winds of change

Let me start outright by apologizing for the inactivity on the blog, as pointed by a few people now. A bit of laziness, a bit of busy schedule and largely responsible is the reading activity resumed over the long weekend. I’m not much of a reader, but get stuck onto a few things which I find interesting, sometimes.

Read Buddha – A story of enlightenment – by Deepak Chopra over the long weekend. I found it good, would definitely suggest if any one likes tailored fiction out of real story, sprinkled with intriguing quirks from the author throughout - the reason it took long as reading is intermingled with pondering. It takes you through the hero’s journey from being the inquisitive charming young prince who is confined within the walls of his palatial gardens, to Gautam the wandering monk living out in the woods, to Buddha – the enlightened one. The journey is gripping. It made me think how ordinary legends are, before they actually become legend in folklore. Also, clearly answers the simple thoughts behind Buddhism – which is a widely accepted set of beliefs.

Sunday was a visit to a temple in years. Good to see beliefs and rituals evolving, with available flexibility and resources. Any such place is usually where senior citizens visit frequently and spend time, but its good to find youngsters there. The week was busy at work and continues to be. Lunch discussions continue to be lively and entertaining as ever. Khus - Khus – the food so nice they named it twice – was today’s take-away. One of my office mates has recently been on back2back holidays to Japan & Madrid in quick succession. Jari, being overwhelmingly in the holiday hang-over, continues to rant about the organizational abilities & cleanliness of Japan and food of Madrid. Quite rightly noticed by him, Japan being the first developed Asian culture has a totally different image in the western societies because of its culture. Activity to pursue during a holiday is so subjective, from person to person.

As a little boy, I’ve always wanted to roam around without any purpose or plan in a holiday. But our current holidays are quite different to that old wishful thinking.
This reminds me of another so called obsession of I had, of black-boards at school and of Teaching. This has withered away with time as well. When I look back today of all those ideals back then, I can clearly see how children idealize people around them. I’m sure all of us have idealized our teachers at some point. When we grow up it moves on the Professors at Uni/College, then to successful legends in respective industries. The uninterrupted winds of change blowing continuously... I think our changes are again based on demographics – which to me are summarized as background (past) + surrounding environment (people we meet daily) affects our changes in so many different ways. Our thinking changes, or to put it elegantly, evolves. Some people acknowledge that we change with every breath, and some simply don’t. So does our choices of sports stars, academicians, artists, music stars, movie stars, politicians, global leaders. There might be pattern, but things move ever so slightly if not drastically. I ponder whether we are too busy to notice the changes in ourselves?

While coming back from work today amidst my usual rounds of news catch-up and music, saw a very fashionably crafted beard on a fierce looking guy. It was pointed to the extent that he could easily cut cake with his beard. Imagine someone trying that with beard or spikes!

Funny