Blogging and I

Blogging –this a new sport for me . I call it ‘sport’ because it relaxes me and really I would like to flex my brain cells and get better at it .

Unfortunately, I find myself thinking about topics to blog about at the most unpractical places .For example, during my bath , or just when drifting off into deep sleep , or on the subway while wedged between smelly armpits (I am fairly short) , or other places where getting a paper and pen , let alone the ipad is not very easy. At these times I find myself very witty and a very prolific in the thoughts .

But when I sit on my chair in front of the PC screen , I freeze …… My mind is blank. I stare at the keyboard and try to recall all the various topics I was going to tap on about . The seconds tick by and I am determined to get something down in the new post , finally in desperation I land up typing something totally different from what I had envisioned myself writing about .

I hear that I have to just keep at it and that gradually my blogs will improve. I shall follow this advice but am not so sure about how much of a progress there will be. Of course I have only started blogging almost 3 weeks back

This is similar to the advice I was given on playing chess — that advice was given a few decades ago –but I still get checkmated after 3 moves.

About

About.

Third time lucky

This morning I  started my driving lessons again for the 3rd time in my life . I sat behind the steering after a long interval of 3 years and my hands had become clammy and sticky and my ears had a funny sound in them . As though through a haze , I could hear the instructor telling me to adjust my seat, turn the key etc and there was a loud honking behind . Both the noises only making me more paralyzed . I just wanted to get out of the car.

I have driven before in a different country , but it was on seldom occasions . I have taken lessons before  in my present country , twice and I was OK , just needed a little more practice to get my licence but then I did not get a chance to take the wheel to get the necessary practice and so finally I gave up all hopes of driving again .

Recently I got fed up by the delays and the circuitous routes of public transport and thought that if I could drive before , it would be a breeze to start driving and get my license this time .   Boy . Was I proved wrong , I just froze ……… wished everybody would shut up so that I could carry with what my mind was telling me to do …. adjust my seat , adjust my mirror, put on belt , check my surroundings ,  turn the keys  and gently ease my car into motion and the rest

Anyway somehow I did get the car to lurch forward and it took me quite a few minutes to settle into a semi -comfortable zone of driving . We drove around the city for about an hour with the instructor chatting away on some stupid subject or the other. I knew he was trying to get me to relax .   We got back and I got off feeling a certain respect for him.  Driving instructors take a big risk with us learners .

Over all this was a very embarrassing start to the driving lessons . I hope I do better for the next lesson. I Must get this license.
They say  “third time lucky” —I want to prove them right 

 

 

Imagine

Imagine.

Imagine

I had a beautiful dream last night . On waking I saw the sun streaming in through my window , I could hear the birds chirping outside and I thought —“-Hey, am I still dreaming “?

Right now I am sitting at my keyboard and wondering —which was the dream —–what I saw while I was sleeping or what I experienced when I supposedly woke up . Which one was the reality ?

Suppose what we live during our waking hours is actually a dream and what we normally call sleep takes us to reality …It is confusing isn’t it ?
This is somewhat similar to what Jeffery Meyers in his book “Impressionist Quartet” wrote –“The French Philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty has called a mirror “the instrument of a universal magic that changes things into spectacles, spectacles into things , me into others and others into me ”
Which one is an illusion which one is reality.

Sometimes these distinctions between the two seem to get blurred —
would you agree ?

A Talent I would like to have

A Talent I would like to have.

A Talent I would like to have

The one talent I would have really liked, is to write creatively .

Being a student of science I always felt intimidated by those who studied the humanities and could effortlessly scribble pages of stories and essays etc . Years later some of my childhood friends are now successful authors while I I struggle to write a Blog .

If I could write well. My ideas and wisdom would also be flowing from my pen –although now they would be pounded out on the keyboard . Still it would be a way to share with the world what I feel or know .

This is a blog and I have decided to write it ,as a challenge, and to  develop a flair for writing . It is said that Talent is not  just a genetic trait but requires lots of hardwork and practice to be any good . after Practice makes perfect

I just hope somebody reads all this because I would love comments –positive or negative—it does not matter –it is all accepted in my quest to develop the talent for writing .

I would like suggestions on what to write about .

A safe Safe ?

A picture is worth 1000 words. This safe has been through a lot. Tell its story. Image credit: “safe” – © 2007 Paul Keller – made available under Attribution 2.0 Generic

This safe looks like it has had a long and a colorful  history . It has been to very high places in its Life and now has been dumped outside in a vacant plot .

It reminds me of a gentleman I once  knew  . I came across him some months during my visit back home .

I remember he  was handsome ,dashing with a swagger . Threw parties like they were going out of style . There were always people surrounding him , girls gushing , lots of laughter , lively conversation, music and wine . He seemed to be the envy of every man and a girl’s dream come true .

That was many years ago . I went away  but returned after many decades and recognized him sitting under a tree. An old man , in dirty torn clothes . He looked  completely empty and lost . He looked up and if there was any recognition of me  on his face , it was fleeting and quickly clouded over with a vacant stare . He got up and shuffled away from me .

I was on my way to catch my flight and could not stay —-but his appearance disturbed me and I sat on the plane wondering what had happened . I got busy with the chores of daily living and the memory of the old man faded .

Today I saw this photo of a safe and the memory came back —–I wonder where the man is now ????

Like the safe in the photo, he too did not have a safe life

is it necessary to have opposites ?

Imagine a world without opposites —how about  only days without nights , only winters with no summers  or only good people and good occurrences without anything bad or tragic ever happening . We would then fail to appreciate the goodness and find  the world boring . There will come a time when the good itself will seem bad .

Opposites are necessary to have a balance and appreciate the vale of each .