Don't judge a person by the book he/she carries!

It's fine if we judge a book by its cover but the greatest folly would be to judge a person by the book she/he carries. Many of them carry books as an adornment that enhances their intellectual value. I have seen this especially in students who will go an extra mile to carry that copy of Heisenberg or Thoreau just for kicks and if one keenly observes the book will be carried in such a way that the name of the book and its author is clearly visible. Well, if one proceeds to ask them about the book, crisp sentences straight from Wikipedia will bewilder and amuse you.

Recently while on a train journey, a young man dug out a volume of a popular author's book and tried to start reading but at the second odd page, fell asleep. After that the book was neatly kept on the food tray throughout the 20 odd hours without even being touched. The man in question, of course was later wide awake and also enjoying a film on the Laptop of a fellow passenger. Okay, I'm not judging but then a book does increase the value of the individual who carries one. Now, you have to agree that if there are two persons and one has a book and the other has a computer, if you are like me, you would naturally like to start a conversation with the one who has the book. Books are great conversation starters and I am proud to say that one such book gave me a pen-friend to whom I've been writing for ten odd years now. Now before you get ideas, he is an ordained priest in the Roman Catholic church. The book in question was Antony de Mello's The Song of the Bird. I asked him what he was reading and then read a page, borrowed the book and now I even own a copy of the same book. Looking at that feeble man in the train, I could never decipher that he was such a treasure chest of knowledge. See so much for my judgment.

Reading and books have certainly become synonymous with something elite and erudite and hence many would love to be part of the circle. Please don't imagine that I am placing people who read books and certain authors on a pedestal. I also know that many a well-read individual can be an absolutely downright rascal as well. Books and knowledge and authors offer so many brownie points to people like us that the world seems different when in the company of a beautiful book. And moving around with such beauties sure increase the worth of the one carrying it. Now you understand why some deliberately walk around with Shakespeare and Darwin.

Well, have you seen books as exterior adornments meant to be showing off YOU? What are your thoughts on this?

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Post Script: Now, don't ask me about people who do carry books but trashy ones such as  . . . And I think they are way better than those who do not read at all. Harsh, right?

Better said than done!

The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.

- David Foster Wallace -

I have the habit of putting up a quote as my Facebook status and today's quote was the above one. It prompted a zillion thoughts in my wee head. Wallace, indeed sums it up pretty well, "The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort . . ." A friend was lamenting the fact that she always needs to prompt her children to be aware and observant. She is quite aware that children learn by observing and all that jazz but she wants to instill that being aware is something which needs to be cultivated and practiced. When adults can't be aware of things, instilling the same in children seems like a tall order. I wonder if awareness is also genetic and there is gene somewhere which can be possibly called the 'Awareness gene' something like the 'Selfish gene.' And what exactly is being aware? I would see awareness as being intuitive to oneself and also to the immediate environment that surrounds us - Let's take this simple example (again quoted by my friend): A person is having her breakfast, there is no water in the vicinity. An individual who is aware will be immediately pushed to go and fetch a glass of water and place it next to the person who is eating. This simple task does not need much training. It comes from a sense of having observed that there is no water and the person in the due course of the meal might have the need to drink water. This needs attention to the needs of others and an awareness of something not being there when it's needed. My friend's angst is that the young adolescent is completely oblivious to the situation and for nuts cannot bring herself to do any task without being asked to. Now why is my friend so very frustrated at this behaviour? Her defense: While she and her siblings were kids, they were quite attuned to the situation and did not need any nudge or command to act on their own. In short, she had the awareness of a particular situation while her child hadn't inherited that trait. I hope you get the drift that I'm not talking of the awareness that is attained by intense meditation and power yoga!

I wonder whether she can instill awareness? What do you think? One either has it or not. I've seen many adults who don't seem aware of their bodies, their physical environment and many other subtle aspects that go unnoticed. Mindless eating, wasting natural resources and spewing unnecessary words definitely mean that there is nil awareness otherwise how can one explain the extreme mindlessness of people. Some of us have been doing many thoughtful acts without knowing that these acts arise out of awareness and attention. A photographer does not just click pictures - (S)He is aware of what is happening and then (s)he pays attention and then clicks the image which is a beautiful blend of his/her attention of the subject. My friend Jim Brandano would accept that.  Just possessing an expensive camera will not make someone an excellent photographer! Well, I'm not talking about photography here. 

