November Rains

November rains, there is something mystic and intriguing about them.  This is an unusual transition of weather. The showers are bringing all coldness and weariness of the world to my town. For reasons such and else the coming winter seems to be quite melancholic.

The view outside the window is picturesque, this is how it looks these days. Bland yet beautiful. The rain drops are like a translucent curtain clouding the landscape. Every so often I feel like wiping the fog off and seeing what is outside, at times I just let it be and watch the drops slide down in a line racing against each other slowly. Either ways it feels like the bliss of solitude.

Unexpectedness is uncomfortable, but it is something which can carry us forward if we take it with ease. Sometimes we just have to wait, do a lot of things or a little thing or maybe even nothing. The things which we deserve will surely reach us. Clouds may fill our skies, rain drops may fall on our windowpanes. We just have stand and watch.The rains and winters shall pass because sunshine is always on its way.

AN IRISH BLESSING FOR YOU

“May you always have work for your hands to do.

May your pockets hold always a coin or two.

May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.

May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.

May the hand of a friend always be near you.

And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.”

-R.

That's All We Know

Internet does keep most of us in a hopeful mood. If we want to know about something we know what to do right, "Google it!" is what we advise each other in such circumstances. I often grumble "Why can't you just tell me!!!'' when I hear something like that from my friends, but I do agree it is the best and the easiest choice we have. Surprisingly this is what I was greeted with on my laptop screen a few days ago.

Picture Courtesy

This was more like a Catch-44! The immediate question in my mind was what next, rather where next. Glitches apart, isn’t this robot or whatever it looks like impressively innovative. Look at the falling nuts and bolts, the helplessness depicted is absolutely hilarious yet technical.

What made me think was the last line highlighted in grey “That’s all we know”, now imagine something or someone on whom you are entirely dependent on telling you this when you need them the most! The problem at times is that we are never prepared for the unexpected and that is what makes us vulnerable to whatever little difficulty life throws at us. We panic, lose our cool and give up. The best of our things may go kaput, the best of our ideas may not work or the best of our friends may throw their hands up. It can happen, there are possibilities.

What can happen how, where and why we really do not know, because “That’s all we know” We are indeed very little and imperfect when we think of our power in this world. All we can do is what Google suggested me here” Please try again…” Well for me it did work after 30 seconds;-) My suggestion when you face something like this, remember what Sue Monk Kidd says in her book ‘The Secret Life of Bees’-

"There is nothing perfect...only life."

-R.

A Perfect Fairy Tale

Picture Courtesy

Dad: He took her hand, and he kissed it. Then he swooped her up onto his horse. And the beautiful princess and the handsome prince rode off to his castle...where they lived happily ever after... 

Sam: Do fairy tales come true, Dad?. 

Dad: Well, no. But dreams come true. 

Sam: Do you have a dream?

Dad: Yeah. My dream is that you'II grow up and go to college and then maybe someday you'II build your own castle.

Sam: Where do princesses go to college?

Dad: They go...where the princes go. They go to Princeton.But, Sam, you know, fairy tales aren't just about finding handsome princes.They're about fulfilling your dreams...and about standing up for what you believe in. As I always say, never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

If you have watched the movie 'A Cinderella Story', this father daughter conversation in one of the first few scenes may seem familiar. When I watched it I could not help but smile because this is what precisely I have been hearing from my Dad all through my life. Some fathers are typical, aren't they? They want their daughter not to be any prince's princess but they want them to be their own queen, strong and independent. Nothing else makes them proud.

Very long ago when I was in class three I had played the role of Cinderella in a drama during the annual school day function. The flowing cloud blue dress and the dark blue tiptoeing shoes are etched in my memory forever. The movie stirred those good and naive times of childhood. What I remember even more is the excitement with which Dad and Mom were running around the whole town for a week or so in a search for the perfect attire. And when I was on the stage wearing what they had brought me their happiness knew no bounds.Isn't it wonderful, the smile on the face of someone to whom you mean the world, especially when you are the reason behind it?

Fulfilling your dreams and standing for what you believe in is worth more than any crown which can make you a princess is what I have always been told, just like Sam. If you know what you want to be and where you want your life to go there is nothing like it, now that is exactly what I call a perfect fairy tale. I believe in it, do you?:-)