WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

HOME, SWEAT HOME - A POOL OF WORK - LET'S REVIVE LIFE

How about reading a book in the middle of a working day for 30 minutes? How about jamming the guitar after lunch or to begin the day with? Yes we need to make some changes in our life today while working out of home. We need to revive life.

There was something called a journey while heading for home from office. Even though we would still open our laptops and take calls after reaching home, there was a logical break from office work to take that journey. Home was still a place to be home and to get into a different mode after long hours of work.

I miss those journeys, the city, the traffic, the sounds, the different shades of the sky and the people. Yes, there were struggles in those journeys but there were sweet things too that came along in it and home was always a  very sweet place to enter after every day's journey. We had a work life, a home life and a travel life too. My commuting time every day was close to three and half hours. Travel life through my company transport had given me lots of time for myself, away from home chores and office tasks and I had put this time to good use for my several avocations. Sometimes this slot was apt for a good bout of sleep or to just meditate through a sit and gaze approach, watching the city through the windows and letting random thoughts fill our minds.

Today home is just for work, work and work and my family gets a virtual feeling that I am always around to get any home tasks done. But the reality is that I am never available for home as I am always into work.

I long for those sweet journeys and for that sweet home to return to. I consciously make time daily to pursue something other than work. Soon, I will be investing some time into travelling short distances every day, just to relish the joy of travelling.

HAPPY DIWALI - LET US BE THE LIGHT

 

FAMILY DYNAMICS POST THE BEGINNING OF COVID-19

 A lot of interesting statements I heard from different homes after their prolonged stay at home has put me into deep thought.

"How long can we keep looking at our partner's face?".

"We will eat each other before Corona eats us."

"I miss my office environment. Life is also about meeting friends and colleagues."

These are some of the interesting statements I heard. Life is not just about our home and our partner. It is much beyond.

COVID-19 has given us the opportunity to think about the importance of our space in the midst of our family space.

SHOULDN'T WE KEEP SMILING?

 

OUR BIGGEST LEARNING FROM THE BIGGEST TEACHER THIS YEAR

 

JAI HIND!! I TRIED THE COLOURS

The picture below is not our national flag. It's just my trying to work with the colours of our flag today. I did this using the Mircrosoft Paint Brush package. I tried the saffron, the white, the green and the blue colours, one by one and then thought deeply whether I had something special for any one colour, just one colour that the entire flag should have.

I strongly felt that all these colours have to be together on our flag and it shouldn't be just one colour. We should strive to keep the colours and our nation together and thus protect our nation from the evil forces emerging from within ourselves.

I think the fervour of the parade and our anthem and the national flag was intense when I was young. But as I grew old and the bizarre happenings around me eat into my partriotic faith, I found it a challenge to see the flag with the same fervour. When I was a child, I was taught the principles of our great forefathers like Gandhi. I was never taught about dealing with the forces who disturb the unity of our country. I could appreciate the colours in the flag then and about those colours being together. I was taught peace, but now as a matured adult, I see everything other than peace around me. We should teach our children to deal with these forces and not to lose faith. We should teach them to protect our country always.

THE BAT CAVE IN LANGKAWI - A RISKY VISIT IN 2018

With the pandemic that we are into now, I am not sure whether anyone will venture inside this bat cave again. I had been there just after the NIPAH virus outbreak in Thailand in 2018. Will I venture into that place again? Never. Bats have become such lovable creatures world over :)

My wife was very livid with me when I ventured into the cave very much against her wish. She, my sister and my daughter stayed out while I went inside along with the other visitors. Looking back, it was a big risk that I had taken that time.

Cameras were not permitted inside and we never not even allowed to flash our mobile phone lights as it could disturb a huge swarm of bats hanging above us on the roof of the cave. But some of the visitors still flashed the lights and that way I got to see the huge swarm of bats above me. I don't have any photographs of these bats but those images what I saw, still flash through my mind. I felt creepy later when my wife told me that anything that dropped off the bats' bodies could land directly on the visitors below.

