The bliss of silence!

Hello folks! Ever wondered how much people talk!!! No point.....ALL of us DO! Consequently, there are very few moments when we can really experience a complete silence, the sort that is spoken of as "pin drop silence"! It is in those moments that we can actually sense the oneness between the heart and the mind, the unity between the person we are and the one that we are trying to be! More often than not, the best of ideas and plans emerge in the midst of silence. Relaization dawns in what Wordsworth aptly described as the "bliss of solitude"! Silence, in the physical sense would be absence of noise or sound. But I can say from experience that it is possible to feel it even in a crowd.....a silence so profound, its almost deafening! And we are not even talking about the silence in a "bhoot bangla" which can be petrifying!

Silence triggers the thinking mind and brings about a whole new meaning to things that appeared different all along! It's a simple means of meditation where you have a conversation with your self, your truest confidante and perennial companion! Silence is, contrary to belief, not a sign of weakness, but one of strength; an indicator of knowledge, not the lack of it. As someone said, "True knowledge lies in knowing when to speak and when to remain silent"!

I always try to sneak a few silent moments for myself each day - a therapy I whole-heartedly recommend as a discovery of a whole new world within, a "path less travelled by" (Robert Frost) to seek happiness which incidentally is what we are all after!

SILENT BLISS...

Sometimes calm, sometimes sinister;

In solitude, all around;

The slightest sound amplified,

In silence that's so loud.

Even in the midst of a crowd,

Voices may seem to fade in;

Making way for a numbing silence,

That rises above the din.

The silence echoes the voices,

Speaking from within;

Ever soothing, ever strengthening;

Showing light where darkness had been.

Silence, a mirror to the soul;

Silence can always best console;

Silence, a time to delve into oneself;

Silence, BLISS UNEXPLORED!

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More later. Till next time, from slo, it's Tally-ho!

The Rains' Law...

The monsoons have finally made their entry and HOW!!!! And no monsoon is complete without a poem toasted to it! So here goes!!!!

THE RAINS' LAW

A gray morning, chill breeze,

Chirping birds and quivering trees;

Pregnant clouds, a warning thunder,

An explosion in the sky, a torrential shower!

A splash here, a puddle there;

On the mud here, on a flower there;

The rain lashes on without a care;

Before you know, it's everywhere!

Man or woman, dark or fair;

Bird or beast, of the ground or the air;

The scurrying mouse or the prancing hare;

The docile pet or the wild bear!

The young or old, cowardly or bold;

Are all encompassed in its fold;

The rains make no distinction, told or untold;

On the backs of all, their pleasures unfold!

On lush fields and parched land;

Mercies are extolled, by the skies benign!

A multi-hued rainbow after the rain;

A treat, a reward, for pulling through the pain!

A little more here or a little less there;

A reversal next time, so the balance is always there!

A boon for one, a curse for the other;

AS ONE SEES IT -

A Blessing from Above, or a Banal Shower!

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Till next time, from slo, it's Tally-ho!!

"Souring" away.......

Hi friends!! I've been reading a lot of debatable stuff of late (Dr.Preeti, are you reading?!) and one very basic question that keeps knocking on the gates of my domain of thought is - why do some friendships wither away?? Of course, it's much the same in the case of romantic relationships too but at least that's something people warn you umpteen times about! So what really happens to a friendship that starts off so promisingly, a sure winner; but somewhere down the line, the road forks and things are never the same again? Haven't we all experienced this at SOME point in life??

Over the years, I have got to hear several insights on this. People change. Life changes. Circumstances change. "Things" change! You JUST drift apart. And by far, the worst - it was never there.

So effectively, change is the only constant! Or is it?? I can actually prepare a list of friendships having "changed" for myriad reasons.

Asha and Mihir were inseparable.....and then they separated. Priya and Ritu were childhood pals......the pally-ness (for want of a better word!) disappeared with the childhood! Arun and Pravin claimed to be buddies since donkey's years......until the burden of responsibility on their backs did them apart. Navin and Ajay met accidentally, became friends, hung around for a year - one in which both swore that they'd had fun to last a lifetime, that they'd ultimately found lifelong friendship.....it was not long and it soon became...well...lifeless!

