10 Things I have learned from my cat....

1. Size doesn't matter - Never feel afraid of anyone, no matter how big or small they are. You have the spirit and thats enough!

2. You can get out of any trouble if u LOOK innocent - Looks are deceptive! In my cat's case, even more so. (However, she has also taught me that you will look innocent only if you truly feel that you are not at fault at all.)

3. Don't bother about what people think - Sleep when you want, sleep where you want and eat what you want. Don't worry about rules people lay down for themselves and for other. Some people simply cannot understand that folded laundry leads to comfortable sleep. Ignore them!


4. Watch everything closely - This way you never miss any details and can take action in a split second!














5. If you want attention, demand it - If no one is looking at you and petting you, keep meowing in increased decibels till they come down on their knees and do so.

6. Don't hold grudges - It interferes with living and sleeping. If the person who sprayed water on you yesterday has come to pet you today, its OKAY!!!

7. Try everything once - You can always stop trying it anytime. If your people have brought some new food, it is your responsibility to try it out. If you don't like it, spit it out. No need to pretend to like it. They will still love you.



8. Be confident about your loveworthiness - You deserve to be loved. After all, you are cute, witty, naughty, adorable and bring so much joy to the world. (Of course, my cat has one advantage over me - she has fur!)

9. Chase the most impossible things and don't feel foolish if you don't get them - Flies are not easy to catch, but trying to do so is good exercise. You can always sleep or groom yourself after the workout.

10. Snuggle up - Feel free to snuggle up/get close to your loved one(s). Feels warm both inside and outside. (Purring is optional!)

Which one is yours?

Are you floating aimlessly, getting maneuvered by the circumstances? Or are you the one with a plan, a game plan maybe, and are moving in that focused direction? Then there will be cases who fall somewhere in between. No matter where we fit in, one thing is certain – no one wants to be wherever s/he is right now (including me!). Some people will like to go back and change something in the past that will make the present different. Others will like to have something else in the present so as to have the future of their dreams.

We all will like to have something which is not there. What is there is not good enough. Why? We hate to see anyone come and find faults with us, but we do that with our own lives. We blame circumstances, parents, friends, lack of opportunities for our current state of dissatisfaction. How about taking responsibility? Are or are we not responsible for the life we are living? Some say they would like to travel the world, if only we had enough money…How many of these people have ever inquired of a travel agent how much a ticket like that will cost? Have they bought a map and marked the places they would like to visit? If not, then let me assure you, even if you have the money, you will not travel the world. You have an idea that it will be exciting to do so. If you want to really, really, really travel, you will first have a clear picture in your head. That’s the first step!

The idea here is not to put down the value of dreaming, but to understand that the dreams have value only if they are not borrowed. Did the idea of world tour come in your head when you saw a celebrity on the TV saying so? You want to go to Tibet because Richard Gere went there? Look! Feel! Grope! And then decide if the thing that you are dreaming about is your dream or someone else’s fantasy.

My personal experience says what I wish for will come true, but in its own way, if specifications are not supplied. So if one really wants something to manifest, be as clear as you can be about the desire/need, with as much detail as possible. Also, if you are too clear cut about what you want, you may miss out on something different, maybe better, more surprising that may have otherwise come your way. So we all have to choose what way we want our lives to be. So "Beware what you wish for – it may just come true!! " :)

This means we alone, and no one else, is responsible for the life we have right now. Take the responsibility and be aware about what are you are thinking. We are thinking continuously and without realizing our craving for drama and excitement creates an amalgamation of desires, scenarios and dreams. But these desires go deep in the subconscious and bring these things towards us. So careful about what you are thinking, it may trigger desires which may be unwanted. Watch now! STOP! Be silent for one moment and see, really see, listen really listen, what does your hear, your inner voice tell you about your own dreams. Which one is yours?

We are the world?

It has always fascinated me that people from different places and communities have a set of ideas and perceptions typical to their immediate environment and yet, each one is so unique.

