Soul connections?

It was the first time I ever met her. She was just learning to walk with the help of her Mother on the pavement. She took little steps with her tiny feet that often lost balance and resulted in a big fall. Her diapers made her fall appear less dangerous. I adored her innocence and purity. Her very appearance brought an instant smile on my face. I just felt like lifting her and planting a sweet kiss on her cheeks. It was hard to ignore her as I passed her on the road. So I just waved at her and walked. But she found something else interesting in me. She took fast steps to match my speed and fell down as a result. Thanks to her Mother who made her feel better after the fall. But she did not stop. She continued marching towards me. I thought that it might be the key chain in my hand that attracted her because I had nothing else in my hand. But no! It was not that. She lifted her hands instructing me to lift her. I did it immediately as I always wanted to do that to her. She settled comfortably in me laying her little head on my shoulders. She then closed her eyes and began singing a soft song in her language with her mouth unopened. I simply did not understand what was going on. She then opened her eyes and looked at me and played with the lace of my dress. She smiled at me again and again. She brought in some joy unknowingly. I felt divine as I held her in my arms. Her Mother made several attempts to take her away from me but she just wouldn’t listen. She stayed with me as though she always belonged to me. She gave me the same feeling too as long as she was with me. How I wished to carry the little girl to my house and exchanging words of silent songs! But reality is harsh. Her Mother had to take some hard steps to take her away from me. Both of us felt the pain. The little girl reacted to the pain of separation by a loud cry and I couldn’t.

Showers of Blessings

There shall be showers of blessings
This is the promise of love
There shall be seasons refreshing
Sent from the Saviour above

Showers! Showers of blessings
Showers of blessings we plead
Mercy drops round us are falling
But for the showers we plead

There shall be showers of blessings
Oh that today they might fall
Now as to God we are confessing
Now as on Jesus we call

Showers! Showers of blessings
Showers of blessings we plead
Mercy drops round us are falling
But for the showers we plead

This was one of the prayer songs we used to sing while at school. I suddenly remembered this song and tried to recollect the lyrics. I missed a line and hence called my sister to help me fill in the blank line. She helped me locate the lost words. I then sat down at home in a divine mood with nobody around to snatch my peace. I sang this song aloud as we used to at school. I sang in the same tone and manner my teacher had taught me. Surprisingly tears rolled down my cheek. I was stunned. I sang it again. Tears continued to flow. I think when I truly understood the meaning of the lyrics and meant them as I sang, tears resulted.

I am thirsty for more blessings. I am now waiting for torrential downpour of His divine grace to sink me into a flood of His mercy. God! Bless me with Thy grace.

Qualification Vs. Experience

The tyranny of qualification has jettisoned the worth of experience. This is undisputedly a debatable topic though my stance is already clear as to which side my favouritism rests. I have reasons to say so.

I happened to accompany my Father, who is a garden freak, to a nursery. It is apt to mention here that I am not a person who fancy gardening. I hardly know the fundamentals of gardening and I used to find innocuous reasons not to have a garden at home. Mosquitoes in India often conspire to discuss their new proposals and targets only in gardens. That being my primary rationale, not having a garden was purely justifiable for me. But gardening is my Father’s passionate hobby in which I did not want to pry upon any more.

The nursery we went to was much beyond my expectations. It was massive and also very beautifully maintained. As soon as we entered, a lady attended to our needs. She was tall, dark, thin, country bred, keen, loquacious and extremely professional. Though her appearance exuded traces of illiteracy, her knowledge truly fascinated me.

My Father had lots of queries on each variety of plants to which she gave pertinent answers without an iota of ambiguity. She had the details of all the species of shrubs, bushes, creepers, crotons and what not lying there. She knew its botanical name, the amount of sunlight it requires, the season when it flowers, fertilizers necessary for its growth, maintenance technique and its price. The only problem that I noticed in her was lack of qualification.

There were thousands of varieties of plants there and she had information on all of them. There was one particular variety of plant that had beautifully bloomed in different colours and captured my attention. On noticing my deep adoration for the plant, she explained to me about it. She told me that it was Gerbera and also provided me more details about the plant. I came home and checked in the internet about the plant and they matched well with all the details that she had furnished. She had indirectly convinced me clearing my hidden belief by explaining that the plants that she sold to us will not attract mosquitoes.

The contour of qualification has transgressed the verve of the indigent legion. I am sure that the lady would not have taken refuge under the cover of a school roof even on a rainy day. To that extent education proved to be an alien to her but for the purpose of survival, she had fully equipped her with all that she has to know. She has the knowledge of an agricultural university professor but not the qualification. Despite having the knowledge, she is forced to work for a pay that would hardly meet her demands. The worst part is that she is not aware of the huge difference in the pay scale between a professor and her. What a qualification could fetch, experience cannot.

