Light Through the Window

I lie in bed late at night

All bedroom lights switched off

But somehow it is still bright

‘Tis the light through the window

The light that stayed up all night

As a child, I wondered how

It gave me safety in bed tucked tight

‘Twas the light through the window

Windows left open, to cool the room

Of a modest house, with no AC flow

It was part of the house, was part of the room

‘Twas the light through the window

Students on the street with dreams

That their houses were too small for

Were enlightened under the very beam

Of the light through the window

Through dark times of the struggling years

Of an entire middle class millieu

It was our companion, it gave us hope

‘Twas the light through the window

When did it change

Plugging out...

Since when did I stop caring about what other people think of me...
Since when did I start feeling distant from a crowd of a new exciting
fun group... Since when did I start craving for the comfort of the
familiar over the seduction of unknown possibilities...Since when did
I stop trying to fit in... Since when did I stop trying too hard to
make new friends...

Since when did slowing down seem like a better idea than speeding to
catch up... Since when did I start getting tired...

Since when did I stop believing in things that I always knew would
never come true... Since when did I stop looking forward to Mondays...
Since when did inspiration become scarce... Since when did inspiring
people become even scarcer...

Since when did life start changing.. Since when did I start
changing... Since when did the world start changing...

... Plugging back in

--
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www.unplug-from-the-matrix.blogspot.com

www.dad-i-am.blogspot.com

Love

Plugging out...

Those special moments when you feel blessed... when you feel loved... when you feel grateful...
Grateful for all those people in your life who love you... grateful that you have quite a few people who actually really love you... quite a few people who feel happy for your happiness... quite a few people who you can share your happiness with...

Those special moments when you feel happy and in LOVE... in love with those special people, in love with life...

Those special moments when you feel why you thought about hate at all, when you feel no amount of hate can affect you... Moments when all you want to do is say 'Thankyou'

Hate

Plugging out...

Hate... possibly as strong an emotion as Love and many times, feels like the stronger of the two. It seems man was BUILT to hate even before he LEARNT to love. Hate comes to us more naturally and spontaneously than love. We are more likely to not-like someone we meet for the first time than liking them. Why is that? We judge and write off people even before getting to know them.

And therein lies the reason why hate comes more naturally to us than love. It's easy to hate. Loving someone requires spending time and (emotional) energy in trying to know them. But, that's too much effort. And who has the time, really!

And so, it continues...'guilty till proven innocent' (and if you're lucky) is the default mode we operate in.

Come to think of it, just as well. We need hate in our lives to know love. How would we know who we love, if we couldn't compare it to who we hate. We need to be able to hate some people to love others. The haves and the have-nots. We need war to appreciate peace, we need the devil to believe in god, we need hell to believe in heaven, we need hate to believe in love.

Our need for hate is so deep that we have developed careful and detailed thumb rules to make hating easy and quick. Sample a few...

Rule#1.. Hate the new person and anyone who sides with the new person & Love the familiar & the people we've known forever, a.k.a the 'evil' daughter-in-law

Rule#2.. Hate change, even if it means progress or is good & Love conventions, a.k.a the 'outsider' who wants to live by his rules, even if they don't match the society norms

Rule#3.. Hate the neighbours & people living outside your house & Love people living with you, a.k.a India-Pak, my next-door neighbour, the extended family

Rule#4.. Love people like you, who agree with you, who follow you & Hate everyone else

And I'm still discovering new rules everyday. More as I experience them.

Plugging back in...

An explorer's history?

Plugging out...

History, by definition, has a time and space element to it... And lots of time at a particular space, at that. In other words, to have a history, means to have spent a considerable amount of time in a certain place.

An explorer, again by definition, is someone who keeps moving on... in search of his destiny, in search for himself, for the love of the journey and for the love of discovery.

Now, if an explorer doesn't spend enough time in one place, can he have a history? Can he call anything familiar? Can he refer to any place as home? Can he call anyone family? Can he call anyone friends?

If he doesn't share history with anyone or anything, where does he get his sense of being? His sense of belonging? His past? His roots? His comfort factor? His values?

 

And since identity is rooted in the past, where does he get his sense of identity?

And if he doesn't have the past to rely on, does he rely on the future? Is it that for those who can't depend on history for their roots, the future provides the answer? Is it the unknown that provides the comfort, more than the known? Is it that the possibilities of the future gives him his sense of being? Is his sense of purpose of the future, his sense of identity?

Is his purpose, then, his identity?

Having the future as an anchor can be unsettling, but perhaps it is also liberating. It is this conflict, that possibly defines the life of an explorer. And writing history everyday as he moves into his future, is his destiny.

Plugging back in ...

Hey Ram

Plugging out...

Sitting across the table with people born and brought up in karachi and lahore, talking about how benazir bhutto's assassination has shaken the nation, even though no one really cared about her, how by and large the public is not really happy with the current regime, how they themselves would never vote even if the elections had taken place...

Sitting across the table having a conversation with guys just like me, city bred 30-somethings, intellectual, cynical and yet looking out to the world of possibilities, of what can be, of what we want to be...

Sitting across the table with people of the country I have been brain washed to hate, people who themselves have been taught to not trust my country-folk, and yet people who share the same skin colour, same language, even same interests (bollywood and cricket) as me.

Sitting across the table, having dinner and drinks with folks from pakistan who i seem to be getting along with

And then it strikes me that the day of this evening of camaraderie and bon homie is the day that mahatma gandhi was shot for having let pakistan separated... 30th jan

Plugging back in...

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Emotional Bandwidth

Plugging out...

Is there a limit to how much you can accomodate in your 'emotional bandwidth'? Is there an emotional bandwidth?

What if one day you realise that your e.b. is full and there's no more place left to let any one else in?

Or worse, what if you realised that letting someone in will mean dropping someone out...

Or even worse, what if thats already happened, without you even knowing it...and without that other person knowing it..

What would you do then? Would you tell them? Or wait for them to figure it out themselves?

Thats probably what falling out of love feels like.. what moving on means.. Just a simple case of a 'house full' board in your heart.. and for someone to get in, someone has to get out..

Plugging back in...

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