Better at planning than at executing

Ecstasies ballet, thoughts meander, dreams age and fade, spirits soar, reasons err, and faith stands and waits forever.

I don’t believe I wrote that line. Because I don’t think I am capable of getting so unusually serious while writing (I don’t think I am capable of getting so unusually serious while at anything!). I guess it’s a one-off, and thankfully, it was just one line. It sounds quite heavy, I recognize, but don’t worry - everything is alright!

Everything isn’t entirely alright though! My back is hurting. It’s probably from the chair I sit on; I spend most of my day at my desk in front of the computer. And I am worried thinking that when I buy a house for myself and bend down, in the front garden, to dig up the flower beds, putting in the daffodils and the white roses, chopping the hedges and pruning the grasses, making them all look clean and right, I might be struggling with the muscles in my back and neck getting knotted up.

Yes, that’s correct. I would love to do a lot of gardening when I have my own house (with plenty of space) and when I am retired (with plenty of free time). I work long hours and I live in an apartment now (with a just few flower pots), so there isn’t the scope to do a lot at the moment. But I am excited to think of all the work I would get to do in my garden from choosing the plants to preparing the beds to taking care of them, until much later, when all the flowers flower in spring- and what a fantastic pay-off would it be after the wait!

And we could all, my friends, then meet in my garden, in a sort of a reunion, in our 50 or

60-somethings, sit out in the sun, catch up on each other’s lives, play the music of our times, and relive our youth! I will set up the barbeque and arrange for some red wine!

Getting back to the present, my backache reminds me that I haven’t exercised in a long while! I bought a pair of running shoes almost three months back, and it’s a shame, I haven’t gone for a run since then. When it comes to things like a fitness regime, I am much better at planning than at executing! Strange! Is it the same with many of you, or do you have a recommendation for me to become more disciplined?

I just looked out of the window. It’s a beautiful evening, bathed in the last light of the day, quiet as a midsummer afternoon, and mellow because the autumn isn’t far away! I am going for a run!

Life

I walked the path for many miles. And realized it wasn’t the trail to walk by. I smiled, to hold back my tears. I then discovered the other course, pulled myself up, said a short prayer, set out again, and went wrong. I wondered: is this life a beta version?

[I wrote this on the idea of a ‘minisaga’. A minisaga, I recently read, is a short piece of writing containing exactly 50 words plus a title. It’s a story in just those many words. I was excited to learn about it. I quickly decided to try writing one myself].

P.S.

Microsoft Word Count shows my explanation of a minisaga within the brackets above, is exactly 50 words, again! Coincidental?

The morning after the rains

It has been raining incessantly for a few days now. I don’t quite like it this way. The entire world seems damp, and cluttered, and grey. The streets are nearly flooded. It’s hard to commute to work, and is equally hard to stay back at home, alone. And find the right ingredients to make your own cup of coffee. At work, life is easier with the coffee machine. And it feels good to meet and say hello to people (with the same purpose) who gather around it.

But I quite like the morning after the rains. It is always so tranquil, and clear, and vibrant. The water droplets on the windowpane sparkle like jewels. The puddles still joyfully show off the fading ripples. The trees appear greener, as if they have changed into brand-new pullovers, and the fallen leaves beneath look like a cozy bedside rug, glistening with the wetness. Every small thing, all around, seems to be slightly more at peace than the usual, a little more graceful than the ordinary- you will always recognize these mornings by the trace the rains leave behind them. This is perhaps like how you will always recognize a Libra woman by the nice fragrance she leaves behind her (I was reading Linda Goodman last night, and that is where this comes from!).

I hadn’t seen much of the mornings as a young boy. I struggled to get up from bed early. My parents weren’t particularly impressed with this. They were certain, people who couldn’t wake up early, plan their day, and work hard to achieve their dreams would never make it big in life (I didn't, they proved right, and we now have a consensus on this at home). But as I grew up, I started doing better on the waking-up-early part occasionally, and I discovered how beautiful mornings really could be!

