A Walk by Moonlight

To take a break from our monotonous “guest house to office and office to guest house” routine, we decided to go out for dinner yesterday. Thus started the search for a suitable place for the evening and what better place than a beach. We found out an Italian Beach restaurant within a few seconds (thanks to google). After the initial ordeal with autowala we finally reached the beach. And what a co-incidence!! It was a full moon night and the shimmering calm water of sea was all we could see.

While we were walking on the soft sand towards the restaurant, I suddenly remembered the poem “A walk by moonlight”. And then I understood the power of moonlight. It actually alleviates us of all our worries and soothes us in a divine manner. That was the moment when I actually experienced the “bliss of solitude”

Yes; there are in the backward past
Soft hours to which we turn --
Hours which, at distance, mildly shine,
Shine on, but never burn.

The cherished memories of college, golden time spent with friends and then best 8 months of my life, all flashed upon my inward eye. I relived my college years and the golden 8 months all over again during that walk. I bunked lectures, spent entire days chatting in canteen, late night gossips in hostel, enjoyed long leg pulling sessions with friends, remembered hours spent on phone during exams, all the fun filled weekends of my Kolkata stay, special visits by special people in Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore and the innumerable treats I forced out of my friends in Bangalore.

At the end of that walk I found my heart, mind and soul immersed in moonlight, shining with happiness. This walk by moonlight gave my mind the peace it was craving for since last so many days.

Happy Valentine's Day

"But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams beneath your feet;
Tread softly, for you tread on my dreams..."

Discovering myself

Every day when I have to get up at 630 for office I think everything in the world is better than getting up so early. Then when I enter my office at 8, I feel nothing could be worse than this. The same is true for living here all alone, working 10 hrs daily and so many other innumerable small incidents. Each new difficulty and I feel that this affects me the most. But then God has its own ways of teaching us. He puts us into worse and worse situations till we finally say “I can endure anything and everything now”. He makes us more and more tolerant and strong and stops just at the point where we find out for ourselves what actually troubles us the most. Thus He helps us discover ourselves and we then know what fears lie deepest inside our heart.

After a long period of struggle, I finally realized what affects me the most. It’s not getting up early or slogging for hours or living alone which makes me cry. It’s the tears and worries of loved ones which make me feel helpless and lost. I can bear everything but sadness and tears of the people I love. I can do anything for their one smile, anything.

Nothing is forever; even the darkest and longest night is followed by dawn. So all you should do is fight with the darkness foreseeing the dawn, fully assured of the fact that you always have your loved ones with you come whatever may.

Life is a roller coaster

I had always heard “Life is a roller coaster ride” but understood its complete analogy only today. Most of us are thrilled by the mere thought of experiencing a roller coaster ride. We are all eager to enjoy the speed and excitement of the ups and downs of that ride. We get on the ride reassuring ourselves that we are prepared for the excitement. The ride starts, all faces are lit up with broad smiles. But as soon as the ride speeds up with unexpected ups and downs in all directions, we start screaming with fear and uncertainty and yell continuously for the ride to stop. Most of us are terrified and throughout the ride we wish nothing but the ride to stop. And the moment we step out of the ride, we again want to be on the ride for that adventure and keep longing for that.

The same applies to life. We want our lives to be full of excitement and adventure. We start our journey of life, fully prepared (according to our standards) for the thrills and happiness. But as difficulties and uncertainties start jolting us, we wish our adventure to end. We crib and pray for returning back to the point where we started. And amidst all this fear and panic, we miss out all our excitement and fun for which we had set out. We somehow try to find our way out of it. Just as everyone somehow completes the roller coaster ride, we all come out of thrills and uncertainties of life. But the moment we are out of that phase, we realize its worth and want to be a part of it again.

Some of us are lucky enough to come across many roller coaster rides but few don’t get a second chance. That ride becomes their last ride, the ride in which they had chosen to scream with fright and sorrow instead of enjoying whatever comes their way.