55 Fiction - #35

It has been a long long time since I tried my hands with 55Fiction. Leo, the amateur poet wanted me to write a 55ficion for a long time! And now his wish is going to get satisfied.

Everyone knows about 55Fiction I guess! 55 Fiction is a form of micro fiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words. Most 55 Fiction works are dramatized so as to get the effect in limited time.

The Irony

He sat alone in the corner, tears streaming down his face.
His wife died this morning, leaving behind a month old son.
At a distance, the ring of the bell followed by a deafening applause registered in his ears.
He put on the mask and thought - "Life is not always funny as a circus clown".

So how was it? Liked my fiction? Drop a comment :-)

With Love,

My Musings

Yesterday I went to my cousin's place after a couple of months. He is blessed with two non-identical twins Anuttara and Shraddha. After chit-chatting with my SIL I was playing with the kids. The former came to me, held my hands and uttered, "Shruti (I won't expect respect from kids :-P), wait here.. we will show you some magic". Saying so, she murmured something in Shraddha's ears. The latter went inside the room and came with cards. Both of them gave me a broad smile and dragged the small table to the center of the room. When I started asking them about the work they are about to do, Shraddha told, "Hey Shruti hold your nerves, pack your curiosity for a few moments. Just sit and watch our magic". I was awed by their command and sat silently. My SIL giggled at me. I ignored her and watched these kids.

They started constructing a 3 storey building with the pack of 52 cards. They laid each cards so perfectly that it automatically attained the form of a perfect triangle. After giving some final touches, they turned towards me. Their eyes shone with curiosity and expectation. I let out a big WOW that they both got astonished with my reaction. Anuttara came near me and said, "Hey Shruti, bend down, I want to ask you something". I sat in the chair and she climbed a stool lying nearby to whisper in my ears. "How was it shruti? Tell me frankly. Don't try to convince us". I was completely moved listening to this. The reason is, I never expected such a matured speech from a 5 year old. I hugged her and gave a peck in her cheeks. I went near them and said, "Listen sweeties, I love what you have did and it is so beautiful. We will keep this as a monument. Ok?!". They clapped their hands and jumped in Joy.

My cousin came hurriedly into the room. He tripped on the small table and the cards were shattered. We both expected them to burst into tears, devastated by what had happened to all their hard work. My brother felt really bad and he broke down saying sorry. But they surprised us. Instead, of crying, they collected all the shattered cards. By laughing and holding hands, they went near him and uttered, "Its ok dad". They went into another room and started constructing the building again!

I realized that they had taught me an important lesson. All things in our life, all the complicated structures we spend so much time and energy creating, are built on card like things, which can shatter the moment a strong wind blows. Only our relationships to other people lasts. Sooner or later, something will pop up and knock down what we have worked so hard to build up. When that happens, only the person who has somebody's hand to hold will be able to laugh. The Power of Holding Hands of someone (Mother, father, sister, brother or it can be a friend too) have greater strength which can overcome any storm.

With Love,

Image Courtesy : Google Images

A story of Fate

I believe every relationship in this world is built upon Fate. Read the below story, and tell me whether you agree. Here is the story:

There was a scholar who was about to marry his fiancee. On the day of marriage, his fiancee changed her mind and married someone else. The scholar was devastated and fell ill. His family sought all kinds of medical treatment for him, but he didn't show any sign of recovery. They were about to give up hope on him when a wandering monk approached them. After learning about the scholar's condition, the monk went near the scholar's bed and took out a mirror from his bag and showed it to the scholar.

In the mirror, the scholar saw a vast ocean and the naked body of a woman, (murdered) lay on the beach. A man passed by, looked at the body, shook his head and left. Another man who passed by, saw the body, took off his robes to cover the body and left. Finally came a man passing by who saw the body, dug a hole and laid the body carefully to rest before burying it.

The scene in the mirror suddenly changed. The scholar saw his fiancee in a nuptial chamber and another man was lifting her wedding veil... The scholar blinked at the monk, confused. Slowly the monk explained, "The woman whose body you saw on the beach was your fiancee in her previous life. In your previous life, you were the second man who gave her his robes to cover her body. To repay your kindness in this lifetime, she loved you for a period of time and became your fiancee. However, ultimately the man whose favor she has to return for the rest of her life is the third man who buried her. And that man is now her husband.