And there’s this one thing that I find so outstandingly beautiful - I wonder if you have ever witnessed the first light of the morning shine on a huge stained glass window of a church, illuminating it in many colours; the motifs distinctly emerging in countless shades, brilliant and subtle, and soon turning gorgeous, seeming like a finely woven fabric with strands of a million colours held against the sunlight; the images interweaving to evoke a theme, the figures of the saints and their disciples quintessentially narrating an episode, and the most elegant of floral paintings adding opulently to the magnificence!

Now I can’t help but think you think I am thinking way too seriously about these mornings. I indeed am. I am even considering the possibility of starting to plan my day, and working hard to achieve my dreams, a plenty of them. I have miles to go before I sleep (that’s my favourite Robert Frost line, and the only line I can remember from the poems in school- embarrassing!).

Strength with age

It's already August. Some say it appears like it was January just the other day. Actually it wasn't. January was way back in January. It has been a fairly long year since then. I vouch for this because the astrological predications were that I was to have a great 2011; eight months into the year, it has been nowhere close to great. On the contrary, it has been moderate to severely turbulent. I have had to keep my seat belts fastened, and an oxygen mask will automatically appear, when I need to pull it the most, I hope. And hopes are the essence, so, I am keeping at it!

But what do you do when the going gets so tough? In all likelihood, you go in for a bit of self-indulgence. The most regular form of that I guess is to go for shopping. I have friends who do this all the time. They are shopaholics! They could even go shopping at 3 PM, in the middle of a working day, and as always, inevitably, end up feeling better at the end of it (even if they were feeling perfectly alright earlier!). Now, I am not a shopaholic, but since I had a lot of free time over the long weekend, I decided to have a crack at it!

I drove downtown, checked into a store, and looked at this carbon blue T-shirt which had some incredible stuff written on it: ‘Strength with Age’. I fell for it. I smiled, and I thought it tells my story. I just got a year older earlier this month, and what better to boast growing older? I picked it up. I felt good at the end of it (I suppose this doesn’t sound like I am going down the same course, I am not!).

On my way back, I realized, I picked up another T-shirt that’s blue in colour. Historically, the statistics has been quite uncomplicated: 8 out of 10 times I have bought an apparel, it has been blue in colour (the remaining 2 times, it has been grey or black). This may lead you to conceive how predictable I am, but it is not that you could tell entirely about a person by merely looking at his wardrobe. There are people who normally don’t, but are quite capable, of doing outstanding things! One of these days, I plan to go back to that store and buy myself a dazzling pink T-shirt, just to establish a point!

About me

What could possibly be interesting about me? I am a human resource professional. I live in Bangalore. I work long hours, and I love my work. I have never loved working such long hours when in school though. I hated the mathematics tests. And the history tests. I hated the chemistry tests too. But most of all, I hated the…. I think I hated all the tests!

I am an August born. I am a Leo. My friends think I am not a true Leo- I don’t show traits of aggression, or pride, or dominance. I tell them I am an old Leo, somewhat tamed, rather disciplined! I suppose that’s the only thing I could say to avoid seeming incapable, and we have a good laugh. The point though really is that I am not very old (and you have got to start believing people who say that!).

Originally I am from Siliguri, a small city in the foothills of the Himalayan mountain ranges, in the north eastern part of the country. I have lived in Bangalore for the last ten years. I came here to earn my Master’s in Business Administration degree, and found the city very welcoming. I have, by now, totally fallen in love with this metropolis. I like the buzz. I like the people. I like the food.  

I like reading. I like driving. I like mountains. I like the winter (see, that’s very unlike old people!). I like the sun-drenched mornings. I like tea. I love listening to music. I grew up yearning to buy myself a ‘proper’ music system when I start earning a decent salary. And I bought one within a couple of months of getting into my first job (that was significantly early, considering that I still don’t earn a decent salary!). I like watching films. Films could make me cry, particularly one with sentimental songs! And then, I cry when I sing as well. I don’t sing well!

I get itchy feet each time I look at the Lonely Planet travel guides in the bookstore, graciously stacked on the shelves in plenty! There are 192 countries according to The United Nations, and I must see as many of these amazing countries as I can- that is my favourite dream! My other dream is to give up drinking tea, and switch to coffee as Starbucks opens a store in my neighborhood!

My third dream is to be able to write shorter “about me” descriptions! Understandably!