Letters from nowhere

Most of the sanest conversations I have are with myself. It's a great joy when you get answers that help, opinions in your favour and appreciation for the most mediocre things that you perform. One can't expect others to do. Not even the best of friends will be able to give you a pat on the back for keeping your desk clean. Every man needs a Tyler Durden, someone within you, to guide, give constant feedback and to push you back up every time you fall down. I thought writing to myself would be fun, would be of help and would even make me feel better. So here,

Dearest me,

None would let you know the truth about yourself unless you stumble upon it by yourself. It's because the world is filled with two kinds of people. People who are very nice to point out the bad things in you and people who are not so nice to point out the good in you. So basically you have to find them yourself but since you are so busy concentrating on important issues like updating your Facebook status, I am here to save the trouble.

Life is not always fair as everyone around preaches. On the contrary it's mostly unfair to you. But the best part is that it's equally unfair to others as well. It never rains just on top of your head. If you get wet, so would the person standing next to you and the next.

None becomes a rocket scientist overnight. It's not like you should not try at all, but to expect immediate results for every action that your perform is natural but pointless. At the same time you shouldn't be investing your time and efforts on something that you know is not going to be fruitful. Like trying to grow apple trees in the Arctic. Remember, hope is the best thing. But it's not the only thing that's required.

You might fail, more than the number of times you would ever succeed. You should. Failure makes the success more dramatic and makes your celebrations better. Appreciate small successes like kicking the stone out of your way or making a baby smile. There are bad days, and then there are days which are worse. Somewhere in between you will have days that you would want to remember. Don't forget to recollect them. They say your entire life flashes before you just before you die. You must know where to fast forward and where to stop. 

Success stories are flawed. They are made to look like what they are today. It's like history. Most of it is too good to be true. None mentions how they met the right people at the right time. None mentions their inspirations. None EVER give out details of those people who gave them their million dollar idea. Success stories are made to inspire and they should end at that. You shouldn't follow anybody but yourself.

Ideal world exists only in philosophy and physics. You can't expect good deeds in return for good deeds. You shouldn't question them too. When you throw stones at a tree it gives you fruits. Do you ever question that? Then you shouldn't be complaining when you get stones in return for fruits.

In the end it all evens out. All you should look forward to in a day is one proper meal, a genuine smile, a hug and a good night's sleep.

Go live. Complaints are not those you would want to tell your kids and grand kids about. They must know that it would have been fun to have spent their lives with you when you were in your teens. You must live such that you have stories that make them smile and not complaints that make them feel bored. You have a whole life in front of you.

As one of your dearest friends said, "Today is the first day in the rest of your life." Don't let the tears blind you from the beautiful life that lay in front of you.

So long.

The stranger

He was sitting on the park bench by the side of the tree that was shedding the last of its leaves. He was staring at none in particular. He had this calmness, a saintlike calmness on his body and yet he  seemed agitated. His hands would remain silently rested on either side of him while his eyes showed pressure. His pupils dilated and expanded continuously. He was not drunk. The man with the brown coat was observing him from the bench that was a good five yards away on the opposite  side of the street. Their eyes met. The man in the brown coat came towards him and extended his hands. He reciprocated and asked him to sit next to him. They remained silent for a while.

The man in the brown coat could not hide his curiosity and asked him, "What do you do, sir?"

"I live", came the reply.

He seemed to be giving a reaction of having given a more than satisfactory answer.

"What do you mean you 'live'? So do I and a zillion others.", said the man in the brown coat. And that was the cue for him to start listening and the other guy to start talking.

"I live. By which I meant I live in a world where the zillion others you mentioned merely exist. What do you do everyday? Wake up, brush, have coffee/ breakfast, go to work and come back. You might have a family. A wife and probably a couple of kids. You might get to hug them, everyday. You kiss your wife goodbye on the way to work. So do the zillion others. Occasionally you get to drink, for you don't seem like someone who is an alcoholic. You might smoke  five? ten? may be fifteen cigs a day. May be more. You might get some sex once, twice or may be thrice every fortnight. If you have kids who are infants or toddlers that probability goes down. For all I know you might not be married. You might have a girlfriend. You go on a dinner date may be every couple of days. Probably you have a ring tucked inside your coat pocket for weeks together now. All this could be you. You are one in 13% of the country. The remaining 87% is divided into many such similar groups of similar people doing similar things. And yet you proclaim you live. Life is not a routine. That Darwin guy? What did he say. He said life is an evolution. When you and I evolved from unicellular grime. That was because the world needed change. We have been humans since a million years ago. We will be the same. May be more learned, more sophisticated. Yet the men give into the calls of women. All a man does is breathe, fuck and multiply. You asked me what I did. I'll tell you. I wake up. I take a look out of my window. Everyday I see different people. I sit and study them. They are all similar. Sometimes I wonder how two people have almost the exact same lives. Even our fingerprints are not the same. The music in no two songs are the same. There are 6 strings in a guitar. A billion combinations. There are 60 million cells in our body, yet a handful of people. Stereotypes. You asked me what I did. I dream. I dream of a different life everyday. I break all stereotypes. How many different dreams have you had? Being rich? Marrying the most beautiful woman? Living in the biggest mansion? My dreams are different everyday. I dream about trucks. With eleven wheels, four on top in case it topples. I dream about butterflies which are changing colours depending on the object they touch. I swear I can show you a purple coloured fella. Life is finding the needle in the haystack. The mistake that you commit is you are approaching it by neglecting the wrong areas. I live it differently by approaching the right ones. Equivalent labour, more probability of success. I live"

The guy in the brown coat spots two men at a distance. The other guy asks, "Have they come yet?" 


