Talk the Walk!

Image Courtesy – Pixabay

Things haven’t been normal since I wrote ‘What continues @2019…‘ I must admit this has got me to worry about my well being now. I realise, how stupidly I had been procrastinating actions or the decisions in this area of my life. Unnecessary though, I don’t know what made me choose some shitty lifestyle and habit over the importance of being healthy.

I am still clueless, what gave me this spark that I currently possess or why did it take so long bringing itself to me? I always had my people with me, trying to encourage and at times insult, just to get me moving out of the bed. No doubt, what an ass I have been so far.

I do not love my beer belly any more. Its time for me to come home. I think it is pointless to dwell on why and how and better to cash in through the current string of thoughts, which is just prioritising my health.

I knew I wouldn’t turn things around just by thinking or by preserving ideas in my head. I wouldn’t suddenly become better. I had to act and most importantly continue. I wanted to be the best version of me.

So, I picked carrot from ‘the carrot and stick’ approach. I decided to run my two goals together, my writing and health, in parallel. I made it a point to write about the steps I have taken or will be taking in the direction of my well being. That’s how the wagons are hitched.

Now, I had to start somewhere or some way. To do that, I spoke with my better half. Let’s see what she has got. As I knew, the response wasn’t straight forward. She touched upon the times when she tried to push me as well as lectured me for not realising the importance or value then. It was true and I didn’t know any other reaction than to nod in guilt, which worked.

Sometimes, you get the best from the ones you expect the least. Exactly, that is what I experienced. My better half didn’t just provide a simple solution but also volunteered to participate. Her plan was to walk with me for 30 mins every single day. Damn, so easy.

Next morning, we hit the park placed within our residential premise. We timed our walk to the exact of 30 mins and it wasn’t just walking because we talked too. I loved the fun part of exchanging a few naughty comments on the move. Indirectly, this was also raising my relationship quotient.

We continued since then. Now, the next thing is to watch what I eat. So far, I ate to fill my stomach and never cared about what was going in. That has got to change.

(I am open to any suggestion over what is best to eat or what should be the diet)

Possibly, you will see me blog about on similar topic for a next few days. I am sure, there are plenty of observations to make and share it over here. I think, it will require quite a few reiterations to become my way of life.

Till then, its goodbye from my side.

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Sports Day!

I woke up to a noisy doodle-doo of my folks at home. It was abnormally early for me, which in normal circumstances I completely ignore. Instead this time, I was up and walking towards my bathroom.

The occasion ‘Sports Day’ at my son’s school. I heard about their preparation and planning from my wife. I was happy to know that all the children were excited and looking forward to this day. We had also received special invites.

I remember my sports day. It indeed happened but surprisingly none of the parents ever received an invitation. The time has changed and so the approach.

I can afford to disappoint myself but not my son. So, I had a quick hot shower in the cold morning and draped in my regular wear in no time. My son was already at the school, they had to report earlier.

After reaching, to start with, I enjoyed watching a few overwhelmed and happier face of other parents. We exchanged looks and acknowledged being sailing over the same boat. Then we sat on the chairs preserved and reserved by my wife’s friends in anticipation to have a wonderful first half of the day.

Like each year, we had a wonderful time watching all the children perform different sporting activities. I was delighted to see my son participating in Yoga. Mind you, he is in a position to teach me a few Asanas now. All the kids were amazing and I could see proud parents with their broadened chests witnessing their child’s performances. Somewhere I felt my parents would have had the similar experience, had they ever watched me doing what these kids did, during my childhood or they must have had these moments watching us do different things in our lives. You never know!

They made it more interesting by getting parents to participate in a couple of activities. I knew about it and due to my shy nature I had decided not to participate, it wasn’t compulsory. I felt like that when I was at home but now on the field the atmosphere was electric. Then somehow, I managed to lift my spirits and ended up participating in one of those activities, alongside my better half. We didn’t win but we won our son’s heart. I think that was more than what any parents can dream of.

The hard work and commitment of the school as a unit showed up very well. I liked the structure and scale in which this event was organized. But, as we say no plan is full proof and there is a possibility of finding leakages and few ups as well as downs in execution. Here are the ones I observed –

• Initially, the children positioned to welcome the Chief Guests, made to stand for a very long time. They arrived almost 50 minutes late
• All the parents and staff were comfortable but not all the students. Some of them were unnecessarily made to sit outside in the open sun
• In my opinion, there could have been more motivating stories and less of unnecessary speeches

It was great to see even School identifying these gaps and acknowledging what I could observe in such a short period.

In the end, It was worth being physically present and watch kids create history.

Time To Review and Reflect

The countdown has begun. The year 2018 is inching towards its end and it is just a matter of time before it makes a way for the new one to come. It is almost time, when we all share the same hindsight i.e. this year has passed a notch faster than the one before, Don’t we? Well, we certainly do. The irony is we repeat this every year and we compare its pace with the previous year each time.   

In addition, we tend to retrospect in the flashback mode and we all have our own methods to revisit the happenings and doings in that year. I have one up my sleeves as well. I like to picturize each month as one column, 12 columns in the calendar sequence. It becomes very easy for me to preview and review.

Well, I don’t just stop there, I like to go a bit further and compare the doings and happenings with the previous year. Mind you, the list for comparison is long as well. Out of those, a few of them require a special mention. These are the ones, I can say, I will regret on my deathbed if left unfulfilled.

What makes one regret? Not having enough money – which will never be enough, or that luxurious life one could afford to live, NEVER! And I am sure you would agree. When my time is up, I would regret for not creating enough memories and moments, I would regret about love that I could offer and perhaps get in my lifetime. I would be happy if I did well being born as human. Now, the question is; am I doing enough to avoid what could potentially be remorseful for me? Forget about my non-existence, what about right now at this moment when I am alive.

Year after year, the importance of these memories, moments, love etc. is diminishing. The problem is we are still creating these, may be more than ever before, but certainly the not the way we did in the past. When I say ‘in the past’, I mean before our social lives were taken over by social media. Back then, we created moments with, amongst and for our dear ones, which we still cherish in the present. Now, we do the same, not for the ones who matter the most, but for the sake and interest of the world outside. Appreciations received through virtual likes and hearts prove to be far more important than what is being conveyed to us in person today. I fear we are losing too much to gain anonymous proximity in this bargain.

I have said enough. May be it is not too late for us to reflect and review our ways. Technology is certainly a blessing and I would like to keep it that way. Let’s not socialize virtually but in reality. Let’s not wear a dress to seek outsiders appreciation while there is enough beauty within. Let restrict some information for the knowledge of who cares for you.

May be its time to amend our ways a little that suits either side of our world. Let’s balance it out.

It is about time we change with the changing calendar.

Emotional Push-back…

Has this ever happened to you?

You intend to do certain things for someone that makes you and the person involved happy. You nearly get through it until the last moment,when something dramatically happens that puts you at the backseat. If not literally, I endured through a similar impediment a couple of days ago after writing about a person with whom I share a deep emotional connect.  

I was delighted to publish my last blog – Recovery from Maddening Recklessness. I am not sure how you as a reader found it and I leave you all to judge, but it was indeed very satisfying for me. I can put it as ‘killing two birds with one stone’ although wouldn’t dare to do so literally. It wasn’t just recovery from sickness, but a recovery from abstinent period of writing.

I desperately wanted to revive writing in my routine. It is true;this was not for the first time. I had made a few plans in the past, stupid ones as it turned out to be, but I had a feeling this one somehow would work.

After all, there is no point in giving up. There is no harm in trying again. With that living thought I came up with another plan,tailor-made as per my convenience. Let us see how this one pans out in the long run.

The plan was, or rather, is simple – I would start working on my new blog as soon as I finish publishing the previous one. In order to make it work, I made a few arrangements too. I literally stationed my laptop, in a way, it is one of my utility, next to my cell phone, always visible to me as a virtual reminder. It is sort of a ‘You can run you can hide but you can’t escape’ approach.

When you prepare well the chances of failure is too minimal.This approach was proving to be already effective. It helped me to finish the draft of my potential post. It was quite late though and by the time, I wrote my last sentence my eyes gave away. Having no energy to re-read to check its flow and stability, I decided to push this activity for my fresh pair of eyes,next morning. May a fresh look in the morning would pick up errors that slipped through my tired eyes.

Next day the weekends’ errands kept me occupied for most of the time. I had to dodge my virtual reminder in grief for a couple of times but it still kept calling for it.

Finally, I got a chance to go through my draft one more time in the evening. Just to familiarize you with the content of that blog; I dedicated this one to my better half. I tried to capture ‘as-is’ version of how my heart felt preparing for a special day. That is when the lightning struck and it struck too deep.