I'm not making sweeping general remarks about awareness here. I have just set to words some niggling thought processes. My sympathies lie with my friend who is struggling with her teenage daughter. I pray that her daughter learns to observe, pay attention and be aware of what's happening within and outside of her. 

I would like to pose few questions to you, my reader: Is awareness a natural trait or an inherited one? If it's intuitive, why aren't many attuned to it? Does awareness have a specific age bracket. Pray, tell me . . .

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For the big man with a very tender heart

For a very long time, my blogger friend Mahesh Iyer who blogs at Memories has been pestering asking me to do a post on my favourite quotes. Finally I am at it. This post is for him - The big man with a very tender heart. This post is also a thank-you post for the wonderful readers of this blog. I cherish each and every one of you :)

"The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson -

 

“Even boredom should be described with gusto. How many things are happening on a day when nothing happens?” 

- Wislawa Szymborska -

 

"Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity."

- Henry Van Dyke -

 

"Behind the facade of image and distraction, each person is an artist in this primal and inescapable sense. Each one of us is doomed and privileged to be an inner artist who carries and shapes a unique world."

- John O' Donohue -

 

"Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change. Kindness that catches us by surprise brings out the best in our natures."

- Bob Kerrey -

 

"Try to make at least one person happy every day. If you cannot do a kind deed, speak a kind word. If you cannot speak a kind word, think a kind thought."

- Lawrence G. Lovasik -

"The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives."

- Anthony Robbins -

"Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."

- Rainer Maria Rilke -

"Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don't want it. What appears bad manners, an ill temper or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone."

- Miller Williams -

"I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort, where we overlap."

- Ani DiFranco -

"When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too."

- Paulo Cohelo -

"Our life is composed greatly from dreams from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together."

- Anais Nin -

"Love leads us into mystery where no one can say what comes next, or how, or why."

- Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg -

"Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work."

- William Arthur Ward -

"The only way love can last a lifetime is if it's unconditional. The truth is this: love is not determined by the one being loved but rather by the one choosing to love."

- Stephen Kendrick -

"To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted."

- George Kneller -

Hope you liked these cherry-picked quotes, of which many have been posted to my Facebook wall. Please feel free to copy the quote that you liked and related to. I would be happy if you could add your own favourite quote in the comments' section. Mahesh, does this make you happy?

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Quotable quotes that make our life easy

Inspite of me being a big sucker for quotes that fill my insides with warmth, rejuvenation and smiles, I often wonder about the context of the quotes that fascinate me. Many a times, I reckon that the quotes that we liberally use in times of need, were used in a specific context and time. While it seems quite easy for us to extract two lines from what a Mark Twain or a Gandhi quoted, we often don't see the larger picture.

On the other hand, quotes by great people always seem to uplift us and it appears that they have uttered those quotes just for us. And today, these quotes by great men/women are doing in the rounds quite often. Instead of posting what I had for dinner and tea, I always like putting up inspiring and wacky posts as my status messages. Why do I do so? Whenever I open my page, I see those wise two liners and instantly I warm to the truth in those lines. For a minute or two those lines assure me that in spite of the many failings of the human race, there is hope, love, joy and peace. Sometime I wonder whether I am using these quotes as a pill that instantly energizes perhaps, like Ginseng or a Viagra. Perhaps, yes.

On days when time is slow paced, I wonder about the context of those quotes which I greedily lap up. Why did Maya Angelou or Michelangelo say something? Did they know that years after they have uttered the words, it would be quoted and re-quoted by eager people who gain strength and energy by simply reading those quotes. Do great people such as Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Coco Channel and others also have quotes that gave them inspiration? What makes people great? Power? Do you and me have quotable quotes within our selves? Whose quotes are clarified to become quotable quotes?

I did not hear my dad quoting extensively except from the Bible and few leaders. Neither did my grandfather. Maybe, today's exposure to the plethora of materials available gives us access to the speeches and letters of men and women who were great in their own fields. And, a line here and a line there from their interviews, speeches and other sources, might have been extracted and re-quoted in life-improvement  websites, which in turn are used by people like me. Well, whatever said and done, these quotes are indeed grabbed greedily by me.

Maybe, someday, someone will quote something from what I have written and I will be completely oblivious about it AND maybe someone will blog about quotable quotes.

What's your take on this, dear reader.

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