Tag: opinion

Posted in Family and Society, Photography Art, poetry, Random Thoughts

Charm of Being Real

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

On one of the rare days when I got a couple of hours free towards the evening, with no pending domestic tasks and kids put to bed; it was the perfect time to browse through the social networking pages. On seeing pictures of the photo album posted my college girlfriend and her family to the Museum of Illusions (Doha), I had a pretty good couple of laughs. As the two kids had a picture of their smaller than them and minuscule parents, there was a bit of scare (as discovered during the retelling) when their parents had disappeared as an after-effect of the illusion. Besides the scare; considering the rush of visitors and fun moments, they all had an eventful day, candid moments captured as well as laughing memories to treasure.

Source:https://vk.com/slideshowarts
Source:https://vk.com/slideshowarts
Source:https://vk.com/slideshowarts

Fast-forwarding to “real life” our life too holds various shades of ourselves. Illusions as some say, or the “different faces” as few call it. These are the cloaks one adorns on going through different matters of the day. While some may be echo our true selves, others hold the socially acceptable selves or the “deemed right faces”.

Through all these illusions and motions, one must never lose their own self. While one tries to conform to the socially acceptable norms and standards, losing own self may result in an illusion of sorts that one may never be able to figure out later. If that ever happens so, the chaos caused would be a difficult (but not impossible) conundrum to figure out. Be yourself, for each of us have our own prints of various kinds to leave behind in the world that we visit.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” Bernard M. Baruch

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Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Be Yourself
by Ellen Bailey
Why would you want to be someone else
When you could be better by being yourself
Why pretend to be someone you are not
When you have something they haven’t got

Cheating yourself of the life you have to live
Deprives others of that only which you can give
You have much more to offer by being just you
Than walking around in someone else’s shoes

Trying to live the life of another is a mistake
It is a masquerade; nothing more than a fake
Be yourself and let your qualities show through
Others will love you more for being just you

Remember that God loves you just as you are
To Him you are already a bright shining star
Family and friends will love you more too
If you spent more time practicing just being you

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Source:https://vk.com/public138314547
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Posted in Daily, Family and Society, Personal Musings, Quotes, Random Thoughts

Price to “Fit In”

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

When my cousins had recently relocated to the city courtesy of their promotions, the whole bandwagon followed with kids as well as their dogs. Complete with change of residence, there was a change of schools for both the kids. Attending the new junior high was fun for my nephew, but for my niece who had relocated to middle school, it was a different situation. Over long distance calls and chats, the discussion of peer groups as well as cliches came about. Reflecting back on the entire scenario reminded me of my days at college life, wherein the same emotions ran though, that of a new place, new friends as well as the attempts to fit in.

“You’ll learn, as you get older, that rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never, ever apologize for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path. Laugh in the face of adversity, and leap before you look. Dance as though EVERYBODY is watching. March to the beat of your own drummer. And stubbornly refuse to fit in.” Mandy Hale

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As each of us shift through the various stages of life, the common thread through the undercurrent of emotions is the desire or longing to belong. Whether the belonging is to a particular person or set of people, a common cause or simply a feeling of being needed; these “belongings” fills a void we perceive is there within us. Although at times, we  think we could but we mayn’t be able to belong at all. When this “belonging” results us in losing our identity, self-worth and feeling of happiness and peace within, it is time to stop, introspect as well as retrospect. If in the course of the “belonging” we lose ourselves, then the outcome may cause significant damaging effect, far beyond the expected.

“Want to know the truth about belonging?
It takes courage to belong.
It takes bravery to show up in your own skin.
It’s easy to fit in.
It’s easy to blend in and hide your outrageousness.
And it’s also the easiest way to lose the precious parts of you.
You deserve to be seen. You deserve to be heard. You deserve to be known for the real deal that you are.
Stop taking the easy way out. Stop trying to fit in.
The best place in life is where you’re already okay.
Come home to you. It’s where you belong.”
Anne Bechard

While belonging is important, losing own identity and principles destroys the comfort of “belonging”. More than fitting in, we all need to be pitch in to better ourselves each day as it comes.

