Mind Frame

While the year had so much riding on it and it failed to deliver in many ways, one can think of few successes & a lot to be indebted for.  Life and health was retained, lived through and also scraped by for some people in the family.  So, looking over the shoulder one has the following to be thankful for health and stable ground beneath the feet. The following are my reasons: Survived 9 tropical storms and typhoons in the Philippines (wait there is more) in all of 2020. Survived a massive volcanic eruption that blanketed Manila in Ash for over 3 days and 2 days of WFH in Feb (the absolute anxiety of the volcano staying on grade 3/5 and its past notorious history being unimaginable). Survived 3 major quakes that are close to anything that can imagine as near certain death. Survived COVID (so far) home quarantine, social distancing and the lack of high fives and hugs . Survived a 7 hour sweeper flight of Air India taking me (after numerous calls and form filling with the Ind...

It's over a year since I wrote something here and maybe because there wasn't much time to ponder over things or things to ponder over. Either ways, there are always learnings and lessons and these are the ones that I have. Focus on people and things that add positive energy. Discard those who sap it out and contribute only the negatives. It's good to say no, I disagree or I cannot comply. Work life balance is not an individual goal or possibility. It is a shared task and not a goal. Focus on some or fail on all. Always move forward.   Family comes first, friends come next. All else is the world or acquaintances as we call it and it - does not matter. Focus on what you want . All else follows. Happiness has a recipe . Spare time is gold. Financial planning is a great  routine . Gifting is therapeutic.  Airport arrivals are the happiest places on earth (almost as much as school gates at 3pm on a Friday). Emails are warm blankets when written to...

If I say a lot happened this year it will be quite the understatement of sorts.  Life took all kinds of turns around bends that could give anyone a heart attack and also had its share of astronomical highs that one had never anticipated. If you saw a number 9 of the Indian cricket team score a ton in a test last week, my life felt the same too. Although, the speed at which it came was akin to a ton in a T20.  Never been the one to complain but this year seemed to be one of the toughest in terms of a million things such as the health of loved ones. However, it was one of the best years of my life too when you see all that the universe conspired to throw at me. Not one to trust in religion, I have consistently believed that life's zeniths are not far behind from its dreariest lows. It reminds me of an old post that I wrote on up being the only way to go when you are at the bottom is up. That has been followed to tee and I am proud to say so. - Person...

So 2015 was quite uneventful & drab but even then it has its share of personal achievements that I can think of. Clicking pictures and writing took a back seat, I chose to soak it all in rather than look through the viewfinder that often. I traveled and how. A personal decision became a mission and one that was well achieved. Where all did I go? Amsterdam, Delhi (Thrice), Chennai (Twice), Goa, Srinagar - Gulmarg, Pondicherry. Can't wait to better this in 2016.  Cooked to save a life and more. Chicken curries and rice and a tad bit more. I want to move onto making cocktails now. Traveled with my sibling. While I have traveled with friends, family & cousins I have never traveled with her alone. Went to Kashmir. The place was home once - as my grand mom tells me & exactly how she described it from memory. Two of my closest friends got married. One after over 12 years of courtship. True love exists. Attend a Telugu wedding - check. Aced all my tests - blood tests o...

Its weirdly wonderful. All my life I have grown up speaking the language at home. Not having heard it outside the 4 walls of my home or amidst a people I can count on my hands. So when we landed and we conversed with nearly each and every one around us in Kashur it was a feeling of familiarity and warmth. We were on a trip but at home. “I dream of lost vocabularies that might express some of what we no longer can.”  - Anon

A scatter of yellow mingled with the tinges of white as light sneaked in through the whiskey glass that rested in the palms of his hand flattening the creases that held his future. A few shades escaped in the trickle that slid as the glass tilted towards his parched lips. His lips curved to a smile as he looked at his future ahead. All of three, she smiled back as well.

Tight hugs work better than bandaids.

One really under the estimates 'peace of mind' as a blessing.

Hope is, a sight that flutters through blinds guarding a truth that you are not prepared for.

