Category: musings

COVID-19 & Us

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Hello. Been a while. 

I last posted on this blog at the end of last year. I was hopeful for the year that was about to come. But, as life can do from time to time, it surprised me.

Though there have been some good moments this year, there have been some bad ones too.  But more than anything, it’s the big cloud that we are all living under that has cast a shadow over everything.

I’d been wanting to write at least something for some time now. And it’s not like I don’t have things to talk about. But life has been surprisingly busy this year. Or maybe I’ve become lazier. Whatever be the reason, the point is, there wasn’t enough motivation. But today, I’m taking a bath (cue the motivation-is-like-a-bath quote). 

But I can’t write about the usual stuff I post here, not yet. Talking about anything else feels like ignoring the elephant in the room. I’m, of course, referring to the crisis that the world is facing today in the form of COVID-19.

So, today, let’s talk about that only. Read More »

31 On 31

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Well, it’s been almost two months since my last post. Time indeed flies! Wish I could say I had been busy, but, come on! I should be able to find the time to write at least something in two months! I need a strong dose of motivation from somewhere!! If any writers are readers here today, maybe you can help me out: how do you guys motivate yourselves? And please, don’t say, “Just because I love writing!” Nothing wrong with that, but it’s just that, perhaps, for me, writing is more of a liking than a true love. So, I need some motivation from that perspective. 🙂

Anyway. So, I completed 31 years of this life on the 31st of last month. But I’m not here to talk about all those years today. I’ll just focus on the last one year.Read More »

The Joy Of Discovering Connections

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Have you ever noticed those moments when you discover something – something important? Like a life altering piece of information, or such an obvious piece of knowledge that you can’t imagine how you never thought of it before. It doesn’t even have to be so dramatic – it could even be something as simple as stumbling across a song or a book that just moves you.

There’s a certain quality to those moments of discovery.  At first, you don’t realize what it is that you have discovered, but slowly, it dawns on you – what you have stumbled across, its significance. Whatever the discovery may be, you’ll never see the thing it was about, the same way ever again.

It’s like enlightenment – to get your eyes opened, to see something that you had been seeing all your life, yet to see something that you hadn’t seen before. And I find these rare moments quite pleasant. This is what I mean by “the joy of discovering”.

And when I talk about “the joy of discovering connections”, I’m talking about those moments where Read More »

The Discovery Of A Treasure

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Well, the intervals are getting longer and longer now. I should be making more of an effort to write more frequently; lest, one day, they’ll become too long. If you give them the slightest space, “valid” reasons will always take up all your time. Currently, for me, those are settling into a new job, new city, searching for a house while living out of a suitcase, foraging for food, etc. And to write, I need a calm and settled environment, especially given the themes of this blog.

But, as I said, these are just excuses. If there’s time to do anything else, then there’s time to write. It’s all about getting the priorities right. And then having the willpower to do what needs to be done.

Anyways, enough ranting. I’m here now. So, let’s begin.

Today, I want to share with you an important discovery that I made recently. Potentially as valuable as any treasure in the world. In fact, even better than a treasure as no one can steal it from me!

Read More »

Two Year Anniversary!!

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Well, well, well…How quickly does time fly! Can’t believe it’s already been two years since I started blogging here regularly!

I still remember that first post. Honestly, at the time, I didn’t know, or even think, that I would be doing this for the next two years of my life. All I wanted to do was to share a pleasant experience with anyone who’d listen. It felt good to share that pleasant experience, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do ever since.

This journey over the last couple of years has been quite interesting. I’ve come across some new thoughts through others’ writings, remembered and re-evaluated some old ones of my own, and reached out to people I never would’ve come across otherwise. There’s something alluring, romantic even, about discovering words written years and years ago, on blogs that are no longer active, by authors who got off this journey at some point, for some reason; about finding that one post with zero “likes”, but that speaks to you as if it was written especially for you, by someone on the other side of the world, at the other end of their life’s journey! The power and connect of words is truly amazing! Reminds me of stones skipping on water. 🙂

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Dear Diary…

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Hey there, dear diary!
Nice to meet you again.
But, after years on this road,
Time’s up on our journey.