How can this be justified? This lady is one among millions who work for peanuts unaware of their own worth. Qualification accompanied by experience is welcome but experience alone will not suffice. What a pitiable situation is this? A piece of paper attesting a person’s knowledge in a particular field holds more value unmindful of how it was obtained. I am not sure how this problem can be resolved but I am sure there could be a way out.

Laud the living

One among the calamities that arise without a premonition is death. In the normal course, on such happening, the news get spread like rapid fire and very soon assemblies of people get gathered and mourn the loss of such people irrespective of the relationship they shared with the dead. The most inscrutable thing is when we see people who always had an antagonism towards the person when alive, giving a peroration on the rich dogmas the dead had when he was alive. Isn’t this paradoxical? In other words, a person is glorified only after his death. One’s ego doesn’t permit to give credit to them when in flesh and blood.

According to our custom, it is considered inappropriate to talk bad about a dead person even if the person had actually been so. Is that the reason why people find it blatantly suitable to spit venom on a living person? Can’t those men unite to maintain the same decorum when the person is alive? Should one die to receive praises? Does it also mean that a living man becomes ineligible to be applauded? This is one part of the argument.

On the other hand, I have noted that simple gestures of love and care gets puffed up when thought of after a person’s death. I have also observed that people claim to be intolerably in love with the dead person to that extent that they assume that they would have maintained the same love and care (sometimes even more) if the person had escaped death. I am a living example for that. I often think that I would have been a better grand daughter to my grand mother who passed away long back; I assumed that I would have been one great icon of true friendship towards my friend who died few months back. I get such feelings just because they are dead and gone. These are all fleeting thoughts that cross our capricious minds. Aren’t they? We are “WE” always – the ‘constant’ “WE”!

Wide across I see a crescendo in the inexorable mass marching in unison with filthy pride. With self importance as the foundation, they construct a huge edifice of vacuum and believe it to be something. They live in a false world and invite the attention of like minded folks and form a huge committee to harangue the rest of the population. I am not a perfectionist but I am glad that I do not fall into such category of people who ridicule people and also shamelessly utter words of appreciation on their death. Such people are plague to this society.

I have personally witnessed people suffering from the endless torture of guilt on many occasions that make them go through critical episodes of depression and mental disorder. For some, it is quite natural to recollect occurrences of the past and contemplate on the mistakes that one might have committed. Thus to ensure a love filled, guilt free life, I feel that there are some tips to be kept in mind -

- Every individual is entitled to be respected from the moment we become aware he exists
- Every act that deserves appreciation necessarily needs to be valued with candour
- A cordial relationship needs to be maintained with all without any bias
- Simple signs of love and care need to be experientially enjoyed and adored
- We should always remember that we have no right to hurt or humiliate others
- Our ego should be less fed

Life is as precious to others as it is to us. Then why not esteem the presence of the others when they are right in front of us rather than thinking about their greatness after they vanish to the world of oblivion?

Sighs of my lonely mind

It was a brisk morning. I was tempted to look at the lawn through the window. The lawn surrounding our house turned lifeless a couple of weeks ago. The maintenance guys began working on it since then. So I made it a habit to look at the development everyday. It is indeed stunning to look at the improvement everyday. The dry leaves are completely chopped off. They are injecting some medicines I believe that gives colour and luster to the grass. They water it, mow it and take very good care of it all day through. It is reacting well to the treatment and it is bound to gain life and shine very soon.

This made me think for a while. There is a way to tame everything in this world. The only condition is that we should ‘listen’ and ‘respond’. When in a desert like Abu Dhabi, there can be lots of greenery around, what more hope do I need that my life can also be as green as a fertile garden!

The trees listen and respond to the wind and gives breeze to all.
The water responds to the wind and flows gently.
The birds respond to the first ray of morning sunshine and wake us up.

But certain things about men are puzzling. When the other creations of God listen and respond systematically, human beings fail to do it miserably. There is nothing on this earth to alter the flow of a man’s thoughts or behaviour. He acts as per his whim.

Why is it impossible to tame our thoughts? The speed at which our thoughts travel is amazing. Nothing created by nature can match its speed. There is no medicine to prevent it. There is no instrument to measure it. There is no way to control it or stop it. Are we not becoming a slave to our own thoughts? Are our thoughts not meandering over us? Aren’t we becoming weak and dependant? Our thoughts have become our masters and we, its slaves. It is neither listening nor responding. It is taking me to dreamy state and is holding me there for hours together! Helpless me!!

Aren't we dishonest?

Cheats! We, the mortals, the supreme beings of the creation are cheats. We reveal different faces to different people at different times. We are the most tactful sinner in the planet. Born with innocence, we gradually learn all the vices mush easily and justify that they are virtues. Education has to be blamed because it gives man the power to think and substantiate.

We lie to our parents when they doubt us. We try to cover up the wrong done by us and if need be, we even shift the blame to somebody else just to escape from being caught. In other words, we prepare ourselves to do all that it takes to prove us innocent even if we are actually guilty.

