I live on the banks of the river Narbada. The river is lavish and generous to all her children. She lets you take as much water from her as you need. She’d never refuse you, on the contrary, she would love to give all you want. She cannot be called sparing or miserly if you […]
Lessons
Dear Parent
I read something today that made me want to write to you. I’d like you to imagine a crowded public square, filled with people. They are busy, happy, engrossed in their own concerns. You stand among them, unnoticed. You’ve just realized that you have poured your future, every minute of everyday of the rest of […]
Stepping Back
You take out your best formals to wear at a party and find them too tight. Dismayed, you decide to re-start a regular workout regime. You retrieve (read excavate) your walking shoes from never- never- land and dust the entire Harappan civilization off them. The steely glint in your eyes could slice Mt Everest into […]
Objectively Speaking
We aren’t taught objectivity in school, unfortunately. It is a vital personal skill. This one skill alone can save countless instances of depression on one hand and varying degrees of megalomania on the other. Considering how many life skills one is compelled to learn- after many a humiliating fall- after one passes out of school, […]
The Art Of Hoping
धीरे-धीरे रे मना, धीरे सब कुछ होय । माली सींचे सौ घड़ा, ॠतु आए फल होय ॥ ~ संतकबीर [Dheere- dheere re mana, dhere sab kuchh hoye, Maali seeNche sau ghada, Ritu aaye fal hoye.] Translation: Be patient O my heart, for everything happens slowly, in its own time. A gardener may irrigate his plants […]
Imperfectly Perfect
Many years ago I read a heart-opening account written by a father, of how they learned to embrace and celebrate the the Imperfectly Perfect completeness of their teenage daughter. The girl was overly emotional apparently. The slightest things would hurt her and she would either dissolve in floods of tears or blow every one away […]
Borrowed Feathers
The world will always be full of dreamers. There will always be mavericks whose only purpose in life is to jump into as many frying pans (and fires) as possible. Forever restless, always on the move. They infect you with their madness. They are charming and magnetic in their passion. Your shell of diligent preoccupation […]
To Be A Magnet- (Conclusion)
Continued from To Be A Magnet- (II) For many minutes, Cheetah kept silent. Tiger waited. “You do have a point, I can’t deny that”, said Cheetah reluctantly. “But that doesn’t mean we run down what we had. We too had bonding. We too supported each other!” “I am not running down our group Cheetah! I […]
To Be A Magnet- (II)
Cheetah was afraid of losing his edge; he had worked very hard for it. As the cliché went: Use it or lose it! The thought of losing his speed to nothing but apathy made him very anxious. He saw himself getting rusty and crumbling to dust. How he missed his old buddies! If only he […]
To Be A Magnet- (I)
Cheetah yawned. It was a typically drowsy, warm summer day. He looked around, utterly bored. There never was anything to do in this awful jungle. Once again, the regret of having to relocate to this dull place smote him. He sighed sadly. He’d had to relocate; there were no gazelles or deer left in his […]