Month: March 2018

The First Page.

“It was like any other day. I woke up at my usual time of 5.45 am and sat down to meditate at 6.00 am. The call of the Muezzin floated in from the mosque’s loud speakers three kilo meters away. With it came the sound of the early birds and the sound of traffic from vehicles of those going to work early shifts. The impatient sound of the horn from a locomotive from the outer yards of the railway station came buffeting in disturbing me. I was unable to focus on my meditation with the same ease with which I usually can.

It was however not a usual day. It was the day that I was  to submit my resignation from a job that was destroying my soul. After almost a quarter of a century, new management has brought about changes that were totally contrary to my value system, brought up as I was, in an old fashioned organisation with old fashioned values of loyalty to employees, customers and other stake holders.

I had tried to convince the powers to be to let me run my department the way I had run it for nearly four years. Very productive ones with great achievements and much satisfaction till the new policy guidelines were announced.

I had battled for over three months with myself about continuing in the position and had consulted only my wife as I was reasonably sure that others would advice against resigning as the employer was a highly reputed multinational company where employment was considered to be prestigious. She was very supportive and assured me that whatever decision had to be taken to enable me to live with my conscience was acceptable to her and that clinched the matter.

I had sought and found three job offers and had left the final choice to the time frame that I will be given to hand over to my successor. I was set to go forth and had even mentally drafted my letter of resignation.

I could not meditate and got up to get cracking on the other activities of my morning routine.“

Today’s topic was suggested by Shackman for our 2 on 1 weekly Friday blog posts. The full topic read as “Write the first page of your as yet, unpublished novel.”  As most first novels are said to be, my attempt is autobiographical.  Unlike the topic of the image, mine was the beginning of a new life in a different location and industry.  In retrospect, I was right to have resigned when I did and my life subsequently was very satisfying indeed.

Please go over to Shackman’s blog to see what he has to say about his first page.

Checked Out Characters.

I have this remarkable young friend who keeps stumping me with singular insights and terminology that sometimes zaps me. We were discussing some personalities yesterday and he came up with a description of two people I know as Checked Out Characters. In my opinion, very apt but, perhaps for my readers a little explanation is necessary.

The two personalities that I was discussing yesterday are from a sub group of Indians who due to education and with the help of some assistance from providence, have moved out of their base group and moved into  the so called elite of our society. Somewhat akin to the nouveau rich or the upwardly mobile in the social sense of the term.

Let us take some examples. I have cousins who went to schools that taught little English language and so condemned them to a life of lower middle class. On the other hand, I have cousins who went to schools which taught in the English medium which enabled them to go on to study Engineering or Medicine or to get into the Civil Services etc. Both sets of cousins come from the same stock and background in terms of religion, caste, economy etc, but one set simply due to the accident of one type of education took of on a tangent different from the other.

So far so good. The problem with the latter group of cousins is that they look down upon the former as being somehow inferior and avoid socialising with them to the extent possible. The former on the other hand having seen this phenomenon, struggle to put their children through the English medium schools and at considerable sacrifice succeed. Both sets of cousins now have their children qualified and very likely working in the Silicon Valley as computer coolies but sending money back home.

The divergent cousins now converge and strut around in relative prosperity and look down on the less fortunate ones.

My young friend called these characters as Checked Out characters implying that they have checked out of their roots and pretend to be something other than what they are.

I can come up with people from all walks of life who fit into this description. I love it. I intend not only using it to describe people but also to take some people down a few pegs.

The Four Wives.

No, I don’t have four wives nor do I have any intentions of acquiring them any time in the future.

This video must be seen first before why I post it here becomes clear.

A lady friend of mine from Australia sent a clip similar to this to me on WhatsApp with the comment:

“Look after your soul mate. :-)” Knowing her as I do, quite whether the omission of the comma after the word soul, was deliberate is a moot point.

I responded with – “I don’t have even one wife, leave alone four.  I look after my soul just fine thank you.”

She responded with – “I don’t have a wife either. So, I don’t have a choice. I AM my own soulmate!”

I wonder which wife is this one at the coffee table.

“Faith, hope, love, and insight are the highest achievements of human effort.” ~ Carl C Jung

When I attempted to write this post, I ran into a writer’s block and thought it best to look for quotes to inspire me.  The quotes inspired me to cheat as one of my maxims is why reinvent the wheel ?

Faith.

“I have great faith in fools – self-confidence my friends will call it.”
~ Edgar Allan Poe

Hope.

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.”
~ John Lennon

Love.

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”
~ William Shakespeare

Insight.

“The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection”~ Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe.

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”~ ~ ~ Paulo Coelho

“What one meets with in life is destiny. How well one meets it is self effort.  ~ Chinmayananda

This week’s 2 on 1 was chosen by me.  When I suggested it, the other participant Shackman was quite enthused to have a go at it as in his words “I am virtually devoid of those so this will be interesting.” As usual, he was being modest.  Please do go and see what he has to say about the topic.

We Are Getting Dumber!

I am not being facetious. I quote “……….it could be argued that humanity is on course to become collectively less smart.

I personally have been feeling that I am less smart than most of the people that I either meet personally or react with online like in Facebook, WhatsApp, the blog world etc. I was under the impression that the reason for this could be that I am now a has been whereas most of the people that I meet are younger, some young enough to be my grand children.

I am however relieved that it is not due to my being an old reprobate that I feel less smart. This article clearly states that the reason lies elsewhere.

What do you think?

Going To Pot.

No peanut, your guru does not smoke pot nor has he gone to pot.  Not as yet at least.

I use two types of pots at my home. The smaller one on the left is a glazed clay pot that I use to store one particular type of pickle for which it is the best container. I am told that it is the best for other pickles too, but I hardly ever eat other pickles.

The other larger one is an unglazed clay pot in which I set yogurt. The end product, using cow’s milk is good enough to kill for. If you don’t believe me, please come over for a taste of it.