Archive for July, 2009
THE JIGSAW PUZZLE
Posted by sarita singh in Life on July 28th, 2009
A lazy Sunday morning ..the whole extended family had gathered at our grandmother's place for a family lunch. The happiest and loudest ones were of course the children small in size, big on attitude. After a while they sat down to play with jigsaw puzzle of 1000 pieces.
As the older kids (5 & 8yrs old) got busy trying to fit the jigsaw, the youngest one (1 & ½ yrs. old) very casually picked up a few pieces of the jigsaws and walked away. The other kids had almost finished fitting in the jigsaws pieces when they realized what had happened .they rushed to retrieve the missing pieces (which, by then, had changed shape completely thanks to chewing, breaking etc.).
All hell broke loose! We tried to tell them that their jigsaw looked great and just 7 missing pieces could not take away the beauty of 993 other pieces. But they were inconsolable. They blamed their little sister for everything (who was least bothered and had, by then, moved on to other toys). In anger one of the older kids broke the rest of it too, saying he did not want an incomplete puzzle
What struck me about this incident was how the whole scenario reflected our own lives .made me wonder about the time and energy we waste trying to find those missing jigsaw pieces of our lives. In our hunt for we do not have, we tend to overlook what we do have (which is usually more than what we don't have).
And by the time realization dons, a lot of what we had but did not use or enjoy is already decayed or wasted beyond repair & becomes unfit for use .and like the little children, blame others for the incompleteness in our lives…and fate like the little girl quietly moves a few pieces while our attention is focused elsewhere.
Often while looking back on life, we realize what we needed was perhaps already there. What were missing were our own correct perspectives to see clearly .often, in our stubbornness to play the game according to our own rules, we waste time and before we know it the final whistle is blown.
Its difficult to fathom our obsession with the missing pieces .why do let a few missing bits overtake the joy or beauty from the other pieces that we do have? Especially in our interpersonal relationships Maybe its just insecurity that someone else may come in and fill in the gaps .maybe it's our obsession to try and recreate Heaven which is synonymous with perfection whatever the cause, whatever the reason, we end up losing far more than what we do not have or what we did not get somewhere, I guess, we forget that all of us have our own unique places under the sun & that is why God created us ..
a journey called life….
Posted by sarita singh in Living on July 21st, 2009
I was waiting with my mother for our turn at a doctor's chamber. She too was waiting for her turn. I had seen her earlier too, at the same place. We only smiled at each other on the other occasions. She was accompanied by her son who was perpetually talking on his cell-phone. Bored, she struck up a conversation with us. Her husband was admitted in the hospital and she had come to talk to the doctor about her husband's progress to health. They had been married almost 46 years ago. She did not meet her husband till everything was fixed by the families. There was no going back then. She told me that she always visualized a husband who was dapper likeDev Anand but her husband, well… (all she did was smile sheepishly).
But, good girls did not defy their families, so she got married to the guy with loads of regrets about what may have been. Initially, though she never showed it, she was full self pity. But as time flew she realized how unwise she was in her judgment. With an impish smile on her face, she told me, how some of her friends were almost jealous of the way her husband looked after her. He made sure that she was always treated with respect by everyone in the family, even by their own kids. When their second kid was born (they were on a foreign posting) he took care of the home & the older kid leaving her to concentrate on the new-born & herself.
Today, she feels her husband was God's greatest gift to her. She is especially thankful that she did not voice her displeasure when marriage negotiations were on, otherwise who knows what kind of man she would have been married to. She acknowledges that in the success of their long & happy marriage her husband's contribution was great. And, she added tongue in cheek, the men of her husband's age all look more or less the same today, no matter how good-looking they were in their youth.
