Man and Nature

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.

- Mother Teresa

The Time Has Come

... there shall be showers of blessing.
- Ezekiel 34:26, The Holy Bible.

Happiness and Joy

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.

- Earl Nightingale

Pure Pleasure

“I was surrounded by friends, my work was immense, and pleasures were abundant. Life, now, was unfolding before me, constantly and visibly, like the flowers of summer that drop fanlike petals on eternal soil. Overall, I was happiest to be alone; for it was then I was most aware of what I possessed. Free to look out over the rooftops of the city. Happy to be alone in the company of friends, the company of lovers and strangers. Everything, I decided, in this life, was pure pleasure.”

- Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

Christmas

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

- John 3:16

Splendour in the Grass

Ah, could I lay me down in this long grass
And close my eyes, and let the quiet wind
Blow over me - I am so tired, so tired
Of passing pleasant places! All my life,
Following Care along the dusty road,
Have I looked back at loveliness and sighed;
Yet at my hand an unrelenting hand
Tugged ever, and I passed. All my life long
Over my shoulder have I looked at peace;
And now I fain would lie in this long grass
And close my eyes.

- Edna St. Vincent Millay, Journey

Gloom

“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”

- M. Scott Peck

***

I wish, i would be able to believe it, but I'm personally convinced, that religion is something, which was made up, to satisfy the human curiosity, when we were unable to try to achieve existential answers through logic and science - But then again, it's my perspective, and I'm - just like everyone else - not able to state my point of view as the "thruth".

comment by TheMizProductions @ Tears in heaven/Eric Clapton

I'm goin' through some rough times in a relationship right now with a girl I love more than any material thing on this earth and this song is one of the few things that keeps me goin' through the day. This song is practically my life's theme song...

comment by Arnold1117 @ I'm No Stranger to the Rain/Keith Whitley

The love of my life died January 3rd of this year. I thought that I had finally got what I was wishing for but he was taken from me. Now I am wish for love to find me again. I wish on all the stars at night that true love finds me again. Till then I will keep wishing. I hope everyone finds true love and cherishes it because you never know when it will be taken from you. There is true love out there for everyone just be patient it will come.

comment by MsJuicywoman @ Someone Else's Star/Bryan White

***

Greetings

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.
- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.

*** *** ***

the portrait of a journey

Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs.
- Susan Sontag


I have made journey's all my life. Some with family, and a lot with friends. But most of my travels have been alone. Alone on duty.

It's always a rewarding experience to meet different people on journeys and know their cultures, customs, and behaviour.
Journeys give you a joyful chance to taste food of different flavours and aroma. They teach you the way's of life and society and enlighten you about the functioning of a government.

Also we get to make some really unknown short-term friends who linger in your thoughts for a long long time.
At the end you find your life enriched.

***

Those were the Days

When I was younger I chased butterflies
But now I look around and realize
That there are no butterflies around here anymore
Now there's more people everywhere
And on ground that once was bare
They've built condos and shopping malls
And on streets I walked where the sun shined
Shadows grow as buildings climb

- Butterflies by Crimpshrine

beautiful dreams

"... My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.”
-Abram L.Urban

feeble memories

that was the first time...
for Thulasi

The Chair

It was strange to see grandpa sitting in the short, plastic-stringed chair. He never used to sit in this.
The man always used to sit in his long-armed teak chair. Every morning he would settle himself with a huge glass of tea and newspaper with his legs spread across the wooden arms. In evenings he again settles in the wooden wonder and watches children play in the courtyard. He watches them so keenly may be reminiscing his own childhood days.

Even when the man was absent from the chair, everyone gave great respect to it. Little children were afraid to go near the wooden piece.

But don't know what happened to the old black-polished chair that the man adored. He now sits in a shorter version with no long arms.
.....

The Death Of My Grandpa And His Rocking Chair.

At the end of the Day

It was a happy relief for me today for the two holidays that follow after a very hectic, restless office schedule this entire week.

And a very sad day due to the transfer of two of my very close colleagues. The simple sendoff party arranged for them has been almost a tearful experience for me. But bravely kept a smiling face with a lump in my throat.

Thanks to this wonderful journey of life. It really helped me find some very nice, helpful persons. Though it does present some bitter moments on the way. But at the end of the day it is those beautiful feel-good moments spent with some nice people that makes life worth living.

Sounds Good

Today it was a feeble Christmas song on the FM that woke me up. A day before it was an Ayyappa song. The local fm stations have been airing some beautiful devotionals these eventful days. And father was all up early in the morning to play them on the fm.

The fm stations these days have sprouted like mushrooms. Even television channels started to produce their own fm stations. And everywhere I go, whether its a supermarket, grocery store, hotel, salon, trains, railway reservation counters, I can hear a fm playing. Even people are listening it on their mobile phones. My sister a couple of years ago bought her new mobile phone (a Nokia 6030). When I asked why she opted for it, she simply said it can play fm.

A few years ago during my school days when there were hardly any fm stations in India, I frequently tuned the fm to find if anything was playing there. But all I could hear was an empty cooing sound. But today its a different scene alltogether.
Now its also the time of Internet Radio's And here too there are lots of free radio stations. But Martini in the Morning is the thing I hear now.


Cool Med Radio - another good internet radio.
Radio Tower - for more internet radio stations.
..........

Step-Out, Step-In

It has been a rather dull monsoon for me this year. Just a few heavy rains now and then. The weatherman's prediction of good rainfall has completely gone wrong and failed to drench me as I have dreamt.

Anyway its time to say 'goodbye' to the monsoon and is also the time to say 'hello' to winter. The new season as I could feel is slowly stepping in. Its time to catchup with warm rugs, long sleeps, and hot coffees.
.....

Stolen Moment

I ne'er was struck before that hour

With love so sudden and so sweet.

Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower

And stole my heart away complete.

First Love - poem by John Clare

Wooden Gate

Fresh Jasmine's

"And as soon as I smelled the air, I knew I was home. It was rich, almost sweet, like the scent of jasmine and roses around our old courtyard. I walked the streets, savoring that long lost perfume."

-Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

..........

The First Jasmines - poem by Rabindranath Tagore

Ordinary Post

"People would crowd in front of the Post Office when the mail arrived, hoping for letters or money orders from children and relatives. Abraham would open the postbag and sort out and arrange the letters. He would then hand over a locked, sealed leather bag to the Post Master. By the time the Post Master verified the number of money orders and the cash to be paid out, Abraham would have the letters stamped and read. He would then take the money orders from the Post Master, stamp them and call out the names one after another."

-V.K. Madhavan Kutty, The village before time.