Enlightened, the scholar sat up and recovered from his depression.

It is truly amazing -- this thing called "Fate". There was a movie in which the theme song went like this, I forgot the movie: "You can say it is a big world, you can say it is a small world. But for the promise of this lifetime, we shall spend our entire lives to fulfill."

All of us are in this big grand masquerade, among the throng of people, we seek expectantly in that electrifying moment when our fingers touch, the masks are removed to reveal our true selves. Before this moment, we were drifting aimlessly, not knowing what we really wanted. Till you meet this particular person, It can be your future partner or your friend, you finally realize what you really want is not what you have wished for in the first place. It amazes you that standing in front of this person is a different you! You without any mask!

Fate is not something meant to be forced upon. What is yours will eventually come to your arms; what is not yours will never come to be. In any case, we should not lose heart and give up on our hopes for love that is true, good and beautiful. The value of life, in a certain sense, is determined by the maturity of how we love. Of how we give and accept love.

Treasure what you have...
Time is too slow for those who wait;
Too swift for those who fear;
Too long for those who grief;
Too short for those who rejoice;
But for those who love everyone
Time is Eternity!

With Love,

Image Courtesy : Google Images

A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E

"Attitude is the way you mentally look at the world around you.
It is how you view your environment and your future.
It is the focus you develop toward life itself."

One day all the employees of a very unusual company reached their office and all saw a big sign on the main door which said this . . .

'Yesterday, the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym.'
In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who was that person who hindered the growth of their colleagues and the company itself?
The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room. The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up. Everyone thought - 'Who is this person who was hindering my progress?'

One by one the intrigued employees got closer to the coffin. When they looked inside it, they suddenly became speechless. They all got to stand near the coffin, and all ended up shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul. There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see themselves! There was also a sign next to the mirror that said: 'There is only one person who is capable of setting limits to your growth and IT IS YOU!'

This is just a story, but it really does convey lot of meaning. Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your husband or wife changes, when your company changes, when your church changes, when your location changes, when your money changes, when your status changes.. No, your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs.

Be proud of whatever you are!
Be proud of your strengths!
Be proud of your weaknesses as well!

Because there is no positive without a negative. Nature loves symmetry. Did scientists ignore electrons because they had a negative charge, and look at only the positive protons? Nope. And now, because they did not ignore electrons, we have an array theories and applications, which makes life a lot more interesting, simpler, and understandable.

Philosophers may say, "Look at the positive side". I don't. When approached by an adverse situation, I think, "How can I approach this and conquer this? Through its positive effect or negative effect?". In certain cases, your weaknesses turn into strengths. In certain cases, come to think about it, your negatives turn positives. And like Stephen Hawkings, you might discover that the negatives are absorbed by the good ol' black hole, leaving only positives (Theory of entropy of Black Holes - explosion of Black Holes) Attitude is everything. Even the worst situation can be handled with ease, if our attitude is right! No matter where you are in the world, if you decided something to do deep from your heart.. It is the thought that matters, not where you are! Attitude is everything!

I recently saw an poster mentioning about attitude. The poster had the following words on them, 'Bad attitude? Flush it and move on!'. Though it may sound absurd on the first take, it does convey lot of significance. Examine yourself, watch yourself. Don't be afraid of difficulties, impossibilities and losses. Be a winner, build yourself and your reality. It's the way you face life itself that makes the difference.

P.S : This post is truly my own perspective of approaching and defining Attitude. What's your take on this?!

With Love,

Image Courtesy : Google Images

SOME QUESTIONS AND ONE ANSWER...

Hi everyone. Many of you would've read my last post 'Read on'. Many appreciated my work on that article. RSV, my blogger buddy and brother got inspired by that article and he wrote a GUEST POST for my blog based on that t. So go on, read this article and enjoy yourself.

