Innocence, Lost!

When we are born we are all sweet and simple.

Then, we start growing up.

As we begin the process of growing up, we start losing our innocence. We begin to believe that all that is sweet and simple is childish and needs to be done away with. In the beginning, an individual enjoys the process of  growing up, especially the guilty pleasures that are associated with the first sins. With time, however, the pleasure aspect begins to diminish, and  the guilt part becomes powerful until  there comes a time when a deep yearning for return to innocence takes birth in the heart.

Today is a "Present"

Life has a way of continuously making us realise things. Most of the times, we are already aware of these things, but we conveniently choose to ignore them, until they come to stare us right in the face.

Yesterday, I was sitting at my desk, writing something, and all of a sudden I found myself searching for a word. A word that I could faintly recognize on the horizon, but couldn't clearly make out. It was a weird feeling. Quite like a dream, where you are being attacked and you want to scream, or hit back, or do anything at all, but you simply can't.

To Err Is Human...

I am not perfect. Far from it, I have more failings than your average guy. Yet - and I have said this in many of my earlier posts - I hope to get rid of these failings someday,and get as close to being perfect as I can. I think being perfect is achievable, and everyone should aim for it.

The biggest obstacle in achieving this comes from the society itself. The society wants us to be good, but when anyone starts becoming good, the society begins to get threatened by that person, and thus they begin to thwart his or her attempts in getting better. And when faced with the opposition of the society itself, most of us give up our attempts to become unique, and fall in line with what is generally accepted.

To take an example, let us consider the oft-quoted, and widely accepted, idiom: "To err is human, to forgive divine". I am sure all of us have used this phrase at one time or another.

I completely agree with the statement. But, I also think that this statement has a hidden meaning too, which stops us from improving ourselves.

When we make a mistake, we usually realise it. When we realise it, we get angry with ourselves for making the mistake. We are not happy that we made the mistake, and perhaps we would have been determined not to make that mistake ever again, but then we think, "To err is human...", and that is the end of all our troubles. For, aren't we human? If we are then making the mistake was just a normal thing, that was bound to happen. Wasn't it?

Similarly, we all know that forgiving someone is one of the hardest thing to do. I have still not forgiven a guy who I had a fight with in school, almost fifteen years ago. I am sure all of us have someone that we have not, or cannot, forgive. I am sure we try, but then we think,"To forgive is divine...". And who are we to try and claim to be divine.

What I have said above is merely an example of how the society has come to accept, and propagate, mediocrity. Instead of helping us trying to become the best we can, it makes us believe that we are good as we are, with all our weaknesses and faults. Now, I am not saying that there is an ideal, or a perfect being, that we all should try to follow or become like. All I am saying that we should be comfortable with ourselves, and our faults, but we should not get too comfortable and we should constantly strive to improve ourselves. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

What do you think?

The Curious Incident of a Lizard in My Bathroom

I am an animal lover, and I am very sure about that fact. When I see an insect, or a reptile, on TV I marvel at, and appreciate, the beauty of mother nature. I love to see the animals going about doing their thing in their natural habitat. However, I am not so sure about my love for animals when they choose to abandon their natural habitat, and decide to enter my domain, my bathroom to be more precise. That, putting it in the most simplest terms, freaks me out.

But let me begin from the start. Yesterday, I came back to my room after a few games of Table Tennis (some might know the game as ping-pong). It is not a tiring game, but Delhi weather in May being what it is, I was sweating profusely. Uncomfortable as it was, it also made me look forward to a nice, cold shower.

I enter the bathroom, hang my towel and underwear on the rack, and then I let out, what I am pretty sure, was one of the loudest screams I have ever screamed. Of course there were some expletives thrown in, but those are best not repeated here. The reason for the scream was that just as I had hung up my towel, something had jumped out at me. For a moment I thought I was being attacked by an invisible force. I think watching too many episodes of LOST and HEROES can do that to a person.

However, I soon saw what had actually come out at me. It was the smallest lizard I had ever seen in my life; a baby lizard, I guess. Before I could think rationally, I had to ensure that the lizard was as far away from me as was possible within the confines of the small bathroom. That done, I had a good look at the lizard. Should I kill it? Should I throw it out? Should I let it be?

These were questions that sprung to my mind. Not surprisingly, I was reminded of the lines from D. H. Lawrence's poem Snake, "If you were not afraid, you would kill him!"

But unlike the hero in the poem, I am too kind, and I couldn't bear to kill the little thing. The fact that I was a bit scared of the lizard had nothing to do with my decision. If you think how anyone can be scared of a lizard, and that too a little one, I would only ask you to try and be with one in the confines of a bathroom, and that too a small one.

In the meanwhile, the lizard - as if reading my thoughts - started moving towards me. It was time for action.

I yelled, again.

It worked. The lizard quickly changed direction and tried to climb up one of the walls. I thought that it was good riddance as that wall had a window near the top. But, what is not meant to happen, does not happen. The baby lizard found it hard to cling on to the slippery wall.

I was praying for the lizard to get out, but it slipped and fell very close to my feet. I jumped, and I think some yelling was involved too. This time the lizard, instead of running in a different direction, came towards me. Maybe, it had decided to fight, rather than fly.

