The Man In The Glass

When you get what you want in your struggle for self,

And the world makes you a king for a day,

Just go to a mirror and look at yourself,

And see what THAT man has to say.

For it isn't your father or mother or wife,

Whose judgement upon you must pass,

The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life,

Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people may think you are a super chum,

And call you a wonderful guy,

But the man in the glass says you're only a bum,

If you cannot look him straight in the eye.

He is the fellow to please, never mind the rest,

For he is with you clear upto the end,

And you have passed your most dangerous difficult test,

If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of life,

And get pats on your back as you pass,

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears,

If you have cheated The Man In The Glass.

Poet: Peter "Dale" Wimbrow Sr

Wholeness in imperfectness

We struggled in our work for the last one week and were frustrated that we couldn’t make any progress. We learnt a lot, but the end result that we were seeking eluded us. We put aside all other issues, even our personal life and worked with a single-minded goal. Then suddenly, everything began to work and things moved fast. Now we are grappling with multiple things at a time. But then we are more relaxed now and are enjoying our personal time as well. There is a sense of achievement – something that we might have otherwise missed if things went smoothly. We now know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish a dream of something better. We now know our limitations in work and are working along with them rather than being frustrated. We now appreciate our imperfectness.

I am reminded about a small story that I read long long ago.

“The Missing Piece” by Shel Silverstein is a story of a circle that was missing a piece. The circle wanted to be whole, so it went looking around for its missing piece. Because it was incomplete it could roll very slowly and so it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. So it left them by the side of the road.

Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole. It incorporated the piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice the flowers or talk to the worms. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled quickly, it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly again.

Our life is more fulfilling when something is missing and our purpose is to search for it. The journey itself is so enriching that the end goal no longer matters.

New Year Wishes

New Year is the time to wish everyone. The method to convey wishes has changed over a period of time. People posted greeting cards earlier then sent e-cards. After landlines came, people called up near and dear to wish, then it was the age of SMS. And now, everyone is just updating the status on networking sites. (I wanted to be a little different, hence this post on my blog J)

New Year brings back memories of school days. My friends and I used to spend the whole of December making greeting cards. Those who are less creative used to spend their pocket money in buying cards. Most creative and large cards were for teachers and personalized cards were made for friends and family. Cards to relatives were posted a week ahead. There used to be a queue at post offices for stamps. Sometimes they ran out of stamps and we had to go in search of another post office. (I don’t remember when I last went to a post office in recent years).

On New Year’s Day we used to pool up money to buy a small bouquet and card for our school principal and a cake for ourselves. We then used to reach the school and celebrate. Cut the cake, eat it, exchange cards, holler in empty classrooms, and run around the largely empty school. Then we went cycling to each of our teacher’s houses, starting from the principal to wish everyone. After a late night party at home, staying awake and cycling the next day was quite a feat. We used to drop on our beds tired after a quick dinner. What a wonderful way to spend the first day of new year.

College brings its own memories of late night dance parties. Employment brings its own rules. You HAVE to wish your boss, whereas we WANTED to wish our principal at school. Technology has bridged distances and we could wish people across the globe. At the same time it has created distances since we use the same technology to stay in touch with even our neighbours.

But whatever might be mode, everyone wants to wish everyone. After all it’s the thought that counts, right?

Wish everyone a successful, productive and prosperous new year and new decade.