Sunday, July 29, 2007

கோடிட்ட இடங்களை நிரப்புக .. (என் வாழ்க்கையில்)

கண்மூடி கானல்நீர் கண்ட கணமெல்லாம்,
எழுந்ததடி கண்மணியே நெஞ்சுக்குள் சோகங்கள் ..

விண்ணோடு வலம்வரும் உன்முகம் உணர்ந்தபின்,

முள்ளெல்லாம் பூத்ததடி துளிர்விடும் ஏக்கங்கள் ..

நோயாக நெருடிவரும் நினைவுகளை நீதுடைக்க,

நிஜமாக உருவெடுக்கும் மயிலிறகின் தீண்டல்கள் ..

உயிரெடுக்கும் உளறல்கள் உன்செவியில் உய்வடைந்தால்,

அமைதியாக இன்றுறங்கும் என்மனதின் தேடல்கள் ..

For those who do not have tamil font

Saturday, July 14, 2007

The Witch of Portobello - Excerpt 1

This book was relatively less mature when compared to 'The Zahir'. I felt there is too much stress on 'The Witchcraft' and 'Wizardry' and a slight slip of what is indeed meant - The Mother (Nature?) Earth ruled and is the Goddess. I don't understand why Female Worship is repeatedly attributed with dance, flowers, sex, trance and magic, but nevertheless I believe in nature worship, energy and aura and do not attribute a gender to it.

Anyway, there are a few good things I liked and realized from this book too and thought should blog a coupla excerpts. The following is the best of them because I could literally associate myself with most of what is being said.

I've always been a very restless person. I work hard, spend too much of time looking after my son, I dance like a mad thing, I learned calligraphy, I go to courses on selling, I read one book after another. But that's all the way of avoiding those moments when nothing is happening, because these blank spaces give me a feeling of absolute emptiness, in which not a single crumb of love exists. My parents have always done everything they could for me, and I do nothing but disappoint them. But here, during the time we've spent together, celebrating nature and the Great Mother, I've realized the empty spaces were starting the get filled up. They were transformed into pauses - the moment when the man lifts his hand from the drum before bringing it down again to strike hard.

OK, that was something. I like the term blank spaces. Though the concept of celebrating The Great Mother or whatever is not what I would do, I understood that there is something we all miss, the something that all of us do not know and keep searching for thro-out life. It is that thing which will fill these blank spaces that everyone has in life, those silent idle times inbetween what we do to keep ourself occupied! In my case, I think these blank spaces can only be filled with something that makes me feel I am being loved, wanted and cared for. It may be a person, some lifeless object or probably even a dog! I do not know yet. But till then, I think I will keep searching, continue to be restless and overlook the blank spaces by trying to fill them with some activity!

The one below (Excerpt 2) is a good-read and a thought-provoking write-up too.

The Witch of Portobello - Excerpt 2

After all, what is happiness?

Love, they tell me. But love doesn't bring and never has brought happiness. On the contrary, it's a constant state of anxiety, a battlefield; it's sleepless nights, asking ourselves all the time if we're doing the right thing. Real love is composed of ecstasy and agony.

All right then, peace. Peace? If we look at the Mother, she's never at peace. The winter does battle with summer, the sun and the moon never meet, the tiger chases the man, who's afraid of the dog, who chases the cat, who chases the mouse, who frightens the man.

Money brings happpiness. Fine. In that case, every one who earns enough to have a high standard of living would be able to stop work. But then they're more troubled than ever, as if they were afraid of losing everything. Money attracts money, that's true. Poverty might bring unhappiness, but money won't necessarily bring happiness.

I spent a lot of my life looking for happiness, now what I want is joy. Joy is like sex - it begins and ends. I want pleasure. I want to be contented, but happiness? I no longer fall into that trap.

When I'm going with a group of people and I want to provoke them by asking that most important of questions: 'Are you happy?', they all reply: 'Yes, I am.'

Then I ask: 'But don't you want more? Don't you want to keep on growing?' And they all reply: 'Of course.'

Then I say: 'So you're not happy.' And they change the subject.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

'Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs' - threw a few lights in the ever-stretching path of understanding the homo sapiens. I admired it right from the day I read it in my college, was discussing it with a friend this afternoon, so blogged it. Click here for details.

Fig: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs