Ramblings

Before I start my rambling today, let me wish everyone a Happy New Year. May you all taste all the success you have been working and/or hoping for.

As the clock ticks its way to 00:00 hours, the whole world seems to be in a frenzy to welcome the new year 2010 and bid adieu to 2009. Such occasions make me wonder: will the coming dawn be really any different from what we had today?

As far as I can see, there will be nothing remarkably new except the Calendars hung at different locations in our homes and offices. The sun rising will be same old sun, the nature of tasks to be accomplished in the office or at home will remain the same, as will everything else.

On the other hand we can’t deny that the morning of the 1st of January does seem different than 364 or so other mornings. So what makes it different?

IMHO, it is a purely psychological thing. We, the humans as a collective, choose to believe that the morning of 1st of January is something special, more enjoyable and fresher than all the mornings we experienced during the year, and as a result of this choice the morning does appear to be different than the hundreds of other mornings we saw during the passing year.

This fact demonstrates a tremendously significant truth in our lives: things are as we choose to perceive them.

Just think about the statement for a moment. Isn’t it true that the whole world is relatively happier on 31st of December and the 1st of January every year? It is easy to see or demonstrate that these days have nothing special about them to make the world happier; it is just that the people choose to be happier on these days. Probably one of the greatest truths in human life can be stated in simple terms:

We are miserable or happy because we choose to be so!!!

It all boils down to our own choices we make consciously or subconsciously, doesn’t it?

Sigh….

How time flies; my first post was published more than a year ago, and the second one is germinating right now.

I do wonder many a times: has the passing of time actually accelerated, or is it only the psychological time which has? I suspect it is the latter. I think this feeling of accelerated time is due to the fact that our time, if you think of it as some sort of container, has become too full of things to do. We hardly have any free time. It is really unfortunate in the extreme because “time” is only the only true wealth for us. And why wealth, “time” is actually the life itself. What do we mean when we say that a person lived for 80 years? Don’t we mean he had 80 years’ time at his disposal?

It truly saddens me to see what we  do with this time or life we have.

Anyway, enough of this episode of rambling. I was reminded of this blog by my closest friend Yogesh. Yesterday he told me that he was thinking of starting his own blog, and naturally I agreed with him that it was a pretty good idea. Each one of us has many ideas to express. We do express them, but most of us do it in the real world with real vocal words which leave no footprint on the sands of time. We should try to do it in the virtual world of the internet. Ain’t it funny that what you do in the real world becomes virtual or non-existent the very next moment after you do it, and what you do in the virtual world might keep existing even after you are no more on this earth? LOL.

I think this time I will surely succeed in immortalizing some of my memories.

Yes, Hello Myself.

It has been quite some time since I have been thinking of recording events, characters and memories which are significant to me for some reason or other. Call it lethargy or inertia, the thought remained as what it was, a thought.

Today, I decided to take the plunge. Life is so uncertain. You do not know for sure if you will wake up next morning or not. We are not getting any younger, are we? Even though I am not that old, the wear and tear due to time have started becoming apparent. The memory, which was once almost a photographic one, has started giving slips sometimes. The mind feels a bit burdened by all the responsibilities of work and home. The body, well you know, is not getting more energised everyday; I will confess though, that I am not helping it as much as I should to maintain its energy levels.

I also remember listening, in my childhood, the interesting events in my parents’ lives. My father has a great way of narrating incidents in his past. As a child, I was greatly fascinated by what he narrated to us; the incidents seemed far more fascinating to me than any stories told in various story books and magazines. These days, I find my kids equally enchanted by the stories of my childhood and early years.

I have often wished that my father could write down his memories. I made him agree to do this and even provided him with the best note-book I could lay my hands on. Unfortunately, after making a start, he has not written much. Initially, I was greatly disappointed about it. But when I realized my own inertia in doing the same, I have forgiven him .

I think there cannot be a single human being on this earth whose life story will be any less interesting than anything one has ever read. The only trouble is that these stories are lost with the person. The children might remember some of the stories of their parents, but since they are not able to write down even their own stories, the stories of their parents are lost with them forever.

The internet, in my humble opinion, should be classified as one of the human beings’ greatest inventions. It has really enabled them like no other invention of the past has done. The whole world of information is on your fingertips (who knew that this ancient phrase, “on your fingertips” will become a reality one day considering the mouse and keyboards we are using ). One of my childhood fantasies was to have a library which would contain books more than I could ever read. I used to fantasize that I will not have to work at all for livelihood and the only task in my life would be to read the books in my library. My fantasy has come true at least partially. Even though I have to slog more than eight hours everyday of my life for earning my livelihood, I have really acquired an inexhaustible library in the form of the internet.

Do you think that “blog” is an inappropriate name and the proper one would have been “Incoherent Rambling”?  LOL.

So, here I go.

Ashok