Mistakes aren't always stepping-stones

I have always maintained that the English language is a beautiful one albeit filled with plenty of idiosyncrasies and crazy contextual vagrancies! This could be just my viewpoint, of course. Many people find it easier to express themselves in their native language. Though I grew up in a household that gave a lot of importance to awareness about my native language, I must admit that English is the language I think in. It, thereby, became the language I express myself in the best way.

As the years rolled on, I have fallen more and more in love with the language. So much so that I have begun to almost revere it! :D But this has led to a problem of sorts. I can't tolerate mistakes - either grammatical or spelling! I find it (almost) criminal to make a mistake. I make mistakes too...for I am no machine. But each time I make a mistake or am told of a mistake, I make a mental note never to make it again. I would definitely not get angry with the person who pointed it out, let alone talk about them behind their backs ('who does he/she think he/she is?Shakespeare?')...

It is that very treatment that has been meted out to me most often. I get told off for correcting people on their vocabulary. People say their ego is hurt when a mistake is pointed out to them. I get told, 'But you understood what I was trying to say,no? That is important'...No,THAT is not the only thing that's important, IMHO. I find it irresistible to NOT to point out a mistake when it is made. I surely mean no harm...nor is my intent to belittle the other person. Period. But a mistake is...well...a mistake. And it is the duty of any person with a higher level of knowledge about any subject to correct another person when he/she makes a mistake in that subject. I consider it as just another way of spreading knowledge. And knowledge is a much better thing to spread than gossip or hatred! My corrective statements and raised eyebrows may be offensive to many, and I do know that I have hurt many an ego with my blunt remarks. I would be happy if people were to realise that my comments are just like an artist's advice at an amateur's careless stroke...or like how a mother adds that additonal pinch of salt to her daughter's first try at cooking (ah!now it's perfect,honey!)...I wish more people would understand.

It actually feels nice to be a candle that lights a million candles...rather than be a mirror that merely reflects :)

Hmm.....

Tears:Summer showers to the soul

The other day, I shed a few precious tears (for reasons I don't want to disclose here anyway ;) ). And let's say I had, what I'd like to call, an 'Isaac Newton' moment :D Meaning to say that the entire deed set me thinking...why did I cry now? (Okay,the first answer i got was the obvious reason as to WHY i cried...talking about the next level of the thought process here) I mean,what set off those tiny glands?Why tears when I could have had any other emotion? I could have talked it out with someone or written about it or gotten angry or whatever! But I cried. Why? Just a little deeper thought and I had my answer ready.

Imagine (or rather look back at) the day when you achieved something you had really worked hard for...something you had put your heart and soul into. It could be anything - a school prize, an acknowledgement, a grade, even a 'yes' from someone you love! Or think of a time when grief engulfed you in its murky blanket...so much so that no amount of consolation can soothe you - the loss of a loved one,an unfair accusation, getting second place by too small a margin. These are times when emotions are capable of overwhelming you...in the sense that it fills your heart and soul to the brim. You just can't take it any more. Words seem to fail you. You feel like you would rip at the seams! That's when you cry.

Crying is probably one of the best ways to let out the emotions brimming and sloshing inside you. At that moment your heart is akin to an irresponsibly filled glass...one little nudge and everything spills over! It's not always the prettiest of emotions to behold. But I am sure that many would agree with me that a good long cry does wonders to your mood, although your circumstance may or may not have changed at all. I have seen people getting hysterical and crying on TV when they see their favourite celebrity at a show (usually for Michael Jackson's shows). Why do they do that? It's just an expression of so much adulation for that icon whom they have come to idolise and worship. It is not at all a planned thing. Just an automatic body mechanism. The heart can contain a lot of things...emotions,sentiments,love,hatred,anger,jealousy,envy...but there a limit as to how much of the same thing it can handle at a time.

Then there is the famed 'tears of joy'. Oh!That's something that happens to almost everyone (it's yet to happen to me...I'm still waiting *wink*wink*). We see people getting so elated at something and then they just break down crying with that smile still on! Mothers are the best example for this. We've all seen our mothers break into tears of joy at something. For them, each thing we do is special :)

I don't know if many people do it but I cry when I'm angry. And I'm talking extreme anger here. An optional emotion would be...ahem...murder :D At such times, you really don't get the right words to express yourself. You know you have been wronged...and you sooo want to wring the neck of the @#$%&*%$# who dared to hurt you...or you know that all the allegations against you are false but nobody would believe you...or you're just plain hopping mad! In short, you're in a situation where you're alone,angry,helpless and frustrated.Just cry!Or wail....bawl....scream from the rooftop...weep....do something!But let the briny flood flow out of your eyes.

