight

It’s easier to stick to a moral high ground than take a decision on some of the simplest of things

Just a Thought: Twenty Seven

Hope leaves a bigger mark
Than an ideology can ever muster