Asha says she doesn't know what went wrong. They'd been a pair for 12 years, ever since high school, studying together, playing together, talking for hours on end, fighting and making up......something like Raj and Anjali in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. But then once she started working, she could never devote as much time to the relationship as she used to or as she would have liked to. The fights were no longer candid. Meanwhile, Mihir was working too and he was making new friends also. The distances grew and the feelings rusted. They still meet, both married, with their own separate lives........the friendship, a formality; the memories, a treasure; the feelings, just different. "Circumstances changed"

Priya and Ritu were childhood buddies who stayed across the road and practically grew up together. As kids, they were a sight to behold - arms around each other, animated talks, their own little girlie secrets hushed into each other's ears - they were "stuck" to each other and a stranger would actually be amazed, when he saw them at the end of the day going back to their own houses, to find that they are not Siamese twins! But they chose different subjects after high school. Priya took up arts while Ritu moved to science. Their schedules never matched, their colleges were different, and they had no common topics to discuss (except the usual girlie stuff which they'd rather keep secret now). Priya also shifted home and that was the end of their friendship. They lost touch inspite of still being in the same city and one doesn't get to know about the other now! "People changed"

Arun and Pravin faced much the same scene as Asha and Mihir. Busy professionals, no time to meet up and out-of-sight-out-of-mind! They now meet at a common friend's place whenever he throws a bash and grope for topics to get them talking - that, for a twosome who could jabber non-stop on any topic (or lack of it!), whether it made sense or not. "Life changed"

Navin and Ajay met at the birthday party of a common friend, struck a conversation on cricket and simultaneously struck a friendship. But, before long they realized that they were from as different backgrounds as two people who called themselves friends could possibly be! Navin was stinking rich; Ajay was middle-class at best. Navin was the partying kinds; Ajay was into more sober stuff like reading! Navin was loud and flamboyant, Ajay was gentle and cautious. Navin was an atheist and Ajay was extremely God-fearing. In every way, they were a mismatch. But just to make it work, Ajay would accompany Navin to discos and Navin would go with Ajay to the temple. They couldn't keep doing it forever. They realized it wasn't worth it. And when they had clashes subsequently on moral issues, they called it off. Ajay says "There was nothing left in it anyway. And I wonder, if there ever was."

And then there's the case of Madhu and Diya - one was always trying to change the other. It was always "You shouldn't be doing this" or "How can you wear something like that?? It's hideous!" or "You should really change your attitude, man!" This went on until they realized that if they can't accept each other as they are and are trying to engineer each other into someone totally different, they were really doing each other a grave injustice. So they stopped trying so hard to make it work, and just moved on. "Things changed"

And then there's Aditi and Maya who both fell for the same guy.....their friendship soured for obvious reasons!

Vinod and Deepa fell for each other, and realized the friend is not the same as the partner. Misunderstanding, efforts at salvage, hope and finally, defeat!

Ranjit fell for his buddy Manju's sister and became her "jija" - the relationship changed :)!

As for me, I have myself seen a whole lot of friends drifting apart and friendships disintegrating. Though the ground reason is change, I believe it's got a lot to do with the importance you give the relationship - as in, it's significance and value in your life. The more it means to you, the more you can make it work. The more casual the approach, the more the chances of a soured relation. Plus, the chance of a misunderstanding occuring always looms large. (That is by far the worst way for a friendship to end) And you can't always make it work.

At the basest level, friendship is about accepting each other as they are, not about changing the person to become like us or the way we want him/her to be. Friendship is about being close enough to understand, but not close enough to interfere. It's about giving your opinion and advice but not imposing it upon the other. It's about giving each other space. Friendship is about expecting and anticipating that circumstances will come up that will alter your life in unpredictable ways.......but having the resolve to see it through and make it work.

Having said that, in most cases, the disintegration of a friendship is a natural process which happens with time. But friendship is about realizing this fact, understanding when things don't work and letting go if it means the best for both (like Asha and Mihir); best to part amicably if you can't remain so. Accord your friendship a priority and it becomes one.

A closing note: Friendship is like the story of a fist of sand, that we have heard so many times before. You hold it too loose and it flows, you try to close your fingers around it and it pours out through the gaps. But you hold it just loose enough to stand and just tight enough to seal the gaps and see how it settles into your cupped hands.

Disclaimer: Names in this article have been changed to protect the identity of friends who'd reach for my throat if they see their "real" names on this blog...and so to prevent my friendship from "souring away"!!!!

Waiting for your take! Till next time, from slo, it's Tally-ho!

A World Without Colours!!!!

Hi Friends! As an annexure to my post of yesterday, here's a poem on what would become of our dear Earth were it not for the exotic pallette of colours that nature has presented to us!!!!! Here goes.................

A WORLD WITHOUT COLOURS!!!

