2/24/07

don't quit

i had this poster up in my room in jaipur, many years ago. inspiring, don't you think?


Don't Quit!

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but do not quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Anonymous -

2/22/07

it was a dark and stormy night...

just a thought - i love short stories that start thus. they remind me of this hilarious short story we had in gulmohar, back in 7th grade. i remember little other than that it was hilarious, a short story, started with "it was a dark and stormy night" and read in 7th grade. but that satisfies loving criteria...

2/21/07

easy peasy

i only just realized how easy it is to write new posts with the new blogger. since i'm already logged on to gmail, i just need to click on the little link on the page and voila!

i love how the world is trying to make everything so easy peasy for us. thank you.

sincerely yours.

now it does

:)

no color :(

this blog has no color :(

water

the list of the things we take for granted is of course endless. my source of amazement for the day was water. it wasn't anything unusual that happened - i was in my office kitchen, pouring out the cold water from my cup so i could make myself some hot tea. as i saw the water flow into the sink drain, i couldn't help but marvel at how it disappeared without a trace.

of the five elements i think this one's my favorite. and represents so many of those things that i like so very much - the cool, calm ocean, the rain, the shower :), drinking water that is oh-so-heavenly when i'm thirsty...

readers, please add to my list. i'm sure there are things i'm forgetting.

2/20/07

precariously balancing...

comfortably ensconced in the walls of 2025 williams, you would not think of my life as being lived on the edge. but it is, very much. for every day looks like it might be the last of its kind. tomorrow could bring on something entirely new, unhandleable, and what would life be as a result?

i want to break free, but from what, i do not know. there's this voice inside that asks, constantly, what is all this for? i work, i sing, i write, i love, do lots of other little things that are of no real consequence. of no consequence. what is the singing for?

love, i dare say, makes a little bit of sense. it seems to me as god's way of saying - here's your life with its meaningless little details, and here is love to guide you through each of them.

but what if this too changes? i wonder everyday, or when the rut of my meaningless, mundane world will let me. a boat in the ocean, precariously balancing itself... in a second all could be lost.

happy thoughts

happiness, peace of mind are in short supply these days. i am making a list of things that bring sunshine to my life. unfailingly.

  • heidi
  • thorn birds
  • darrell, of malory towers
  • custard-apples (my face scrub these days smells of custard-apple. it must be accidental, 'cause the label doesn't say custard-apple, but the smell is unmistakable)
  • romeo and juliet (the dire straits)
  • listening to romeo and juliet in bonn zentrum
  • old friends
  • the rhine
  • the monsoons
  • singing, for no one's ears
  • wodehouse, especially the empress
  • especially anuva and wodehouse
  • poetry, the billy collins kind
  • also poetry written by first-time poets
  • mom and dad
  • young love
  • neil halstead
  • and david gray, especially babylon
  • phonecalls from friends, made without reason
  • did i mention love?
  • aanya and aniket
  • looks that say what words cannot
  • singing "listen to the rhythm of the falling rain" in mater dei, with the rain falling outside and the windows in the big hall all open, letting in the cool air and mist
  • taru, the epitome of sweetness and warmth
  • fall leaves strewn all over, in the cold rain of berkeley, when all is fresh and new
  • well, sunshine
  • fields of sunflowers
  • and that one sunflower that you picked for me
  • "for the longest time", 1998
  • 18, elfstrasse
  • kennedybrucke
  • rheinallee, and its smoking cigarettes
  • aicha, in the plane
  • the pavement in the main quad
  • vik's every saturday morning
  • or being picked up every saturday morning for vik's
  • rheinaue

...

no that's not all, but that's enough. for now.

2/16/07

even if...

i owned the one most brilliant outfit in the world, i'd still like to wear other inferior clothes once in a while.

2/15/07

chai

i think drinking chai is one of the special privileges one gets out of being alive. i don't intend to quit. not today, not ever. are you listening, world?

2/11/07

a year from now

will be the first anniversary of my macbook.

ha.