In some quick moves it came very close to me. I was standing there, waving my arms wildly, and making some sounds that can't be really described here for want of words. After a few seconds of arm waving, the lizard moved in the direction where lay my toothbrush, and paste, and soap, and shampoo, and conditioner and...well you get the picture.

I knew that if I saw a lizard walking over my stuff with my own eyes, I would have to throw all of that stuff out. That lizard was going to cost me quite a lot.

Now, money is a strange thing. It tends to strangle whatever slivers of kindness and ethics one has. It has the same effect on me. I decided that I had to kill that little devil.

But, when I looked around, I found that there was nothing around that I could use to kill the beast. Brave as I had suddenly become, I still could not imagine myself killing a lizard with my bare hands. Doesn't their tail fall off, or something. That thought by itself was enough to gross me out. Somehow I made my legs move in the direction of the lizard, and that had a magical effect.

The lizard scrambled away, faster than I had seen it move in all evening. It ran quickly, and fear , it seemed, helped it in climbing the wall this time. It climbed up to a safe distance. It did not go out, but it seemed to me that it had managed to reach a safe height - a height from where she could not hurt me. After observing it for some time, I decided that it had given up all intentions of attacking me. I decided to go ahead and take my shower.

All the while I was showering, my eyes were focused on the lizard. It was moving all the time, but thankfully it stayed at a safe distance. After I was done, I quietly stepped out and locked the door behind me. I had made sure that the thing did not come close to any of my stuff, before I stepped out.

I went out and had my dinner, but all the while I was thinking about the lizard in my bathroom. The food had lost its taste, and the after-dinner walk had to be cut short. I quickly came back to my room and carefully stepped into the bathroom. But the lizard was no where to be found. I checked everywhere, but the coast seemed to be clear. I was glad, but it also made me wonder where the thing had gone. Where would it turn up next?

I didn't have long to wonder for as I stepped on to the balcony, I saw it lazing on the outer wall. It made me smile as now I did not have to worry about a lizard showing up in my bed. The lizard seemed to be smiling too. I wondered if that was because it had seen me naked!

Where on Earth is Blue Panther

If you have visited this blog in recent times, you might have asked yourself the question : "Where on Earth is Blue Panther?"

Well, before I go on to explain my absence, I would first like to apologise for disappearing like this. I just checked, and my last post was almost 12 days ago. That is a lot of time, even for someone like me.

But, you know how things happen - planned ones, and then some un-planned ones.

What happened this time was a friend's marriage. A very good friend's marriage. I had been looking forward to attend the marriage for the past couple of months. So, there was no way I could have missed it. Though it was a reminder that I am almost the last one of my friends who is still unmarried. But, that is off topic...

Then, another group of friends planned a rafting and a camping trip, and invited me to join . It was an offer that was too good to refuse.

However, I was hoping that in the middle of all this, somehow I would be able to find time to write something on the blog. But, could I have been more wrong?

The worst (or the best) part is that it is still not over. I have a cousin's marriage to attend today and tomorrow. So, I am going to be ignoring the blog for another couple of days.

But, I promise, I will make up to my dear blog soon. I am thinking that putting up some pictures of all the things I did could be a good way to do that. What do you think?

Speaking the Truth

I am sure there is not even a single person in the entire world who has not said a lie, except the little, new born baby who is yet to learn the art of talking.

The question, however, is: Why do we feel the need to lie?

In other words, the same question could be put as : Do we want to speak the truth?

It is often said that a lie that brings a smile on someone's face is better than the truth that can make one cry. I feel that the preceding statement is just an excuse devised by us humans to justify our weaknesses. We try to avoid uncomfortable situations, and we also do not want others to think bad about us. So, we choose to lie to either avoid crying or making others cry.

But, a smile that has been brought about by a lie is just as false as the lie that has made the smile possible. A lie is un-natural, simply because it is a narration of events that never happened. The truth is, therefore, natural because when truth is spoken, it is a mere reproduction of events that actually happened. No artificiality is involved in speaking the truth.

It is but common observation that anything natural is good, and anything artificial may seem good in the short run but is never good in the long run. The same is applicable for truth and lies too. A lie might bring a smile on your face in the short run, but a lie does not have the power to keep that smile on the face in the long run.

Mahatma Gandhi was one of the strongest advocates of truth that ever walked this earth. On the face of it the principle of truth sounds like just another principle, but if we delve deeper into this subject it will not be long before we find that if we walk the path of truthfulness steadily, we will be doing a great favor to ourselves.

Every other principle can be considered as an extension of the principle of truth.

So, once again, if the principle of truth is that important, are we ready to embrace it wholeheartedly, or are we going to use the excuse of lying-so-that-someone-can-smile.

It is also said that in this imperfect world of ours, someone who speaks the truth all the time will be seen as an aberration to the rule - a mad man. But, I think, that is another excuse devised by us humans to avoid speaking the truth all the time. No one has tried speaking the truth all the time, and so we can not say what would happen to someone who speaks the truth each and every time. But it is no secret that anyone who has tried to stick to the truth as much as possible has achieved great heights in their chosen fields.

To end, I will modify a quote of Mahatma Gandhi, and put it as:

"We may never be strong enough to be entirely truthful in thought, word and deed. But we must keep truthfulness as our goal and make strong progress towards it."