Choices

Recently I was discussing with my online friend about how the choices we take impact our lives. In an earlier post, I had talked about how destiny affects our lives.(http://wordswrite.blogspot.com/2009/03/stone-in-your-path.html). Destiny is perhaps the first thing that meets us on the path of life, and how we proceed depends on the choices we make. Destiny can provide you with an opportunity, its upto you to choose it or not ! Many times people simply blame destiny for the mess they are in. It is rightly quoted by J.K Rowling that "Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences."
Sometimes we are faced with easy and obvious choices and many times there are difficult ones. You know that each alternative has its own pros and cons and perhaps life altering repercussions. You would also know that perhaps there is no "Ctrl Z" in life ! So there is no looking back. So how do you make a wise choice? Do you put yourself first or your friends and family ? Would you be willing to risk everything you have for something you have set your heart on? Would you be willing to take on a choice knowing very well that the path ahead would be a long and arduous one? It is important to remember not to stay away from Dharma or righteousness, truth and certain basic values you have set for yourself. It is also important to be true to yourself. There might be a situation where that would hurt another, but if you are not true to yourself, whatever choice you make is pointless. The following quote from the Harry Potter series says it all-"It is our own choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." (Dumbledore, vol. 2, p. 333)
Whenever I am overwhelmed with the choice I am about to take, or already taken, I fall back to my friend, the following poem by Robert Frost.

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The Reader's block

P.S(Prescript) - This is not a computer jargon.

I knew I perpetually suffered from the writer's block ( and this blog is a humble attempt to fight it a wee bit !! ) but I've been having this annoying reader's block for the past few months. I have been at a loss for words when asked the following questions- What are you reading currently or Whats the last book you have read !! And these questions are coming by regularly from people who know me as an enthusiastic reader. Of course, I certainly wouldn't call myself voracious, though my family and some friends think I am one.After having made a couple or more of visits to books fairs around the town I was thrilled to no end at the prospect of spending the next few months glued to those fresh smelling and crisp books. But all I have managed in the past 3-4 months is a few chapters of Anna Karenina ( a very ambitious project, especially during a reader's block ), 1 chapter of the Hungry Tide, about 50 pages of the Selfish Gene ( well, another heavy read and a scientific one to boot ), 75% of The Pilgrimage ( I religiously read this one during my bus commute to work till I reached the last few pages and I couldn't continue anymore !), a few comics here and there, essentially Tintin, Asterix and C&H. Of course I managed to read Adiga's The White Tiger, Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love and Souad's Burned Alive. (http://wordswrite.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-name-of-honour.html) But these were relatively easy reads. I forgot to mention that I made my friends get me the LOTR trilogy for my birthday. I did own the omnibus, but it was of rather small print for easy reading. And not to mention, humongous ! I was hoping that splitting that into 3 books would make the task easier but the pack is yet to see the light of the day ( quite literally ) !!
I googled for some remedies on how to overcome the reader's block and there were some popular suggestions like the following
1. Watch television
2. Read old favourites
3. Read comics
4. Read a little everyday ( bedtime tales ?? )
5. Give reading a break and you will get back to it soon
Lets hope one of these remedies work ! I am already on to reading comics and old favourites like children's classics. Nothing like a nostalgic trip back to childhood, even if it doesn't dissolve the block.

Beginner's Haiku

Haiku has been a fascinating form of poetry originated from Japan. It looks deceptively simple but conveys a whole lot. Haiku is defined as a 17-syllable verse form consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.
I wrote a couple of them, though I am not sure I have strictly followed the rules of Haiku !

Childhood

innocent mirth and glee
through twinkling eyes and sparkling cheeks
see a world of wonder

Storm

Dynamic wind and water
Waltzing across the ocean and land
With a roaring hunger