He asks "Who?"


"The two of them. I can sense it. I'll have to go now. Start living. Search for the needle"

The two men come near, give him his daily dosage of medicine. He hallucinates, faints, lies down without any struggle on the stretcher. The van at the end of the street reads "Central hospital for mental health and allied ailments"

Symbiosis.

The game of snooker has 15 balls and still needs a cue ball to direct them on to the pockets. 


Life as such can be described in analogy with the game of snooker. There are times when one stands in the middle of the infinite corridor called life without any sense of direction, probably running in circles in search of something that he already has or something that he'll never attain. Thats the point where one feels low and slow, where one needs the warmth of another person. 

Mathematically humans are a set of mutually dependent variables where the probability of success and failure of each person is in someway tied to the others'. But where does the dependency come from?  Why is it that we have friends when the success rate of one of them is inversely proportional to the success rate of the remaining people. In most cases the competitive peers end up being the best of friends. School kids for example. At the age of 5 or 6 a kid being genuinely happy for his friend having scored a hundred in a math test while he scored less is the magic that binds people together. Sadly this fails to exist beyond a certain age. Love and friendship is lost when jealousy dominates competition. 


At one point man stands all alone, having to decide things all by himself, where none will help or can help with deciding. There comes into play, the force called motivation from another person. A few kind words can make all the difference. Even the strongest of men break down. At that point what one needs is a pair of hands to wipe the tears. Silence, patience and trust are the best gifts one can get from a friend when he confesses about a mistake.
A small hug. 
A friendly smile from a stranger. 
"Yes, you can" from your teacher. 
"You suck" from an enemy, 
"You will rot in hell" from your ex.
All these are words that will make a significant change in the way you see things the moment after you experience them. 

Even god wades through the dark with the assurance that some mortal who is travelling somewhere nearby is muttering his name. 

The usual suspects

Clearly, longer your post the more uninviting it is to the eye of your reader. But its seldom that i'm able to make myself write something huge and at the same time worthy of a second read to myself.

This is what I feel after receiving feedback like "Too lengthy", "Started reading, but slept half way through", "Will read the second half in my re-birth" and "Did you even type the whole thing?"

So, before I fill my current post with my opinions on my previous post here we go.

Had a blue week, eight of the seven days were bad.Fights and failed.. no epic failed tests.Days were as boring as they could get.This is life's irony.Good things don't happen when you don't want them to.( Sigh, I can't restrict myself from using the word Life in my posts and sure as hell the post gets labelled philosophical) 

From the polambals in the first few lines to the pombalais that I come across everyday, there are reasons you,me and he state for anything that happens in your,mine and his life.And the blame game, love it dontcha?

These are the usual suspects:

Fate:

"Thy hath been destined to suffer".

This is one reason which is as lame as anything can get. 

Luck: 

Sheldon doesn't believe in luck.Enough said.

God: 

Ha! Name to be used in the beginning,end and in the middle of all crisis.

Yourself: 

No.That wouldn't be fair on my part.

Of apples and oranges..

What is this obsession about being the first in something? Or rather everything? 


Life has a zillion things to do.From being the first to brush and the first to flush, to being the first crush everyone wants to be the first in what they do.There's nothing wrong in giving the best effort in anything and everything you do but its so very wrong to expect the best returns for whatever you do.Someone who's good at finding the length of a straight line may suck at drawing one.Doesn't matter I say.Its hard for people to understand that.


Unhealthy competition leads to imitating someone who is successful.I have seen people who sit with books just because someone somewhere in an interview said that he studied for seven hours a day.Stuff like this totally irritates me Sigh.


All one has to aim at is to learn the lessons.Be it life's cycle or cycle tests.


Some students in class! YUCK! 

I hate it when people are obsessed with marks.Why constantly try to be good at something while you can improve and be the best at something that you're already good at.


Einstein may not have been good at football.
Amitabh may not be good at algebra.
They cared about what they can be good at rather than striving to become something of nothing.


Remember, If you have to make apple pie from scratch,you've to recreate the Universe.

Oh Gawd!

Every morning
Sapiens rise up and pray
Man,animal or woman
Are indifferently your prey.


Some state you as the reason
For sun,stars and big bang.
For some mysterious reason
Scientists don't get a hang.


The gardens and the great wall
Are man made wonders
They say you are in charge
Man thinks and he ponders.


He has no faith
He calls himself theist
Someone comes and questions
You name him atheist.


For me you are
And sometimes not.
Hiding it is a frost
I'm named agnost.


War,love or peace
You don't give a shit.
You call yourself god
That simply doesn't fit.

Life

There are so many lovely videos people keep sharing on Facebook 
I'm a big fan of those.. which make you laugh,cry and even think but all in a minute or two.I have always admired anything that is short and sweet.
People usually give me so many philosophies on life.There was this video which is helping me out right now to overcome the void in my blog page :D


Life as it beautifully says must witness us doing this..

Show up


Follow your heart


Find a new perspective


Have a sense of wonder


Find people you love


Set goals


Help others


Dance


Pamper yourself


Face your fears


Go to a museum


Exercise


Limit television


Get in touch with nature


Lighten up


Get a good night's sleep


Read books


Buy yourself flowers


Don't compare yourself with others


Be open to new ideas


Don't focus on negative thoughts


Focus on creating what you desire


Make time just to have fun


Keep up the romance in your life


Make a gratitude list


Love your Mother Earth


Want what you have


Be true to yourself

All these were wonderfully depicted in this video :)






Cheers.. :)