Random Musings

I always think that putting any major incident into words, limits it, somehow has drawn boundaries...somehow can be only as much as the writer can convey and no more... The 2004 Tsunami was, I think beyond words for those of us who were unfortunate enough to experience it and fortunate enough to be alive to recount it... At that time we were in Carnicobar, an island, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The place was breathtakingly beautiful and the turquoise blue-green sea and the white sandy beaches always made me pause and think how beautiful the surroundings were. More often than not, we tend to get caught up in our day to day activities and forget to enjoy the beauty that surrounds us...luckily, we didn't fall into that trap. Every evening we'd go out and enjoy the blue sea and the white beaches, which were just a stone's throw away from our quarters. I always found watching the waves very enjoyable, ...very serene...something very calming and soothing about their ba...

To truly love and then to let go...how difficult that must be, i wonder. That leap of faith i think only a few people can boast of taking...Parents for generations have been doing it without regret or remorse. Like a torch that needs to be passed on from one generation of parents to the other... From being the protective parents looking after every need of the child to teaching the children to stand on their own, physically, mentally, morally and spiritually. A couple of my friends have recently sent their teenage daughters for studies abroad...continents away. I know that the world is just a click away, but to send your 'child' however old for the first time away from home, i don't know what worries it entails... If my time comes, i wonder if i can pack off my daughter with the resilient fortitude that my friends displayed. A smile on the faces, a tear in the eyes and a prayer in the heart...What courage to love and let go...

With the popularity of social networking sites spreading like wildfire, number is all that seems to matter...the number of friends you have on your profile that is...It all somehow brings it down to a number...The more 'friends' i have, the more popular i think i am...Random people, random acquaintances, business associates, colleagues at work, sometimes even strangers, qualify as 'friends'. If we have only a few but 'real' friends, aren't we more blessed than those who have N number of friends, but nobody to listen to them or talk to, when they want...People too busy with their own routines to spare a minute or share a thought with people they care about... I used to be of the impression that friendships should be effortless, that communication should somehow just flow, yet, with time and age, i now know it differently. Any relationship needs to be nurtured, one has to make that effort... if only to make that phone call, or to write that mail, or to just ...

Solitude, Serenity, Silence...are these possible amidst a cacophony of voices, amidst a multitude of people. Can i achieve it, and if i do so, wouldn't i be in a state of absolute serenity and calm, a state of tranquility...a state that is achieved only by the enlightened ones, after years of practise (or so i've read)... Even if i do shut myself away from the voices outside, how do i suppress the voices within, the echo of the day's conversations, doing their constant rounds in cyclical precision in my mind...of things said and things left unsaid...of the work done and the work left undone... How i wish i could distance myself, from all that is without and all that is within...Does the secret lie in trying hard, or not trying at all...Will i experience my moments of solitude instinctively or by an exertion of conscious effort towards mind control. In pursuit of that solitude, i strive day after day...