Quote of the century

Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.

Hear, hear!

It’s funny….

…how people see only what they want to see…there may be a thousand places where something is right, and the one place where it isn’t (simply because you copied something from somewhere and so left it as it was) is the only one that everyone notices.

And no, this isn’t a rant about work!

An era has passed

Mom just told me that Mrs. Elizabeth Matthew, the ex-principal and executive director of my school, lost her battle with cancer on Monday. It is the passing of an era.

People who knew her, and all of the students who passed out from school under her care, will never forget this dynamic woman, who was responsible for making St. Mary’s School, Pune, one of the top 10 schools in India.

Mrs. Matthew, you will be deeply missed.

So, what’s my personality like?

According to Astrology.com (thanks, Avi, for telling me the site was wrong!), based on my birth date and time:

How You Approach Life and How You Appear To Others

You are very strong-willed and proud, but intensely private and not easy to know well. Behind your quiet exterior lies a great deal of emotional depth, sensitivity, complexity, and also fierce determination. When you want something you go after it rather quietly but insistently and wholeheartedly – and you usually get it.

The Inner You: Your Real Motivation
You are a person who thrives on challenge, and you often feel that you must battle your way through life, depending upon no one and nothing but your own strength, intelligence, and courage. You believe in being totally honest, true to oneself and one’s own vision and convictions, even if that means standing alone.
Honesty, integrity, personal honor, and authenticity are your gods, and you have no sympathy for weakness of character in others.

Interesting! And largely accurate!

The Journey by Mary Oliver

I can’t remember where I read this poem — though it is all over the Internet! — but it really spoke to me in many ways and on many levels.

The last few lines of this poem, especially, are filled with meaning and imagery.

there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do –
determined to save
the only life you could save.

There is so much right now that needs saving in my life, that I cannot even begin to list it all!

I’m still stuck with the many voices pulling me in different directions…many things that are “on fire”…crazy work schedules and deadlines, combined with unreal expectations and unwilling colleagues…and no time to let my voice be heard — by me!

For now, though, I leave you with the poem in its entirety. Read on…

The Journey by Mary Oliver
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice –
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.

“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.

It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do –
determined to save
the only life you could save.

The beauty of a wedding…

…lies in its simplicity.

I was at a very good friend’s wedding this weekend. She had decided to have a small wedding at her house, with just about 35 – 40 people in attednace — a real rarity for an Indian wedding! Her reasoning — a wedding is actually a relegious ceremony, and a sacred one at that. So she wanted to be surrounded by people who love her and who she loves back, where the wedding rituals are the focus, not food and drinks for the guests. This truly was one wedding that I enjoyed and felt happy being a part of — happy for her, of course, and to be able to focus on the rituals, which is the real fun of a wedding, instead of being constantly bothered about being over or under dressed!

Another thing that probably added to the enjoyment at the wedding was that my friend’s best friend, who is based in the US, had brought along a colleague with him. Explaining the rituals and significance behind all the rituals to her got me even more into the wedding mood, probably because it highlighted the sanctity of the ceremonies and vows. And of course, I was glad to know that I know so much about wedding ceremonies and Indian relegion and mythology — I guess you never really know the extent of your knowledge until you are called upon to use it!

The spirit of Delhi

Delhi was struck by 5 serial bomb blasts this Saturday — all of them targeting busy, popular markets and hangouts. While these were supposed to be “low-intensity bombs,” lives were lost, and a few people I know had lucky escapes. Very luckily, everyone I know is safe.

While this is a shameful act of terrorism, and while it brought together strangers from every walk of life to help, it also brought the wierdos out onto the street. While most people were expressing their shock and outrage at the bombings, a mother-daughter duo from Safdurjung Enclave drove especially all the way to GK to see the bomb blast! They had the gall, on national television, to laughingly say that they were “very well aware that there have been 5 blasts in Delhi,” go on to list the places where the blasts happened, and say, “my daughter wanted to see the blast, so we drove down to have a look.” What gall! Is this a tourist spot, or a display, that people are specially driving in to have a look-see? Shocking!