The sun is yellow,

Blue are the seas;

The multi-hued flowers,

Attract the bees.

The meadows are green,

So are the trees;

What, without colours,

Would our dear Earth be??!!

Imagine a world that's

Just black and white;

No other colour

In distant sight.

The skies would be black,

And so would the seas;

Black and white would be

Everything in between.

We would never know

When it's going to rain;

Because the black sky

Would always look the same!

Roses, tulips, jasmines and poppies

Would all appear alike

If they'd all be just

Plain old black or white.

The rainbow would be void

And quite meaningless;

As it would merge

With the sky so colourless!

Life would be so boring

If colours didn't exist,

Without the reds and blues

That we find so hard to resist!

No one would turn red with rage,

Or go blue in shame;

No one would speak of seeing green,

The colours would be nothing but names.

Pink wouldn't be associated with blushing,

Nor purple with royalty;

Orange and yellow wouldn't be bright;

All we'd have would be black and white!

So let's learn to appreciate

The value of colours in our life,

For without them, the Earth

Would be quite drab and dry!

We now know how invaluable

Colours are to us,

For, try as we may, we could never live

in a A WORLD WITHOUT COLOURS!!!!

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Hope that I've covered all you can think of too!!!!!!!! And just to add that extra meaning to the poem, I've actually made it colourful!!!!

That's all for now.......

Till next time, from slo, it's Tally-Ho!

The Day the Paint Box fell from Heaven!

Hi friends!! I received a mail with the same title as this piece, from dear friend Shruti........a collection of pictures that actually give the feel of a gigantic paint-box full of the rarest hues having fallen from heaven, torn through the clouds and rained on earth, bathing everything it touched in a way that only Nature can! The pic above is just a sample of the collection! John Keats had said, "A thing of Beauty is a joy forever!" How true!

Beauty, that thing which is so pure, yet so subjective, for as has been oft iterated, "Beauty lies in the eyes of the Beholder!" Yet, while the beauty of a person or of a painting may be argued upon, the beauty of nature has always been appealing to everyone. Ever heard of a person who cannot appreciate a serene waterfall; or an ice-capped mountain towering above the clouds (!!!); or a field of colourful flowers (remember Wordsworth's Daffodils????!!!!); the view from the mountaintop.........the deep, almost bottomless valley as seen from the top of a cliff, with the calming sound of water flowing somewhere under sounding like music to the ears; the oranges, reds, yellows and violets of a mesmerizing sunset; or better still, the warmth filling yourself as you see a bright light, sent by the glorious morning sun as you stand in the middle of thick fog; the tiny drops of dew sparkling on leaves and creating the prism effect as the sun shines on them; the gradual opening of a bud and turning into a beautiful flower.....oh I could go on forever!

Nature has, by far, been the favorite topic of poets over time, its beauty having been immortalized in the works of uncrowned king of nature poetry, Sir William Wordsworth, Henry Vaughan, Coleridge and several others. Nature has been no less an inspiration to artists as it has been to poets. Many have tried to recreate nature's magic on canvas with varying degrees of success! Why, then, does nature so inspire the men (and women!!) of art and literature like nothing else???? Or How??!

The answer lies in four small words.........NATURE HAS IT ALL!!!

A poem or a painting is, at the very fundamental level, an expression. An expression of delight, an expression of joy, an expression of disgust, an expression of sorrow, an expression of compromise, an expression of opinion or thought.......an expression! You want to depict beauty, you turn to nature (for obvious reasons!). You want to portray human nature or emotions, you could turn to nature - benevolence and the shade of the tree; sharing and the birds in a nest; love and swans or the doves or the flowers; tolerance and the animals of the jungle (or the fish of the sea); peace and the waterfall; anger and the cyclone (tsunami???!!!); permanence and the mountains (They're always there!); hopelessness and the volcano (Enough is Enough!); ambition and the river (it always meets the sea....NO MATTER WHAT!), so on and so forth. These are associations that have stood the test of time....always been there for the observant eye to see and the thinking mind to connect. You want to portray anything and you can turn to nature.........if you look hard, you'll find what you want!

Of course, I don't mean to say ONLY nature inspires. All I can say with conviction is that it is what inspires most! It's something that always turns ME on, and I'd like to see some people who disagree with me :-P!

And one concluding point - To see HIS (GOD)/HER (Mother Nature!) greatest creation yet, simply turn to the mirror!!!!!!! You may not see the most colourful creation, but you'll see the one HE/SHE's most proud of!!!!!

More later!!!! Till next time....from slo, it's Tally-ho!