Life is always a learning curve. Yet if the “belonging” results in one losing own essence, it is time to switch tracks to prevent further catastrophe. We “belong” best to ourselves. By being true to own essence, one discovers that by just fitting in, we mayn’t be happy. But by being true and stepping up to own beat makes the difference in each day worth living and fighting for.

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Posted in Daily, Family and Society, poetry, Reflections

Change of Play

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

With the sun slowly shining through the cold winds and drizzling rain, the ground slowly breaks forth as new shoots spring to life. As the daylight hours slowly lengthen, the little feet scamper around in the courtyard and the garden. Leaving aside the numerous indoor toys, the bicycle and even the bright coloured remote controlled terrain toys vehicles, these little feet and hands found the fun and happiness in playing with twigs and building a tower with sticks and pebbles. As the household chores got done on an early evening, the yard play brought back memories of the simple days of the yesteryear.

“There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither.” Alan Cohen

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Source:https://vk.com/monahos
Source:https://vk.com/monahos

As one catches up with the fast paced modernism of today, with the methodology of work as well as projects get more complex, so does the hours of relaxation. From the busy office or work schedule of around eight to twelve hours (more or less in certain scenarios), the unwinding takes a complex route at times, like indulging in the favourite video-games, Netflix shows, movie reruns or even catching up on the social networks. Minus the gadgets or a power outage, the “leisure hours” go “ka-boom”. What has happened to the simple joys of spending “quality time” with family and friends, or just a little quiet time with the self to rejuvenate, recuperate and recharge.

“This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” Alan Watts

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Source:https://vk.com/monahos
Source:https://vk.com/monahos

One can’ escape the modernism of the world as the years mature from childhood to adult years. As the list of responsibilities, dreams, ambitions and goals grow, get prioritized or re-prioritized, the purpose would be to infuse a little of “gentle play” in the work as well as to recharge after the strenuous hours. We all have only one life to lead, that one is inherently aware of. Too much of focus of any one arena will result in the loss of another. The “play of life” has to be done in a gentle manner with the amount of “work”, “fun”, “relationships”, “relaxation” and the like to be done in healthy balanced or proportionate doses. One doesn’t need to get too fanciful, just the simple things in life in the right amounts would help in experiencing the gifts and blessings of life.

Playthings

Child, how happy you are sitting in the dust, playing with a broken twig all the morning.
I smile at your play with that little bit of a broken twig.
I am busy with my accounts, adding up figures by the hour.
Perhaps you glance at me and think, “What a stupid game to spoil your morning with!”
Child, I have forgotten the art of being absorbed in sticks and mud-pies.
I seek out costly playthings, and gather lumps of gold and silver.
With whatever you find you create your glad games, I spend both my time and my strength over things I never can obtain.
In my frail canoe I struggle to cross the sea of desire, and forget that I too am playing a game.

– Rabindranath Tagore

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Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
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Posted in Daily, Family and Society, Personal Musings, poetry

Unwind the Hours

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Approaching the driveway after a long day of work, the feeling of coming back home brought to rest the chaotic thoughts of work from the mind. Nursing my evening cup of Joe, the dusk hours were for reflecting back on the scenes of the day. The morning rush, traffic commute, pending assignments and projects, minor altercations in the office and then household chores lined up like a set of cardboard boxes, sealed and waiting to be opened; one does wonder if these schedules are worth their hustle and bustle. Some days one feels like a ragged doll, desperately needing a quiet place to rest or even get a wash and unwind. Yet the complete rest never happens, for the clock keeps on ticking by. The million dollar question is would I give anything to change this all. While on some occasions, it may be a bit, on others it may be nothing. For all the inner wish to rant and rave, I wouldn’t like a major change in the current situation. Despite all the “minor downs”, there is an underlying feeling of contentment running through. The latter is what keeps the sanity intact.