We rarely realize,
That word after word,
Our journal fills itself,
N’ how swiftly time flies.

But, what a wonderful gift
You turned out to be.
An anchor for choppy seas,
Saved me from being adrift.

Oh, the accidents it took…
For us to come together.
For this story of mine,
To find a place in your book.

Hopes n’ dreams, anger n’ screams,
Stained your pages with ‘em all.
Yet you somehow held together,
Dangling between the extremes.

Many did I share before –
Memories too important.
Some best forgotten, but
Many still left to explore.

So, it is hard to let go.
Stitching, sketching, stretching,
What will be the last story,
That you’ll ever get to know.

But it’s a good reminder:
No one knows or controls,
The stories and pages,
They are left in the binder.

With nary a chance,
Too many end too soon.
I know I am lucky,
To get one more dance.

But here approacheth the end,
And even though,
There may be more,
None can take your place.
So, in this last little space,
Let me just say:
Thank you, and goodbye, dear friend!

If you have been following this blog, you might notice that sometime back, I wrote a post about some parting thoughts on reaching the end of a journey. When I had had those initial thoughts, I knew there was potential for a poem there. But writing one takes time and effort (lots of it!) for me, and so, at that time, I thought I’ll just go with the flow and put my thoughts into the simple words that came readily.

But since then, the idea of expressing those feelings through a poem had been on my mind. And so, here you go! It’s done, finally!! 🙂

It’s definitely not my finest work, which, so far, (shameless self promotion warning!) I consider to be this, for a variety of reasons. But even though I knew this wasn’t as good as it could’ve been, I just had to get this one out of the system! Still, howsoever the poem is, I hope you’ll at least get a glimpse of that bittersweet feeling (if I haven’t done too bad a job of messing that up), and maybe, of even the larger picture… 😉

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Photo Credit: Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash

What Else Did I Miss Out On?

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So the other day, I decided to leave a bit early from office. Now usually, my office timings are 11 to 8. But sometimes, I leave a bit early. And for anyone from my office reading this blog, let me clarify – I’m not shirking my work; I completed the required hours of work after reaching home! 😉

So, anyways, as I was saying: Sometimes I leave early. I do this so that I can get to see the sun set (I have a thing for sunsets). And there’s a stretch on the way back home that offers a very nice view, weather permitting.

I’ve seen some really beautiful sights this way, but this time, the view was extraordinary. Golden-orange sunlight streamed through openings in the clouds. I could make out the edges of the beams of light, but just barely. It was more like a golden fog descending through the clouds, diffusing as it approached the ground, slowly disappearing mid-air, before ever touching down. It was spectacular! I wish I had a photograph or video, but I was driving and couldn’t stop to take one. (The above beautiful image is not mine!)

Watching this amazing sight triggered a thought, which has finally culminated in today’s blog. And that thought was: What other wonders have I been missing out on?

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What Begins, Must End

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Apart from this blog, I sometimes also write in an actual journal, a diary. I find that sometimes, you just need that physicality to writing – the sound and touch of paper, holding and moving the pen, the rhythm of the hands, instead of the mechanical “clickity-clack” of typing and staring at a white screen. And well, some thoughts are too private even for a “personal blog”. 😉

I don’t do it often – just a couple of entries a year. Sometimes even fewer. So, I’d been using that same diary for the last many, many years. But as I was writing in it this time, I realized that I had reached the end of it.

As I neared the end, I wanted to write a “goodbye” message in the little space that I had left (yeah, I’m “weird” that way), which I did. But as I began writing, I had an amusing and pleasant thought, one that I think (more like “hope”), some of you might find some beauty in. So, here I am, reproducing that final, short diary entry below:

* * *

And just like that I’ve reached the end of this journal – a journey that began many, many years ago, with a thoughtful gift. Now, there aren’t many pages left in this diary, for another one of life’s journeys.

A little more space to continue writing would have been nice, but we don’t control how many pages we are given, and where our story ends. I guess I’d never really be ready for it to be over. So many stories left untold, incomplete. But not much that I can do about it.

Sometimes, you get a chance to wrap up your story in time, when you know the end is near, but even then, it’s not easy letting go. You wish you could continue in some way or another; just refusing to let go.

