~ Reflections ~

What does one do after you realize you have goofed up.... I am mean after the realization dawns.... Once we get past the moaning and groaning of what a fool we have been not to see this coming... what next..... Make amends, so that future goof ups are avoided... Done... Do you then go and inform the other impacted parties about your goof up ?  Own up the mistake ? I guess one should..  And hope that they all forgive and forget...  So that you are not taunted for the rest of your life about it...  

As the calendar approaches the second fortnight of December, the mind but wanders.. It starts evaluating the year about to end.. and begins to contemplate on the good, the not - so - good, the bad and the ugly....  A rationale mind tries to derive some meaning and learning from all the revision of the past events, hoping that what has been experienced will only be bettered in times to come... A paranoid mind will wonder how quickly time went by, wondering what came out of the year that seems to be flying by... Either ways, both categories subsequently start wondering what their New Year resolutions should be... ideally something that hasn't been thought of in the past years.. both more often than not, these resolutions just fizzle out after a week or so in January itself... The more focused resolutions last a month or so... So this year, I've resolved not to get carried away with any specific New Year resolution just for the heck of it... I'll adopt the resolution...

I was recently reading about Kiran Gandhi , who ran the London Marathon.. not only for a cause, but also for a purpose... something very few of us manage to achieve. Like she puts it, she was facing an otherwise simple decision... whether to run the marathon when she was menstruating.. or to defer her plan of running to the marathon for one more year despite training for it all year long.... and she finally decided to go with the flow. I doubt if even 1% of women would have the courage to do what she did... though associating this act just with courage would also be incorrect. Despite being a totally natural process, menstruation seems to be one of the most taboo issues of today's society, atleast in India.... and it takes an act like this to bring people to atleast start talking about it, even if the discussions are only limited to the social media. I am a woman, and I menstruate... No one can understand what happens during the process, and it cannot be explained eit...

The run up to the Delhi Elections is on...  For the first time, we have 2 highly qualified individuals running for the post of Chief Minister... both with their set of deeds and misdeeds... No matter who wins, I hope they use their intelligence and administrative experience to good use, for the benefit of the capital. And finally, ( in continuation to the previous post ) someone raises their voice , and the court acts :)

Midnight MG Road, Gurgaon Inside a Car Waiting No street lights Long queue of trucks Truck drivers You enter the Car And I weep . . . . . . . . . Finally relieved that I am not all alone PS:  What amazes me is our vulnerability in such a situation... no one can understand unless they experience it..

Life comes a full circle.. as much as we try and take shortcuts, detours...  What we give is what we get... Needless to say, we came into the world holding someone's hand, learning from what we saw... and we'll leave it, holding someone's hand, seeing the world, and wondering why they haven't learnt ! Photo Credit: Raghu Rai

It suddenly hit me that the year is about to come to an end... This time of the year is normally when I sit down to think what have been the high points and low points of the year.... I don't exactly do this try accounting for the year that has, as usual, zoomed by...  I do this because somewhere, it makes me identify, more clearly the people/things that count to me the most... moments that have clearly left a mark, and are now a part of me...  Almost every year, most of the high points are contributed by my family... close friends... whom we often take for granted the most.. This year has also left a lot to seek... a healthier life for everyone... take a break from work more often... and some growth in work & family... But in the middle of all this.. some highs & some lows... I feel that the year went by fine... And hope that we have even better ones ahead of us...

Despite all the storms we've seen together And all the battles we've fought with ourselves & others Sitting next to you, with your arm around me Makes my world feel like heaven..

Our parents are the single biggest influence in our lives... But if we believe that they the only ones, its untrue... We are all like sponges... observing things around us, and absorbing what we like... The rate of absorption might reduce with age, but I doubt it ever stops... Since our school teachers are the people we observe most, when we are kids... they are the other set of strong influence.... To all those who taught me... knowingly & unknowingly.. Thank you... for doing what you're doing.. the way you are doing it.... Because atleast I've learnt from it....

I've heard some wise man say that a pessimist looks both sides while crossing a one way road... What would you say if not being a pessimist turns into your worst nightmare ?!? Taking a turn on the NH8 without looking out on both sides of the road could be fatal...  What is worse... you begin to feel stupid for not looking both sides before taking the turn (on a 1 way road !?!) The question is not whether what is being done is right... or wrong....  It is more to do with the implications.. if you are adamant about following the rule book.... But again.. if I were to address the larger question... where should one be drawing the line ?

There is a fine line between praise and flattery... What sounds like music to our ears needn't always be true... But what if the words are well meant, and you think its flattery... What is worse... believing flattery.... or hurting someone you love... Where do we draw the line.... Or do pessimists always assume the worst !!!

History (from Greek ἱστορία - historia): "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation" If we dwell deeper in the word, it brings out the past - the good, the bad, the ugly... and so, is a strong tool to develop opinions.... Needless to say, most poeple are "taught" history as children.... I remember pouring through books of history in school to scrape through my history test. However, almost 20 years later (goodness, its been very long !!), I realize that history should not be taught... poeple should be allowed to explore it for themselves, and the society should just provide the tools... to explore freely, whichever aspect we wish to... Though my liking for history stems from school, it is more due to my teacher, who acted like a narrator of the events that have gone by, rather than someone trying to preach a moral outcome.... school only touches the tip of the iceberg... History is unbound, and growing every moment... even as I write this blog... ...