Words that touch me and made a difference in my life.
There’s difference between meditation and prayer, though both practices seek
communion with the divine. I’ve heard it said that prayer is the act of
talking to God, while meditation is the act of listening.
-Elizabeth Gilbert, in Eat Pray Love.
These are simple words that really triggered something in me… Listening to God. Have i ever listened to God?
I was taught to chant a word that has some significance to me again and
again to start with, during meditation. I had to focus my mind on the
one thing. Think of nothing else. It wasn’t so simple. Thats when my
mind used to bring in the most wonderful moments of the worst
nightmares. Meditation was a chore that i’d rather do tomorrow.
Now,
that the word has been equated to something so simple as listening, i
am not terrified anymore. Listening. Listening is easy. Listening is
fun. I love to listen to AR Rehman’s music, the birds in my garden at
noon, my garden gate creaking announcing the arrival of my husband, the
happy laughter of my kids.
I now love to sit in my room, alone, silent, visualizing the infinite black of the universe and listening.
Amazon out sells ebooks than the regular books. For every 104 ebooks, there are 100 books sold…
Ebooks no doubt are a revolutionary way of reading.
- Hot news as and when it happens: Most of the Ereaders have Wi-Fi access or
are 3G enabled that let you instantly get news and stay connected
anywhere, anytime with anything.
- Remembers the page: Ereaders remember the pages. So, no time wasted in flipping through pages trying
to figure where you left it last time you read the novel.
- No Clutter: All ebooks downloaded into the reader are stored and sorted and
can be readily found out when needed. Books unfortunately require
physical space to be stored and if you are like me, cannot find it right
when it is needed the most.
- Conservation of tons and tons of paper along with trees and the rainforest.
- EReaders have come up with pearl e-ink technology which supposedly is easy on
the eye so as to let the reader go on with hours of reading, without any
bother. They even adjust depending on the light levels.
- All kinds of formats are now supported by the ereaders like pdf, images, html.
Barnes and Noble’s Nook and Amazon’s Kindle are supposed to be in color.
- Ipad can be used as a newspaper in the morning, browsing for information and playing
with the apps and as a novel to sleep with which adjusts the light
level according to the surroundings, at night. Convenient!
Dont you think it is going to be tough for our good old books to be used in
the future? Once my son asked me, “Amma, what is that tough
keyboard-like thingy that is used with paper?” He was asking about the
typewriter. Will books follow that way? Will libraries be a thing of the
past? Will the feel of paper on our hands while curling with a good
book on a rainy day be a long lost memory? Maybe not for my generation. But
certainly there on the cards…
It is so beautiful in my garden.
The fresh greens spotted with the reds, pinks, orange and yellow blossoms.
Glorious blooms all bright and proud; Yesterday’s flowers bent and
looking sad. Beautiful butterflies fluttering around, crows cawing away,
squirrels rushing around as if there is no tomorrow and people chatting
as though it would continue till tomorrow. An occasional car zooming
past, happy voices of toddlers returning from school.
My home is all clean and shiny. Clothes all neatly folded. Books all stacked and in
order. A place for everything and everything in its place; No blaring
TV, no app to attend to on the ipod. No cellphones ringing for
attention, no noise, no sound.
Just me and my mind. My mind is zooming at high speeds, checking if the dinner is acceptable for all
members of the family, clothes are ironed and ready for the kurta-day;
composing the shopping list for the weekend shopping and cursing myself
for never being able to get a good idea to blog on; Ever waiting for the
phone call from my husband to confirm the fact that he does think about
me away from home, impatiently checking at the facebook page to see if
there is anybody is doing anything fun.
The clock strikes 4 and my
world has changed upside down. My home is messy, shoes carelessly
thrown around, sand and grime contrasting on the beautiful off-white
tile on the floor. Dirty clothes on the floor, Change of clothes on the
laundry basket, socks just everywhere; Noise has occupied my home- TV,
ipod, cellphones, quarrels and all. Kids complaining and congratulating
while beyblade-ing on my garden, stomping on my plants, bumping into the
hangings; Cellphone reminders incessantly irritating, constant voice of
my husband deliberating into the phone. Complains, moans and whines and
an occasional compliment signifies that dinner is done, dishes are
dirty and i have more cleaning to do tomorrow too.
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