Croakings of a Clumsy Frog -- 19

 

The first half of November is supposed to be the best part of the year here in north India. The winter is opening like a soft bud. The birds sing at their best. It proves it’s the best part of the season. A beautiful, fluid mix of balmy cold and tipsy warmth. But we have turned it the worst. The metallic haze and toxic smog grips the skies like the steely talons of an eagle strung over the soft fur of a rabbit. The eyes burn. Throats ache. The sip of life, the air, turns a slow dose of death. The north Indian plains look like a huge prison in the lung-busting smog. The sun looks pale and sick-faced as it peeks weakly over the polluted planet. But then even on such a sickly gloomy morning there are thousands of swallows flying in the sky. So many of them! With so many birds, it seems as if everything will be all right again. The sky seems to bless the earth through these freely flying birds. These are the bright sparks on a gloomy smoggy day. It’s the time to plant more trees and flowers. It’s the time to walk a bit slower and do something that will leave the planet worth staying for the coming generations.

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Isn’t life all about taking smart, clever as well as wise short-cuts to beat the puzzling array of the problems randomly cropping around us? The cosmic life is an expansion for more sophistication. And our individual entity, as a part of the whole, is an expression of that expansion. As the newest of patterns—which look like problems to us—pop up around us, the sole purpose of a meaningful life is to keep the inherent simplicity that forms the foundation of all the lateral sprouts and shoots in the game of creation. So be the solution provider. It’s the hallmark of a life well lived.

Behind the most complex of a phenomenon, there is an amazing simplicity. Read that. Those cute fundamentals will tell you that every situation is a living being and we are a cute aide-de-camp to the bigger game around. So don’t lose heart as the sandstorms hit. Keep walking. Always there are the easiest of routes to the toughest of destinations. Every hard situation has the softest of a solution. So there is no hard problem in the real sense. Our solutions make them so.

When in the face of a tough situation, blame your solution not the situation. Situations stand neutral like the fundamental laws of science and nature. Play your game well. Let it be a fine innings before being recalled to the pavilion.

Most importantly, the meaning of ‘universe’ is ‘one unified song’. Listen to the symphony. It has a soft and sympathetic message for you only. Listen to these delicate murmurs and it will help you in breaking the hardest of superficial, outer cores. And as you dive deeper, the surface turbulence is left behind, leaving you in the pools of peace. Dive well!

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Croakings of a Clumsy Frog -- 18

 

Hasn't the creation got an instinct for ‘carrying the burden’ ingrained very deeply in its fabric? There is an everlasting pull for expansion and more complexity. How can we avoid complexity of life then? Going against the primal instinct is a sort of reverse engineering. This is the evolutionary challenge. A kind of lavitation instead of gravitation. Fording the river. The ultimate salvation. The cessation of the urge to pull the burden and still be joyful. A state where every burden transforms into bliss.

The ant is pulling a dead carpenter ant. Its load is hundreds of times bigger than the puller. Pull your burden little lady. But don't forget to rest under the shade of the fragrant roses on the way. They are as meaningful as the weight you pull. And the journey turns joyful if you pause and greet the flowers on the way. And don't forget to acknowledge the presence of thorns on the path as well. Just be careful of them as they have their meaning also. They are there to help you watch your step and avoid a fatal fall. A bit of pinch now and then serves its purpose because it maybe avoids a fatal fall in the long run.

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Slow down please! Pick up a dry leaf and take out the carpenter ant that has got into the toilet seat. I sometimes rescue even house flies and mosquitoes. They will be a nuisance, one may say. But the chance to be a saviour is too big a reward for such deterring considerations. I try to keep my foot on a hold as a beetle crosses, or a skink crawls away, or a frog hops away. I know a tread of caution is for my own benefit. It will save me from a fall sometime in future. If you learn to not walk over insects and beetles on the way, you will surely escape the thorns and potholes of life that come your way. If you can rescue an insect or bug of your dislike from a basket, basin or drain, you are prepared to forgive people.

These tiny acts of salvage hone the spirit of sympathy, love and care in you. They blunt the edge of apathy and neglect that sees us turning a blind eye to so many unbecoming things around us, where we can bring a positive change without creating too much turbulence in our lives. It’s better to have a little bit of time to stop and take out a drowning beetle. If not for this, you will hardly try to save a drowning man in future. Goodness is a habit. It can be practiced. The vast workshop of life has so many tiny tables for us to carry out our little experiments. To me rescuing an elephant and saving an ant is more or less the same. That particular saviour emotion is the main thing. So watch your step and avoid crushing insects unnecessarily. You gain a lot from it. You learn to be careful and responsible. Most of the times when we think we are helping others, we are in fact helping our own selves.

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Croakings of a Clumsy Frog -- 17

 

What are tough circumstances? They are just some sick moments needing doctoring from you. Take the pulse of difficulties. Analyse impartially like a doctor. Put up the diagnosis. Prescribe a solution and come out hale and hearty.

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Don't take life as a mystery. It's an open book. Each line has just one message: The time you are allowing to slip away without celebrating my existence (and your own—both are same by the way) will never come back. So celebrate life. Light new lamps of exuberance, fresh dreams, undying enthusiasm, unrelenting creativity and many more.

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A little song book of eternal hope, love and loss. A cup of tea brewed with night blooming jasmine flowers. A perfect date on a partially sunny warm day! Ordinary has the hallmark of perfection. What else one needs in life?!

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The potted rose has turned into a heavy bouquet of flowers. Giving its best shot at life! You no longer fear death once you have given your best to life and blossom the potential Mother Nature has given you. Smile full and sadness vanishes. Light fully and darkness turns on its heels.

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And now dear earthlings, the winter softly coos: 'Dear, I'll cool down the burning hot field of realities that tortures your soft feet!' Open up to the invitation. Give Mother Nature a helping hand. She will put our house in order far too soon than we believe. But we have to do our bit first. Please resolve to plant a few trees and see them grow up strong with mandatory post-plantation care.

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A little invitation for laziness.  The hare may have its huffing and puffing competitiveness. But it lives very anxiously. A tortoise, on the other hand, goes on its journey that isn't defined in terms of mileage and distances. It's both joy and motion at the same time. Welcome to the snaily pace of the tortoise world! Here you acknowledge the smile of a wayside wild flower and greet the lone beetle on its journey.

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A little tale of Cheesy Papa. A powder blue beauty is seen in the washbasin. It’s a woodlouse, a dweller of old, rotten woods. Maybe it got its adventure too far and landed into the basin. Now it's a fun game, go up and slump down again. Maybe they take their struggles as easily as feasting and fun. So here it goes with its business. I take a picture and since it's a patient model for the shoot, it gets its reward. It gets rescued on a dry leaf and I leave it near a pile of dead wood. It's a very interesting little bug. Look at the range of its names: Granny grey in Wales, boat-builder in Newfoundland, Butcher boy in Australia, Carpenter in Labrador, Charlie pig in Norfolk, Cheesy Lou, Cheesy papa, Cheesy pig, Daddy grampher, Dandy postman, Fat pigs, Grumper pig, Granny grunter and scores of more interesting names. In every English county it has a different name. It can be a good pet for buggy parents. And is, most importantly, harmless to humans as it doesn't spread diseases. So raise a brood and give them as many names as your funny creativity allows you because they take name-calling very easily and in good spirits.

Croakings of a Clumsy Frog -- 16

 

Every day try to have some thoughts in support of a Smile. It can be done as a habit.

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Victory gives you a trophy; failure gives you a chance to fight for a still bigger one. Keep going. But never miss the beautiful scenes of life on both sides of your path. As long as you enjoy the free bouquets of nature around, life no longer gets defined in victory-defeat terms. It acquires a larger dimension. It turns meaningful by itself. And joy and happiness come as the natural, unconditional fruits of the path. Journey well. Never miss your smile.

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Well there never was a destination. The only destination has been to move from a painful journey to a joyful one. It's a very subtle change in gears: From the outer shadows, which are ever shifting and fleeting, to the inner substance that is ever unperturbed and waiting for the journeyman to come home at long last.

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So much for the conceptualized set of sins and vices! We have too many hypothetical concepts to tame the basic instincts in humans. A vice is not a vice everywhere. A so called 'vice' with larger motivation loses its dark shades. Without a supportive chorus in the background, it again becomes a loathsome act in abstract. But there is hardly anything in total abstractness, except in the pages of books and the brains revising these for one-upmanship to win a point. Reality is too muddled up. There is hardly any vice that goes totally unjustified. And rarely a virtue that stands perfectly justified. Read Dostoevsky's Gambler. It treats gambling as a vice and then not so sinful art driven by the pure psychosis of a helpless heart mad after the chancy windfalls of win and loss and even beyond.