This encounter reminded me of what Sister Adele ,Principal of our school, used to tell us —– instead of fretting at the sight of the cloud look for the sun behind it & you shall see the rainbow appear'
________________________________________________________________________
ONE
Posted by sarita singh in Blogs on July 17th, 2009
On the 15th of July, I had completed a year in rediff iland . When I had taken my 1st tentative steps into the world of blogging, I was clueless about what to expect here. I had no idea of the enormous amount of affection and acceptance that I found from my fellow bloggers, some of whom have even become friends for real. Today iland family, somehow, has broken barriers of being a virtual world and has become a part of my life The pattern of life replicates it self so well on this iland. Some friends go away, new friends join in, yet each one has a place in our hearts that is unique. One can never replace the other. Each goodbye leaves a vacuum that echoes with the absence of a friend; each hello also makes us aware of a niche within our conscious mind which was, until that moment, unknown to even us. Yes, I had my share of disagreements too but I was very lucky to have detractors and critics who behaved in the utmost dignified manner and our differences got solved without any nastiness. I wish to thank them for helping me develop more as a person and a writer. I am sorry I cannot mention each and every one of you by name as it would take multiple blogs to fit in the contribution each of you have made to my development as a blogger and in strengthening my confidence . However, I wish to make a special mention, of Pradeep, my first friend on iland, who almost bullied me into writing this piece. I had happily given the 1st anniversary of blogging a miss, but his incessant reminders that I was being ungrateful to the iland by ignoring my friends made me write this post I wish to dedicate the following poem to all of you .the poet's name is not known to me if anyone knows , please do let me know . Just One One song can spark a moment, One flower can wake the dream. One tree can start a forest, One bird can herald spring. One smile begins a friendship, One handclasp lifts a soul. One star can guide a ship at sea, One word can frame the goal One vote can change a nation, One sunbeam lights a room One candle wipes out darkness, One laugh will conquer gloom. One step must start each journey. One word must start each prayer. One hope will raise our spirits, One touch can show you care. One voice can speak with wisdom, One heart can know what’s true, One life can make a difference, You see, it’s up to you!
DESTINY’S CHILD
Posted by sarita singh in Poetry on July 6th, 2009
Life Unplugged—-
Is An Unfinished Tale
—
Of sunny days
Misty nights
Awesome depths
Heady heights
Magical horizons
Dark or bright
The rushing wind
The gushing flow
The surging tides
The highs, the lows
An unseen voyage
An unknown port
Dreams lead on
And paths unfold
The will unchained
The soul on fire
The spirit free and
Full of desire
"Reach out"— they cry,
"To the call of the wild .
For life was born to be
Destiny's child !"
Masti ki Pathshala
Posted by sarita singh in Personal on July 2nd, 2009
Celebrating Silliness . That could have been theme for the evening full of fun and laughter it was an informal gathering of old school friends that, without any rhyme or reason turned into an impromptu party…and, needless to add, all the stories and tales so neatly & lovingly stacked away in the crevices of our minds came tumbling out
We spent that evening laughing like maniacs till tears rolled down our faces.
Once, when I was in the 7th standard, I had hurriedly written my name on the answer script and the letters got a bit mixed up at least the "r" & "i" did and while handing out the corrected papers my teacher had read out my name as "santa" singh .. To this date my school friends tease me by that name & never fail to fwd to me every santa singh joke they ever come across!!!
Nina was a very sweet and shy girl whose family returned to
The spontaneous laughter of the whole classroom, sight of the teacher's stunned face and Nina's confused one (she didn't even realize what was wrong) made the scene an unforgettable memory .
Exam times & cheating went hand in hand .the biggest partners-in-crime of our class Mahesh & Ravi, split up the syllabus between the 2 of them. Each studied one half & for questions from the other half, they relied on copying from the other
During a term exam,
Our principal was a very somber and strict gentleman who loved giving us impositions to write . They were to be written no less than 1000 times & he actually checked it!!!! . So getting caught by him meant HELLLLLL .
Once during a teacher's absence our class was naturally noisy and our principal came to check out what was happening. One smart guy promptly slid under the table to avoid imposition and seeing him a few more (including me) followed. The logic was simple sir would give imposition to write and then go away and if he did not see us we would be spared!
But, as luck would have it he decided to stay back for the whole period and "talk" to the class and we were forced to stay back under the table for almost an hour!!! My neck still aches from the memory!
Endless memories I would run out of space if I were to list all of them but so beautiful, so special that even time cannot rust them out ..In fact time has only polished them and added to their sheen!
-
You are currently browsing the archives for July, 2009
-
Blogroll
-
Archives
- September 2010 (1)
- October 2009 (2)
- August 2009 (2)
- July 2009 (5)
- June 2009 (3)
- May 2009 (2)
- April 2009 (3)
- March 2009 (6)
- February 2009 (5)
- January 2009 (5)
- December 2008 (5)
- November 2008 (4)
- October 2008 (10)
- September 2008 (20)
- August 2008 (19)
- July 2008 (11)
-
Meta
-
Friends' Update
Loading ...Please wait..