We, the people, are influenced continuously by our immediate surroundings and the pick up and interpret information that comes to us in any way. By the time we are at the age of 5, we have formed all our opinions and have developed our fixed ideas. Very few people have the ability to later allow for any adjustment or conversion of any idea.

It always strikes me funny that 'idea', which is such a freedom inspiring and radical word, can be trapped by people and converted in to a fixed entity. Why can we not start listening for a change? I have found it difficult to see 2 or a group of people having a conversation in which anyone is actually listening to what the other person is saying.

The moment a person utters a word, immediately the other has formed the next sentence that s/he will speak in reply. So actually, people are just being polite to each other...they wait for the other to complete the sentence so that they can put in their opinions. In reality, no one is listening, everyone wants to talk. Talk about what? Talk about themselves! Therefore, the psychiatrists' couches see more and people lying down on them who come there to unburden themselves.

Why is no one listening? Because no one sees any point in listening...after all, they have their own fixed ideas which they staunchly believe to be true. Now, what is the point in understanding anybody else's POV (point of view)? There is nothing to be gained out of it. "I already know everything that there is to know!" This all-knowing attitude later leads not only to lack of communication, but also to arrogance, bloated ego and therefore, war among nations!

So is knowledge the root of all evils? Is ignorance really bliss? Does this mean a person who
'know-it-all' is responsible? Then who is responsible for putting that idea in his/her head?

The Lady of Shalott

This is one of my favorite poems and always instils in me a sense of mystique and inspires me, though the subject is tragic. The poem is inspired by Arthurian legends and is set in the fabled city of Camelot.

The Lady of Shalott is cursed and can never look at Camelot directly but only thru a mirror. She weaves whatever she sees in the mirror in a mgical web. But one day, she sees Sir Lancelot and falls in love with him. She cannot stop herself from looking at him directly. Then, doom descends on her. 

For a one dynamic moment of love, she chooses to sacrifice her otherwise static (read boring) and repetitive life. For me, this is epitome of courage.

The Lady of Shalott by Lord Alfred Tennyson

On either side the river lie

Long fields of barley and of rye,

That clothe the wold and meet the sky;

And through the field the road run by

To many-tower'd Camelot;

And up and down the people go,

Gazing where the lilies blow

Round an island there below,

The island of Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver,

Little breezes dusk and shiver

Through the wave that runs for ever

By the island in the river

Flowing down to Camelot.

Four grey walls, and four grey towers,

Overlook a space of flowers,

And the silent isle imbowers

The Lady of Shalott.

By the margin, willow veil'd,

Slide the heavy barges trail'd

By slow horses; and unhail'd

The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd

Skimming down to Camelot:

But who hath seen her wave her hand?

Or at the casement seen her stand?

Or is she known in all the land,

The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers, reaping early,

In among the bearded barley

Hear a song that echoes cheerly

From the river winding clearly;

Down to tower'd Camelot;

And by the moon the reaper weary,

Piling sheaves in uplands airy,

Listening, whispers, " 'Tis the fairy

The Lady of Shalott."

There she weaves by night and day

A magic web with colours gay.

She has heard a whisper say,

A curse is on her if she stay

To look down to Camelot.

She knows not what the curse may be,

And so she weaveth steadily,

And little other care hath she,

The Lady of Shalott.

And moving through a mirror clear

That hangs before her all the year,

Shadows of the world appear.

There she sees the highway near

Winding down to Camelot;

There the river eddy whirls,

And there the surly village churls,

And the red cloaks of market girls

Pass onward from Shalott.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,

An abbot on an ambling pad,

Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,

Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad

Goes by to tower'd Camelot;

And sometimes through the mirror blue

The knights come riding two and two.

She hath no loyal Knight and true,

The Lady of Shalott.

But in her web she still delights

To weave the mirror's magic sights,

For often through the silent nights

A funeral, with plumes and lights

And music, went to Camelot;

Or when the Moon was overhead,

Came two young lovers lately wed.

"I am half sick of shadows," said

The Lady of Shalott.