Sometimes a minor spark let off accidentally burns the entire structure in seconds; in my case that spark was a spark of an argument that let off unnecessarily over the minor things. Soon it reached the foundation blurring my emotions that I had penned a few hours ago.

Suddenly, the words triggered during an emotional turbulence by either of us washed away the emotions from the words written in the post.Strange enough, how these are interconnected but I could not withstand all-of-a-sudden impact and scrapped the idea of writing that blog. It had to be vented out somewhere and it is better those words were at the receiving end.

The darkness is not permanent; soon it would fade away with the first light of dawn. At this moment, I have neither the strength not the courage to undo it, not at least now.

I foresee many ifs and buts, raised eyebrows and disgruntled sighs for my  actions. In the end, it is me who is the bearer of the brunt. Hope this get sidelined so that I muster the same strength and courage to express the way I meant it to.  

Before I call it a day…

I was on the brink of having hell of a fabulous day after a long time. I hoped if its rhythm could continue for a couple of hours more. I wondered, if this was any short of a miracle, which made me further questioned, how can everything be so perfect? It was like scoring a goal on your every run towards the opponent’s goal post.

I am sure you saw that coming courtesy – ongoing FIFA Fever!

It appears too good to be true, isn’t it? In the end, the truth is what prevails. I am not a pessimist, but I was certainly not looking forward to such a great day, especially the day, which was so uncertain to start with. It will be unfair if I leave out the details. So, let me share how it all started.

Like my most of the mornings, I was awake getting ready to work, that is when I glanced towards the sky outside. Well, it had a similar appearance as it had yesterday, rainy and cloudy, but fortunately, not as devilish as and as harsh as, it was yesterday. It had disrupted the options available for travelling, so I had to stay at home. No, I didn’t miss my work, I am totally equipped to perform my professional activities at home, so that’s handled well. Although, today that harshness had subsided a bit, but its grip continued to remain on my unassailable mode of commute. That’s where jigsaw puzzle started for me.

I hate to lose out on time especially the ones that go unaccounted for, during such uncontrolled situation. I knew what my heart wanted, but my head swung frantically like the pendulum in the clock. They tussled for a while with each other, against and forth to convince unconvincingly, and I couldn’t reach a decision whether to continue, take that chance to travel or stay put and continue my work at home.

Somehow, I had to end this unfruitful endeavor of lousy exchange between my head and the heart. So, I broke the rally and decided to work from home. That was the kick start! Since then it multiplied contagiously over every other task that I undertook. It was like playing on a snooker table, potting each colored ball in a sequence with every single strike.

As the saying goes, ‘Nothing lasts forever’, my fate took a U-turn, tossed me back in the black hole of uncertainty again. In fact I was exposed to a vigorous situation this time, slightly intense comparatively. Unlike other situations that I had faced earlier, this one appeared to be highly unpredictable and unstable right on the onset. So far no colossal damage, as I have been playing it by the fence, standing still to heavy blows lodged over me and balancing to avoid a knock-out.

It is heading towards completely an opposite direction. Not sure if the day would wiggle any further. Hope to return in the desirable state BEFORE I CALL IT A DAY.

‘Sure M’lady, You have My Attention!’

‘I don’t want to talk to you at least for few days.’, she said unconvincingly.

‘Is there any problem? Is it about me?’, I asked while going through mails in my laptop.

‘Yes, you are the problem for every damn thing happening in my life’, she retaliated immediately.

I wanted to protest immediately, but a mail marked as ‘URGENT & IMPORTANT’ brought my attention back to my inbox almost instantly, so I chose not to respond.

‘See, this is very frustrating and irritating, you always want to control things your way’, She continued raising her voice a little.

I couldn’t ignore her and replied, ‘What is wrong with you? we always discuss before reaching any conclusion, don’t we?’, still looking at my inbox.

 ‘Never, never, you never seek for my agreement.’, she said. This time her voice grew many folds louder and she continued, ‘This is my life and I will decide what I want to do with it.’

‘I don’t want a person like you who pokes his nose into everything’, she added out of context.

I was immensely agitated and wanted to end this unworthy menace immediately.

I looked straight at her by slapping my laptop screen down and was about to blurt out loud in my defense, but couldn’t. I swallowed my words back instantly, you know why? because…

I found her staring at me with a smile and then she said, ‘Finally I have your attention’, Lets discuss about the place where you would like to spend your birthday, shall we?’

I felt dumbstruck and replied, ‘Sure M’lady, You have My Attention!’

