What can be possibly said about a city called Mumbai that rises like a ‘Phoenix’ every single time someone beats her down? Salaam Mumbai!
But I am definitely not impressed with the state of affairs of this wonderful city. Bad roads, pollution, floods, disease, corrupt politicians, the humidity and to top it all, the terrorists holding the city at ransom. Nothing fazes me, since I see Mumbai coping, healing, forgiving, encouraging, so much so, that every time that I am cornered and asked if I would be able to live anywhere else in the world, I hum and I haw and think of foreign shores that excite me, but I honestly cannot think of leaving, even if I ever get retired.This I hope will never happen, since I am one who believes in dying with my boots on.
Illness did not stop me, so why should anything else? So Mumbai-breathe on, fear not, live on, and millions like me will lend their support and help you hold you head up high. To ensure that peace is on our agenda, we have to join hands and have the same goals and ideals. We seem to have missed the forest for the trees.It has never been about religion, it has always been about humanity, but can we cross those barriers, bury our pride and learn to live with each other the way it was meant to be?
Everything is flourishing in Mumbai, the Schools, the Hospitals, the Malls, and there are a flood of Gyms and there are Spas- the list goes on. People’s lives are definitely not getting simpler. The more that is available to them, the more stressed they become, so to match that, we have our breed of doctors specializing in a variety of maladies, we have magazines that keep us updated, places to go, to relieve and balance our lives. I am always on the lookout for something interesting that I can share with readers….
This quarter I would like to share yet another way of life called-‘Wabi Sabi’. Rooted in Zen Buddhism, it is the art of finding beauty in imperfection and wisdom in Nature, of accepting the natural cycles of growth, death and decay. It has come out of Japan and found its way into the worlds of art, design architecture, poetry and life. It encourages humility, and appreciation of things however trifling.
The whole idea, is to keep the fine balance between nature and nurture. Wabi Sabi may lead one to the removal of excess baggage of material concerns. For instance give yourself 5 minutes of quiet time each day, and then work it up to 20.
Keep a mental log, of the things you see, feel, touch on your daily walks, make something-anything, a painting, a frame and place it in your home where you will see it often-admire it no matter what it looks like, enjoy the singular beauty of maybe a flower or a twig. Allow yourself time for solitude. Explore your personal truth. Just live for the moment! Definitely a way of life that I would like to follow.
Talking of the ways of life, we have had- metro sexual, homosexual, heterosexual, and the men who live to tell the tale, done to death. Now it is the turn of Women. We have the new woman called –‘The Alpha Woman’ .What on earth is that? Well, she is a woman who puts achievement first on her list, everything else pales in comparison, including relationships. Now that sounds like a dangerous woman. Can men live with this kind?
Obviously not, even the most resilient of them, since most of them are biologically wired to be to avoid alpha partners. How so? Because then they would have to be on their toes all of the time and their issues of masculinity would be questioned. Identity crisis would be on the rise.
Men need to be pampered all the while, and do not like women throwing attitude. So Alpha women if they do exist, need to be better equipped with more than just their professional needs. A good dose of emotional intelligence could easily balance personal and professional lives.
Having never lost anybody close to me in my life, I was absolutely astounded by the untimely death of my one and only brother in law, who thought it, was his responsibility, to keep me raving and ranting, since he knew I had an opinion on everything.
We shared a love and hate relationship. How does one cope with the loss of a dear one without feeling that one is not doing enough justice to the deceased? Society, from where I view it, only makes it worse; what with the continuous mourning period it gifts the one that survives the incident
Who said Life was kind? You generally made it what you wanted it to be. So where did that leave that mother who just lost her son? The wife that lost her companion? Those children that lost their compassionate father? Only the near feel the actual pain, which translates into a lifelong memory. The rest just about form a crowd and create moral judgments.
The way I see it –Death is a celebration (So said OSHO). You finish one part and you pass into the next realm. Karma takes care of a life well spent. Tears are a cleansing, and an important part of healing. The rest as we all know-Life must go on….and memories do linger…
Come Sundays and I look forward to reading a young woman’s column in the Smart Money section of the TOI. For as long as I can remember, I have avidly followed what she has had to say. Namita Devidayal has long since taken it on herself to educate people on different subjects and makes available to the reader the five things that people don’t tell people. For instance the last ones I enjoyed were-‘The 5 things that your yoga teacher won’t tell you.’(don’t expect to go to any old teacher and suddenly awaken your kundalini).and The 5 things a forensic expert won’t tell you’. Completely enlightening!
And lastly, my movie fix was taken care of this time around, when I saw the movie on a monk’s life-‘Samsara’. Subtitled, winner of many awards, and shot completely in Leh/Ladakh , it was a visual delight, that made me use my grey cells. But it just came and went, and I bet half the people did not get to even see it. (Do watch it on DVD). I had the good fortune to view it in a little theatre, with my closest friends. HAPPY ME!
‘EVERY FORM OF HAPPINESS IS PRIVATE. OUR GREATEST MOMENTS ARE PERSONAL, SELF MOTIVATED, NOT TO BE TOUCHED’ Ayn Rand
Previously published in the Sindhian
