Random Musing

When the song ‘Yeh Wada Raha’ in the voice of Kishore and Asha started playing on radio last week, I increased the volume, stopped whatever I was doing and listened with a smile. It is in fact a song I have in my Sony Ericsson walkman phone to which I listen to in bed before falling asleep, almost every other day.
But when it played on the radio, I listened to it as if after a long time. I was delighted.
I have 3500 songs on my iPod – all my favourite songs at my disposal.
And yet, it’s when I listen to those songs on the radio that I enjoy them more.
There is something to unpredictability. It makes a big difference to our living. A great cause of anxiety in life though it may be, we don’t realize how precious it is. Without it, life would be so bland even with all the palaces of the world belonging to us.
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There are the absolutes and there are the ‘relatives’. Everything and everyone has so many dimensions.
Everything is simple, yet so complex. Nothing matters and yet, everything matters. The context is obvious and immediate, yet if you change your own position, and turn proximity into distance, the context could expand to include the world, and time could change from the present moment to eternity. Meaning and relevance, that depend upon time and context, are elusive, ever changing.
In the midst of all this, the one who says ‘you never know’, is the only one who really knows.
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Where there is warmth, there is life. Where there is life, there is warmth.
For days, I have had sprouts for dinner. Sprouts of green gram. You soak the gram in water for 12 hours, drain the water, and by 24 hours, the germinating begins.
This roommate of mine while I was California in 2007 taught me that they grow best when you keep them in airtight containers. It was the only good she did to me.

After draining the water, I keep them in an airtight container for a day or 2. As the hours pass by, I can see that the lid of the plastic box has gathered tiny droplets on the inside surface.
When I open the lid and gather a few sprouts in my fingers, they are warm. Though the weather is quite cold. The container perhaps works like an incubator, preserving the warmth for these small babies sprouting to life.
I don’t know why, but this evokes a tenderness in me. This thing about warmth and life. About life taking care of itself.
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One difference between happy and unhappy people is the difference between having a programmable hence conditioned mind, and having one’s own independent mind. When you have your own mind, you tend to think; and when you think a lot, you cannot be as happy as when you don’t think but simply live life according to a program already defined for you by people who have come here before you. Would you then, feel happy that you can think for yourself? I would.
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Apart from the fact that they can be pushy and annoying, there is something about people who tend to talk with too much reinforcement, when they are effectively trying to sell something – their idea, their opinion, their wish, their command.
Low self-esteem.
Something I learnt from observing two individuals at work – opposites in this aspect.
One with low self esteem does not take himself seriously and hence believes others do not take him seriously too; he does not respect himself enough, so he believes others do not respect him too; hence the necessity to reinforce a point with too many words, repetition, superlatives, non stop talking so he will be heard.
The one with high self esteem takes himself seriously, respects himself; he believes that others take him seriously as well, and hence knows it is enough for him to say it once and say it concisely; his word will be taken.
And sure, the latter is taken seriously whereas the former is ignored – “That’s the way the fellow talks about everything – it does not mean the matter is serious”, they say among themselves.

Loud, animated talking, with repetition and too many adjectives and unnecessary superlatives is a way of ineffective communication.
You use a strong dosage every time, people will become immune after a while and stop responding to you. Keep it mild and they will grasp even your hints.
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To remain in orbit, you need forces pulling you in opposite directions. Otherwise, you would spiral inwards into a nucleus and become annihilated or spiral outwards, forever, away and further until you are lost beyond recovery.
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We should not orphan our opinions, no matter how unfashionable they may be. We are all they have. It requires courage and we must muster that courage.
We must read though, so our opinions are well formed and have a sound basis.
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