Lights. Scattered.
They shine upon him.
Mirrors. Broken.
Each of them a reflection.
Of a loud voice inside,
Subdued. Submissive.
Ever fearful, yet fortifying.
Lacking coherence
Seldom supple on the inside.
Unsettled meandering.
Drifting. Wandering.
The lights, once again, shone bright upon him.
A loud thud, it brought him here.
Gleaming, silken presence.
A new tenant?
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can’t hit what the eyes can’t see.”
“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it – then I can achieve it.”
“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”
“I am America. I am the part you won’t recognize. But get
used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours;
my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.”
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”
“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
“Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don’t let yourself believe it will happen to you.”
Marking the writer-author-playwright’s birth anniversary, here our three of Saadat Hasan Manto’s most powerful quotes that have left us with much to think about, question, and search for. 61 years, and Manto lives on.
Among all the other things that December 8 is considered significant of – the US entered World War II, the first female ice hockey game at the Olympics was played, Nicki Minaj and Ian Somerhalder were born – the world lost a celebrated singer-songwriter John Lennon. A name which I’m sure needs no more introduction.
John Lennon was murdered on December 8, 1980.
His killer as well as a Beatles’ fan, Mark
David Chapman has been denied parole
eight times. But why did he do it?
“Shooting Lennon was an answer to all of my problems, I guess,” Chapman explained, in an interview with the reporter Jim Gaines.
“It was to cancel all my past, to give me an identity.”
There are more than
a billion people across the world, still mourning the legend’s death.
We don’t know if he’d have reunited with McCartney, loved the Beatles a little more, or had another baby. But he’d definitely have given us more to think about…
When was the last time you celebrated yourself?
When was the last time you did something for You?
When was the last time you spent time with yourself?
When was the last time you cried out so loud you scared your roommate? Or got your Mom worried? Drew your friends away? Drew some others closer?
When was the last time you ran to toe house only so could reach your pillow and sob in it?
When was the last time you asked yourself if you were really happy being you?
When was the last time you got yourself a bar of chocolate, sat yourself down and ate it without staring into a screen, without thinking of how fat you’ve become or without thinking of how you were eating the chocolate to drive your grief away?
When was the last time you picked up a book and didn’t stop reading till you finished?
When was the last time you did something for yourself?
The last time you ignored a phone call because you didn’t want to talk? The last time you said ‘no’ to someone because you didn’t want to go without them, because you didn’t want to force yourself to watch that movie, because you wanted to spend the evening doing something You were interested in.
When did you look at yourself in the mirror last and told yourself you’re a beautiful person – on the inside, on the outside and everywhere along the line.
When did you give yourself preference over the needs of your boss, your friends, your siblings, your neighbor or your parents?
When did you look up from the paper and found yourself lost in a thought you no longer remembered?
It’s almost the end of the year.
Like every other year, most of us are going to sit and wonder “how is it December so soon?” “How has another year passed by so quickly?” Or “how have I got through another year and not realized it’s almost ended?”
Well, it is December. And it is the last month of another long-short, happy-glum, exciting-lulled, dreadful-cheerful year.
It’s probably the best time to try and look back at the heat and think of all the great things you’ve done. Think of all the things you’d wanted to do at the beginning of the year and the ones you accomplished. They difficult times you sailed through, the top-drawer moments you want to relive, the blue-chip gentlemen and ladies you want to run shoulders with again, the moments you played boss, the decisions you are proud you made, the choices you know are right for you.
Look back.
Look back at the year.
Look back at yourself.
With respect. With kindness. With joy and glory.
Look back at every step you took towards your growth. At every boundary you stepped into or stepped out of to ensure your safety.
There will be a hundred things you haven’t been able to do this year. A hundred things you’ve done wrong, people glove disappointed, feelings you’ve hurt. And that’s why you get to step into the next year, to rectify, to change, to strike a balance.
Fix it, but only when you’ve fixed yourself.
Repair the damaged. Build the bridges, but cut yourself some slack.
Happy December!
Letters of love lost, love unrequited,
Love desired, love un-given.
Love taken away,
Love given freely
And love given away too freely.
Love cherished
And love that perished.
Love cheered,
Love celebrated
Love that was toxic
And love that wanted to leave you intoxicated.
Love that lasts,
Love that moved past.
Love that was light,
Love like lightning.
Love that was enlightening.
Love that lightened.
Love that lied.
Love that cried too much.
Love that swam to the sea.
Love that liked to be free.
Love that set you free.
Love that you set free.
Love that is free.
Love that agrees.
Love that pleads.
Love that repeats.
Love that seeks.
Love that weeps.
Love that speaks.
Love that knows.
Love that sees and love that shows.
Love that believes.
Love that searches.
Love that finds.
Love that combines, joins.
Love that fights, love that fights for.
Love that flew, love that made you fly.
Love that took off, and stayed.
Love that creates.
Love that berates.
Love with shades.
Love that got you laid.
Love that made you pay.
Love that wanted to stay.
Love that got taken away.
Love that made your day.
Tracks, as I’ve always pictured them
Use two words.
And say everything you want to say,
About your favourite part of the day!!
Magic is..
Growing up, we forgot to remind ourselves of us – of things that need constant retelling. Here are a few words that may comfort you, cause you to think a little more, and then a little less.
“Remembrance. It’s all we take back. Make memories. Make more.”
“Life – we throw this word around a lot. It’s not one or two things that have happened to you. It’s everything – the movement of your eyes from the left to the right of the page, your choice of food, the warmth you feel in your heart for your Mom, your pet’s puffy eyes in the morning.”
“Like a lot of others, it’s not necessary that YOU are the most important person in your life. Your most important people could be your parents, your husband, your Grandmom.”
“Music heals, comforts and rescues.”
“Don’t believe it when people tell you you’re jinxing your own happiness by being too happy or too excited. Whether you believe in karma and destiny or not, you’res till going to get your fair share of joy-sanctity-despair-bliss-melancholy-pleasure-worry.”
“You change, as does everything and everyone around you.”
“Your strengths can be your weaknesses too – Honesty, affection, simplicity. But you’ll gradually learn to play on your strengths.”
“It’s never going to be enough. A little more time, a little more love, a little more wine, a little more light, a little more of today – you’re always going to want more.”
“There will be nights when you won’t be able to pull it together. You’ll watch your favorite shows and movies only so you can sob a little more. You’ll lock yourself in the washroom so you don’t wake up your roommate with your voice getting louder each time you think of some fond memory that carved a significant place in your heart that’s too fragile at that moment. There’ll be days you’ll want to run away from crowded places to your cubbyhole. You’ll withdraw. Maybe you’ll dance it out or drink to numbness. You’ll deal with the prolonged moroseness in different ways, every time. And eventually, slowly, after a lot of pain, you’ll get past it. You will.”
“You’re going to lose the people you love, sometime. Maybe you’ll lose them many times, and each time, you’ll have to find a way to bring them back. Restore the faith. Replenish the love.”
“There’s a long way to go – lots to learn, lots to read, lots to eat, lots of people to love, lots of decisions to make, lots of music to hear, lots of cities to visit, lots of clothes to buy. You’ve got lots of days yes, but the things you want to do will outnumber the days you have, everyday. Embrace the moments, all of them.”
unwinding epiphanies 