Quotidian Tales

A conscious endeavour to foster happiness can help you make a habit out of it. I had seen a photograph of my friend’s daughter. She was right in the midst of greenery, kneeling down and lively in the lap of nature. Her wonder-filled eyes and infectious smile seized my second. Unknowingly, I experienced the happiness that the instant eternalised in itself. I felt it. I wished if only I could hold on to that happiness or engage with it as effortlessly as the child did. The absurdist author, Albert Camus, wrote, "You will never be happy if you...search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." But we are incorrigible. Each of us is in pursuit of happiness. Few realise, it is but a function of our will. Some claim to have found it in their own bitter-sweet ways. The other day, I heard my daughter singing full-throated, the insanely-popular Pharrell Williams song, 'Happy'. She was rehearsing her Zumb...

The mind’s eye can yank you from reality into an alternate world in seconds. T he mind is a magician. It harbours the special but mysterious power of imagination. When it gets to work, it makes us see more than what could possibly meet the eye. A stage show with the world’s finest conjurer will pale in comparison. Take, for example, the stunning photo here and what my mind made of it. To borrow the name Netflix gives the alternate reality in its runaway hit, Stranger Things , I went ‘upside down’ with it. As my mind’s eye zoomed in on the photograph, I was left staring at the vast blue sky. One fine line was scoring it -- a jet plane -- piercing through the light, fluffy clouds that punctuated the brilliant blue. And then...in the blink of an eye, I was on that plane. No more gazing up through the photographer’s lens but looking down. I saw the calm ocean, peeking from under the clouds. A tiny speed boat grazed the water like a flying fish. I was completely ‘upside do...

A dream has the power to become real. Nourish it to inhabit in it. I believe in dreams. It is a great way to utilize your mind when you are sleeping. And the best way to push yourself when you are awake. Our dreams have the potential to create our reality. At least that’s what most of us like to believe. In our dreams, we see things happening. In our awakened state, we endeavor to transform those pleasant happenings into our reality. But sadly enough, when it comes to implementing those vignettes of our dreams into our conscious life, it becomes very complex and tiring. Mostly unattainable and almost unreal. The harsh realities of the matrix of our existence come into play. Those which had never been a part of our dreams. You can’t give up on it till you get to live it….Knowingly or unknowingly they give us the purpose to move on. A dire consequence. Our bodies and minds are quickly overwhelmed. First, due to the sheer frustration of not being able to fulfill our dreams...