They say that holding back tears is such a wrong thing to do. Like famous British psychiatrist Henry Maudsley once said 'The sorrow which has no vent in tears may make other organs weep'. Yes...it is so true. Tears that are contained/withheld can harm you. Your mindset, your mood, your very persona....everything is affected. I, for one, get a splitting headache :-/ It's popularly considered 'feminine' to cry. Which is so wrong!Men ought to cry. Just for the reason that they are brawny and muscular, that does not mean that their hearts are made of stone! Men are emotionally weaker than women. The apt way to vent out your feelings would be to just cry in your privacy. There is absolutely no need to advertise your emotions, of course, keeping the rather critical society in picture. But let them out...it's wrong to hold back tears that wish to be freed.

Remember......Tears are the safety valve of the heart when too much pressure is laid on it.(Albert Smith)

Cheers! :)

Weirdest of the Weird

The Piri Reis Maps

16th century Turkish geographer and cartographer Piri Reis created some of the most accurate maps of the world including then-unknown places like Antartica...with the contours and details put in so perfectly that they almost look as if they had been lifted off Google Maps!Antarctica was 'discovered' only on 7 February 1821 by American sealer John Davis. How did Piri Reis make those maps then???

Island of Crete

In 1995, archaeologists discovered a piece of a large clay object that had imprints of the parts of a modern-day heavy-duty helicopter. The clay slab dates to a period more than two millenia ago. Given the fact that Crete has been an island for more than 5 million years, it is also interesting to note that there have been evidence of pre-human maritime activity to the island. Stone tools that are at least 130,000 years old have been unearthed, though the earliest known sea-travel was that of the much evolved Homo Sapiens to Australia about 60,000 years ago. Read more @ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/science/16archeo.html

Silbury Hill, England

This is the largest artificial hill in Europe. Believed to conceal an ancient step-pyramid, this mound has several mysteries attached to it.It is a part of the Avebury-Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is built in exactly the same way as the Giza pyramids of Egypt. The fields that lie around the mound have often been in news for the mysterious crop circles that form there. The Silbury/Avebury complex  together with Stonehenge and Glastonbury, combine to form a right angled triangle across the English landscape. The Hypotenuse is formed by the St. Michael's ley-line, which crosses England along the zenith of the May-day sun.Avebury sits exactly 1/4 of a degree north of Stonehenge. Read more @ http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/englandsilburyhill.htm

Nazca Lines, Peru

The Nazca valley is a strip of level desert ground 37 miles long and a mile wide. The enormous drawings were made by removing the dark purple granite pebbles which cover the floor, and exposing the light yellow sand beneath.


The drawings were first confirmed when commercial airlines began flights over the Andes. The purpose of these drawings and the reason for their enormous size has been much debted over the years though no conclusions have been arrived at as yet.


Read more @ http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/perunazca.htm 

Spheres of Costa Rica

Also known as the Diquis Spheres, the spheres of Costa Rica are mysterious rock formations in a perfectly round shape. They are more than 300 in number and are found scattered all over the region in a more-or-less geometrical pattern. The spheres range in size from a few centimetres to over 2 metres (6.6 ft) in diameter, and weigh up to 16 short tons (15 t).The stones are believed to have been carved between 200 BC and 1500 AD.

Ashoka Pillar, New Delhi

Considered to be one of the symbols of pride of India, the 7m high pillar located in the Qutub Complex is known to be unbelievably corrosion resistant,in spite of being made out of 98% wrought iron.


The pillar, which weighs more than six tons, is said to have been fashioned at the time of Chandragupta Vikramaditya (375–413) of the Gupta Empire though other authorities give dates as early as 912 BCE.


It is believed to have served as a sundial at some point of time while it was originally housed within the compound of a Jain temple.

The Siboglinidae or the Vestimentifera

One of the most mysterious creatures living on earth today, the Vestimentifera are a phylum of giant tape-worms that grow more than 2 meters in length and are found at ocean depths from 100 to 10,000 m . The pressure at these depths are close to 260 atmospheres and their primary nutrition is derived from the sulphide-rich fluids emanating from the hydrothermal vents they live by. The fact that these creatures still exist prove that even after all life has been wiped off the face of the earth, these underwater beings will surive.

