Simple Thoughts on Life…

What is life - perhaps a coin, a repeatedly tossed coin and death is simply the other side of this same coin of life. Life is all about common concerns, anxieties, hopes, attitudes and visions of the present and future. People mistake this coin of life to be a biased one, but alas, it will be too late till the day they realize that it is in fact a fair coin with the ferocious death on its other side.

The day has changed on the calendar. Yesterday is gone, joined with the past and will never come back. Yesterday’s flowers are dead in their vases; they will be replaced by today’s fresh ones and so is life. Generations come and generations go leaving behind their remains which keep lying in heaps of ashes, but a change is certain. Nothing is here to stay forever, everything has to keep moving.

A newly lighted candle, burns with a lot of enthusiasm. It emits a lot of light and enjoys the attention of everybody in the room but never realizes that it is melting and getting diminished. By the time it realizes it melts completely and is now too late to save itself. It suffers by flickering a lot and finally sleeps, leaving the room in darkness, and such is the case with life.

In this infinite universe, every being is like a grain of sand in a flowing river. In the river called fate, we get carried away along with its flow all through the course of our life.

Rhythm of Morning...

After such lengthy posts, here is an opener for a series of very short writings. Such tiny postings are intended to relax the reader.

The silent hour of night has come to an end giving way to a ravishing golden dawn. Can you hear the cry of a child? A woman next-door is giving her child a bath. The southern breeze is blowing the drops of dew off the cheeks of flowers. The newspaper boy is on his way down the street. You can also hear the sound of oil splashed onto the burning pan, someone started to cook. The phone is repeatedly ringing, but everyone around are quite busy, people rushed to offices, while their children walked to school.

A car speeds by, forming a cloud of dust and dry leaves, leaving behind thick black exhaust fumes. Women as a part of daily prayers are worshipping the tulsi plant. The ants are singing in chorus, servant maids have just arrived; one cleans a rag, another washes dishes, another beats clothes, various sound waves mix up to form a rhythm, the rhythm of morning.

Dreaming my dreams...

This post is here to justify the title of this blog. The reader must imagine beyond barriers of his mind to understand the true essence of my dream.

It was a tired day. All through the day I slogged and drenched myself in sweat, only to finish the work on time. A strong penchant for recognition made me work hard and gradually transformed me to a complete workaholic. Finally, I started to tread in the path of depression.

I’m fatigued; my body resembled an image of stone, my veins became stiff as my blood started to freeze like ice. I dropped onto the cot like a lifeless lump of flesh and went into sleep. In this silent hour of night, shadowed by the feathery clouds, I slept like the statue on the street, in the dead of night, hoping for a better tomorrow.

In the cool moonlit night, I dreamed my dreams.

In my dream, I saw camels and horses flying in thin air,

In my dream, I saw sand turning into sugar,

In my dream, I saw mountains turning into bread,

In my dream, I saw river water turning into honey.

I grabbed the mountains with my hands, sprinkled the sand turned sugar on it and took the whole honey river into a teaspoon and poured it on the mountainous bread and started eating. Just then, it rained, oh the rain drops are turning into milk as they touch the ground and the milk thus collected in the puddles on the road, is curdling.

On my way, I met a group of souls, who repeatedly changed their costumes, sometimes human and sometimes other. I went near a mirror and looked at my own image, oh, I look just like the ones I had met on the road and my costumes resemble human. Should I plan for a change? Maybe sometime later, now I’m quite busy wandering in distant lands.

Then I went into an orchard, my goodness; the leaves are changing into fruits and fruits to leaves. Each branch is bending down laden heavily with hundreds of ripe fruits. The sea of corn fields are producing infinite yield. The sky became transparent and showed all the planets and look, there far away I could spot the milky way galaxy. This dream revitalized my soul, re-energized my body and rejuvenated my mind.

Suddenly, I felt something very soft, like the feather of a bird. Flexing my facial muscles, I woke up. It is not a feather; it is the tender ray of the morning sun. Oh, the night was too short and my dream was like a flash. I wish I could sleep for a longer time, so long that a clock cannot hold and dream all my dreams at once. But I love to watch the sunrise.

The sky is welcoming the sun with hearty colors which are so pleasure to watch. Dawn is undeniably the pleasant and most beautiful part of a day. Now, the sun has shown in the sky, spreading light to all corners. The bright light of the sun brings noble feelings to every soul.

Sitting on the branch of a tree, the early bird wagged its tail ceaselessly. Bells of the temple make the sound of purity. Souls in human costumes began their morning walk down the lanes.The gentle rays of the sun gave enough warmth to the hen's egg, helping her to hatch the young one.