Please use this link to google the images taken by other visitors. Some of them have violated the rules and captured the images of bats in the dark.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bat+cave+langkawi&sxsrf=ALeKk00eNkuJoF6-NiSbATu7gQd4cKSeyg:1596908926478&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGkbSqlYzrAhXoxzgGHfzlCKwQ_AUoAXoECBoQAw&biw=1536&bih=722

THE LANGKAWI SKY BRIDGE, MALAYSIA - A BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF NATURE

This was a unique and great experience, going up and down the rope way in Langkawi Island in Malaysia.  A beautiful piece that has emanated out of a lot of effort. I loved the view of the mountains and the sea from the top. What a view!!!

I think I liked everything in this setup except the bridge itself. I thought it should have had a nice natural canopy covering, instead of a metal structure left exposed in the sun.

We had the opportunity to walk down from the top of the mountains through the thick forest's greenery and reach the white bird like shelter you see in the snap. We took the return up by a guided lift vehicle, as we were all zapped off energy to walk all the way up.

A place like this takes us very close to nature. Often, the stillness of nature gives us an opportunity to connect with our inner self in a much better way, as we soak in tranquility in those moments.

This white winged shelter, almost looks like a white bird taking off in the green mountain backdrop.

CHANGI AIRPORT, SINGAPORE

While I was heading for Singapore, I was only thinking about the places I wanted to see inside the city. The time plan was that I had chalked out was also based on that.

I never knew that Changi Airport would turn out to be an artist's paradise. I think if I was travelling alone, I would have changed my plans and hung around the airport for a significant amount of time with my camera. But my family was with me and we had some relatives who had come to receive us waiting outside. And so, I had to move, setting aside my artistic thirst. In fact these metal sculptures were shot while we were on our return.

I found this shop in particular stunning. This is TWG tea company with its display of different tea varieties. Each type of tea is on display in a separate golden tin. TWG Tea is a Singaporean luxury teahouse chain. Established in 2007, this brand came in as a subsidiary of a Singaporean lifestyle company, The Wellness Group - from which the acronym, TWG, was derived.

This awesome tea shop is just one of the many entities here that would stun you.

Although as a family, we collectively claim that we saw Singapore, I believe this was a big miss. Changi Airport truly deserves a day's exploration and casual roaming. A lot more art work has been added since my last visit in 2018.

DECIPHERING DREAMS - SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL AND CARING

I plan to write about the dreams that I have had and able to recall, in this series. This will not be a set of continuous posts, but will be posted in between the other posts. Dreams are beautiful creations of the Creator and there is so much randomness and creativity in it.

I could see myself lying down on a bed in my room and a toddler was dancing and walking towards me. She had a little bottle of buttermilk and she gave it to me. While I was taking it from her, I saw my very beautiful schoolmate walking into the room. I felt happy looking at her. She picked up the child and sat on the couch next to my bed with the child on her lap. I assumed that she had prepared this buttermilk for me with all affection and sent it through the child. "You have some", I said and gave it to my school mate. She drank it with her lips unconsciously making contact with the bottle's mouth and then gave it back to me. I took the bottle and then got up and walked out of the room quickly in the pretense of having heard someone call at our gate. But I actually went out to pour the buttermilk outside our home without her knowledge. My fear was about a COVID-19 contamination if I had drunk it. She is a health practitioner.

When I woke up, it was a mixed feeling. I don't know how that little child and my beautiful schoolmate were related to me in the dream, but I loved the care that my schoolmate had for me. I could sense that through her actions and through her eyes. It was a pity that I could not drink what she gave me with affection as I could not trust her state of health. But I loved the dream and I lay on my bed for a while thinking about it.

Sweet things come and go quickly like dreams. They stay sweet always as there is a beginning and an end in each of them.

THE TRUE KNIGHTS

Saluting the brave hearts......

REMEMBERING DAD................

WHILE WE EMBRACE REALITY

LONELY AT THE TOP - FOR SACHIN SIR ON HIS BIRTHDAY

For Sachin Sir on his birthday. I derive a large amount of inspiration from his game and his character.

THE HOPE FOR A MUCH BETTER TOMORROW