The first day back from home after your vacation is always the worst. The obstreperous nature of things inside your head makes you question yourself.
"What is the purpose of staying out here for four months, if 7 days at home is all you want? Is this sort of penance worth the money you are supposed to be making? Is this what I wanted all along, or what I want for myself?"
I know the answer to the last one. For someone who wished to be able to work in his home city for all his life, so that he can live blissfully in the same circumstances in which he grew up, I know pretty well that the answer to the first part of that last question is a big NO.
And when I consider that I'll leave for home again in December end and come back on New Year's day, I shudder to my bones. I'll be leaving when it's cold here, then spend some quality time at home when its moderately warm there, and then come back to a colder Delhi for another four, or maybe, five months of abstinence.
And it's hard to rue your fate when you made an informed decision three years back to NOT to go for that IT job, which would have eventually placed you in your hometown, but to go for the other job, which will take you far, far away from there. I don't think I need anything other than that singular decision to prove my insanity.
Anyways, here I am, trying hard to figure out the loophole in my prayer that God had exploited to put me here. I don't know what he could do with "Please help me get a good job here in Trivandrum.", but he did something. The pessimist in me had thrown in the towel and became an atheist long back. The optimist in me believes that since I didn't specify a time frame, he must have something planned for me back home, based upon the experience I have gained here.
With all said and done, on the basis of the thoughts on prayers that I've had now, this week's post is going to be themed on "Temples". Not actual facts, mind you, but more of what my experiences have taught me.
So, let's begin, shall we?
Did you know...
1. ...that you have to pray for the thing you actually wanted??
It is a common sight to see people breaking coconuts in front of Lord Ganesha for removing any obstacles in some effort that they are about to undertake. These efforts vary from writing an exam to going to get married. What I've personally experienced in such situations is that at the time of breaking the coconut, instead of praying to the God that he remove all obstacles, you are most probably going to pray that the coconut should break.
The ridicule-drenched looks you get on an unsuccessful attempt is enough to keep your mind sorely concentrated on the act of breaking the coconut, making you forget to specify for what you are breaking it in the first place.
2. ...that the best place to find beautiful gals are here?
Now, when I say there's beauty in a female, I know that it's arbitrary. My friends have never spared a moment to remind me that what I find beautiful is not that beautiful in the eyes of the general public. But no matter how skewed your scale of beauty is, I can assure you that you can find one specimen of the highest order if you visit a temple on an auspicious day. This is another reason why I often forget to actually pray when I get to a temple. I get immersed in the distractions walking around me.
3. ... that a temple is a good place to be on the look out for?
Look out for what, I hear you ask. Well, let's pretend that your parents are delusion-ed enough to suggest that you should get married. Let's continue with the pretending by assuming that they are actively looking for a possible match for you. In such circumstances, it might be plausible for their expectation to be not matching with yours. In such a hypothetical situation, it would do you good to go on a temple visit with your parents, where there shall be a variety of specimen of the female kind for you to, hypothetically, suggest one as your expectation.
4. ... that, hypothetically, if you meet again that girl, that you had hypothetically suggested to your parents as a possible lifemate, it doesnt mean anything?
Just keep repeating that to yourself. Hypothetically, of course. :D :p
5. ... that I've never set foot on a place of worship other than a temple?
I find this odd. In 25 years of roaming about on this Earth, in spite of living in God's own country for more than two decades, I'm yet to enter a place of worship that adheres to a different set of principles than that I'm supposed to follow.
The closest I came was in the May of this year, when I went to attend a Christian wedding at a church. But since we (me and my collegemates) were quite noisy, we felt it would be better if we just stuck to the little space near the juice stand.
----------
So, that's all for this week. I would have loved to hit a hat trick with three "special event of the week" posts on the trot, but the special event for this week has already been described by me in the past.
You won't normally find an aspiring writer who'll say that he has already written the best he could/would ever write, but I might be something like that. This past Wednesday, August 21st had three special events on the same day for me. In the chronological order in which I was introduced to them in my life, it was the day one of my best friends was born; it marked four years since my grandfather died; and it was the second birthday of my nephew.
I had written "The Last Wish" nearly four years before, to pay my tribute to one of the best personalities I've ever known. I recounted my last meaningful talk with him in that. And I believe that that is the best prose I'll ever write in my life.
That's all folks. See you next week.