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,

He rode between the barley sheaves,

The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,

And flamed upon the brazen greaves

Of bold Sir Lancelot.

A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd

To a lady in his shield,

That sparkled on the yellow field,

Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,

Like to some branch of stars we see

Hung in the golden Galaxy.

The bridle bells rang merrily

As he rode down to Camelot:

And from his blazon'd baldric slung

A mighty silver bugle hung,

And as he rode his armor rung

Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather

Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,

The helmet and the helmet-feather

Burn'd like one burning flame together,

As he rode down to Camelot.

As often thro' the purple night,

Below the starry clusters bright,

Some bearded meteor, burning bright,

Moves over still Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;

On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;

From underneath his helmet flow'd

His coal-black curls as on he rode,

As he rode down to Camelot.

From the bank and from the river

He flashed into the crystal mirror,

"Tirra lirra," by the river

Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom,

She made three paces through the room,

She saw the water-lily bloom,

She saw the helmet and the plume,

She look'd down to Camelot.

Out flew the web and floated wide;

The mirror crack'd from side to side;

"The curse is come upon me," cried

The Lady of Shalott.

In the stormy east-wind straining,

The pale yellow woods were waning,

The broad stream in his banks complaining.

Heavily the low sky raining

Over tower'd Camelot;

Down she came and found a boat

Beneath a willow left afloat,

And around about the prow she wrote

The Lady of Shalott.

And down the river's dim expanse

Like some bold seer in a trance,

Seeing all his own mischance --

With a glassy countenance

Did she look to Camelot.

And at the closing of the day

She loosed the chain, and down she lay;

The broad stream bore her far away,

The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white

That loosely flew to left and right --

The leaves upon her falling light --

Thro' the noises of the night,

She floated down to Camelot:

And as the boat-head wound along

The willowy hills and fields among,

They heard her singing her last song,

The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy,

Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,

Till her blood was frozen slowly,

And her eyes were darkened wholly,

Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.

For ere she reach'd upon the tide

The first house by the water-side,

Singing in her song she died,

The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,

By garden-wall and gallery,

A gleaming shape she floated by,

Dead-pale between the houses high,

Silent into Camelot.

Out upon the wharfs they came,

Knight and Burgher, Lord and Dame,

And around the prow they read her name,

The Lady of Shalott.

Who is this? And what is here?

And in the lighted palace near

Died the sound of royal cheer;

And they crossed themselves for fear,

All the Knights at Camelot;

But Lancelot mused a little space

He said, "She has a lovely face;

God in his mercy lend her grace,

The Lady of Shalott."

For people who want to know more about and Camelot and King Arthur and Sir Lancelot, check wikipedia or simply google :).

Today

I am starting this blog not to vent out my feelings, but to allow them to flow...

There are so many times when I go thru a realization or a revelation, but I do not have a way to express the delight, the astonishment or simply the shock. Reaching out for my dream record diary and making notes seems way too boring. Thus the birth of this blog!

Several days ago, I suddenly realized that whatever I have been doing till date is just like a never-ending cycle. I seem to keep on doing, keep on repeating, chores or jobs that I have always done. Even the conversations that I have seem repetitive! Same old stories - recycled. Same old jokes - retold. I understood that the time had come for me to break the mould.

So what did I do? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! The realization was enough. I now see the change. I do not simply think about things that I "should be" doing, but I actually do them. I have stopped dreaming about the "one day" I will get up and put everything together. I m now living the day. I am more active and yet more realxed. Many paradoxes seems to have come true too. I m no more under any pressure.

I have understood not to expect things to happen in a certain way. That way, I simply obstruct the flow that is coming towards me. I only have to decide what do I need and leave the 'how' to the cosmos. It takes care of everything. I also understand the power of wishes - they come true! The problem is, they have no sense of right or wrong - so anything might come true! Therefore, I m now careful as to what I wish for.

Of course, old habits die hard, but I m arranging for their timely demise and funeral :).
To quote Celine Dion - "A new day has come..."