Another thing that has me thinking is this phrase: “Sprit of Delhi.” Replace it with any Indian state that has suffered a terrorist attack in the recent past — things are back to normal the very next day. Is this really the spirit of the city, or are we becoming indifferent to the death and terrorism we see around us everyday? I don’t mean to sound callous, but it is a fact — Indians are exposed to a number of terrorist attacks, religious riots, non-issues being made into issues and what have you, that we seem to have developed an immunity to such events — as long as we are not directly affected by them. We disguise this indifference by calling it our spirit.

But terrorism is a shocking event. While the goal of a terrorist is to strike fear in the heart of citizens, we cannot just get up, brush ourselves off, and go on like nothing has happened. There needs to be accountability in the system. Culprits — the real culprits, not innocents rounded up on the basis of their relegion — need to be put behind bars. The nation should send a strong message to terrorists — that we will not take this lying down. We will hunt you down and bring justice to our citizens.

The police, though, do nothing. The UP police is being partially blamed for the terrorist strike. They apparently had intelligence about the planned strike, and a tip-off on where the terroists were hiding, but were lax in pursuing it. Let’s see how the Delhi police react — they apparently have an eye-witness. How this will play out will be relvealed over the next few days.

Connecting to the Wellspring of the Universe

I was reading an article on Flow, and how it can be easily achieved by everyone. Flow is the current that enables our lives to unfold effortlessly, and moves us toward a feeling of “completeness” and harmony. When we are in flow, we experience synchronicity—events line up and fall into place, and obstacles just melt away. Flow has tremendous power to transform our lives, for it is dynamic and moves us unfailingly toward joy and aliveness.

When we are in flow, things happen, seemingly without any major effort on our part; almost as though we were in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. But it’s been a long time since I’ve felt connected to the Universe. There was a time when things just seemed to happen, when I just knew something was pre-destined, and events unfolded almost perfectly. I seem to have lost my way to the wellspring, and can’t seem to find it!

According to the article I was reading, there are nine qualities that engage flow:

Commitment—Living by our deepest values

Honesty—Telling the truth to ourselves and others

Courage—Overcoming fears

Passion—Engaging with what we care about

Immediacy—Being in the moment

Openness—Saying Yes to whatever comes our way

Receptivity—Listening to inner and outer messages

Positivity—Finding the value in each situation

Trust—Having faith in ourselves and the Universe

Somewhere along the way, I forgot how to spend time dreaming, to be receptive to things around me….I forgot about me and how to myself….I had no time to purse my passions, or to look at things objectively and honestly. With no time to introspect, it seems to be no wonder that I lost my bearings.

However, the article does go on to list out techniques that help us deepen the aove qualities in ourselves:

Be aware

Accept yourself and others

Express who you really are

Create silence

Follow your intuition

Practice mindfulness

Do 100% of what you know to do—and trust

Finish things and move on

Take risks

Break with your old reality

Appreciate yourself

Express gratitude

Give of yourself

Get a point of view from the Universe

So, will I have the time and the courage to find my way back? Only time will tell….

Solitude

Solitude…a word at once calming and scary. Calming because it is only in solitude that I can get in touch with myself, examine the effect various events and conversations have had on me. I need my solitude to center myself, otherwise I become like a prickly hedgehog, ready to rise to the defence for almost no reason.

Its scary at the same time, because I can squander it away….or go alone to find myself and discover there’s no one there. Even though that at least has never happened.

But in spite of just how important solitude is to me…there are times when I have none. Caught up in this hullaballo of daily life with all its demands, there is no time for self-reflection and contenmplation. And it is during those periods (like right now) that I just wish for a small cottage in a remote hill station where I can lose myself.

Hello world!

Aren’t we all muddled in some way or the other? Second guessing ourselves, wondering about our decisions, going through life with some firm opinions and with others that change. Questioning our faith and beliefs. The rationals among us questioning history and faith. After all, it was recorded centuries after the event. How much of it is true? And how do you sift between fact and fiction? How can blind faith explain certain concepts of relegion – like the Immaculate Conception and the Indian Creation Myth? Do we choose to believe? Do we act like we believe? Not only with regards to relegion, but with regards to the many excuses we hear everyday. How much of it goes on in an endless loop at the back of our minds, as we try and analyze what was said and what may have been implied? Confusion and chaos rule….most of the time….and if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll know it’s true.