The sparrows flutter and spin searching for grains in the freshness of the morning breeze. Seeing laughter in the sun, now the clouds display different combinations of colors. The shy sun is so excited by the new day that his smile brings us the hope of a great day.

Life is full of joys and sorrows, smiles and tears, hopes and fears. It is our duty to forget the bad and retain what is good for future.

The Mischievous Mosquito...

Here is a short story from my childhood diaries, having humorous flavor. You may not laugh out loud but a smile is assured.

This happened when I was in my fifth standard. Competitions were being conducted in our school, prior to the sports day. I took part in running race, short jump, cricket and table tennis. After a tiring day at school, I returned home worn-out and exhausted and desperately wanted to have bath, eat something and sleep. But things took a turn, there were relatives at home.

My uncle and his family came to visit us. His two kids, both younger than me, were busy playing with few of my old toys. I joined them and played till dinner time. Then again, it was a long dinner; people were eating less and talking more, driving me nuts. After a long post-dinner conversation, they left at eleven ‘o’clock in the night. Oh at last, I can sleep now; I ran into my bedroom and dived onto the cot like a fish evading from the fisherman’s net and plunging back into the waters to breathe free. I was happy that I could sleep and dream the whole night.

I closed my eyes and was at the threshold of sleep when I suddenly heard a faint buzzing sound. Slowly, the amplitude of the sound wave increased, I didn't pay much attention and continued to sleep. But I was forced to wake up to find a mosquito buzzing right at the opening of my ear. I tried to hit it with my hand but I couldn't spot it in the surrounding darkness. Then, I covered my face with the blanket and tried to doze off, but the buzzing noise could be heard again, louder and thunderous than before. I lost my patience, got up immediately and switched on the tube light.

There he is, the young mosquito, flying high almost touching the roof, like an eagle soaring in the sky. I brought a mosquito repellent coil, lighted it, placed it near my bed, switched off the light and slept. Again I could hear the same old buzz down my ear; the noise was enough to raise my temper. I got up took some cotton, stuffed as much as I could into both my ears, covered my face with the blanket and slept again. My goodness, the buzzing can be heard again, I pressed the cotton in my ears with index fingers of both my hands. Ah, now I could hear only my heart beat and breathe nothing else.

This is not fair, definitely not fair, I’m tired, I have tolerated enough and in spite of all the arrangements that I have made for myself, I could still hear him, the foolish mosquito. I got up, straight away switched on the light, cancelled the peace treaty and declared war on the notorious mosquito. The room was full of thick smoke produced by the useless coil and look, there he is, flying like a fighter jet through the clouds of smoke looking as energetic as ever. He seems to be untouched by the smoke. Maybe he knows how to control his breath or may be this stupid mosquito coil is meant not to drive away the brutal mosquitoes but to encourage them.

The cruel mosquito was hungry, he desperately wanted to drink my blood and while I was looking at the coil, he established himself on my hand and when he was about to pierce his needled mouth, I hit him hard, I’m sure he is crushed under my palm. Unfortunately no, he is again back in the air, doing stunts like a winged warrior. If required, I will spill my blood for my country but will never spare even a tiny drop to such an idiotic mosquito. I laid my hands on the table, took the tennis racket and attacked him with full swing, but alas, it was a futile attempt as the goon escaped from the gap in the net. Then I grabbed my cricket bat from the floor and decided to hit the scoundrel mosquito for a big six, going out of the stadium. I swung the bat raucously but failed to read the line and length of the ball and got beaten by the swinger.

If I were the president, I would command my whole army against this deadly mosquito. In a fit of anger, I took a pillow in my hand and threw it with full force in the direction of the roguish mosquito. Oh my goodness, what have I done, the pillow went like a missile and hit the flower vase and the clock, which were on the table. There was a big thud, enough to wake the neighbors; both the vase and the clock fell on the ground. The little rascal was now near my shoulder, again buzzing. I tried to crush him between my hands. He flew away like a bullet fired from the gun's nozzle and my hands made a big clap producing a raucous sound. The silence of the night made the sound more clear and loud.

My parents, grand mother and sister all rushed into my room. ‘What the hell is going on here’ was the first question. By the time I could answer it, I found that this cheater mosquito quietly slipped out of the window. I got a tight scolding for breaking the vase and cracking the clock; that too in the middle of the night. The clock stuck two, my God; I was fighting with that gangster mosquito for almost three hours. Fully exhausted, I just dropped myself on the bed.

The next day, I woke up after a bit of struggle, but my eyes were still red. At school, my friends had a hearty laugh listening to my story. By the end of the day there was a big smile on my face, like to know why? Ah, I smartly managed to sleep in the class after lunch.