(A short snippet basis my experience for you to read)

Dare to Dare…

This is going to be my first virtual dare!’, I mumbled before setting my fingers on the keyboard. That moment an adrenaline rushed throughout my body in excitement and with some apprehensions.

The dare is to come out of the shell and express, right here in this platform – GO LIVE. I know It’s not new, there are millions floating here, one more addition wouldn’t matter. But it is quite a task for me, I have a history of multiple starts that stayed as start with no end – only half-baked work. Most of them remained buried or lost in the folders with no memory to trace it back again and whichever made it live perhaps made no sense. I doubt if this one does… see this is what the apprehension is for.

Anyways, I am putting my unworthy expressions and starts in the past to rest and set to make a new beginning, this time a positive one, being upfront in the real world where whatever I write will not be limited or will never be lost anymore.

So my DARE is to DARE and express to reflect me as a writer, right here!

(Had to let go my old published work in faith of new ones to come)

Not a Sleeping Beauty!

Image Courtesy: Pixabay

Not a desired opening to the day, Saturday. I was tired last night but yet slept late. And that is the case always, I sleep late. It is happening since I stopped working night shifts.

It all started a decade and a half ago, I worked for an Organisation based in US which served an Australian client. My job was to talk and talking was the least thing I did in my life. It was the prospect that lured me right into it.

As crazy as it may sound, I wanted to talk to people from other countries. Especially, from the likes of United States, Australia or England. I liked their accent and wanted to learn more of it. It becomes lucrative when you are paid for it. I looked at it as an opportunity.

I fulfilled my desire but it wasn’t for free. I had to change my schedule to map with the Company’s requirement. I worked when my folks were asleep and slept when my folks worked. It was completely opposite. I was timezoned and it continued for 8 yrs. My prime time.

I don’t have regrets. What I learnt and the progress I made in these years is priceless. Those conversations or interactions didn’t go wasted. The people whom I dealt with, directly or indirectly, taught me the nitti-gritties of the business. Perhaps, even today, I am more effective and creative at nights. Just like a nocturnal bug.

However, sometimes I feel that things could’ve been better if I had not chosen this path. I had a hell of an experience on the personal front too. I am a good learner but never intend to learn the hard way, and that was brutal. Anyways, my personal turbulence does not demean my professional achievement.

Its been five years now, fortunately I am not timezoned any more. Because the habit itself has timezoned me. I am trying to get off it. I have had a few exceptions, I did sleep early the days when I woke up early. So, early to bed and early to rise, may sound cliched but holds true by all means.

Guess, I will have to stick to the basics. And I come to an end of this short post, compensating for the longer ones I wrote before. In fact, the last one, very lengthy. Hope this appears to be a good read.

Cuppa Tea @Chai Ki Tapri

Image Courtesy: Google

That’s it. I have been sitting all day glued to my laptop screen, replying to emails and creating presentations. I felt the need of flexing my muscles which had stayed motionless for the entire day. I was in dire need of some fresh air too.

I stepped out and went for a walk. With no place in mind, I let my legs pave the way.

In about 20mins, I reached the most crowded place of the town – Railway Station. When I say crowded, I don’t just mean people, but vehicles as well, honking aloud to make their way.

I cursed myself to have gotten here and now, I was struggling to get out of this mess. I could see vehicles strolling in from everywhere, flouting all the traffic rules. Not their fault but the design and architecture of this place. There was hardly any space to walk.

After a few hops, skips and jumps I entered the narrow lane adjacent to the railway station. Because no vehicles were allowed there.

I stopped. I didn’t want to walk any further and certainly didn’t have the patience to immediately go through that mess I passed just now. Not at least for another half an hour or so.

I wasn’t tired but needed to cool off a bit. I headed towards my usual spot; a local cafe.

I called for a cup of tea. I took a few hurried sips of hot ginger tea, as soon as I got hold of it.

Now, if you are getting an impression of the likes of Starbucks or Cafe Coffee Days, I must say, you are badly mistaken.

When I say ’Local Cafe’ I mean an ordinary tea stall which is notoriously known as ’Chai Ki Tapri’ in Hindi.

Since I had been sitting at one, I thought ’why not talk about it.’ This one is located just outside the railway station, separated by 3-4 feet metal barricade.

The structure is placed in such a way that the tea can be served on either side of the barricade. The table top is elevated and attached to the upper part of the cordoned fence. So, it acts as a window for the people in the railway premise, and for outsiders, the entry is from the other side of the road.