“So what, I am a born fool and people don’t say it in front of me because they think that I will act foolish and tear them into a hundred pieces before they take out their swords and think about slicing me into two.”

…I am a cow. An animal which gives you more than she takes. But I tell you what, once upon a time I used be very selfish. But then, I entered the ‘real’ world. And one fine day, I conceived the most brilliant of epiphanies. I realized the ultimate truth of life. And so, today…. I am a self-less cow….

What do you think, when was I better?

Scientifically analyzing, there are exactly four categories you can belong to.

You are either selfish. A selfish cow or a selfish fox.

Or you are self-less. A self-less cow or a self-less fox.

To which category do you belong?....

…Very recently I read a brilliant article by my sweet and talented sis Shruti and decided that I won’t lead a pessimistic life anymore. I forthwith decided that I won’t feel bad when my calves start crying when they see a man under me…pumping out all the milk… which was originally meant for them... I decided, that I won’t cry when someone pricks in my body, a large needle and try forcing milk out, from my fragile body. But then, don’t you think that is exactly what I have been doing since I was born?...

What do you call it? Positivism?...

I personally feel that being selfish is always better than being self-less. At least we have an identity then. It is all about self-esteem. You are what you think you are. But then, what about the society? I mean :

Who do you think is more dangerous for others: A selfish fox or a self-less fox?...

…Even after all this, my master is a nice man. He takes care of me. He gives me and my calves fodder to eat and water to drink. I am not sad after all. My children have compromised with the amount of milk they get. But I am worried about my master. He is planning to sell me and my calves to some big Zamindaar. I know I will get everything I need there. But why is he doing this? I think he is in need of some money. Yes, his son is not coming here for a long time. Yes…he must be ill…

Now I think I shouldn’t have complained like that…

Should I be happy? Since someone I know is at a much worse stage than I will ever be…

I know there are not as sensitive people as we think we are.

But then, don’t you think ‘we’ encompasses all of us?....

THE CONCLUSION

1. Most of us in this world are self-less cows. Self-less because we don’t know what actually makes us happy. We seek others for a hint. We try to do what others do. We try to feel contented about what we are doing is right. Then we show our teeth to others, trying to feel that we are happy.

2. When we see someone in a relatively better position than us, we start doing whatever he is doing. We try to copy him. Thus we lose our individuality.

3. When we see someone in a relatively weaker position than us, we start feeling sorry for him/her. We try to weep when whenever we find ourselves in a similar situation.

4. It is true that happiness is relative. But then it is not relative with respect to circumstances. It is relative to the individual in question. It is not necessary that a doctor is happier than a driver.

5. But its practical people can’t be happy or even fake happiness when surrounded by miseries. But then I believe in the following self made truth: Everyone has his EQUAL share of good times, but it is his responsibility to find and experience them. This is what I call SUCCESS……

P.S : All your queries/comments will be duly replied by RSV, The man behind this article. If some comment is written for me, I will reply them honestly .

Read on..

Everybody gets emotionally drained when something against their will happens. In short all of us have a bad day. People like me (Just out of college, waiting for DOJ's or expecting a good offer to come their way). Working class waits for appraisals and when they don't get it, they are really off their mood. I had the so called bad day and have drained all my energy because of a weird incident.

Today its one of my similar bad days, I was sitting at home doing nothing other than straining my eyes on my system for vague information and I came across this biography of Genghis khan. From what I had already known he was a wretched cruel man with a big army at his order to ransack every city he ordered them to attack. But when I read through the website I was shocked that he was the son of a tribal leader and on one of his bad days his parents were killed and he was captured by some ruthless enemies and was chained with a shackle in his neck like a dog for more than 10 years. Imagine that for a bad day. He escaped from there and then raised that big army that he used to bully around later on in his life and he created the single largest empire in history and that sustained for 150 years after his death. Though Alexander is more famous he had a smaller empire and it just vanished in thin air in less than 10 years after his death.

