Tatva

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin!

Anonymous

Found these lines saved in some document in my hard drive. Blogging it for posterity.

An Equal Music

But never either found another

To free the hollow heart from painting -

They stood aloof, the scars remaining

Like cliffs which had been rent asunder;

A dreary sea now flows between; -

But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder,

Shall wholly do away, I ween,

The marks of that which once hath been.

Excerpt from An Equal Music

Say, ‘This misery that I am suffering is of my own doing, and that very thing proves that it will have to be undone by me alone.’ That which I created, I can demolish; that which is created by someone else, I shall never be able to destroy. Therefore, stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creators of your own destiny. All the strength and succour you want is within ourselves.

It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light. First, believe in this world -- that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you are not understanding it in the right light. throw the burden on yourselves!

Civilizations have arisen in other parts of the world. In ancient and modern times, wonderful ideas have been carried forward from one race to another...But mark you, my friends, it has been always with the blast of war trumpets and the march of embattled cohorts. Each idea had to be soaked in a deluge of blood..... Each word of power had to be followed by the groans of millions, by the wails of orphans, by the tears of widows. This, many other nations have taught; but India for thousands of years peacefully existed. Here activity prevailed when even Greece did not exist... Even earlier, when history has no record, and tradition dares not peer into the gloom of that intense past, even from until now, ideas after ideas have marched out from her, but every word has been spoken with a blessing behind it and peace before it. We, of all nations of the world, have never been a conquering race, and that blessing is on our head, and therefore we live....!"

- Swami Vivekananda

February Madham

Some might say it is the month of February. Some might say Madhavan. Others might even say SPB Charan or Vairamuthu. Most might say ARR. I cannot pick on one reason why this romantic song, fresh since the year 2000, has suddenly taken over my Itunes again, making me waltz to this tune. Or even try to think why I was up all night just listening to it over and over again. Kadhal is playing Sadugudu with me surely I say!

Photo:http://newtamilmoviedownload.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html

Never Miss An Opportunity

High on emotions that I am, going home after one and a half years, I cannot stop thinking about how wonderful my family is and how much I love them. I feel very strongly about my family, as I know do my cousins too. But I do not ever recall telling my elders that I am really blessed to be born into this family.

It was the summer of 2004. May. My board exam results were just out and I had stood third in my college, with a 98% in Phy-Chem-Mat. It really was time for jubilation. And what was more amazing was, it was my cousin's engagement the next day. It was double celebration. Since the engagement was in the morning, my dad decided to host a party in the evening. The party was for immediate family(which comes up to a count of about 30 odd people :)), and every one was high - on happiness and more.

And then, my uncle comes up to me and says, "Make a speech". I was like What! And I don't know why exactly, I felt very silly and shy to go up and speak! My cousins coaxed me, but I was mad and I declined. Then they gave up and they asked my cousin to speak. She went ahead and gladly did, talking about how happy she was, how she loved everyone and how she will miss everyone after she moves away.

After she spoke was when I realized what a magnanimous opportunity I had missed - an opportunity to actually tell my family how much I Reaaaaly love them and not feel very corny about it later on. And what was worse was, the come make a speech was a setup to actually give me a gift after I had spoken. They gave the gift later on, explaining what they had intended to do.

There aren't too many things that I regret in life. But this definitely is one. I regret not having done what I should have and for not saying what I should have. And that's why I say - Never Miss An Opportunity. The next time around, I shall not :)

Feathery Tales

Washed ashore from a land afar

The drift and tide and wind in power.

Stuck ashore without a steer

Whose mercy awaits me here?

Gales or storms, drizzles or warmth

Surrendered to force, for better or for worse

All by chance, for all along

A wish, perhaps would change my luck

A wish to only think and steer,

To be the one to control life here.

Pic Courtesy: http://www.mcfadyen.org/

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And what is more, you'll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling