Life's Snippets

A tit-bit you hear as you pass by in a hallway or a random conversation that falls in your ear as you are around waiting for something; maybe in a super market or at the bus stop......does not mean anything to you at all. But more often; those little conversations drives the life and day to day struggles and efforts of that individual.

I am an intense observer; I look at people's body language, their facial expression; those convey a lot - about their fear, inhibitions, joys and such; combined with tit-bit often gives an interesting perspective of one's life.

Now! dont get me wrong. I m neither looking for gossip or juicy piece of news to entertain myself. This is all about people's struggles versus what they are passionate in life about. Trust me! its always at the opposite ends and they dont meet. The whining and the complaining hoping to get past the troubles is never ending.

One may wonder; all these conversations most times complaints? What about happy stories? Yes! happy stories are very easy to notice and deduce. Smile, joys, excitement defines happiness. Its just that - pure and plain happiness.

On the other side; sorrows manifest in many ways - anger, dullness, fear, sombreness. The talks are often subdued, contained and private unlike a happy moment where it is proclaimed. Been hearing a lot of such brief conversations off late. Or rather; I m being a bit attentive maybe these days. As i walk past them or as they walk past me; I hear those one or two sentences which paints a picture of their situation at work, or at home or in a city. Tells a lot about their pain, their desperation and the hope.

"How long would it be until I can start contributing independently? Working with him is such a pain!" - lamenting about a difficult co worker. Our job - plays such an important role in our life given that we spend almost 50% of our day either at work or doing work related activities. Our peers become a part of our life; and their behavior affects our well being so much. Did you know about "work spouse"? Google it. Woah! how much our work influences our life!!

"This is all show; metropolitan life, cars and careers. But each of us are struggling underneath. Whats all this money going to give us? There are times when I seriously think I should go back to my village. Herd 2 cows and be happy with that little I'd get but with peace abounds" - a cab driver's frustration driving in insane Bangalore traffic. I am sure he dreams of his village and two cows every night and yet wakes up in the morning looking for business to be able to lead his "Bangalore" life.

"Its NOT my way; its my mothers way!!" - an 35+ year adult living under the shade of his mother. Mom thinks her "child" needs assistance and help; interfering in his day to day activities, monitoring what he eats, when he sleeps, where he goes. The "child" just playing along.

Sigh! I could go on and on. When I hear conversations as these; I cant help but wonder how we are all so similar; sailing the same ship and battling the odds - some of us fighting the pirates, few of us trying to cross the rough seas and few of us trying to share space with monsters.

Gypsy's worry - "When do we play?"

Life!

Locks of Love in Helsinki

What does your mind think of when you see locks. Doors and cupboards secured with a lock to protect any valuables. To see a lock on a door or a gate or on an almirah is common. It might generate an extra interest if the locks are artistic or different than normal looking mostly used ones. But if you see normal looking locks on a bridge; serving no purpose at all?

The beauty of travel is that it throws surprises at you even with the most mundane of things and those wonderful sights you see and observe often makes you realize  how ways of life differ from one part of the world to other. These discoveries fuel you further to go on, explore and educate yourself.
So the locks. Locks - nothing is alluring about locks. They serve a purpose and that's about it. More locks, more security; that's that. So when I saw that bridge weighed down by so many locks of all kinds - colorful, rusted, number locks with initials and names of 2 people; announcing their love to the world; it was intriguing. Yeah; I have read about the belief of sweethearts who pad the locks and throw the key into the river praying their love survives...but I thought it was a Paris phenomenon only. Only when I saw at Helsinki; I realized it was prevalent not just in Paris; but all over Europe and in other parts of the world as well.

It seemed very simple. Lock the padlock; throw the keys in the water and your love is eternal and you'd be together forever. Rakkauden Silta – Helsinki’s Bridge of Love – crosses over a narrow section of the Vantaa river at Vanhankaupunginkoski, just near the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral is where you'd find many locks on both sides of the metal bridge.

My curious mind set off to read more on these locking affection and love. Such love bridges exist in European cities, the US, Canada, Australia and even South Korea. I chuckled when I read how these were accepted in societies across the world. While few municipalities considered such an act as vandalism and damage to public property; there are few cities which encourage visitors to pad locks. There is also website where users can send others virtual love locks :-o
Fortunately ; for lovers in Finland; Helsinki law allows love locks on its city bridges.

Why not celebrate and flaunt love in pretty pinks and cherry reds and candy blue padlocks :-)

PS : Originally posted on my Travel Blog - Bindu's Travel Diaries. 

Rain Tree

Standing tall with humongous trunk

Branches snaking out and wide

Green thick foliage of the Rain Tree

Among rows of jacaranda and gulmohar

The tree seems uninteresting

Does it flower? Does it seed?

Where is the carpet of bright flowers?

Like the copper pod’s bright yellow flowers on ground.

Observe and yes! They do flower!

Hairy pink flowers; high above the foliage

In large numbers. They don’t fall to the ground.

So; do they just wither on the tree?

Their silent existence exudes mystery.

Their leaves glisten with drops of rain

Do they house the squirrels and the birds?

No pomp; but standing tall….               

Love these trees more than ever…

Anticipating; their special powers to bring rain.

How do they attract clouds?

I wonder; Why is it named a Rain Tree?

 

Who is your true self?

A friend of mine was recently introduced to my blog. Well; yeah a friend who doesn't know my blog? I try to keep my blog discreet; for certain reasons. So yeah; the friend has been reading lot of my earlier posts. At times; he reminds me of how my views and perspective have changed. Now its kind of evolved; lets say; than what they were earlier. Thoughts mostly in terms of life, spirituality, love, emotions and such.

Have they EVOLVED? 

