Look at life, Differently...

What is this journey called life?
A question that has plagued everyone on earth at some point or the other... They say that a fitting answer is found only by those who are enlightened... Many spend a lifetime following these enlightened ones, in search of the answer, many set out themselves to find what others could not...
The answer, in all its simplicity, lies in the hands of the unknown Almighty, whose will it is to reveal it to those he chooses.
For those of us who believe they do not have the answer, I urge you to look around you. What do you see? Butterflies in a park, flitting from flower to flower, unmindful of the sun, the lizard on the ground, or a hundred other things that may cause it harm. All it cares for is that minuscule drop of nectar, so precious that it roams a thousand flowers to taste that drop..
What else do we see? Beggars on the street, crying, dying, maimed and destitute. But do we ever look at the joy in their eyes, when they say the fireworks in the sky during diwali? Do we ever see the love they have for each other, the tight bond of family, the sacrifices they make each day,just so that they exist?
Do we see the happiness in the eyes of that mother who goes hungry so her child may be fed one more day?
A million other sad tales abound all around us, but look carefully.
And there you will find the answer. It is in our gratitude to the Lord God for all his blessings, for all his merciful bounty that we walk through this journey of life, or rather, we are so blessed that we do not realise when God carries us on his shoulders through the most difficult of times.
All we have to do is ask. All we need to do, and this is no big deal, is to say a Thank you Lord...
But thats also being a little selfish, isn't it? What we really need to do, is add another line at the end, "Lord, please bless those people I saw today, as you blessed me too". There, now you feel so happy already from the inside..

Now you know what it is to live a good life, and a happy life...

From those sepia tinted days,
Of my golden memories,how
Can that single smile, a word of praise,
Yet remain so fresh,even now...

When the seeds of a distant dream,
Was sown, and how today I ponder,
When I see it come true, I wonder
What magic worked its way,unseen...

How someone's faith, held true,
As now I stand here before you
And the unseen hours,that someone spent, for me
That little dream, it grew like a tree...

And today, with a smile when I look back,
Through those old pictures, white and black,
I thank the Lord for his blessings,merciful,
That he deemed it fit, to give me a guardian angel,so beautiful...

Another year end looms ahead.....

And so comes another December,
with memories to remember,
And just like the days past,
They run away, the days, so fast...

Another year end looms ahead
And another beginning begins;
And what is left out there to be said,
But a remembrance of all our sins...

A year has gone by, where so much happened
And people still live on, waiting;
For smiles that never come, disheartened
But with hope alive, speculating...

For a chance at a new day, a new beginning
To set things right, and to celebrate
Random threads pulled by the Creator upstairs,
And another New Year comes, tempting fate...

My stupid greedy heart...

There's never peace in my heart,
It lusts for more and more
Of this, of that, like a big shopping cart,
It keeps all my wishes in store...

It'll keep beating away today,
Like it did yesterday,
To say,happiness can never be mine
And I know,I can never be fine...

Try as I might, but it seems so so tough,
My heart can never be truly satisfied
With the little things, that I say are enough
Somehow, it knows that I lied....

And I hope that some day, when I stand on a hill
And look down on all that is mine, so vast
I'll find it in me, some humility still
And find some peace,somewhere, at last...

The Coffee Table

It was a small wooden table but it held tremendous importance to the 4 people sitting around it.
Every day, they gathered around their hallowed table, steaming cups of coffee or tea in hand, and discussed the
world like there was no tomorrow. The table was their rock, upon which they laid the foundation of their friendship,
around which they talked, fought, joked and occasionally, stood upon to give a rousing dramatic speech or enacted scenes from
their favourite movie.
Today, they were fighting. It was over a silly topic, which movie to go to in the evening.
But still, words were being exchanged and the 4 were at the center of attention. It was after all a small cafeteria, and
there was only so much you could do or say without being noticed.
"I don't like that actor, his hamming is worse than his stammering...." said Person A.
Tempers flared quickly on hearing this statement, Persons B and C were evidently big fans of the aforementioned actor.
"So what, it's a superhit movie, isn't it? We are going and thats it!" said C.
"What do you mean it's a superhit movie? Have you even taken the trouble of reading the reviews? Two stars!! Why do you want
to spend all your good hard earned money on a two bit movie for a guy who can't act?" came back A strongly.
"Then why did it become a super hit?" came back B even stronger.
"Because of idiots like you. Do what you want, I am not going to that movie. I can stand outside for three hours if you want....", A
was now beginning to understand that he was fighting a losing battle.

Bang! Person D had just slammed the table with his huge ham-like fist. Cups of hot coffee went flying all across.

"No one is standing outside for three hours. No one is going for a movie. Guys, its our last day in this city, our last time together...
Is this how you want to end it?" said D, hoping to bring a bit of sentiment into the discussion.

Five minutes of discussion later, all apprehensions of a bad three hours put aside, it was finally decided that no one was going anywhere.
The movie would after all come on TV in a few days. Instead, they voted for a quiet dinner there followed by drinks outside.

"Gather around guys, one last photograph....There are so many memories of us here!" said B.

And so it was that the four gathered around their rock, their one steady thing in the years that went by.
They were software engineers, and for them their coffee table knew so much more about their minds and their lives. They thought that the dripping
coffee looked like the tears that the table had shed for them; for they were leaving, maybe never to return again...

Wrapped tight across, in a thick blanket,
of silence, we sit together
And wait and wait, for the ice to break
With awkward glances here and there, and whether
You would begin, or 'twould be me
To even say, "what lovely weather!"
And I look at your eyes,they hold such promise,
But those ungrateful words fail me,
when I need them the most
You suddenly turn your head my way,
my heart's in an awful mess
I look away, unwillingly,and I think I can see
An inward smile, a sigh of relief,
You too don't know what to say...
I pick up the courage, I sit up straighter,
You pick up your bag, get up to go
I wish I had said it,sooner than later
But suddenly you smile! And suddenly I know,
As you wave goodbye today, I know what to do
There's always tomorrow, when I'll wait for you...

Tonight I yearn, to write down a song,
But somehow it seems to comes out all wrong...
And how I wish I could hum along,
To a tune, thats stuck in my head so long...

And I know, it ain't just a feeling now,
Its what I've always wanted to do,
And I just know, I just don't know how,
These words, I wanna sing them out to you...

And when I try to sing, I just can not,
Without a little tear drop escaping me
And it leaves me all muddled,sad,distraught,
Why? For it is a happy song you see...

That only I could see, a hundred ways
That each word evoked memories and brought tonight
Of you, of the smile on your face,
When I sing this song, to you, tonight.