“No matter how much suffering you went through, you never wanted to let go of those memories.” Haruki Murakami

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Source:https://vk.com/jpgpictures
Source:https://vk.com/jpgpictures

For all the “downs” that time takes us through, overcoming them and getting out of the trench is what makes up the glow of memories. That glow gives one the drive to fight through the current scenario of depressed thoughts. Being human, one will never be eternally in the ‘happy go-lucky go” mode. There are bound to be flashes of sudden self-doubt, morbid thoughts and fear of the unknown.

“No matter how many plans you make or how much in control you are, life is always winging it.” Carroll Bryant

Yet through all this, it is the memories of finding oneself out of the intermittent wrong turns and choices of life, that gives the courage to go through the present mess, whether it may be made daily or an occasional mishap. As time moves on, there are somethings in life like the comfort of family, the work camaraderie, the circle of close friends and family; that we hope would never be lost.

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Source:https://vk.com/neverbbetter

Some decisions or choices may be the wrong ones, but moving on through the mess and learning from them, is what makes the treasured moments. As the hours unwind and the day comes to a close, what one needs is to find that spark of happiness and let the feeling of contentment and peace grow within.

As the Day Goes
by Jennifer Johnson

Choices and wrong turns are made,
as the day goes and the sun fades.
People are loved and hearts are broken,
as the day goes and words are spoken.
Smiles and frowns are shown on faces,
as the day goes and children play in open spaces.
Happiness and sadness are felt by all,
as the day goes and night falls.
Tears of joy and tears of pain are shed,
as the day goes and all are in bed.

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Posted in Personal Musings, Photography Art, poetry, Random Thoughts

Colours through the Expanse

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“What a strange thing!
to be alive beneath cherry blossoms.”
Kobayashi Issa

With the nip in the air coming down and the ground turning to wet slush with the rain midst the change of season, one can definitely see the beginnings of spring. As the leap month draws to a near close, the charge in the air and touch of green on the grounds reminds one of the new lease of life after the cold winds. As the days grow longer, the grounds come alive with the scampering of feet and a ball or the flight of the ball in the wind to the hands of the fielders. To put it in simple terms, spring brings sounds of laughter, running feet and life come alive, along with the vibrant colours in the air.

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” Carl Sagan

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Source: https://vk.com/slideshowarts
Source: https://vk.com/slideshowarts

Our lives reflect the phases of spring at different stages. Going through difficult days, circumstances embroiled in worry, meshed with anxiety and the flurries of doubts of whether things would work out or not and the like has been experienced by each of us at some point of time or the other. On some days, one manages to survive and emerge victorious; while on other days one may barely make it through or sometimes not. In the days of the latter, is when one yearns for the events which bring a smile to the face through the memories stored and moments treasured. Those are the moments akin to spring, giving a new lease of life when needed the most.

“Is the spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?”…
“It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden)

Coming out through the quagmire of dark thoughts and emotions, each of us need that sliver of spring, giving the warmth through cold memories and bringing a fresh lease of life to the mundane. Coming out through those dark days takes immense grit and will. The joy of the colours awaiting brings the spring in the step towards the few few steps needed to reach the end of the drab and dingy roads.

Source: https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source: https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source: https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Just as spring signals the new beginnings towards the end of the cold and stillness, so do our lives colour up when we come out of the gloom and embrace the chance, changes as well as keep the will and spirit strong, to look for the light at the end of the stormy tunnels.

The Twenty-Second of February
William Cullen Bryant

Pale is the February sky,
And brief the mid-day’s sunny hours;
The wind-swept forest seems to sigh
For the sweet time of leaves and flowers.

Yet has no month a prouder day,
Not even when the summer broods
O’er meadows in their fresh array,
Or autumn tints the glowing woods.

For this chill season now again,
Brings, in its annual round, the morn
When, greatest of the sons of men,
Our glorious Washington was born.

Lo, where, beneath an icy shield,
Calmly the mighty Hudson flows!
By snow-clad fell and frozen field,
Broadening, the lordly river goes.

The wildest storm that sweeps through space,
And rends the oak with sudden force,
Can raise no ripple on his face,
Or slacken his majestic course.