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Now I understand why economically challenged households have bigger treasure in the form of children. As Mr. Micawber says in David Copperfield:

‘In our children we live again, and that, under the pressure of pecuniary difficulties, any accession to their number is doubly welcome.’

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To lead a successful social life, invest in a few relations wisely and with soft emotions. Work and behave with people in a manner as to have two or three persons who will always have a room for you in their house, half a dozen at least who will always have a chair for you at their dining table, a few dozen who will always have softness for you in their hearts and a few hundred who will surely smile at you as you pass them. This, dear readers, is the hallmark of a peaceful, happy, mundane life of a common man. If the ingredients of joy are so earthly, why then aim for cosmic shots to find a meaning in life?

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While we fret, fume and get frustrated for the things that we don't have, feeling wronged both by the system and destiny, there are people we carry on uncomplaining, even though they have just a fraction of what we have, but deserve 100 times more than us. Just give a careful look around. We have many in our locality itself, so there is no need to pack bags and search in distant lands. Doesn't it make you feel the luckiest of the lot? A sense of gratitude needs this much of attention.

Many times we think we don't have enough for our talent. So many times we crib about having less for what we do. But then there are the lives that could have been better than any of us just that they were born in a ditch and circumstances never allowed them to come out. I see scores of such unsung heroes on a daily basis and find myself humbled and cut down to my real size.

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Croakings of a Clumsy Frog -- 15

 

This is your day. This sun shines for you. It's eager to fill your heart with warmth. How will it do it if you are unwilling? It needs your attention and a bit of receptivity. The time is your kind brother. Its hours go calculatedly to manage your things in the best possible manner. You just have to show a trace of respect to it. Great are its blessings in return. This breeze is for you to delicately whisper the best wishes for you. Allow it to do so and don't be a naysayer, cribbing miser. This sky is for you to fly majestically. Come out of your self-inflicted confines and chains. Accept the open invitation to fly freely. This cosmos is for you; you are its sovereign and subject both! Command where you need; and follow when suitable without pride's greed.

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Try and feel the puppy-touch of unconditional love.

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If one fish can spoil the entire pond, can a single lotus win the odds from the side of beauty? Well, it serves a big purpose if we believe so. Let’s believe that an ounce of goodness is enough to counterbalance tons of evil. This belief itself serves a big purpose. It keeps the hope alive for love, joy and compassion.

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It is so easy to react on impulse to the instincts driven by hate and revenge, and so difficult to postpone the very same, think coolly, and take calculated measures and respond. Our success and standing in life is decided by the time gap between raw impulse and cool deliberation. As we move towards lessening this gap, we take a firmer grip on the wheel of life. There comes a time when impulsive reaction and cool deliberation merge into one. Then you are in the driving seat and this mind becomes your servant. In that position, you create, you become a creator. You are no longer a piece of mere creation.

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A stray puppy licked my hands, its tiny tail wagging with loads of greetings. It was so friendly, so pure and honest. The puppy’s touch feels far more loving than so many smart humans having super-egos who just love to hiss and bite, hiss and bite, hiss and bite!

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Dark is the poor sidekick of light. It just exists to provide a canvas on which the multihued colours of light get painted in dazzling arrays and patterns.

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What is the difference between love and infatuation? Infatuation is that glittering fake jewel that glitters like most of the modern things in design, pattern and finish. Love is the real gold, smiling unceremoniously with its subdued colours and toned-down purity. And all of us are jumping over the barbed wires of infatuation, our emotions bleeding, to reach the beautiful garden of love.

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Here is a little invitation for laziness to see the truth in slow mode. A continuous run is no fun without rest, repose and pause. Inviting you to slow down and have a bit of rest. The fast mode has no meaning without the slow mode. A run is fruitless without rest. In any case, we have to stop to reap the rewards of our running, huffing and puffing.

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As a creator you give the best shot at life. You no longer fear death once you have given your best to life and blossom the potential Mother Nature has given you. Smile full and sadness vanishes. Light fully and darkness turns on its heels. And what is a flower? It's simply mother earth smiling as you carefully, lovingly caress a bit of soil with loving hands. We create blossoms with our emotions. The potential is already there. What we need is a gentle emotion and a bit of smile to create something that adds to mother earth's smile.