There she goes..

Once upon a time, long long ago
God sat on his throne completely bored
Mouth opened wide, he gave a big yawn
and thought to himself, This world is a chore!

Calmly he pondered how he could bring

some sparkle into man's livelihood
He looked around his heavenly lair
and his eye fell on a piece of wood

He held it close and started chipping away
what he wanted he knew not yet
The magic of night, the splendor of day
He added them all, from every which where

Some spice, some sugar, some ocean's waves
a hint of mischief, and all the world's cares
He rolled it all in, and then bound it tight
He had before him, a girl shining bright

She smiled, she laughed, she was free
the apple of his eye, a woman to be
her beauty put even the moon to shame
but she often wondered, from whence she came...

A future I care for..

Like most people, I have been asked many times that age old question of how long i want to live, and every time my answer is the same: as long as I possibly can! If asked to give specifics, I would say a 100 years! Immediately the shake of the head follows, and the usual reply goes like, 'You dont wanna live longer than 70-75 at the most, because then the quality of life goes down so much that life becomes too much of an embarrassment to go on.' One cant really argue with this assertion, because to be frank it is quite true, and a visit to any old age home will testify to that. But then one day, while surfing the web, I come across this image, and my mind is drawn away to all the fantastic visuals drawn in my mind by scores of Sci-fi authors, and I can clearly see those flying cars, the robots, the awe-inspiring, blow your mind away technological developments that are sure to be a part and parcel of our lives in the future. My skin starts tingling and I can feel the awakening of that deep thirst in me to see and experience what science holds in store for us, what great advances in technology the world will witness, how man will endeavor to make our planet Earth a safer and more beautiful place to live in.

But then inevitably my mind is also drawn to how much we are affecting our world in a negative way; all those species of plants and animals lost to us everyday, as we ravage our planet to satisfy every one of our needs and desires. I wonder if future generations would ever be witness to the fantastic variety of flora and fauna that our planet is home to today, or whether the zoo would be their only peek into the Earth that once was. I am conflicted now, at once drawn to see the wonders that science surely has in store for us,

and also repelled by how ugly and artificial that future world might be. For truly, is there anything more beautiful than a humpback whale breaching the surface of the sea? Is there any sound our musical instruments can make that can match the beauty of a songbird breaking into song at the onset of a new spring day? It would truly be a tragedy if in the pursuit of better lives for ourselves, we make the diversity and beauty of our planet a mere sacrifice at the altar of scientific development.

So when people say that a long life has only senility and lack of self respect at the end of it, that doesn't really scare me at all. What truly scares me is that one day, I might be witness to a world without beauty, a beauty that only mother nature can produce, and we can never hope to even mimic. If this is what the world has to offer me, then I'd rather die while mother nature still breathes.

Endless

Oh! This life, such a tug of war,

light one way, and dark another

a world without, and one within

a love for life, thrown into the din

Fuelled by rage, passed down by seed

each' folly a son of his own greed

circling our lives, is the smiling crow

the same end for all, yet a long way to go

The silent river, stands as ever trial

whispers in our ears, cant watch us burn

dreams of beauty, marred by actions vile

regret is no friend, yet it misses not its turn

He who laughs last, laughs not again

Venged by time, that healer of pain

Scars heal not, wail though in vain

A love lost for life, is a hate in gain

Dance you can but all for naught

for life had and has not been caught

it slips and slides, and plays the con

when all is said and done, life goes on..

I am what i was, and so I will be..

What is it that makes man want to label everything? Like that oft repeated cliche says, would a rose not smell as sweet were it called by a different name? Why then must we first stick a label on everything we find around us, and then go on to defend that label as if it preceded the thing it represents? Did the name come before the object it stands for? Did the belief come before the person believing it? The best argument against this wholly man made concept of beliefs and culture is that there are so many different cultures. What works for one man may not for another, and so came about all these varied ways of looking at the same world around us. As soon as we are out of the womb, the people around us we so fondly call our family starts labelling us, with the label changing according to the prevailing beliefs. So an infant sucking on his thumb, and living on his mother's breast milk has already his name, his religion, his eating habits, his sensitivities and right down to the style of underwear he wears chosen for him before he has uttered his first comprehensible sentence in that prechosen mother tongue of his. In some cultures, if this infant turns out to be a 'she' rather than a 'he', then she faces discrimination for no fault of hers. She is labelled a 'burden', and her burdened caretakers are already hatching plots to get rid of her.

Even man's defense of his culture, his pride in its veracity and supremacy over that of his neighbours fails to stand upto scrutiny. Some people tout their culture as being supreme or marvellous because it is so old or is so steepled in history. Considering the fact that every culture, language, tradition, belief, custom etc etc were all brand spanking new at one time or the other, that every iota of history that we have proof of today was at one time non-existent, when people decry modern influences for corrupting their cultures, one feels compelled to ask these protesters: Were these cultures also not evolved from the ones preceding them? Then why does nooone bemoan the loss of those ancient belief systems that preceded the ones we have today? This makes for a very interesting observation, that culture is not and cannot be defined by those who came before us, but one may see where our culture is headed by looking at those who lead us into tomorrow.

All this stems from that eternal search for one's soul, one's identity. I personally find this to be quite the wild goose chase, because i truly believe that there is no such thing as a blueprint for humanity. Each of us sets out from a different lane of the race track, each endowed with different abilities, dreams, fears and so on. The fact lies unstated that though we all seem to be running towards the same destination, the journeys we all take to reach there are so different that trying to find parallels is an exercise in vain. Hence the point of a common identity, and thereby a reason to bond with our neighbour is quite fruitless. In this journey though each of us goes through so many of the same experiences, each is influenced so uniquely that we all end up as different as snowflakes; they look the same from a distance, but when you look closer, each one a marvel in itself. We must stop looking at ourselves as fixed entities, like mud pots, that have been cast in a certain way and are to remain so for eternity, and see ourselves more like wet clay, that can and is continously moulded according to the prevailing forces in the world around us. Those people who lament the loss of byzantine, magnificient cultures must wake up to this reality, that the only thing constant in life is change, and that embracing this simple but revealing truth could help us achieve mental peace.

