In the public gardens
everything is naturalized.
Plastic bags grow like
weeds on mounds of
autumn leaves.
Ice cream sticks are bits
of trees, fallen dead.
Colourful sweet wrappers
scatter the ground for flowers.
Balloons are bubbles frothing the air.
The horizon is peopled with fluorescent lights
at night, like fireflies.
We stroll hand-in-hand
through the debris of created nature.
Laugh at the setting sun.
Give each other knowing
smiles We've got enough
light to last us this night.
© Pallavi Narayan
Thursday, September 16, 2010
‘Verdant’
The contrast between
leafy avenue
and
garbage mounds
piled up on the sides
is jarring.
Walking, one looks
down the dreary road
as the dog sniffs
around the grass fertile
with the remains of everyday.
Then one chances
to look up.
The heavens open the
leaves inviting.
There is a sky.
There is
a silver lining.
only here,
it's green.
© Pallavi Narayan
leafy avenue
and
garbage mounds
piled up on the sides
is jarring.
Walking, one looks
down the dreary road
as the dog sniffs
around the grass fertile
with the remains of everyday.
Then one chances
to look up.
The heavens open the
leaves inviting.
There is a sky.
There is
a silver lining.
only here,
it's green.
© Pallavi Narayan
The Power of Forgiveness
One of the many SMSes I received last week was on the power of forgiveness. It was sent by someone whom I don’t know, and yet I can say I ‘know’ the person through SMSes. The SMS read like this: God asked a girl: “What is forgiveness?” The young girl replied,” It is the wonderful fragrance given to us by a flower when we crush it. Or the lasting auspicious colour that mehendi leaves give us when we ground it to pulp.”
This set me thinking. Can we all ever make this beautiful message sink into our mind and soul? Can we ever let ourselves realise that forgiveness is not a sign of weakness but the greatest quality that a human being can possess.
Once you have enough strength and the sense to forgive those who have harmed you etc., you are on the threshold of enlightenment. You have already lifted yourself above the petty worldly businesses of love and hate. Forgiveness is the exhibition of your real worth as a human being. It is the Gandhi, the Buddha and Christ in you coming to the fore. I must say you are on way to acquiring the ultimate awareness that all of us work for.
As someone said, the remedy for wrongs is to forget them and living well because that would be the best revenge. No wonder, John Kasper had said, “he who has not forgiven his enemies has not yet tasted the most sublime enjoyment of life.”
To conquer hatred, which is a result of one’s ego ballooning out, is greater than conquering war. While war leads to deaths and destruction, forgiveness leads to a world full of love and patience. And sooner or later, your enemies will wake up to see your greatness and they will try to emulate you. Imagine a society in which ‘forget and forgive’ is everybody’s mantra --- the first thing to recite after wake-up in the morning. There will be a phenomenal change in everybody’s attitude and behaviour. Can you promise yourself to begin your day reciting ‘forget and forgive’? Just try and enjoy the difference.
Anjali Madan
This set me thinking. Can we all ever make this beautiful message sink into our mind and soul? Can we ever let ourselves realise that forgiveness is not a sign of weakness but the greatest quality that a human being can possess.
Once you have enough strength and the sense to forgive those who have harmed you etc., you are on the threshold of enlightenment. You have already lifted yourself above the petty worldly businesses of love and hate. Forgiveness is the exhibition of your real worth as a human being. It is the Gandhi, the Buddha and Christ in you coming to the fore. I must say you are on way to acquiring the ultimate awareness that all of us work for.
As someone said, the remedy for wrongs is to forget them and living well because that would be the best revenge. No wonder, John Kasper had said, “he who has not forgiven his enemies has not yet tasted the most sublime enjoyment of life.”
To conquer hatred, which is a result of one’s ego ballooning out, is greater than conquering war. While war leads to deaths and destruction, forgiveness leads to a world full of love and patience. And sooner or later, your enemies will wake up to see your greatness and they will try to emulate you. Imagine a society in which ‘forget and forgive’ is everybody’s mantra --- the first thing to recite after wake-up in the morning. There will be a phenomenal change in everybody’s attitude and behaviour. Can you promise yourself to begin your day reciting ‘forget and forgive’? Just try and enjoy the difference.
Anjali Madan
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Holidays do not make you any happier: Study
A scientific study has found that those who go on holidays are not usually happy when they come back.
Dutch academic Jeroen Nawijn, of Erasmus University, Rotterdam, investigated the link between holidays and happiness in 1,530 men and women, of an average age of 50 last summer.
On questioning, he found that approximately two-thirds had been on holiday, and that people who had been back from their holidays for more than a few days were no happier than they had been a month or two before they went away.
"The maximum benefit of a holiday is two weeks after coming home. After that, people are not any happier than they were beforehand," the Daily Mail quoted Nawijn as saying.
He also found that people who have holidays booked but had not yet travelled tend to be happier than people who had not gone on holiday.
"People who have a great holiday may start to remember why they're alive, only to be thrown back into the living death known as working life," clinical psychologist, Oliver James, said.
Felicia Huppert, professor of psychology at Cambridge University, says the results of the Dutch study may be misleading as true happiness extends beyond someone's current mood.
"The way they've measured happiness relates to how you feel at the time. If you are going to measure something fleeting, you're going to find it goes back to its normal level," she said.
"Nowadays, psychologists are interested in another kind of happiness - to do with whether there's purpose in your life, as well as such self-esteem and your relationships with people," she stated.
The answer, says Nawijn, is to maximise your happiness by not booking one long holiday, but several shorter ones.
"The length of the after-effect of a holiday does not seem to be associated with the length of that holiday," he added. (ANI)
Dr Gagandeep Singh
Dutch academic Jeroen Nawijn, of Erasmus University, Rotterdam, investigated the link between holidays and happiness in 1,530 men and women, of an average age of 50 last summer.
On questioning, he found that approximately two-thirds had been on holiday, and that people who had been back from their holidays for more than a few days were no happier than they had been a month or two before they went away.
"The maximum benefit of a holiday is two weeks after coming home. After that, people are not any happier than they were beforehand," the Daily Mail quoted Nawijn as saying.
He also found that people who have holidays booked but had not yet travelled tend to be happier than people who had not gone on holiday.
"People who have a great holiday may start to remember why they're alive, only to be thrown back into the living death known as working life," clinical psychologist, Oliver James, said.
Felicia Huppert, professor of psychology at Cambridge University, says the results of the Dutch study may be misleading as true happiness extends beyond someone's current mood.
"The way they've measured happiness relates to how you feel at the time. If you are going to measure something fleeting, you're going to find it goes back to its normal level," she said.
"Nowadays, psychologists are interested in another kind of happiness - to do with whether there's purpose in your life, as well as such self-esteem and your relationships with people," she stated.
The answer, says Nawijn, is to maximise your happiness by not booking one long holiday, but several shorter ones.
"The length of the after-effect of a holiday does not seem to be associated with the length of that holiday," he added. (ANI)
Dr Gagandeep Singh
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