“Be careful whom you bow to: Many kings are beggars in disguise; some beggars are kings in disguise.”
~ the Wise Fool
“Ek meeta, malai-wallah dedo,” I tell him. Translated from Hindi, it means, “Give me a sweet one, and with cream.” I’ve learnt from experience to ask for precisely what I want from a coconut vendor. (Not a bad thing to practice in life either.) The vendor nods his head and picks out a yellowish-green coconut from the bunch piled high on his dingy cart. It’s not one I’d have picked, but what do I know about coconuts? He proceeds to work on it swiftly and deftly, twirling and tossing with one hand and hacking with the other. Read the rest of this entry »
“Be still or make some noise; just don’t be indifferent, that’s all.”
~ the Wise Fool
The scent of naked earth grips my nostrils this morning. The sounds and smells are so sensual that I’m instantly seized by images of peacocks dancing to the anticipation of rains. And all it took was a fleeting morning storm leaving behind monsoon-like showers in its wake. The storm blackened the skies and caused a power-outage, plunging the suburban condo into darkness. Read the rest of this entry »
“It’s good to live your life inside-out — unless, of course, you want to change the life you live. Then, it is easier and faster to do it outside-in.”
~ the Wise Fool
Do you suffer from self-referral or object-referral? If this sounds like incoherent New Age gobbly-goo, it is. Even so, it’s worth losing your sleep over. Never mind the axis of weevil, question is: Where is your axis of reference? If it’s inside you, you’ll be hopelessly cheerful — no matter what’s shaking around you. If it’s outside you, you’ll be consistently miserable; better keep your bible or cigarette handy, whichever is convenient. Enlightenment then is simply about shifting your axis of reference from outside to the inside. In other words, it means living from the INSIDE-OUT instead of OUTSIDE-IN. (By the way, if you have self-referal it implies that you live in your body instead of your head.) While this piece of wisdom is worth raising a toast to every day, there are times when it is better to do the exact opposite — and live our lives OUTSIDE-IN. This means ignoring your wonderful internal compass and letting stuff on the outside guide you. Read the rest of this entry »
“In the digital age, the tree of wisdom grows neither in the East nor the West — but somewhere in the middle. Will you meet me there?”
~ the Wise Fool
“Sir, is there anyone sitting here?” she asks anxiously.
“No,” replies the man, equally anxious. I don’t blame him for being less than enthused about giving up the prized vacant seat next to him on this excruciatingly long flight of 9hrs. That’s like giving up your extra candy bar to a total stranger — not knowing when (or if) you’ll see the next one.
“Do you mind if I seat someone here? There are some people on this flight who are sitting two to a seat,” she groans. Her voice is a sincere plea, but is delivered in a tone guaranteed to melt even a heart of stone. And indeed there are some on this airplane.
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