Reflections and Refractions - Part 2

With the ink flowing, one must quickly commit the thoughts to paper.
Otherwise the ability to think and judge would catch up with those words and dry up the ink as well.

1st June 2019:

In movies, before we jump into the new frame, new location and start the action, we need a break.
So did I and my family. So we set out to the very old frame, my hometown.

One might imagine a visit to ones hometown as a regular affair. But if the house is locked for almost a year, and visits are only 2-3 days long every year, one generates quite a lot of yearning for the old, dusted and capped memories and emotions.

Boooring...

Anyway, to not lose the focus of the story, I will just cut short by adding that it was a welcome break for my family. For me it was nothing but pure oxygen after surfacing from a deep dive. I needed it badly because I knew I had to go for another deep dive soon after.

With the razor sharp schedules of professional commitments and the house shifting, I didn't waste whatever time I got to recreate my life, one day at a time.

Once back to Bangalore, it took a couple of days filled with 12hrs of meetings at office, followed by packing to actually shift out. It actually took another month for some sort of relaxation and sense of settlement to arrive at our new doorsteps. In spite of such fluctuations, the new house gave a lot of joy due to the cleaner locality, better safety, conveniences, and presence of lots of open soil to work upon.

Maybe it is in the genes, but there is nothing like a walk among greenery to climb over any adversities in life. What else could one ask, if there was also a piece of soil to give life to? We all enjoyed the activities involved in cleaning up the yard and setting up a working garden in a matter of couple of months. Most hard at work was my father who saw this as a replacement for our now neglected garden back home, which he severely missed while being at Bangalore.

Before

 

Once the new schedules, routines and rigours were set in place, accompanied by crazy timings at the office, .. short pause.. there was still no time to relax. It was time to take life to the next level, and preparations were afoot at office and home on the professional and personal fronts respectively.

Soon with the crab having its tummy filled with one victim and having decided to let go of another for the time being, we started having more bright days. This was in spite of the wet and bone-chilling season. We too having been hardened by the events, decided to move on. Some very old support roles were withdrawn and it was time for the real responsibles to take over without dependencies. It was time to grow up, spread the wings and jump out of the tall tree nest.

So far, so good. That's what I can say about things which are in progress, and can take years to get a proper hind sight. Rays are still in the process getting bounced around like crazy, creating reflections,refraction, mirages and sometimes even hallucinations. One shouldn't take a judgemental view at this stage of life.

I badly want to squeeze some more events in here, but the paragraph above filters out most of the content. But let me cryptically add my appreciation for myself for taking some right decisions based on some random whims, and keeping those habits alive to date.

Now I should be allowed to shift my focus to more abstract expectations for the upcoming year based on reflections of this year.

First of all, the hard events have hardened the expectations and one only needs to guide the mind into accepting new responsibilities. So those should be relatively easy to accept if pushed upon.

The next thing is that events have shown that whatever happens, there are certain things in my primary responsibility. I cannot hold any one or any event accountable for not doing what I myself expect of me. So clearly, I need to spare quite a lot of time, passion, efforts and attention to do my best in the upcoming year.

There might be some boomerangs for short cuts taken this year, but as long as the mind is ready to accept it and walk over, there is no use crying over a swollen temple.

Gonna be a fun year ahead.
15th Dec 2019

Have a couple of weeks ahead, but for me the year is actually over for some weird reason :)

the icy seductress

the soft gurgling noise of the icy rivulets fills the stark silence of the pitch black nights.

the silvery water keeps rolling and knocking against soft round pebbles that fill the river bed

the soft streams cradled among the rocky mountains seem to carry a strange divinity

I went to sleep every night with the same soft gurgling sound filling my ears, and the images of the clear blue water tumbling all along the rocks filling my mind before I lose myself into its magical hypnotism

dipping oneself into the hypnotic trance

I wake up each morning and walk over the icy rivulets and seat myself on the rocks by the river, often letting my limbs play with the flow of the icy waters. I kept wondering about the tiny streams flowing eternally, gracing rocks of all shapes, tumbling on and on, forming the shape of the land for huge distances, and making up the eternal cycle of life.

Clocks were seldom needed here as the river seemed tell the time in synergy with the sun and the thick mist. They together formed and dispersed all sense of time in the valley. They decide when you wake up and when you can summon enough courage to walk out of the tent. They decide when you get tired and when you get into slumber.

when ones very breathing moments are left to the mercy of the skies, the boulders around and the ever strengthening currents of the icy waters, life becomes a synchronous embodiment of the very same elements that surround us. In their company I had the strong sense of being alive as a human being again.