We are not true to anybody. We curse our uncles and aunts from within but act as though we love them. We totally agree with them in a conversation but immediately after, we ridicule them behind their back. Here again, we lack the guts to show where and how we differ but just want to give them a picture that we are the ‘bestest’ person on the earth.

We are sometimes so foolish to that extent that we think that we are perfect and begin our campaign in gossiping about others. We make fun of our siblings, our room mates, our neigbours and many others but get offended when we hear a true remark about us. Here, we indicate supremacy over others and also sensitivity to reality.

We take the least effort in studying but we expect good marks. We later brag about our wisdom if we get through the examination by chance. At the same time, we even grow jealous over others who have scored better than us forgetting for a moment that our marks were obtained by luck and not out of hard work! Outrageous!!! Isn’t it?

We get into a job by hook or by crook but are not prepared to co-operate with our colleagues or management with what they actually require. We need a decent job with a very reasonable pay and a life filled with luxury. Here, we prove that we want to fool around many to earn some bucks.

We want to portray ourselves as very clean men and women when in love. We shake our heads vigorously to all that the other person has to say and disagree at every point once we get married. This proves that we will do anything to get a thing done and once done, we begin to act in a different way.

We respect our parents only as long as their bank balances are heavy. Once the money gets exhausted, the respect also proportionately decreases. The need to portray ourselves as a ‘good child’ doesn’t arise anymore once we understand that they can no longer help us. How selfish are we!! Do we realize that it is to the same parents that we once tried to show a ‘good’ image of ourselves?

On the other hand we want our children to be the best child on earth. We explain to them in front of our parents what we were denied as a child and what they are enjoying. Here, we want to establish that we are the best category of parents who expose our children to many things by thus insulting our own parents who would have taken all the pains in the world to bring us up without cribbing as we do now to bring up our kids.

We teach our children to be honest. Are we exempted from being honest? Here, we think that certain rules are not for us. We think that we are in an elevated position than many others. Don’t we realize the mistake done by us as we commit them? On what grounds are we justifying our stance?

We hang around with friends and lie to our spouse telling that we are busy in a meeting. That way we cheat our spouse too. Who else is spared? None actually!

What are we actually trying to do? When will we be ourselves? To whom will we show our real nature? Why are we fooling around everybody? Why are we trying to show a better picture of ourselves when we are actually not? We are good at one stage to one person and we are bad at a later date to that same person. We are so passionate towards one person at one time and we cheat the same person at a later time. We smile at one person at one time and grow envious at the same person at a later time. What is wrong with us? When will we understand that we are not what we display to others? When will we live true to ourselves? When will we stop lying and be honest? Will it ever happen?

Time is our enemy

Just imagine a life without time. How will you consider such a life to be? A boon or a bane? If you find it difficult to imagine, then just try this out. Choose a weekend. Remove all the wall clocks from all the rooms. Set aside your alarm clocks and make the time display of your mobile disappear. Go to bed and wake up fresh when you desire and not when the alarm buzzes. Look at the morning sun. Take a refreshing walk, come back home, have a shower, have a sumptuous breakfast with your family sitting at the table for a long time having a lengthy discussion. Pick up some DVDs. Sit, relax and watch them. Do not look at the time at all. Eat when your stomach indicates and not when the clock strikes. Go out shopping and spend some time in a park or beach with your family and return home and retire when tired. I am sure that you would have enjoyed the day as never before. You would feel free and peaceful.

Time dictates us. It asks us to get up, brush, get ready and leave for work, meet people, do our work, eat, call, go back home, pray, read, watch TV and go to bed. Why should time order us to do everything? Does it exist merely to bring about a discipline into our life? It doesn’t seem to be so. Time cannot enforce discipline. Only we are capable of disciplining ourselves. It is because we have tuned ourselves to obey time we are acting as per that schedule.

But life without time is refreshing and rejuvenating. It causes less tension and worries. It doesn’t cause us the pressure of ageing. It doesn’t cause us any stress regarding work or the anxiety of our old age and other issues.

I have heard people talk about the value of time by saying that lost time cannot be brought back. True. But that doesn’t make it precious. And we do not want those moments back. Time has not given us anything to take it back. What has gone past are the trials of our life. Time did not steal it from us. It is the life and experience that has given the shape that we bear today. We just term it as ‘time’ giving it unnecessary importance that it doesn’t deserve. Time is like a crushed paper thrown in the garbage. Who will want to pick it up from the garbage?

If there had been no concept of time, people would have given their loved ones a longer kiss, a much passionate hug, more meaningful words of love and so on. Time is an excuse. It is cruel and unwanted. I do not want it to command me. I do not want to be controlled by it. I do not want to crave for it or become its slave. I do not want my body to fear time and tune itself accordingly. I want to be free. I want to be liberated from the bonds of time. Think guys! Think! Do not talk about the preciousness of time. Talk about the uselessness of time.