But, the end approaches, and it’s time to say, “Thank You! And Goodbye.” 🙂

* * *

Photo Credit: Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash

The Lives That We’ll Never Live

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For me, winters are a time for reflection, more so than the usual. The long winter nights, lying in bed in a warm cocoon, sitting by the fireplace, sipping hot chocolate. With snow outside. It just makes you think and wonder about life.

Well, none of it actually happens where I live, but it’s how I picture winters. Maybe it’s because of all the books I’ve read from English authors, describing those cold winter nights in the English countryside. 🙂

Anyway, to get to the point: So, yesterday, I had a thought: What would it have been like to live the different lives that I never got a chance to live? What all lives have I missed out on? And it’s not the first time that I’ve had this thought.

Let me explain what I mean by it.Read More »

A Stranger

A Wondering Wanderer4 Comments

A poem about a chance meeting with a “stranger”:

In a cool autumn breeze,
Walking down an old street,
I came across a stranger,
And it made me lose my ease.

Memories, I tried to plow.
But my mind wouldn’t allow.
I knew I knew the man.
Just didn’t know how.

He was old and wrinkled.
But his eyes still twinkled.
“Hey there! Remember me?”
My heart, his voice tingled.

He smiled at me, bit amused.
I stared at him, lot confused.
“Sorry, but how do I know you?”
Said I to the man perused.

To which he said:

“I’m the wolf that wasn’t fed,
Surprised, I ain’t already dead.
Missing, marooned memories –
I’m what time hasn’t yet shred.”

Thinking him mad, I began to leave.
My quandary, he seemed to perceive,
For he spat, “Time, when one gifts,
Be humble, and their wisdom, receive.”

He went on:

“Friends were we; grew up together.
Our bond was to be our tether.
Keeping us safe, sane, spirited –
Storms, it would’ve helped us weather.”

The fog lifted at this mention.
I realized our deep connection.
Shocked, surprised, I almost cried,
At this ghost’s resurrection.

I inquired where he had gone.
Why return this beautiful dawn?
Why couldn’t I see him before?
Why did it have to take so long?

He answered with:

“Too busy to look or listen;
In a rush, you missed all the fun.
I was always ’round the corner;
You just… never made the turn.

But, for a breath, you stopped today.
So, here I am, plain as day.
Fate often looked you in the eye,
Only, this time, you didn’t look away.”

***

We meandered through a park.
Enthralled by the song of the lark,
I gaped at the colors of fall,
Wondering where had gone this spark.

As the old leaves fell,
I felt my heart swell –
A lightness long forgotten,
The lifting of a dark spell.

Finally, I understood this:
That feeling of something amiss,
Was just me not able to see,
A life blessed with beauty’s kiss.

So, at long last, I said to him:

“All your words are indeed true.
I’ve missed this place, this view,
Missed the laughter, the light,
Missed so much about you.

Last we talked, I was a child.
Living in a world less wild.
With a heart full of wonder,
Worried far less, much I smiled.

But somehow I lost that zen.
God only knows way back when.
Times changed, and so did I.
Never been the same again.

I so wish I could’ve seen,
The futures that could’ve been.
Life, blessed with your charisma,
Would be so much more serene.

I lost you once, and was lost.
But, thank God, our paths, at last, crossed.
Don’t leave my side till I close my eyes.
Not again can I suffer that cost.”

***

And so continues our story.
I just pray I never again see,
That deep, dark, death of a night when
That “stranger” is, once more, a stranger to me.

So, finally, I’ve managed to finish this poem! Although the idea for it came is swiftly and unexpectedly as ideas are wont to do, fleshing it out into the poem you see above has taken up a considerable part of my attention over the last two months. I know it’s not great, but it’s definitely the longest poem I’ve done in my short career as a poet, and given how much time and effort it took, and the subject, it’s quite close to me (although, as an artist, everything I write is close to me!). Hope you guys like it too!

P.S.: The inspiration for this poem came when reading the poem: “The Crooked Man” by Elrow Swift on hellopoetry.com. As I was reading about the “crooked man” in the linked poem, an idea suddenly popped into my head about what it would be like to meet the “stranger” from my poem.

Photo Credit: Nathália Bariani on Unsplash