It is not a huge space and you will find such stalls in every nook and corner. Just one or two stalls are not enough to meet the demand for Chai (Hindi word for tea). There are many in the area but they remain unaffected by the competition. After all, they just need a few miniature glasses, tea kettle, ingredients, a gas stove and small space as an investment to become The Tea Seller.

As I continued to write, I ordered for the second cup and the tea seller happily filled the same flavoured Chai on the miniature version of a glass; and gave it to me. Now, they have started to provide paper glass for take aways, I observed as I took my first sip from the second cup. Oh my gosh, it tastes so well.

Speaking about the taste, it is unique. Its not only the locals but people from another country like it. No, no, I never had anyone visit here in this stall but to the similar outlet close to my office. I took my Australian clients there once and they liked it so much that they preferred to have that tea till the last day of their stay in Mumbai.

Basically, they serve two types of tea. One for locals, depending upon their tastes, which is always on the gas stove boiling and the other, which is also called as ’pewer’, it is nothing but pure as per your likeliness – custom-made.

Sometimes it is a landmark or a meeting place. People chatter and discuss. It extends to all the age group. It is also a smoker’s paradise who prefer sips between puffs.

I lost the track of time being so immersed in writing about it. I didn’t even notice how long this post is going to be. Anyways, I decided to publish it as-is. The traffic, too, was cleared now and I headed back to my home.

No matter how fancy the other modernised cafe shops are, the chai ki tapri still remains close to our hearts.

Hope you would have liked it if you ever had been in any such stalls. Hope this post helps to re-live the experience you would have had.

Please do share through comments if you have been able to relate.

What continues @2019…

I hadn’t had a best of starts if I consider the first couple of days of this year. But bad starts need not be bad after all.

I tweaked a few things here and there. As a nature of course, as one would vow, at the advent of a new year, I too had a to-do. Nothing that needed a start, but a continuation. It was like a carry forward from the last year.

Writing topped the list followed by relationship and personal health. I have no complaints about writing as of now. It looks to be going well. But the relationship and health still remain the matter of concern.

When I say the relationship is a matter of concern, I mean it is progressively reaching to the stage of no return. Although, on the surface, it doesn’t look that intense but the impact is hidden somewhere deep. The only wait is of an eruption and that’s when it may go beyond the repair stage.

I had sensed this inner notion of emotions from my dear ones long back. Most of it triggered due to my insensitive approach and behaviour.

I realised it.

I could only be wiser to start working on it, as soon as I realised. So, I did start.

As a part of my overall tweaks, a few were aimed at this facet of my life. I had primarily considered, listening to understand over assumptions, constructive over aggressive response, come what may.

The results were astonishing, which I felt through the conduct of my folks, off late, during the first week of a new year. One would say that is what newness brings, that may be correct partially but that wouldn’t have happened had I not invested before, yes an investment towards a relationship goal.

It’is a good progress, but you never know when it twists back again. it is humane for humans to be unpredictive. So, it needs constant iteration. Anyways, only a few folks have turned around so far and the others are in queue. The work continues…

The next in line is health. I placed it third for the sake of it because it is important than anything else. It determines the status of other facets.

I am neither happy nor disappointed. For some reason, I have got into a loop in this area of my life.

A loop of a few healthy days followed by unhealthy days. I mean, for a few days I do everything that can be termed as healthy but then I break it up by following up with unhealthy practices again.

I know I need consistency, obviously of the former and not latter. That’s one area which needs an immense amount of work.

Perhaps, I will have something positive to share down the line in my upcoming post.

Till then, I would continue to strive. It is not restricted to me but extends to my folks and dear ones around me, Who need to be healthy too.

That is it for now towards my health goal.

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I wrote this post in the morning today on my way to work. I saved it for the evening to review and publish. just as I am doing that now, I am on my way back home, a little early, to attend my dear one stationed at a place due to Health Concerns.

Special mention for a Special Friend…

Last week, I met a very special friend over a drink and dinner. I wanted to write about this rendezvous before, but it got lost somewhere in the trail of other parallel thoughts.

I remember we got drunk and were out till wee hours of the morning. We had a lot to share and discuss. We, therefore, lost the track of time.

He lived in the same city a couple of years ago and his residence was 5mins walk away from my place. Then, we could meet often.

But him being he, is one hell of a dreamer and that’s why he moved out in pursuit of growth and a better future. Now, he is settled there and doing well but his hunt is still on.