This is the question I ask myself. I would like to term it as "evolvement" rather than "changed". Lets say my views are evolving; am I now a different person? Is that disappointing? Well; one thing is for sure; words are not adequate to express why you think what you think; whats the background; whats the trigger. The outcome is what matters; not the process isn't it? 

So; maybe I didn't expose the background triggers and support my views enough in such matters? 

As children; we are not bound by any societal or cultural restrictions; we are unadulterated and thus express ourselves freely without any inhibition. Then, as we grow; we are bound by ways of the world; burdened with expectations. We get moulded into what the society expects out of us - constantly being judged and labeled. So much so that we become very similar to each other; imbibing what the system wants us to do; programmed to try and find success that is defined by the society and culture. 

However; our core beliefs and wishes remain; which we constantly cane and suppress; because being different means being rebellious. But lets say; some of us are strong headed to not conform to the expected behaviour and be ourselves. What does that mean? To go against the clutches of conformance, of duty, of responsibility, of acceptance? 

Some time back; I had a very interesting conversation with my supervisor at work. He was giving me feedback on how task oriented I am; how I should show a bit of empathy towards others and such. I was of the opinion that I am unique because of my nature; why is it that they are expecting me to be like "someone else". Then; I become someone else; not myself anymore. To which; he explained about "emotional intelligence" and "social intelligence" - to be aware of one's and other's emotions to get along with others and to handle interpersonal relationships. We also talked about how changing yourself is not becoming a different person but its evolving. Its a process. 

To me; its still trying to force somebody to imbibe someone else's qualities. Dont get me wrong; I am not boasting of my lack of empathy. But I have my own ways to show empathy. So; to be liked, to be accepted, to be good and virtuous, to live upto an image and trying to meet expectations; we leave our true selves behind. Our culture likes it this way! 

However; if one can lose the falsification;  if one can differentiate right and wrong, if the core beliefs are still the same; underneath you can find your true self. It requires going through that process; of embracing those beliefs sold to you, of adopting those traits and images that you thought is right; that you realise whats your true self. 

This would be going against the tide; being indifferent at times; being inconsistent at times. Lets face it; its not easy to be strong enough and keep up with one's instincts all the time; to be selfish and with all the forces of conformance pushing you without any trace of remorse. 

In the end; what matters is if you still believed what you always believed in; even if you had deviated and are deviating and realise that :-)

Funeral

Riotous red of rose petals,

sweet scent of night jasmine;

strewn on the dull grey road; haphazardly….

The steady rhythm of the drums….

I strain my eyes and crane my neck,

to see in the distant; decorated by

An assortment of flowers…. A casket

Peacefully sleeping forever;

Soul long departed….

The drums get louder; I notice 

Young men moving their body 

To the rhythmic pattern….

Its a celebration; of life and death 

Or so it seems

Celebration? I wonder…

More of a break from their mundane 

life. Dancing with ecstasy. 

Cheers to the opportunity…

Some are sober; while some 

high on spirits.

Celebration – of life and death? 

I search for a solemn expression; 

for a sombre soul…

Oh why do I think death should be grim?

What else should it be?

I then wonder; what would the dead have thought?

Cry for me a little; perhaps?

Think of me now and again; in joy and pain?

Let go of me in silence; I suppose?

Death….is a celebration. 

The dead is being paraded; like a deity. 

The life - celebrated; or the moment?

I would never know….

PS : Ive always been curious about why people give noisy farewell to the dead. The beat of the drums, the noise, the chaos, blocking traffic and causing inconvenience to others.....Would the dead person have liked it? I doubt..Also, whats in it for the mourners? I am using the word "mourner" here liberally. More often; I have noticed people dont mourn or pay respect; for some its a formality and a break from their daily run-of-the-mill life.

Virtual Bliss

Few days back; visited Apple Care to fix my laptop's charging cable. Being an multi product Apple user; I often visit the center for one thing or the other. This time; I chose to observe people around and this is what I came up with.....

On the hard milky white resin bench; 

I sit with my swanky gadgets 

Of laptop and phone 
Apple they are! Oh boy!

Awaiting my turn; to service one

tiny pin of the charging cable

That seems to have burnt out!

Curse the voltage fluctuation

But its just one tiny pin of the five...

Yet; the charging cable is rendered

Useless….

And now I am awaiting my turn….

Nothing to do but observe 

people. Every soul hooked into their gadgets;

Aimlessly browsing, connecting with their friends. 

The virtual world seems to be more interesting.

The real world is now so dull

With zombie souls engrossed in the web 

How to smile; long forgotten. The emoticons do the job well. 

How to converse; oh! Whats that? 

Bored; after watching the lifeless heads.

I turn to my own gadget

To capture my flowing thoughts….

And here we are!

An Oblivion

Were you

all there? Beneath the streetlights, 

as I stroked and smudged,

my beautiful visions,

like a violinist playing his violin; caressing, 

as if;

it were the supple hip of his lady love.

I was intensely, yet leisurely, 

giving a form to my imagination - 

golden locks, curly and bouncing;

in that dark of the night.

The luscious red robe, atoned by

pale of her skin....

The river lull; inviting the

dark clouds billowing up the skies,

She gently paddled her oar,

not a hint of despair.

Were you,

all there? Seeing me create an angel...then

I heard a sob, in the black of night.

A feeble cry of a woman in pain...

I drop my palette; in shock!

Symphony of colors dancing with the twilight. 

I turn around, saw you all there;

The darkest of the souls; 

snatching away my creation.

She was not an angel in red robe..

It was a

dark shadow drenched with my blood.

And as I closed my eyes; I saw her - 

Sneering at me. 

PS : Sometimes; what you see or perceive is not what is real.