Friday, August 14, 2009
Tell me SIr....
Can you tell me Sir why do we not play everyday anymore like the good old days when at the stroke of 5, after the last half an hour of perfunctory studies, books were packed in a frantic hurry, bats were wielded like maces and a determination to be that evening's hero in the match prevailed? Can you tell me Sir why half an hour of Disney Hour on TV was much more fun than hours of TV and computer now? Tell me this also why kites no longer catch the eye, no longer the desire to fly them? The fun at school, teasing boys on girls and girls on boys. Why don't I understand how the fun of one samosa eaten in the school canteen refuses to be downplayed by the myriad succulent dishes tasted later? Those races with stick-beating the tires and running after them. Those pantomimes with cycles as buses and us donning the roles of conductors. Tell me sir where is the shine of the eye when not knowing what to do never irked the mind? Nor did the spectre of the future bear down upon? Why does that uncanny knack of being contented not present itself anymore? Tell me Sir, was it just a case of 'ignorance is bliss'? Sir, tell me, will you?
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
I Am Expecting......
"Expectations are an obstacle in the path of happiness", let lose some venerable XYZ. I cannot agree more. There dawns this crushing reality that almost all of the sadness is the off-shoot of expectations. As I start pondering, a tumultuous number of scenario flood my mind.
I got 80%, but alas I expected to get 85. I thought that such an arduous trek might lead us to a better scenery, not just some trees and bushes. Oh my, I thought that the class will get canceled. I guessed that this sport might be more fun but alas....and so go on many stories. As human beings we can never cleanse ourselves of expectations.
As opposed to this is the unparalleled, pure bliss of getting something unexpected. A class getting canceled when you have least expected it is like a gift from the God himself. A surprise party when you've never thought of it might just be the reason to cheer you up. The element of a pleasant surprise always takes an upper hand. It only takes a bit of restraint in expecting things to allow ourselves to be pleasantly surprised. Of course this again diverges to the debate of not expecting any fruit and keep on working.
Why are children almost always so happy ? Their mind is not cluttered with the myriad desires and experiences that adults have. Every experience is a new one for them. There is no benchmark to compare or weigh one result against another. You don't compare a sweet with another. A sweet is a sweet to be enjoyed in isolation.
But of course, an axiom single handedly never dictated life. Not expecting anything at all will take away the magnetic power of the goal that keeps us working. Mitigation of motivation will result in lower levels of enthusiasm. However we can enjoy small moments of life without expecting hills out of small events. Just get yourself pleasantly surprised on every turn of the way.
In a lighter vein, some circumstances can make even the most expecting hero starts wavering.
I got 80%, but alas I expected to get 85. I thought that such an arduous trek might lead us to a better scenery, not just some trees and bushes. Oh my, I thought that the class will get canceled. I guessed that this sport might be more fun but alas....and so go on many stories. As human beings we can never cleanse ourselves of expectations.
As opposed to this is the unparalleled, pure bliss of getting something unexpected. A class getting canceled when you have least expected it is like a gift from the God himself. A surprise party when you've never thought of it might just be the reason to cheer you up. The element of a pleasant surprise always takes an upper hand. It only takes a bit of restraint in expecting things to allow ourselves to be pleasantly surprised. Of course this again diverges to the debate of not expecting any fruit and keep on working.
Why are children almost always so happy ? Their mind is not cluttered with the myriad desires and experiences that adults have. Every experience is a new one for them. There is no benchmark to compare or weigh one result against another. You don't compare a sweet with another. A sweet is a sweet to be enjoyed in isolation.
But of course, an axiom single handedly never dictated life. Not expecting anything at all will take away the magnetic power of the goal that keeps us working. Mitigation of motivation will result in lower levels of enthusiasm. However we can enjoy small moments of life without expecting hills out of small events. Just get yourself pleasantly surprised on every turn of the way.
In a lighter vein, some circumstances can make even the most expecting hero starts wavering.
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