Whom the Gods Love, Die Young

"Something it is which thou hast lost,
Some pleasure from thine early years.
Break, thou deep vase of chilling tears,
That grief hath shaken into frost! "

Twice in a span of two years, and the second one, much more unexpected and shocking.
I am talking about death...the stark reality of life which we all shudder to think of.

First my father...and now my friend.
I did not know I would shed so many tears on her death. Well come to think of it, I did not know what she meant to me. Not until I read, that she is no more.

Life is so unpredictable, everyone said...I used to think...so it is...so what...big deal.
But now I know...big deal it is.

In this age of technology, no matter where they are, people can communicate with each other.
No distance seems too big...nothing is too far...except........

Suddenly the realization dawns on you....the communication becomes one sided, you can speak, but the other cannot hear.

My school teacher taught me...when you sleep at night, make sure you bear no strife in your heart, for you know not whether tomorrow you will have the chance to settle it.
I tried to follow it...but so many times I failed.
I fought with people and slept...I promised to do things and didnt do them....

But her passing away, has completely shaken me.
It has made me realize, that in life....there are no retakes, no use of lamenting.
When the deed is done, its done for good.
She is gone...resting in peace...

I am distraught......but I know...I will be a better human being now.
I am sure if God took her away at 26, he needed her more than us.
She was such a baby, and I am sure must be resting now, in the arms of the Almighty.

So many worlds, so much to do,
So little done, such things to be,
How know I what had need of thee,
For thou wert strong as thou wert true...............

Another one

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/401360/freedom_of_life_fighting_cancer_in.html

This is the story of a woman I met for a few minutes.
The pain and the suffering which she doesn't show but is feeling all the time.

Peotess

My first attempt at poetry
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/370440/the_unheard_voices.html

Paradox?

Mrs. Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself.

–Charles Dickens - Great Expectations

Such a beautiful expression of how life can be miserable even when you have everything.Paradox?

More Travelogue - Bhuleshwar

Bhuleshwar is a Shiva Temple located on the top of a mountain- Some 50 kms away from Pune. Built in the 12th Century, it is one of the finest structures that have remained intact from the past. The inside of the temple is beautiful and cool, so much so, that the outside temperature had no effect on the inside.

The cool breeze, the mountain top, the view of the valley and GOD, it is one of the rare places that can soothe the mind and ease one in these days.

The carvings on the wall have been damaged, speaking of the days when Hindu temples were being destroyed, and if you take a close look at each of the statues, each has a story to tell. The structure of the temple itself does not give the look of a temple, possibly it was transformed to protect the temple from invaders.

There is a small door on one side of the temple, from where you can see the entire valley. As I was standing there and watching the view, I was wondering who would have designed the temple and selected that particular spot for the door showing such a breathtaking view.

The roof has two small rooms where the pujari and his family stays. And when you step out, there is a small window in the wall which has a direct view of inside the temple.

A place which made me forget everything - and which I will never forget.

Travelogue - Konkan

I am not a traveller. I knew this when I was very very young. Even after we went to a different city, I would prefer to sit in the hotel room and watch TV instead of going out.

But I think I have travelled a lot. And now after these many years of existence (and I will not say how many) I think I have started enjoying travelling. Not that I do not wish to get back into my shell quite often.

This weekend we went to Konkan. Nature at its best. For the first time in my life, I saw a mountain and a sea hugging each other, literally. It was an amazing experience and the scene will remain eteched in my memory for years to come now.

The greenery, the blue of the sea and the sky ; all had an amazing effect on me.

I am sure I will gather the enthusiasm to visit that belt again and relive this experience.

Life goes on…

At times I think, what makes us go on, despite all the hardships we face almost daily. Which force are we driven by, that inspite of all the troubles of life, we carry on. We just move on, unaware of where we are going. The Almighty has made a strange world full of strange creatures and I cannot help but marvel at the beauty of his creation called LIFE.

Life, in any form, is so beautiful, that no matter how many storms rage in the day, when we sleep at night, we pray that we may get another day!

Musings

When I was in school I had read an article titled “Kya Likhoon?”. The whole article revolved around the subject - the writer said that he wanted to write, but he did not know what to write. He went on to take up different subjects and explain why he could not write about each of them. In the end he had ended up with a 3 page article on why he could not write about anything!

I had laughed then thinking that if he had so much to write, why did he ask “Kya likhoon?”. But today, I know what he must have felt when he wrote that article.

At 1 am, with my ailing son in my lap, and the laptop on my side, I am dying to write something. Thrice I tried to take a topic and start writing in it, but lost the enthusiasm and interest in the subject after writing three lines.

So posts started accumulating as drafts as I abandoned one subject after another and I finally decided to write on nothing in particular. Why, everyone is capable of doing nothing, thinking nothing, saying nothing, so why not writing about nothing.

Nothingness is the most incomplete concept that has ever existed. Just like people claim that darkness is nothing but the absence of light. Similarly nothingness is only the absence of something that should ideally be . When we are not doing something , we say we are doing nothing. However, by doing nothing we are staying idle, which again is something, but that something is not a subset of the some things that we may call something, hence we call it doing nothing.

And by writing nothing, I am not trying to achieve anything.

Well all good things must come to and end. So my tryst with nothingness ends here as I go about doing something more concrete.