Taung Child

The Taung Child — or Taung Baby — is the fossilized skull of a young Australopithecus africanus individual. It was discovered in 1924 by quarrymen working for the Northern Lime Company in Taung, South Africa.


Raymond Dart (1893–1988), an anatomist at the University of Witwatersrand, received the fossil, recognized its importance and published his discovery in the journal Nature in 1925, describing it as a new species.


The fossil consists of most of the face and mandible with teeth and, uniquely, a natural endocast of the braincase. It is estimated to be 2.5 million years old.

A juncture...a decision...a life

Some people come into your life like a hurricane. Nobody can predict when they will come or what will the impact of their presence be in your life. But they DO come...wreak havoc with your emotions...and go away just as suddenly as they came. And what are you left with? Bits and pieces of your once happy life. You are left wondering what you did to deserve all this...and the question with no answer keeps popping up in your mind-'why me?' Because as far as you can remember, you have done nought to deserve this. And then you blame it all on destiny and fate and pacify yourself saying that 'everything happens for a reason' and that 'probably God wanted to make me stronger'. So saying, you set about gathering whatever was left by the treacherous tempest and building your life once again from the scratch...with the constant fear that it may happen to you again. Things will never be the same again.

So they say 'time heals all wounds'... I've been hearing this phrase ever since I can remember. But nobody ever told me that some wounds leave scars behind...especially the very deep ones. That was a lesson I learnt by experience...and in the hard way. That phrase holds true only for wounds that are on the surface level. It does not hold true for those that are more than just skin deep. Such wounds can be created only by those whom we have emotionally invested in. And such wounds heal for sure with time...but they leave permanent scars. Each time you see the scars, you are reminded of what you went through to get that scar...the pain, the fear, the tears and every possible emotion associated with it. You might want to cover up the overtly ugly scars with something...but only makes it invisible to others. You know it is there and no amount of covering up can hide it from your own conscience. You wonder if it could have been averted in some way. And then sadly realise that there is no place for 'what-could-have-been' anymore. It happened to you and that's the bland truth. And again the question-'why me?'.

Just when you think you have everything under control (you're deliberately NOT thinking about the hurricane damage and you've programmed yourself NOT to look at the unsightly scar anymore), the hurricane returns yet again. You get hurt in the process of trying to salvage whatever you had rebuilt...thereby reopening the wound once again. And this time, it hurts even more than before. You are left shattered and shaken. Anger, disillusionment and irritation overwhelm you. And at this juncture, you have just two roads to take-either repeat the process what you did earlier or move on to someplace better. Someplace that you are sure such a thing will not happen to you again. Right now, I find myself at this very juncture. I am fairly sure of myself of what path I would choose. The memories will haunt me for a lifetime...but at least, it will not return. But when I think of all the effort I put into building up the life I am going to leave behind, I feel a tug at my heartstrings. All that effort, all the perseverance, all the hopes and dreams...all in vain? I don't know.

Hmm... :-/

Kit-Kat Fudge!

Hey there all you beautiful people! Hope everyone is in the best of spirits. First things first, though. Here's wishing all my fellow Indians a very Happy Republic Day! :-D

Today, I thought I'll share with you one of my favourite recipes. I call it Kit-Kat® Fudge (for the simple reason that it tastes uncannily like Kit-Kat®), though technically speaking it's nothing but simple home-made Chocolate FudgeJ. It is very easy to prepare and is one of the few desserts that I confidently make! :-P he he!

Ingredients

1.       1 bar of cooking chocolate (it's your choice if you want to use White chocolate or Milk chocolate or Dark Chocolate; I made it with Milk Chocolate)

2.       1 small pack of any glucose/milk biscuits

3.       1 tin condensed milk

4.       Margarine or a piece of butter for coating the tray

Directions

1.       Empty the contents of the biscuit packet into a small vessel and break the biscuits into small pieces. Try not to powder it. Rough crushing will do just fine.

2.       Coat a stainless steel plate/tray with either margarine or a piece of butter (my personal choice is butter) and set aside.

3.       Melt the chocolate in a non-stick pan. Stir the chocolate while it melts (you don't want any burning happening)

4.       After the chocolate has fully melted and once you are sure that there are no lumps left, empty the tin of condensed milk into the vessel and mix well.

