A Luminous Life...

When it's not enough to give, not just a piece of your heart, but everything it ever carried- hopes, dreams and aspirations. When it's just not enough, to be there when twilight falls, sometimes, until midnight; and you wonder if it's worth the walk. When you've laid in your sleep, thinking, maybe this is it, maybe, this is where the good life is, where the sun glows and you keep walking, just giving your heart, mind and soul, and suddenly the hope disappears, the curtains are drawn, your chapter is closed, everything has changed. You still sit, wondering.... when is it ever enough?

The year 2012 ended on a very grim note for India as a whole. There is grief that still engulfs the entire nation. That too at a time when we are to retrospect, think, resolve, thank or change if need be. The frightening story of the gang-rape on the 23-year-old woman at Delhi has left any sane citizen of the country, scared, disturbed and confused. It is not like rape has never happened before, or that crime against women is anything new. But the severity with which the story surfaced has left us all shaken. There has been an outcry on the issue like never before. We know for sure that the majority of us have been deeply affected by the incident. What kind of human really inflicts so much cruelty and terror on another human being? The gang-rape story has left us all baffled. What has gone so wrong with our upbringing and our system of education, at home, at school or at the social level? Is it because our parents, our teachers, our social and religious leaders, our politicians, ...

Some of you might have come across the tipping story of the world’s richest man who astonished a waiter with his reply. It is said that when Bill Gates tipped the waiter who served him in a restaurant with a 5$, the waiter had a strange feeling in his face. After Gates realized and asked what happened, the Waiter said, “I'm just amazed because on the same table your son gave a tip Of 500$, and you his father, the richest man in the world gave only 5$.” Gate’s reply to this, which goes, "He is the son of the world's richest man, but I am the son of a wood cutter. Never forget your past!" forms the essence of roots that I wish to talk about. I found this story inspirational. It is hard to remain grounded after we become somebody. When a little achievement, some wealth and fame greet you, it is easy to leave behind your roots as though it has nothing to do with your life. Not to talk of becoming very powerful, extraordinary people, but even in our ordinary circums...

Sometimes you question life but the answers never come. It is simple when you are a child. Full of life, full of dreams, and you’re content...really happy too! Scraped knees hurt only for a while…You hurt but you forget, and you’re back to smiling, back to living….you seize life effortlessly, and you just get on with it. Childhood’s so precious don’t you think? But we never realize. When we are small we never realize that life is too short and every moment counts…everything feels like an illusion, a magical world but it’s only because we just know how to live it to the full when we are children… SOMEDAY, everything changes. You are older and the picture is different. You are happy and you are sad! Happiness fleets and the pain lingers… The past never changes, and each time you resolve to make every minute count, something happens that you don’t understand. You lose people. People, you thought would be around all your life…those, you joked with, talked with...

Many of us dream to travel the world when we grow up. To see what life looks like beyond the figments of our imagination. To see a new place, explore and experience. Practically speaking, it is impossible to go around the world in a lifetime. For most of us, this dream remains only a dream because as we grow older, we also find that our priorities change. The little of the world we have seen beyond our homes remain only the few places we have ventured out to, for studies, work, or health care and hardly leisure. Afterwards, travelling becomes a luxury that only rich people with time can afford. We could be fond of travelling, but even that becomes a not-good-enough-reason to pick a suitcase and go somewhere just like that. We are battling against time and money, priorities and families- the process which is likely to go on till we age and are no longer eager to see that new place anymore. This, however, does not necessarily mean that we cannot travel anymore in the positions we...

When health fails, everything else seems to deteriorate. But because it comes for free, we tend to take this most precious gift for granted. We do not often see how being healthy is essentially the first important step towards living a dream. It is actually the only thing that gives sense to any ordinary day. Without health, we are reduced to nothing but a mere weak mortal, who can really do nothing much. Even with brilliant thoughts and ideas brewing inside the mind, we cannot put them to use. Henri Frederic Amiel has said, “ To feel keenly the poetry of a morning's roses, one has to have just escaped from the claws of this vulture which we call sickness.” True indeed, we cannot wholly enjoy the beauty of nature when in sickness just as we cannot fully share the simple joys of living with others. It becomes a strain to talk or even listen when you are sick. Even the most exciting plans take a backseat, because then, you also realize that without that vigour and energy, all...

My brother once jokingly remarked that even if Mom planted something upside down, it would still grow. We used to laugh over it, but it is true that my Mom’s love for plants and flowers is enormous, that it seems magical to see anything and everything grow at the touch of her hands. If we couldn’t find her anywhere else, we always knew where to get her. She would be in the kitchen garden, lovingly tending to vegetable plants or totally engrossing herself in the numerous flower pots at home. Sometimes, one of my siblings would say, she loves her garden more than she loves us. That, of course isn’t true because we also know deep down that her love for plants is just one of the many manifestations of her love for us. She has always led the exemplary life even if it means we, her children are still short of the rich values she taught us through her simple ways. But, because of her, we are what we are today. I am glad that at least we have learnt not to waste our food because she has...