Sometimes...

... it is only when you stop and breathe do you realise how fast you have been going...

A Humbling Experience

Today I had a very humbling experience in the Developmental Paediatrician's office at the NGO I am interning with.

I saw that people hold onto hope, even if it is a flicker of so against hard facts, as if their lives depend on it; their sanity seems to do for sure. And doctors when they give their diagnoses, have to help people loosen their grip over this hope and accept the truth. And they do so in such a graceful and sensitive manner, day in and day out, without losing their sanity.

I have always respected doctors and the healing profession a lot. After today I have newfound levels of respect for it!

Pushing Your Creativity

Kids are not only creative by themselves but they also push you to be creative. When doing or planning something for kids, you have to as innovative as possible and find new ways to do the same old things to engage them in it.

Take a toddler's mother who has to find new ways to make eating the same food everyday (there are really limited options in toddler food!). Think of a school teacher who has to find new ways everyday to teach the age-old Science and Maths lessons to his or her young students. Imagine the number of bed time stories grandmothers have to have in their repertoire to please their grandchildren.

Kids do help you realise how creative you can be. Maybe it will turn out to be more than you ever thought yourself to be! 

Dream On, Live On

The words of my blog post You're Human, You're Alive have been playing around in my head for the past three days and I have added some more words around it to create a song that I would love to put to a tune to if I knew how to better than what I do now! Here is how it reads:

Dream on...
Live on...

Find your song. Sing!
Find your rhythm. Dance!
Find your wings. Fly!
Find your colours. Create!

You love. You laugh.
You live, You cry.
You hope. You feel.
You pay. You play.

Time goes by anyway...

So...

Dream on...
Live on...

On Making Dreams Come True

You know how you have dreams and hopes and wish for them to come true. Sometimes these are old and almost forgotten, but they strike you on a Wednesday afternoon at 3 in the middle of something.

And then one day, you sit down and start working on making them come true. And you keep working on them without giving up, one small bit everyday.

Then they gradually do come true. And that's the difference...

You're Human, You're Alive

You love. You laugh. You dream. You hope. You cry. You feel. You're human. And every moment you're alive.

Random Thought on the Bus

Someone's dump can be someone's diamond mine... it's all a matter of need, perspective and application...

Diaries are Meant to be Written Into

I have a thing for beautiful diaries and journals. I love fancy writing material! And till very recently, when I used to buy such fancy diaries, I would hardly write in them. I would wait for words special enough to be captured in those diaries.

The other day I opened my cupboard and found a stack of beautiful unused diaries. And I thought, why am I letting them lie around? Diaries are meant to be written into! Whatever thoughts, feelings, words or ideas I have I should capture them. I should not judge their speciality even before writing them! Who knows what I could miss because I judge them before I write them.

So now I freely use those diaries, because they are meant to be written into!

A Really Old Lesson

Every time I pass by a pile of garbage covering my nose (and it is quite often in Mumbai) I am reminded of this lesson.

Mahipatrao sir, our secondary school Marathi teacher,  looked like your benign favourite uncle, with a caring and fun nature to match. And then he would make this really deep, insightful and often sarcastic comments that would just show some great understanding of children and human nature. I do not  remember all of them, but I do remember this one from a random Wednesday afternoon class.

This random afternoon class, he walked in, opened his book, wrote the chapter name on the board, turned and said, "Ever noticed this? When there is a bad smell, you can smell it from far away. People walking on a road crinkle their noses (and here he crinkled his nose and used his forefinger and thumb to close his nostrils to emphasize his point) from quite afar when there is a garbage pile around in the area. But when someone wants to show you their new perfume, they have to bring it really close to your nose so you can take in the good smell." And we were sitting there wondering where he was going with it. He then explained, "Human nature is like that when interacting with people; the bad things, gossip, blame, jealousy at success, seeing shortcomings, come to us easily. But the good things like praise,seeing the qualities, laughter or even a simple smile have to brought closer to us." 

At 13, I already had seen enough in this lesson to remember it. And so many years later, I have forgotten the chapter he taught, but I remember this lesson always, the bad smells are easy to come, it's the good smells that we need to focus on. And I appreciate its value every day...