Wow I thought, we crib so much for a meager thing of not getting a job or do best in assessments. What has happened to us, why do we feel distressed even for the slightest smirk? Then I got it, we are just pampered spoiled kids of the society. A kid who may have got a good life would obviously be cribbing about being put to even a small discomfort and a kid who has fought hardships would neglect that small discomfort. And what do we call that kid who gripes for every small thing? A spoiled brat!! The same thing applies to us; we have just become spoiled brats induced by this corporate cushion. Any small discomfort and we are ready to raise a red flag as if it was the death of us, where as we don't know the real meaning of discomfort.

I still remember the day when Kerri Strug an American athelete sprained her ankle on her big day at the 1996 Olympics and still went ahead jumped the vault to bring USA the first ever group Olympics gold medal in history of Olympics. What would have she thought after spraining her ankle? Did she think she had a bad day and just left it at it? No she took her injured ankle and in the next jump scored enough to get that gold medal bringing tears in hundreds of eyes across USA that day. But we being normal people and not so great as Genghis khan or even as strong hearted as Kerri Strug cant we have enough positive attitude left at the end of the day and say well today didn't go so well and I will do it better tomorrow or compensate for it tomorrow.

I saw a coolie pulling a cart in in a part of Chennai, I thought if this guy doesn't get work a particular day he may smoke beedi and sit on his cart but if he doesn't get work for a week he wont have enough money for even food, imagine a bad week for him and the same bad week for us, lets say we don't get paid for a week we still would be driving our cars and still eating good food, but I am sure we will raise a havoc about it. Does that coolie imagine about promotion or appraisal? May be he thinks he can save enough to buy a bullock instead of hand pulling his cart. But why do we not get satisfied? Why do we want more? Why do we make a big issue on small discomforts? That's what I call spoiled brat.

We have so much pessimism present in our selves that we don't neglect even small discomforts or try to over come it. We have become so soft on our heart that we want things smooth every where, we have so much greed that we compare ourselves with others to get more out of the corporates pockets, but rarely take an initiative to say even if the current is against me I will swim to the shore. When we go ahead and compare some ones better day and gripe about it, why can't we compare someone else's worse day and get happy that ours was better?

So please the next time before you decide you had a bad day, think if it was so bad that it cannot be compensated? Make a determination to beat the heck out of the "bad day monster" tomorrow. Beat it so bad that it spends the next few days fixing its nose. And as for me, as I reread this article, I learned a lesson… writing is easy doing it is tough.....

With Love,

Image Courtesy : Google Images

Life..

It has been a long time since I wrote something about life. Recently I read a story which provoked me to write this article. The story goes like this.

Once a very rich man from America visited a Saint in India, He entered the small abode of this famous saint and saw that there was no furniture in his house. The saint invited him and gave him water to drink.
A bit uncomfortable as he was trying not to offend this great saint he asked,
“You are a great man but where is your furniture?”
The saint replied
“Where is yours?”
The Rich man said “Well I am just a visitor to this place”
The saint replied “Aren’t we all.”

If we look and think deeper about this story, we may understand a beautiful concept about life. After our birth, we live in this world amidst various people showing love, care, affection, hatred to us. We fight so much with fellow human beings for justifying our rights. Everywhere we see feuds for money, power and many more. Terrorism is on the heights and these people (Terrorists) needs to see blood everywhere. Why don't we understand the true concept of life. Mostly clashes and problems arise in a family (mostly joint families) because of the money. Money may/can change the mentality of the spectator and has the power to change his perspective on life. After our death, are we going to take this money for which we fight so much? The answer is a big NO. The only thing which is going to accompany us, after our death is our Karma. Earn good relationships with every fellow human being, that's a great asset, because you can't satisfy many. Once my mom told me, "In life, Its not the number of persons who is with you when you live in this world. Its only the number of people who misses you even after you die and silently shreds a tear in your memory". I never understood the real meaning until I faced a big loss in my life. It changed my perspective. Live your life happily. Achieve something when you live. Always remember, two things in life:

• We have only one life
• We don't bring anything to this world and we don't take anything with us after death

Take a deep breath, relax yourself. Ease all the pressures off your shoulders and approach the life with a big smile on your face and life will treat you in a best way. Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.

Let your dreams come true.

With Love,

Image Courtesy : Google Images