5.       Now add the crushed biscuits and keep stirring.

6.       Remove from the fire and immediately pour the mix into the prepared plate/tray and spread it out to your desired thickness using a spoon or wooden spatula.

7.       Allow it to cool and then refrigerate it.

8.       The fudge hardens on refrigeration and can be cut into your desired shape.

9.       Can be served as it is or with a topping of your choice like a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Try it out and let me know how it came out.

Bon Appétit! J

Scents,Sensibility & Sensitivity :-)

It may sound queer to many…but some scents do have mood-changing properties. At least for me, there are many such. There are times when I am hit by the blues and almost nothing works to cheer me up. Then suddenly this intoxicating aroma wafts by and I find myself smiling or at least snapping out of my sombre mood in an instant. Not all people will have the same sensitivity towards certain smells. I guess it's all a matter of personal choice at the end of the day :) 

The one that tops my list is that of FRESHLY WET EARTH…the smell you get after the first rains have just drenched your courtyard. I absolutely love everything about the rains. The redolence it creates when it falls on the parched earth, the pitter-patter on the roof, the rain curtains formed by water flowing down from the slanted tile roofs :) …but it's the scent of wet earth that's the best of all. A harbinger of the coming monsoon months ahead :)

On a close second position is my addiction-since-birth, CHOCOLATE! I shudder to think of a life without chocolate :/ Chocolates were a childhood craze and the craze has persisted even till this day. Dark chocolates are my favourite. I have no other choice of flavour in anything…be it ice creams or milk shakes or cakes. It's chocolates all the way! :)

Okay, so we've all seen those snazzy advertisements about AXE DEODORANTS and like most people, I'd thought they were exaggerating it a bit too much. What were they claiming? That men would turn into walking-talking women magnets once they spray it on? Bah! But now, I beg to differ M' Lord! The well-marketed deodorant does indeed have some inexplicably attractive perfume/s that does play smartly on the female odour sensitivity. I love the tangy and musk laced ones best. The Axe Effect, indeed! :)

Ah! The smell of BOOKS!!!! How I love it! I remember I used to flip the pages of new textbooks between my fingers and bring my nose real close to it to take in the smell of novelty! Old and well read books have a different kind of aroma. They have this dusty smell that vouches much for their popularity and/or age. I don't know for sure how many times I would have fallen asleep with a book on my face :) Books are a simple bare necessity for me and their smell is one I love. Did I mention that a library is one of my favourite places to spend time in? 

BREAD!! Who doesn't love the smell of a loaf of bread getting baked in a bakery? The bread term was a generalisation of all the smells associated with a bakery that includes baking cakes or cookies or bread or even making some of our very own Indian breads like rotis and chapattis. I love the smell of warm and fresh bread anytime. A dab of home-made butter and some thick raspberry jam and there! You're ready for the experience of sheer indulgence! :)

Thomas More once said "Plants that wake when others sleep. Timid jasmine buds that keep their fragrance to themselves all day, but when the sunlight dies away let the delicious secret out to every breeze that roams about." He couldn't have been more precise. JASMINE FLOWERS are, in my opinion, one of the most criminally intoxicating fragrances that ever existed. A whiff of this magical aroma and one is transported to another world altogether. It comes as no surprise that jasmine flowers have long been associated with marriage and courtship (and even with…umm, female ghosts :/ ).

I'd like to call it the fragrance of happiness. HENNA / MEHNDI. The ancient Asian tattooing method is an essential part of any auspicious occasion primarily in South Asian and Middle Eastern cultures. Brides have henna nights in their honour when hands of the bride-to-be and of her family are adorned with intricate designs of henna. Henna is symbolic of happiness and the entire room is filled with its aroma. Being and avid henna enthusiast myself, I can't help but love the smell of it. I find myself smiling for no reason :) 

SCENTED CANDLES are a relatively new addition to the romantic fragrances brigade. Until around ten years ago, it wasn't very commonplace to see scented candles except in high-end lifestyle shops. It was verily considered to be a high-class luxury. But today, you could just pick them off shelves in department stores. Most of them are aesthetically designed and add a whole new meaning to the good old 'candle-light dinner'. My personal favourite- Lavender! :) 

And last, but not the least, I can't help but love the smell of FRESH LAUNDRY, especially, if they've been rinsed with some fabric softener like Downy® or Comfort®. They smell just WOW! Sometimes I hold them up to my nose and breathe deeply. The fabric softeners come in such sweet fragrances too. And nothing beats the feeling of wearing a pair of sweet-smelling and freshly laundered pyjamas at bedtime :) 

Les Amicales ou Les Misérables!