Have a great weekend!!!
"What is the purpose of staying out here for four months, if 7 days at home is all you want? Is this sort of penance worth the money you are supposed to be making? Is this what I wanted all along, or what I want for myself?"
I know the answer to the last one. For someone who wished to be able to work in his home city for all his life, so that he can live blissfully in the same circumstances in which he grew up, I know pretty well that the answer to the first part of that last question is a big NO.
And when I consider that I'll leave for home again in December end and come back on New Year's day, I shudder to my bones. I'll be leaving when it's cold here, then spend some quality time at home when its moderately warm there, and then come back to a colder Delhi for another four, or maybe, five months of abstinence.
And it's hard to rue your fate when you made an informed decision three years back to NOT to go for that IT job, which would have eventually placed you in your hometown, but to go for the other job, which will take you far, far away from there. I don't think I need anything other than that singular decision to prove my insanity.
Anyways, here I am, trying hard to figure out the loophole in my prayer that God had exploited to put me here. I don't know what he could do with "Please help me get a good job here in Trivandrum.", but he did something. The pessimist in me had thrown in the towel and became an atheist long back. The optimist in me believes that since I didn't specify a time frame, he must have something planned for me back home, based upon the experience I have gained here.
With all said and done, on the basis of the thoughts on prayers that I've had now, this week's post is going to be themed on "Temples". Not actual facts, mind you, but more of what my experiences have taught me.
So, let's begin, shall we?
Did you know...
1. ...that you have to pray for the thing you actually wanted??
It is a common sight to see people breaking coconuts in front of Lord Ganesha for removing any obstacles in some effort that they are about to undertake. These efforts vary from writing an exam to going to get married. What I've personally experienced in such situations is that at the time of breaking the coconut, instead of praying to the God that he remove all obstacles, you are most probably going to pray that the coconut should break.
The ridicule-drenched looks you get on an unsuccessful attempt is enough to keep your mind sorely concentrated on the act of breaking the coconut, making you forget to specify for what you are breaking it in the first place.
2. ...that the best place to find beautiful gals are here?
Now, when I say there's beauty in a female, I know that it's arbitrary. My friends have never spared a moment to remind me that what I find beautiful is not that beautiful in the eyes of the general public. But no matter how skewed your scale of beauty is, I can assure you that you can find one specimen of the highest order if you visit a temple on an auspicious day. This is another reason why I often forget to actually pray when I get to a temple. I get immersed in the distractions walking around me.
3. ... that a temple is a good place to be on the look out for?
Look out for what, I hear you ask. Well, let's pretend that your parents are delusion-ed enough to suggest that you should get married. Let's continue with the pretending by assuming that they are actively looking for a possible match for you. In such circumstances, it might be plausible for their expectation to be not matching with yours. In such a hypothetical situation, it would do you good to go on a temple visit with your parents, where there shall be a variety of specimen of the female kind for you to, hypothetically, suggest one as your expectation.
4. ... that, hypothetically, if you meet again that girl, that you had hypothetically suggested to your parents as a possible lifemate, it doesnt mean anything?
Just keep repeating that to yourself. Hypothetically, of course. :D :p
5. ... that I've never set foot on a place of worship other than a temple?
I find this odd. In 25 years of roaming about on this Earth, in spite of living in God's own country for more than two decades, I'm yet to enter a place of worship that adheres to a different set of principles than that I'm supposed to follow.
The closest I came was in the May of this year, when I went to attend a Christian wedding at a church. But since we (me and my collegemates) were quite noisy, we felt it would be better if we just stuck to the little space near the juice stand.
----------
So, that's all for this week. I would have loved to hit a hat trick with three "special event of the week" posts on the trot, but the special event for this week has already been described by me in the past.
You won't normally find an aspiring writer who'll say that he has already written the best he could/would ever write, but I might be something like that. This past Wednesday, August 21st had three special events on the same day for me. In the chronological order in which I was introduced to them in my life, it was the day one of my best friends was born; it marked four years since my grandfather died; and it was the second birthday of my nephew.
I had written "The Last Wish" nearly four years before, to pay my tribute to one of the best personalities I've ever known. I recounted my last meaningful talk with him in that. And I believe that that is the best prose I'll ever write in my life.
That's all folks. See you next week.
Have a great weekend!!!
No comments :
Post a Comment