The gesture

The smoke from his two wheeler could have put a chimney to shame and would have flunked the basic emission tests. The rider/owner belonged to the creed who don't switch off the ignition at the longest traffic signal. So i was in line for some serious smoke inhalation My neighboring rider with a small kid and I fretted over our state but neither asked him to do anything about it. And then all of a sudden he turned back; looked at both of us, then the kid and proceeded to turn off his bike.

The act in itself may have had no use, for the signal turned green in a few more seconds but the gesture truly was an endearing one.

Totally apt

A man should know when to leave the party.

~ Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

A disciplined approach to indiscipline

As kids we were time and again reminded to inculcate the habit of discipline. Being disciplined is considered as the mark of an accomplished Homo Sapien. But what happens when it becomes a barrier in practical life and you decide to turn into new leaf. Well! its a chicken-egg situation. Because for a disciplined person taking to indiscipline also requires a form of discipline ;)

Let me state an example. If you are a person who cannot sleep without your final cup of coffee, a habit you have built up over many years just try giving it up! Uff! Well it first requires you to train your disciplined mind to accept the paradigm shift and teach it that 'not having coffee' is the new discipline. Then every single day for many months you go about strictly following the new discipline and lo! In a few months you would have forgotten about coffee altogether

Maybe being disciplined helps. Everything can be worked out like an algorithm with sure shot results. But then isn't a human different from an algorithm/machine because of emotions? Maybe a different discipline is all that is needed then :).

:)

“Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.”

~Kahlil Gibran

Cogito ergo sum revisited thru' Facebook

Anisha called up to reconnect after many years.

A: Hey, been years....How have you been and what are you up to?
Me: I have been good. How about you?
A: Great! Travelling all over the world and now I guess back to where I belong
Me: That's great!
A: Are you working?
Me: Yup
A: And weekends....still the book moth, are you?
Me: Hahaha...yeah pretty much....I still belong to the 'read-to-my-deathbed' kinds though the frequency has gone down after motherhood. And I have picked up movies, thanks to a hubby who has some great taste
A: OMG!!! You are married and a mother....
Me: Yeah! Why is that so surprising?
A: It’s not mentioned on your Facebook so I assumed....well...you know what!!!
Me: After laughing hysterically for 5 minutes I asked her - So if I didn't have an FB account does that automatically imply that I don't exist?

And Descartes thought that because I think, I could exist ;)

Quotes from House of Cards [1990 TV series]

His deepest need was that people should like him. An admirable trait, that. In a spaniel or a whore. Not, I think, in a Prime Minister.

And yet we all would wish to feed on certainties.To hear the word 'always' and believe it true.

From Julius Caesar

There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

~ Shakespeare 

Quote

What we don't say answers itself. By not being said.

~Fountainhead

A great line from a beautiful poem

We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.


A fabulous line from a lovely poem - A Brief for the Defense by Jack Gilbert

Movie line

You always have a line that stays with you. A line that says more than what the words mean.....
This one is from the german movie - The lives of others

Wiesler: What is the name ....
Boy: of?
Wiesler: What is the name of your ball?

The three minute walk

As I rushed to get out of office I found him blocking my way. It was the usual rush time where every second counted. He was busy with his smartphone which was really annoying and I was about to interrupt him with the polite "Excuse me" when I stopped. He was unconsciously murmuring a song. It was the antara from Dheere dheere chal chaand gagan mein. I didn’t feel like interrupting his unconscious business so decided to take a time hit and walk behind him. The walk was approximately 3-4 minutes till we reached the parking lot. He ended up crooning the whole song. Not an accomplished singer but had his own individual and beautiful style.

I wonder if he really realized that he had sung the full song because he was glued to his phone. If not, well, what a loss! The three minutes, as I walked quietly listening to a beautiful song, I was thinking that life has its moments but we are too busy to notice. I don’t even remember how the rest of my day went but I remember the moment when I decided to not run and listen to a total stranger crooning. If one can really sing unconsciously....guess life is not that complicated ;)