Why am I here? What am I here to do?

If there is one question that has plagued man ever since he developed a consciousness, it is this
one: Why am I here? Entire lives have been spent in either the search for the answer to this
dilemma or even worse, trying to push one's answer onto others as the right one. Some people even say that we are all here for a divine purpose, that every person's life is an arrow with a head that points in some direction, and only by accepting fate, destiny and a higher power, we can truly discover the purpose of our existence. To every one of these people I say, "Shut Up!!"

George Carlin, a great comedian and an even better thinker in my opinion, once said that we are all here because the earth needed plastic! Earth didn't have the time to make it herself, wanted to delegate it to someone, and so she created us humans. Thus the purpose of our existence is to make plastic for earth! Laughable though it may sound, it is a revealing insight into the stupidity and enormous lack of humility on our part that we think that all the billions of galaxies filled with gazillions of stars in our universe and all the fantastic and unbelievably diverse variety of creatures on planet earth were created just to give us a beautiful starry sky and a nice place to live in! That's exactly what most religions make out our world to be, a place created by Mr God so that we could appreciate his supreme benevolence for such a wonderful gift and remain ever thankful to him, spending our lives in eternal gratitude.

I have a very simple answer for the quest for the purpose of our existence: There is no such purpose! Our lives are what we make them to be, our destiny lies in our own hands. Why is this such a difficult thing for people to accept? Then are we like boats with sails but no compass you ask me? Yes, its true that our lives by themselves have no purpose, but it is in our hands to give our lives a purpose. YOU, yes you, are the rudder of your ship! You decide what you want to do with your life. Since every action we take affects people around us in a myriad of ways, some of which we know about and comprehend and some of which we don't, it is truly upto YOU what you want to do with your life.

If you decide that you want to help people through your life, and take part in social service, then that could be the purpose of your life. If just being a good human being and a good son or daughter, a good wife/husband or a good employee is what you are willing to do, then that could also be the purpose of your life. One doesn't have to make a huge difference to the world around them. If you could touch even one person's life, give him/her one better day of their lives through your actions (or lack of them, in some cases), then yours was definitely a life worth living. Life isnt worse for the lack of a purpose, its actually better because then we all are truly our own masters, the captains of ships that only we know the destinations of. Like Mother Teresa once said, "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.".

Rules to live by!

Saw this on a website and just had to post it! Dogs are not just man's best friends but also great guides on how to live one's life! Enjoy :)

Dog Philosophy:

1. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.
2. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
3. When loved ones come home, always run and greet them.
4. When it's in your best interest, always practice obedience.
5. Let others know when they've invaded your territory.
6.Take naps and always stretch before rising.
7. Run, romp and play daily.
8. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.
9. Be loyal.
10. Never pretend to be something you're not.
11. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
12. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.
13. Delight in the simple joys of a long walk.
14. Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
15. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
16. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
17. When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
18. No matter how often you are criticized, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout. Run right back and make friends.

A good read indeed!

Whats your favourite kind of book? Does it have to be one of those gripping, edge of the seat, un-put-downable-unless-your-in-a-life-and-death-situation kind of book for you to get interested, or are you one of those read-when-i'm-free-run-along-at-a-casual-pace type of book reader? I mean that if you had to choose between the Da Vinci Code and the Great Expectations (supposing you haven't read either), which would it be? Personally I'd go for the former because slow paced books bore me very quickly.

Of course there are those books that are on everyone's must read list and whose reputation precedes them by a mile, Lord of the Rings being a very good example of such a book. Though when I read it myself, I found it too lengthy, tiring and making me wish that the whole bunch of good doers would get a move on for god's sake! At this point all the LOTR fans would rise up in protest saying that I had no real appreciation of the beauty and majesty of this extremely famous series of books. I would like to counter by saying that I have read other mythologies like Fire and Ice and Sword of Truth, that are big reads by themselves and though they may not stand shoulder to shoulder to LOTR for intricate detail, they hold their own when compared by standards of not boring the reader to death before anything significant happens.

So what does make for a good read then? There are other genres of course like sci-fi, thrillers, mystery, biographies, autobiographies, drama, comedy etc etc. But to keep the reader in me interested, the plot has to thicken quickly or else I'm liable to start looking elsewhere. Now there are some exceptions to this rule (aren't there always?), Gone with the Wind being the best example I could think of and such books, though not exactly a thrill-a-minute, still never fail to keep the reader hooked. A book I read recently, Anything for you, ma'am by Tushar Raheja, was a perfect example of the kind of story that doesn't give u a minute's time to think, forcing you to quickly grasp the events happening with and around the protagonist, at a pace some readers could find exhausting. But frankly I thought it was a great read and a great first effort by the author, for the same exact reason.

So why do I feel such a need to be kept on tenterhooks whenever I read a book? I completely blame our new age media, that has crippled me with a monster-sized Attention Deficit Disorder by feeding me more than I could handle since the minute I was delivered into this world of ours. Our food has to be fast, our news must be latest, our sports live and our lives itself a rat race. Honestly, does anyone realize how fast paced everything now is, how that poem Leisure by William Henry Davies is more relevant now than ever? Sometimes I wish I could take a moment to stand and stare, but everyone says I must run like a hare (not trying to be poetic). Now what was that old fable about the tortoise and the hare all about once again??