As the year ends...

I always tell that I should not look back. (May be that is why God gave me a neck that cannot be twisted very comfortably). Nevertheless, as the year ends, I am looking back... Looking back to find out what has come right and what had gone wrong. Every year closes with lots of done and undone things. That is life.

Thank God, I had made only one resolution at the beginning of this year. It withered away long ago.

What is my take for 2010? Is it good to start 2010 with hands full of new resolutions...new decisions...new ‘I must do it’ thoughts? On the other hand, should I leave each moment just for itself...and take each day as it comes?

Unlike every year, I approach 2010 without any resolutions. This is my resolution: To take each day ‘here and now’, in all the ‘might and best’ and...Leave the rest in the hands of the God.

***

... a reason to love.

We must love someone
If we are to justify
Our presence on this earth.
We must keep loving all our days,
Someone, anyone, anywhere
Outside our selves;
For even the sarus crane
Will grieve over its lost companion,
And the sea seal its mate.
Somewhere in life
There must be someone
To take your hand
And share the torrid day.
Without the touch of love there is no life,

And we must fade away.

*** Verses by Ruskin Bond

Photo Location: Kapadu Rocks****

Solitude for sale...

‘This hotel is renowned for its peace and solitude. In fact, crowds from all over the world flock here to enjoy its solitude. Kindly make reservations in advance

before the lagoon gets crowded up with boats.’

... (Hotel brochure)

***

His Master’s Voice

My best-loved trademark is ‘His Master’s Voice’.

This celebrated picture, which has become the icon of a gramophone record manufacturer, delivers a silent message: the nostalgia of a dog to the voice of its long-lost Master’s.

There is an irony in this trademark. When Francis Barraud, the English artist who conceived and painted this idea, attempted to sell it to Edison’s gramophone company, none of them were interested. Their objection was the dog! “Dogs wouldn’t listen to music,” they said. They were correct in their human logic, but grossly missed an opportunity to own one of the most beautiful trademarks humanities would ever produce. Here, in this painting, the fox terrier named Nipper is not listening to the music of his late Master’s but just taking a little interest in his Master’s voice! Nipper was just curious enough to look sharply into the trumpet of the gramophone and to correlate that voice to his dear Master’s

Scientists who study animal behaviour tell us that dogs cannot understand our language: our music, our songs, and our complex speech systems. Instead, they have a strong correlation to our voice, our looks, our smell, and our behaviour. It is from the softness and the toughness of our voice that animals understand our moods and our pitch. Nipper was trying to do that.

Looking at Nipper, let us realise the richness and the depth of individuality which hides in our voice. Nipper tells us that each of us is unique. Only when a voice is stilled forever do we realise the lack of it. 

If all those voices that have been long lost in our lives, or in our times, were to come alive, what would they be? I wonder about it often: It would be a wonder if all those loved voices which passed away in time and long lost, and never recorded, come back alive in our lives. That would be thrilling !

(Many times, I wished to hear my long-lost Aunt’s voice... never recorded, I lost it forever! Sometimes, I try listening to her in solitude.) 

'Nipper' is more than a trademark... it is the magic of a million emotions coming alive in sounds that awaken us to a life that we lived ago.

Long Live Dear Nipper !!

***

Come...Trek With Me

Out of the city and over the hill,
Into the spaces where Time stands still,
Under the tall trees, touching old wood,
Taking the way where warriors once stood;
Crossing the little bridge, losing my way,
But finding a friendly place where I can stay.
Those were the days, friend, when we were strong
And strode down the road to an old marching song
When the dew on the grass was fresh every morn,
And we woke to the call of the ring-dove at dawn.
The years have gone by, and sometimes I falter,
But still I set out for a stroll or a saunter,
For the wind is as fresh as it was in my youth,
And the peach and the pear, still the sweetest of fruit,
So cast away care and come roaming with me,
Where the grass is still green and the air is still free.

***

Poem from 'the Ruskin bond's mini bus'

Photo: File photo from a trek.

Total Commitment

Lord... you spoke of ‘total commitment’ (?)

Well, end of the year is fast approaching and 'total commitment' is a difficult proposition to ponder. Putting things in ‘total’ order, getting the 'total' priority in place, looking back into half-baked projects, taking them up to rework.... Oh! Some of them are too difficult....I shy away from them.

Then Lord, ‘total commitment’ haunts me. It starts in a little way with a big desire. It starts too quickly. Most often ‘total commitment’ never kicks off beyond a couple of days effort. It all cools down to the ‘real me’. I understand that in ‘total commitment’ there is no part left for the ‘real me’. And, ‘commitment’ is a kind of surrender sort of a word — a not-my-will-but-thine attitude towards every day. So Lord, do I really like it?

I run away. I shudder from it all. I want no part of ‘total commitment’. Please tell me, Can I settle for something else other than ‘total commitment’ to my vocation? Something lesser than ‘total’? So why does it haunt me so?

Lord, I promise YOU that I will get on with my cool life. I will get on in a good way... in a possible way...in an ok way. I wouldn’t mess it up without letting YOU know it. Even if I mess it up, I’ll come back to YOU for correction. But Lord, keep me away from ‘total commitment’. I am afraid of that...

Lord of all my life, .... amen!”