I’d like you to visualize this: It is an incredibly beautiful day. The air is clear, the sky is brilliantly, impossibly blue. Somewhere you hear the tinkling music of wind- chimes; it creates an answering resonance within you. The silence around you is deep, rippling with the shadows of contentment over a vista lit with […]
Choices
An Impulse to Excel
I’ve been lagging behind on reading the blogs I subscribe to. I decided to read first today and then, if I was a good girl, I’d get to write. Most times this game works but sometimes, like today, it falls flat on its face. I’m so pleased. I was reading away contentiously when I came […]
Not Just Words
Have you noticed how language- centric we’ve become? There is such an endless stream of words in our lives. There is increasingly less personal, face- to- face time we have for each other. We ‘communicate’ more than we ever did because we have a myriad ways to touch base with those who matter to us. […]
Beyond Salvage
Your garden has the exact mix of order and wilderness that appeals to you. You love it; it is beautiful. The best feature of your garden is a huge shady tree under which there is a garden bench. A rope swing hangs delicately from its sturdy branches. The tree is big and strong. It will […]
Life in 55 Words
ONE “Dad, let me take this summer job.” “What?! You’re just sixteen! People will think I can’t provide for my family.” “It’ll be good for my future, I’ll learn so much. Please?” “I’ll become the laughing stock of town. I’ve said no, discussion over.” The child fell silent, spirit crumpled under the weight of society’s […]
The Journey is Everything
Sir Ernest Shackleton was an Irish polar explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He is best known for what is now called the Endurance Expedition. The expedition more than justified its name. It was a true test of endurance. In August 1914 Shackleton set sail with a crew of 28 men and […]
Beyond Limitations
One talks about not letting one’s limitations determine the size of one’s sky. Like you, I too have heard the stories. I too have been inspired and impressed. To my own limited extent, I too have tried to emulate them in my own life. But no other story has impacted me as much has this […]
Not Enough Time
The Pareto principle (also known as the 80–20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% […]
Against Hopelessness
A short while ago I was reading a fellow blogger’s reasons for why she has posted nothing for almost three weeks. Of the ten reasons she cited, one of them was the climate of hopelessness and dejection she imbibes from the world around her- news, social media, Facebook updates and posts from other bloggers. It […]
Hippocratic Oath
I read a post by a fellow blogger today. It reminded me of an incident which might have turned out as hers did. My son was two and a half at that time. He and I were both suffering from viral fever. We had both been running a temperature for two days and were both […]