Fishing for opportunities

There was an old fisherman who used to say that life is full of opportunities but that not all opportunities were meant for you. He said that think of life like a lake full of fish. All the fishes are there to be taken but not all will be caught. A fisherman can only look for a good spot and then cast his net. Most fishes will get away, maybe all. Maybe a few will be caught. The one's that are caught are the fishes for you. A good fisherman never rues the one's that got away but takes what he has caught. These he carefully and meticulously weighs, scales, guts, cleans, slices, and then stores them. Having done all that he then hopes that someone will buy his fish. If that happens then he knows he has taken full advantage of the 'fish' that he happened to catch.

So it is with life. We have opportunities swirling around us all the time and its natural to want to reach out and grab each of them. But no matter how hard you try, most of them will pass you by. When that happens, there is no point is ruing the missed opportunities, that way more of them will pass you by. After all, life is not about the one that got away but about what you did with the one that you caught.

Lost Paradise

In the beginning divinity was part of our nature but as time went by we humans abused our divinity more and more till eventually the gods decided to take the divinity away from us. It fell upon Bhrahma to invoke his powers and take away our divine aspects. He did it reluctantly but once he did it he had a problem. Where is he supposed to hide this divinity so that we humans wouldn't find it again.

Vishnu said that there was no point burying it deep within Mother Earth as he was sure that no matter how deep they buried it we humans would eventually dig it out. He also said that there was no point in throwing it far into the sea as we would eventually find a way to swim out and get it. Mahesh looked at Bhrahma and Vishnu and added that there was also no point in hiding it on top of the tallest mountain as we would eventually get there too.

So all three pondered long and hard. There seemed to be no place deep enough, far enough or high enough for this divinity to be hidden safely. Suddenly Bhrahma's eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "I know just the place where we can hide divinity and it will be safe there. Its safe there not because man cannot find it, its safe because he wont look for it there."

So saying, Bhrahma took the divinity and placed it deep within each man's soul.

Since that day each of us has that divinity within us that we keep looking for everywhere.

Finding heroes

Finding heroes is not really difficult, the tough part is beginning to look for them. Its an ego thing, you have to overcome this ego by acknowledging the fact that there are people out there who did things better than you ever could. Once that is done then you will find heroes all around you....

There is this vagabond who spends his time riding trains. He once noticed that quite a few children made a living selling bits and things on the train. It was obvious to him that these kids had no future, that by and by these kids would get sucked deeper and deeper into the vortex of circumstances, eventually ending up just like him. So he began teaching these kids in between stations once they had done their selling. Basic stuff. He has been doing this now for several years and a few of his 'students' have since gone on to take up formal education and make something of their lives...

There is a village, back of beyond. Suffering from years of drought, the village and the villagers crumbled. The men took to drinking and made matters worse for all, especially the womenfolk. Then one night one of the women refused to let her drunk husband in. She got bashed up big time. Next night she locked herself in and refused to open. He spent the night in the open. She got bashed up again in the morning but this time some other women intervened. That night more women refused to let their drunk husbands in and it was the beginning of something good. Today, i am told, nobody touches a drop of liquor in this village.....

At a lounge bar a rather drunk person wanted another drink. The bargirl refused him his drink. He pulled out his gun and shot her. Then he ran. Everybody in the bar froze but for one woman who chased him as far as she could. The shooter was a very influential person and bore upon everybody in the bar that night to hush up his act. Many couldnt stand the pressure and gave in to his cover-up, but that woman did not, no matter how intimidatiing things got. The shooter was eventually convicted, and the judges acknowledged the part played by that woman's testimony in getting his conviction....

Three random stories, two of them unheard of events, but three tales of heroism... how many more such heroes are still out there..... many.... many.

A quiet moment

Yesterday I was in a cafe mulling over my mocha. I looked around and the cafe was the usual noisy place it always is. The couple next to me seemed very keen on making everybody hear their 'private' conversation, the TV in the corner was spewing the same inane nonsense, the coffee grinder groaned as it grinded and the busboys flitted about balancing several orders at the same time. But in all this noise and confusion I was having a quite moment. It began just like any other moment, moments that are beset with thoughts of the past or hopes for the future, but somehow this moment was different. It was as if my ears had suspended work and refused to respond to the sonic bombardment at its doors. Bereft of sound my mind was forced to think rather than react and that's when I really began to feel good. That's when I seemed to sprout wings and began to hover. A strange weightlessness gave me a new sense of freedom and I began to look at everything like I had never seen it before.

Suspended animation, a state of bliss, finally I was learning to fly. Was this what all my efforts were all about? Was this the goal that one reached when all was said and done?

Alas, lovely as this was, it was but a moment and a moment always passes you by. So did this one. But as it passed me by it turned and with a sly smile whispered "the journey between what you once were and who you are now is where the dance of life really takes place...."

Fire and Ice

The other day I attended a breathtaking performance by a group of Manipuri dancers. The theme was 'Agni' so the performers made liberal use of fire both in their performance as well as in the decor. There was live music including a pandit reciting sutras and vedic hymns. The night was clear and a soft wind was blowing across the open-air stage. As the performance progressed we all were pulled into a vortex of feelings, sometimes burning, sometimes smouldering....

At one point the performers attempted to light a fire on the stage. They were vigorously rubbing together what looked like twigs and as their efforts got faster, the chanting kept pace till suddenly a fire was actually lit and the chanting came to a thunderous climax.

There was no doubt that the performers were highly talented. They danced, played the dholak, did some very complex movements with mashals, swords, spears and fire balls. As they weaved and swerved, they created swirling arcs of fire and when they fought with their swords, they did so with so much enthusiasm and speed that when their swords clashed sparks actually flew. I clapped and yelled so much that my hands ached and my throat was hoarse.

Thats when I noticed that the audience in general was rather frugal in its appreciation and I couldnt understand why. Appreciations is not just about acknowledging the performance, its about recognising and appreciating all the years of effort that goes into reaching the level of finesse that these performers had reached. Each of them would have made several sacrifices, taken tough decisions, opted out, several times, from all those little fun things we do, instead they would have chosen to practice their art. It is our obligation to tell them that all their sacrifice was well worth it. That they were right in choosing what they did and that we are indeed grateful that all their sacrifices gave us a moment to cherish.

I wish I had a hundred pair of hands and my voice a hundred times louder so that I could have clapped and shouted for each of those 'high society' ice statues that sat all around me in their pretty silk sarees and three piece suits.

First Steps

Things are on a roll. The mountains are beckoning and the weather is supportive too. In any case this is just the right time that one can hope to step out without the feeling that this indulgence can wait. The year is about gone and all that was to be done in it should be about done too. Right?

... but what about this little whisper, this feeling, that somewhere somehow it is all going to change. That like a tiger, fate waits patiently behind that rock, to make a killing of the good times.

I wonder what makes us so, why do we keep looking over our backs, forever worried that a tiger lurks. So much fun in life, so many wonderful opportunities, is lost if one is forever looking over one's back. Fun lies ahead, not behind. And that tiger.... well maybe he's just had his lunch...

I think I will take that walk in the woods after all... i got nothing to lose.