The problem

 The problem is that you dont have a strong opinion. Your opinion is based on your convenience. 

Paper Dreams

 

“I do not want to go to school today Papa” said my five-year-old son. It was a chilly winter morning, and it was an effort to leave the comfort of the warm bed and get into the cold shower. I understood his feelings and asked him to go back to sleep if he didn’t feel up to it.

When the pattern repeated for the next few days, I got concerned. “Maybe there is more to this than just the cold weather” I thought. I decided to dig deeper into it by discussing this in our free time.

“What’s up Aarav. Why don’t you want to go to school?” I asked him when we were playing a board game.

“I don’t like school” came the curt reply.

“Aha, and why is that so?”

“Teacher is not happy with me”, there was sorrow in his eyes when he said this.

I was not going to give up so easily. ”Maybe you did something wrong and that is why the teacher punished you. What did you do?” I asked him.

“I didn’t finish my homework on time this entire week; I know that is wrong. But you know, I was working on my dream project all week, hence I didn’t do the homework.” he said innocently

“Which dream project? You said you will keep it as a secret, and share with me only when it is done, so I do not know anything about your project yet”

“You remember we have this poor boy works in the tea stall below. I had asked you why he works at such a young age. You had told me that he is forced to work and maybe couldn’t follow his dreams as he couldn’t go to school as he/his parents didn’t have money”

“Oh yes, I remember that one. How is that connected to your project?” I was very curious now.

“Well, I am making greeting cards, many many greeting cards. I will sell them and give him the money to follow his dreams” he said with a deadpan face.

I didn’t know how to respond to him, I just held him in my arms and hugged him tight.

Making a difference

 

Few weeks back, he got a call from his cousin that their grandmother wasn’t feeling well. She was feeling anxious and sweating. They were on the way to the doctor’s.

He was in a different city, 3 hours away.

At that moment, he knew that if his grandmom survived the ordeal, he ll need to be be there and make a difference.

He made a difference for sure and felt proud of it.

However, in the larger scheme of the universe, it is a very small contribution, and he wasn’t sure if he should be taking credit for any of it.

Split between pride and humility, he gave up thinking about it. In a few weeks the feeling settled and his own anxiety was gone.

18 years done

 yet another year gone...thank you God for the second life!!

18 years gone since 28 April 2007

Everyday i count my blessings and I am eternally grateful for the second opportunity

Downfall

 The curve of life

eventuality! no one escapes it, everything around you loses novelty and you are doing the same thing over and over again.

How to escape the monotony?

Keep busy!! with what though?

Everyone goes through this phase it seems, 40s, doing ok financially, family is settled, but not happy.

Everyone wants to retire, be financially independent, but they are short on ideas of what to do next.

I am hoping, I find something to do soon...mind is restless though everything around me is green

should start reading about other peoples experiences on how hey trudge through their 40s..

The start of downfall!

Death

 Death

Very strong feelings emerge when death is experienced from close quarters. Its been a while, however I am extremely disturbed and shocked today.

Just yesterday I came to know about the death of an ex colleague of mine.

He was roughly the same age as me. Stays two blocks away and we used to run into each other often. His kids go to the same school as my kids. Apparently, he celebrated the birthday of his elder son and went to sleep, never to wake up again. It was silent exit due to a heart attack. May his soul rest in peace.

When I heard about his death (it was at Angad's school event), I was perplexed, terrified, disturbed and sad at the same time. What made things worse was that his kids were right in front of me and they seemed unaffected by it. They are too young to comprehend the repercussions of this event in their lives. My heart goes out to them and I pray for the entire family.

How does this affect me? Old thoughts resurface, weird feeling in my head. What is most important in life? Is it the fancy house we stay in, or the fast car that I drive, or that upcoming promotion that I am bothered about? Nope, none of these...

Stay healthy, spend time with your loved ones, live each day as if it is your last...kal ho na ho...

jannat

Hey suno na

Dil keh raha hai

Lalach badi kubsoorat bala hai

Aaye aye dekho na

Kiski duwa hai

Aasman chule jo uska khuda hai

Roj naya khwaab dede zindagi

Aise hasin sazza de..

Jannat jahan jannat yahan

Jannat jahan jannat yahan

Aye suno na

Duniya ko kya hai

Hum ne jo chaha

Hum ne woh kiya hai

Aye dehko na

Jadu yeh kya hai

Pathar ko chu ke mein ne sona kiya hai

Roj naya khwaab dede zindagi

Aise hasin sazza de

Jannat jahan jannat yahan

Jannat jahan jannat yahan

Paisa jeene ki dua

Paisa marne ka sama

Paisa ka jadoo ajab

Roj naya khwaab dede zindagi

Aise hasin sazza de

Jannat jahan jannat yahan

Jannat jahan jannat yahan

Aye suno na

Aankho mein kya hai

Dil ne jo chaha dil ko sab mil gaya hai

Aye...