You know that feeling, when the fog recedes and you can see ahead for miles. I think I am closer to getting that kind of a view.

Does the universe really have a soul? When an unwed mother of a four year old, Sleeps un-sheltered in the February cold, While men stare, some young some old, And winter chills her frail young bones. Stares feel like jagged stones. Does the universe really have a soul?

Sometimes the incessant strumming of a chord on a guitar has a music of its own. Like being stuck in a constant argument and relishing it. Like driving a car in a gear that ain't at either end of the limit. You are on cruise control and not in a rush. At peace. In calm. Sometimes like being surrounded by a school of fish. Swirling the water around you. Or like at the edge of a river that is in a hurry. Sometimes like starring at the fast changing flight schedule board at an airport, while you ain't even taking the plane. Or the wipers of a car wiping away turbulent rain on the windshield of a car stationery. In a un-hurry to get somewhere you often pick up thoughts stranded on the middle of your minds highway.

Be gracious. The truth is in front of you.

कभी अकेले वक़्त गुज़ारो, कभी  अकेले में।  

By standing and watching a joy wave ride through a bunch of special people Jonathan Safran Foer ,  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

So this ones a lift from a friends post who writes way better and more often than me. Her post made me think of attempting the same on what defines the word. So what is it to me? - Watching a river float a leaf as it runs past until the leaf runs out of sight - Sitting alone in a corner of the house with a book in dead silence - Watching dust particles bath and glow in sunlight as it peers through the cracks in a window - By standing and watching a joy wave ride through a bunch of special people - Look at swallows at dusk and imagine them to be planes - Watching strangers greet one another at airports - Driving in the rain on an open highway - Watching my sisters happy and then watching them try to conceal the emotion - A drink with Dad - Also, being his caddie on the course - Perfect barbecue sauce & the family savoring it up - A successful snake rescue - Writing letters and this blog - Receiving a call from a long lost friend - Genuine Thank You's - Hardb...

Sat on the edge of your bed at night and see life outside float by or even on the edge of a busy highway in a stationary car examined the whisps of air float from your mouth and condense on the pane of glass between you and the world outside. Seen shadows of passing cars form a northern lights like visual on your bedroom walls and imagined being there tucked under the night sky, motionless in a tent or a sleeping bag. Waited with hours to spare at your window sill framing your binoculars at the nest of a weaver bird you spotted in your moments of foolhardiness and gazed through them as noon turned to night. Stared at sand trickle through an hourglass and imagined yourself on the dunes of the Thar race against the wind and quick sand beneath your feet to get to its top and done that in person too. I have.

Life is fragile. No one is bullet proof. Everyday is a heartbeat.

A post after nearly a month or more. Continuing the promise I made to write about encounters over meals, this one gets me nearly close to the one a month target I set for myself in Jan. The past encounters listed here and here  can be read if anyone missed the last two. The two people I managed to get supper and brunch with happen to be known people. However, the amount people tell you about themselves over a meal can be a bit more than what they would normally do. Bro - No one can call her that although she would call anyone and everyone the same faster than you can say.... A chance decision of a quick bite in the last few months she would say she has at work (and still not leave) made this dinner almost a quick dash. It was fun at this place opp IIT Delhi at a cafe covered in post it notes. Makes for an excellent disguise for flaking walls. You loose track where the wall was bad and where it had the post its. The meal was fun. She spoke, I listened. That is always how i...

Then there were those nights. Long cold ones. My sister and I would camp on top of our terrace. Climb a 10 by 6 meter long water tank by measure of an old rusty ladder. Cold January winter wind would blow away the chance for any fleeting insect to interrupt our conversations. We did nothing but lay back on our backs immune to the cold concrete beneath us gazing at stars as if each narrated a tale. Minutes turned to hours and the nights went late only to be suddenly interrupted by the need to eat by someone among us and the long lecture by someone who would ask for more time. A plane or two would land sometime infringing the peaceful circular motion of the sky and its family or the flickering of someones TV set from a nearby building taller than ours. Few things mattered then in the pitch dark peaceful hideout - in the open yet away from all else. Some days never return, I hope these do.