People say we share a lot of resemblances, in terms of career, approach, thinking and look too, just like a brother from another mother. And we too believe that.

Except for our attire at work, we like to be comfortably dressed – Shorts and T-Shirts. That’s for attire that I missed out.

We started our professional journey in the same organisation. I did not know him then. I just knew him by face and because of his long hair, he appeared to be a spoiled brat to me. Being young with handful of experience it was easier for me to judge without giving second thought of consideration. Not his fault.

I really got to know him in my current organization. We had switched almost around the same time here before he switched again for a new one in another city.

I don’t even remember who introduced me to him or how we got introduced. I can only recollect it was perhaps over some professional matter. No, wait that was when we spoke for the second time.

Hmm… Hmm… Hmm…

Forget it and let’s continue.

Just as normal likeminded people would do, we got along very well.

We like to discuss on array of topics, which involves family, business problem or sometimes to seek advice on any of these matters.

The most important thing is we respect each other and understand our space.

As always it is, it was worth meeting him this time. It may not be possible to meet him in person frequently like I get to meet my other two friends (twins). I know he is just a phone call away. I’m sure he thinks likewise.

I am blessed to have such friends around me and thank them for having me around in the journey called Life.

With this, I would like to call it a day here and dedicate this post to this special friend.

Normalcy

We are already sitting on the 3rd day of the newly introduced year and I haven’t done much to continue writing. I managed to publish a blog on the first day and since then I am continuously striving to get another one out. I don’t mind writing about daily happenings and itsy-bitsy things. I just want to keep the tap running and write every single day.

Talking about daily happenings, it is good to be normal again. The holiday fever and new year vibe have already been put aside. The party is over.

I am not complaining. I did have a hell of a time and enjoyed a brief pause away from the regular hustle and bustle. The question is for how long I would like to stretch this brevity.

”We are the polar bears of the mighty concrete jungle and we don’t like to get stuck into long hibernation as the real ones do.” – Manish Baruaa

Just like the end of the previous year, the festivity was ought to end and we must accept it and move on. In my case, I can’t leave this tap open. I like it when things are on and off, but not just on or off. I can bear a little bit of this and a little bit of that but not every bit of it.

Now, what if I was on a scheduled vacation, trooping with my folks somewhere far away. Then too, I will have to be back one day. What has ended early may at the max last a week more but not any further.

I am not sure about the purpose of weighing the pros and cons of my recent state. Maybe I am justifying my current state to confirm my acceptance to normalcy.

Newness Lasts Forever!

Picture Courtesy: Pixabay

‘It is the first cold evening of a new year.’ my first thought, as I sat on the verandah of my gallery enjoying the view outside. I did not want to miss this opportunity so I went inside and quickly came back carrying my laptop this time. I looked outside again and simultaneously began to write.

It felt so nice. I have gazed like that many a times before but never felt so pleasing. There was no change in the appearance, the color of the sky and the backdrop of blurred wavy outline of the mountain underneath, crowded by the trees and the mist draping all of it. For the reason best known to Mother Nature, the mist remained undisturbed by the black smoke emitted from the tall chimney of some factory far away.

By the time I finished depicting the current course, I could see the sky had turned dark covering the entire view in its shade. Mind you, it could not withstand the glow of beaming lights – a few on the sky, naturally, and some fabricated on the earth. They were constantly twinkling making the first night even more beautiful and pleasant.

After a while, I observed that my subservient fingers had stopped typing. I was lost in my thoughts with my eyes directed outside but my mind was in search of something deeper than what virtually appeared. Therefore, I wondered, what has changed if everything is same as before? It is the same view that I normally have, what is so different about it. Then with some help of inner me mirroring my thought process, I realized that the difference is in the way I feel and the change is in the perspective that New Year has brought in. Perhaps, it does every time but we do not see it coming.

There is also striking resemblance of what I literally saw out there today with our contemporary lives here. Things change in a matter of seconds. The cheer of laughter can quickly turn into a muddle of sorrow, both claiming their importance in our lives. We can convert the latter to former again by slightly tweaking our perspectives, just like twinkling stars do to preserve their shine on the darkness.

Since this morning, I have observed people sharing their thoughts on the newness at the start of the day. That makes sense, since we start our proceedings in the morning. However, in my opinion, the newness never ends and it runs forever with a slight change in the shade like the day and night offers. Every passing second creates a new moment for us. It up to us whether we seize those moments to take control or let it prevail to let it control us.

It lies in the way we look at things and follow. Period.