Saturday, October 22, 2011

Proust Questionnaire


Thoughts of all hues perch on our minds!
The following is a Confession album, veiled as a set of rules & principles which have inspired me and cease to vacate my mind, no matter how hard i plead. Though this would mean revealing my self and my modus operandi, I risk the venture in hope of gaining some clarity and corrections, if only someone cares to collaborate in making lives Colourful and Complete. So, here comes another heavy dose of fundas (am sure my friends are hesitant to convey this, so here i am to their rescue, saving some blushes). 
Everyone of us at some point of time would have planned becoming something higher, greater and stronger. The conscience in this case serves as a legislator but the bureaucracy is the mind's realm. As any enforcement agency, it too needs a set of rules and guidelines, popularly called ' The Constitution'. Here I go painting* my Moral Mural with the colours of Rules, Relaxations, Non-negotiables and Concessions.

  • Frown only when you are sad, other times Be Happy.
  • Appreciate Art. If you can’t, Acknowledge it. If you can’t either, Shut up.
  • Do obsess on your six pack and smart looks, if you are a film star. Others, please work on something else. Photoshop works well in virtual world.
  • Surround yourself with colourful things and people with colourful hearts. Most times they rub off.
  • Don’t worry about the unfairness that's beyond you. Even God didn’t bother much when He granted the same life to Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein and finally Me.
  • Never say, “ I don’t have time”. Even great souls had 24 hours a day.
  • Appreciate good work and effort. Others too like appreciation, just like you do.
  • We appear a lot smarter when we shut our mouth. Lets be smart, at least once in a while.
  • Never argue with people of rigid and preconceived notions. Its like teaching etiquette to a pig. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
  • Start with the assumption that everyone is good. Modify later as per YOUR observations.
  • Be scientific in your approach. Ask questions and believe based on experience. But till then, assume all possibilities as equally probable. Science too is an Art, a bit organized though.
  • Have strong faith in God, the story is ensured of a happy ending. Dear non-believers, you too need to believe because its a great survival tactic.
  • Choose your friends and books carefully. A lot of what you become depends on them.
  • Being both carefree and successful is a myth, unless you change the definitions.
  • Everyone likes surprises, don’t be always at the receiving end.
  • Being Kind, Honest, Humble, Just, Good, Brave, Knowledgeable - everything begins with YOU.
  • People do not lack skill, they only lack opportunity. A train can run only on rails not on roads, however smooth they may be.
  • Live by your rules. The moment we try appeasing others, we cease to be us.
  • Be open to others views and experience. Its unwise to  learn everything in life through our own experience. So, you can preach even while you plan to practice.
  • Do not make a list of every expense. Learn to spend wise.
  • When you spend on your growth, its called investment not expenditure.
  • Learn something new everyday, however small it may be. It keeps us enthusiastic about life. Never settle, keep looking.
  • Time wasted is life wasted.Period.
  • Don’t feign with loved ones and good friends. It pays and moreover they see through your antics  but may not speak.
  • If someone doesn't care, probably they are expecting the same response. Do oblige.
  • If Oil saved is Oil generated, isn't it valid for food too? Don't waste it.
The list is volatile and never ending...the limiting point being my experience so far!
* I hold the copyright on most of the above listings (Ego is a perilous pest)!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Beauty or Pretty?


Whats in a name?
Disavowal: The following or in fact the entire blog is a part of the conversations that I have with the most intimate person i have come across; with whom i share and care, with whom i argue yet agree, whom i admire but not yet fully understood but sincerely wish would not desert me, come what may...and Who is that?.. its My-Self!

And Ohhh..the title, i have nothing against Loreal or Garnier!

Flashback begins

      ‘She had always been short and fat and slightly bent. Her face was a criss-cross of wrinkles running from everywhere to everywhere. No, we were certain she had always been as we had known her. Old, so terribly old that she could not have grown older, and had stayed at the same age for twenty years. She could never have been pretty; but she was always beautiful.’ How can the author call his grandmother, a beauty?”, turning to the class after reading out from Kushwant Singh’s  ‘The portrait of a lady’, asked our English teacher in my 11th standard.

         Honestly, i was unaware of the subtle difference and eagerly awaited the answer. I am happy that i hadn’t wandered in class that day. What came next was not a simple answer but a profound lesson.

Flashback ends.

Flash begins

       Today, after some sessions of post-mortem i came to believe in this. Being pretty is a chance but to be a beauty is a choice. As always, chance deserts us someday but choice stays on. If the former is being, the latter is becoming. The companions that each of these attributes bring along is also varied. One has pride, false friends, pomp and show in the entourage but the other has wisdom, truth and goodness as retinue showing up at the venue. Now I feel better poised to understand what Keats meant by 'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever'. As an after thought, Creams might help us for a while to stay pretty but Dreams definitely would make us a beauty.
       Hollywood seems to have understood the difference. They made Beautiful mind and Pretty Woman (both are awesome ones!...movies, i mean!) but sadly the comprehension ceases there.
          “Beauty may or may not lie in the eyes of the beholder, but ugliness most certainly lay in the 
hearts of those who set the yardsticks of beauty”.


Flash continues...