Thus, ’mid the wreck of thrones, shall live
Unmarred, undimmed, our hero’s fame,
And years succeeding years shall give
Increase of honors to his name.

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Source: https://vk.com/slideshowarts
Source: https://vk.com/slideshowarts
Posted in Christian, Daily, Family and Society, Life, Personal Musings, Reflections

The Truest Form

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

The morning fiasco was marked by the hunt for red crayons, golden hearts and lots of pink, green and blue colour pencils. En route to the routine drop to school, my kindergartener enlightened me on the activities planned for the day. The story of St. Valentine in English class, valentine cards to be drawn in art class and as for math  ” to count the stars, hearts, flowers and candy”!! With all these information occupying my immediate gray memory cells, coffee break was another discussion of valentine day’s special offers, discounts and reminiscences of past days.

“There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice.” F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

As the mid-day of February approaches, there is a lot of activities around this. While the focus is targeted primarily on young love, one must remember that there are all sorts of love in this world. The joy of new parents on receiving their wrapped bundle in labour rooms, the joy of the first few lurchy steps of the toddler, quiet concern between friends on the announcement of exam results, celebrations over the first match win, sacrifice of sleep hours of a night shift nurse to babysit her niece and many more instances are there in the world around us. All these are different forms and sorts of love.

“Love is like the wind, you can’t see it but you can feel it.” Nicholas Sparks

Each of us is surrounded by love. It may be manifest in many ways. From the occasional hugs from our parents, help from our spouses, efforts of our family and friends when we face a tough day, the boss’ agreement for a work in from home when the kids fall sick or an aunts’ help in designing the fancy dress costume when mom is out of town or the warm circle of child arms around us when we are tired. All these acts of help, sacrifice, kindness and care involve an amount of love. Love doesn’t necessarily mean expensive gifts, date nights, trips out of the country and the like; though the above are all really lovely experiences.

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

As O’ Henry’s “Gift of the Magi” shows love doesn’t mind that extra mile. Whether it be sacrifice, more time, energy or sleep hours; love makes that extra miles of effort worth it. Such is the love that we all should strive to harbour close to ourselves. Such love should be cherished, appreciated and shared around; for this love lights up dreary hearts and brings ray of light to dull, dark dingy hours or even days.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

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Posted in Christian, Daily, Family and Society, Reflections

Perfect by His Time

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

While trying out a new cake recipe for the weekend, it involved getting the ingredients and their measures as well as mixing the batter to the right consistency. Finally the batter in the cake pan, the oven was set to preheat and then the baking was on. Reflecting back on the success of the experiment, it was getting the proportion of the mix and the timing right, which mattered the most. If either went imbalanced, the outcome wouldn’t be the expected.

“The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” (Isaiah 58:11)

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Source:https://vk.com/veruj
Source:https://vk.com/veruj

Our regular days are a lot similar. We gather the ingredients, proportion them, mix and get the final outcome. The latter may at times be as expected or a little better or maybe worse. Cumulatively looking at all the incidents, the timing may be perfect when least expected or things go beyond salvage even in the best possible surroundings. Who sets the time ? All of us have our own set of skills. Yet using them at the right time, place and the will to do so matters quite a bit.

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” (Psalms 32:8)

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Source:https://vk.com/veruj
Source:https://vk.com/veruj

Getting things right or going on the right track mayn’t always be a smooth ride. Along with own self-discovery, discernment of gifts, limitations as well as the determination to forge ahead, is the attitude to rectifying mistakes and re-proportioning the ingredients along the journey. It is never easy to accept own mistakes, acknowledge losses and learn from them. Instead it is easy to transfer the blame and guilt to circumstances, luck and fate. While they may have a role to play or not, knowing if one could have done something better than the present try is what makes the huge difference in perfecting the dream. While all things mayn’t be possible at one shot, with plenty of faith, Hope and His Grace the heart gets the courage to go on, the spirit strengthens itself when weak and one receives a glimmer of light in the direction of the present turn. And that is the beauty of life.

“What man is he that feareth the LORD, him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.” (Psalms 25:12)

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