Left to the wild in a group of like minded and similarly witted human beings, man learns to create a sense of community and life among the forces of nature.

Felt like being close to the real purpose and sense of being human... again.. a sense of continuous rebirth :)

Image copyrights are owned by Cijo George

Diwali times...

This Diwali we had total of 3 days holiday,which included a monday. I am always happy when a monday is a holiday :)
So, I decided to pay my relatives@Bangalore a visit. Plus I had missed the Yahoo! and Subex boys the last time I visited Bangalore.Also, I was determined not to sit idly 3 days at Mysore,when majority of the people would either go home or be busy at their own homes.

So,I added the Bengaluru plan to my list by around Tuesday last week.I got time to search for many tourist spots,hiking and trekking areas of Karnataka. I was also involved in the community googling event of our team. We covered quite a lot of ground, and I was able to produce comprehensively relevant and detailed data on majority of the topics I got to handle. It was good to scrounge the web after quite some time.

Anyway, refreshed as well as rejuvenated by the extensive googling, I was eagerly waiting for the weekend to close in. On Saturday morning,I got into a volvo bus from the Maisooru Bus Stand at 8 am,and watched some kannada movie copied from Nadodikaatu series of Malayalam and dozed off,waking up somewhere near the outskirts of Bengaluru. Rest of the area, I observed ;)

At Bengaluru, I visited by cousin's place at Madivala.Also roamed around the smoky and war-torn city at night. The smoke was so tight by around 8 pm that we couldn't see the traffic signals clearly. Also, it was suffocating and stung my eyes. At that point,I swore to myself to encourage more and more people to stop bursting crackers for festivals. The sights and sounds of the metro during Diwali simply strengthened my cause.

Anyway,on account of the festival, we found many of the shops closed by around 7 pm and the famed Forum mall was almost vacant,and so were the numerous other malls and streets. That day, the crackers for me were provided by the Royal Challengers Bangalore,in the sizzling display of fireworks which didn't involve smoke.(Though the stadium wallahs were bursting many whenever a six was hit [:(] )

The next day, I had some 4-5 hours free, before I could visit my uncle's place at Kenkeri. So I decided to visit the Yahoo guys place a.k.a "Pulimada". Met them and went to Total Mall (erstwhile Kemp Fort),and saw the Shiva temple(cannot call it temple though). It resembled an amusement park made for 5 yr olds(or foolish adults),with all mechanical models of shivalingas.I felt ashamed seeing the kind of things they put up there in the name of God. It was fit for a good laugh,but as many people might be taking it seriously,I opted not to.After all religion is such an inflammable and sensitive issue ,wherever in India you are.

Then I went to Kenkeri satellite town, enjoying the outlying areas of Bengaluru on the way. That place is beautiful and serene compared to the nearby Metro. I enjoyed strolling out watching the crackers and celebrations in the area at night,until the smoke became too stifling.I got chance to explore the area further the next morning also.
Then was my first train journey in Karnataka(with start and end points within the state). I travelled from Kenkeri to Maisooru,a journey that took the precise 2 and half hours it was supposed to take. I always consider a train journey to be more rewarding than a bus or private vehicle,if you are interested in mingling with the local culture. And that is what I experienced also. I observed the differences and similarities when compared to a journey in Kerala.

By that my journey of the weekend almost came to an end. Its last part is just some funny incidents at my place,owing to the persistent efforts of the people in our area to fill up every dark corner of every house with the sound,smoke and light from their crackers. Woah,that was quite an effort, surviving the night without going deaf or blind...
Now back to the routine life of learning and earning,till the next weekend,when yet another adventure awaits me...

This summer

I gotto admit that this is the worst Summer holidays I ever had..out of college..out of job and out of contact from my closest friends...

Almost all of my friends are either at their native place or can't find time for some fruitful meetings. A visit to my native place albeit short, was interesting. I was able to link up with an old pal from school.

The heat is excruciating, but the boredom is even more painful. I wish I could get a handful of people of my age together, so that we can play some sports or go somewhere. Sadly, none of those plans are materializing, thanks to our university for ending all exams much earlier than others.

Nowadays its just some good IPL matches, a few trips of medium range for various errands and a few books that keep the boredom in check.

What could I wish for now...what could I.. hm...just that something interesting and exciting or rather adventurous comes up..so that it keeps me occupied and on my toes.

Nothing much comes to my mind..so signing off..