Isn't it strange yet so commonplace how we become upset and distraught over the slightest mishap…and yet fail to see happiness in anything other than the overtly obvious? I do not claim to be any different when it comes to feeling grouchy and forlorn when things don't exactly happen the way I want it to happen. Even the very simplest of drawbacks is enough for me to pull a long face…much to the chagrin of many around me. To shake that feeling off is much easier said than done for me. It takes a long time for me to get back to my cheerful self.

I wonder if the case were similar for everyone in case of happiness too. Like say, we were to take every instance of happiness, even if it were only for a moment, as a blessing and revel in its glory for a while. What a happy place this world would have been! I reckon it's all a matter of mindsets.

Earlier, I was a staunch believer that people are born in a certain way and they remain so forever. There were the perpetually happy people (the kind I identified myself with), the naturally sad ones, the 'always-with-a-scowl' people and some people who were just plain frustrated with everything and everyone! I believed that there's just no changing them. It just won't work. And even if they did appear to have 'changed' for whatever reasons, they'd put up a poor show! Duh!

Today, I believe I am in a position to be more judgemental on this subject…having seen more of the world and having come across a wider variety of people from all walks of life. Irrelevant of their genes or family history, I feel that people turn out to be what they are because of their thoughts…and depending on the way they look at life itself. There is an ancient Tamil proverb that translates into something like this: There is nothing called bare hands; bare hands have ten fingers and they are your biggest treasure. That's what I call some serious positive attitude!

Happiness and sorrow, and their intensity, depends to a large degree on how YOU want to look at it. I may be interrupted here with the question of eternal loss. One may ask, 'What bigger sorrow exists than the loss of a loved one? Are we to smile in the face of bereavement?' It is indeed true that smiling in the face of such adversity is not according to human nature. Anyone who does so is looked down upon with contempt. That is not what I meant. But trying to look at if from an angle totally different from the one the rest of the world is looking at from can bring about a sense of tranquillity within our own troubled self. It is in instances like these that I resort to being a child at heart…and try to believe very strongly that the departed soul has finally become a star in the sky and that I can see him/her everyday :') The calming effect these thoughts have on my mind cannot be explained, really. This is just one instance…albeit one of the most difficult ones, where positive thinking can help us a long way.

I am a born dreamer…and I find a lot of pleasure in the beauty of the subtler aspects of life…simple things that people so sadly fail to notice. They know it's there…but never halt to take more notice or acknowledge its beauty of existence. Women, typically, may stop at a shop window and stare longingly at a diamond necklace or at a beautiful dress or a pair of attractive footwear. 'Well, that's what women always do, don't they?' ask the men. Let's make the context a little more general then, for the benefit of both sexes. Say you're on a round trip of Europe. You're standing in front of the Swiss Alps for the first time in your life. Will you start posing for the camera or clicking photographs in frenzy or will you just drink in the beauty of the moment? Will you notice the little yellow butterfly that fluttered by? Or the tiny solitary bloom on the side of the hedge? Or even the freshness of the air? Most won't. 'We didn't come to Europe to stare at a butterfly', you'd argue. It's not WHAT you notice that matters. What matters is enjoying the moment. Your mind's one storage device that is a tad too difficult to corrupt with viruses…if you know what I mean. J You may lose data on external storage devices. But what you store in your mind will stay with you (let's leave out the unlikely possibility of us getting Alzheimer's at some pointL) forever.

I try to find happiness in smaller things and I try not to limit it to material things…like when a dish I tried out comes out well, or when I'm the first one to reach office J or when I see a flock of birds taking flight when my favourite song is played on the radio (total filmy style J). I have often been asked by people how I manage to be so irritatingly optimistic. I guess it's largely because of the way I look at life. You never know what's in store for you in the next instant. So live every moment as if it were your last. 50 years later, when you look back on the path you've treaded, you'll be sure to find a whole lot of smiley faces scattered all around the path! J

Stay happy! And keep a look out for that little yellow butterfly! ;-)