For all the innumerable learnings that I have got from Life
, this seemed the apt title for a blog post after a long hiatus . Just the
other day as I was sifting through the pages of an inflight magazine, I read
something that altered the way I felt about meditation ! “Most of us think
about meditation as being complicated and time consuming . Not really ! It is
nothing but simply being fully aware of something and concentrating on that –
be it the barking of a dog , the sound of a fan or the movement of your breath
“
This was really simple I thought, as the author went on to
say that one must keep the spine and neck straight while we absorb the sights
and sounds around us . In my yoga class the next day, I was definitely more
relaxed and did not try hard to ward off the avalanche of thoughts that were
being hurled at, in my mind. I just let them be and succumbed to the L2
learning of the day !; L2 being Life’s Lessons J
Have you ever noticed in the airport, at the security check
, the CISF personnel do flash a smile as they beckon you for the frisking
process. Yes , it’s nothing but a routine job for them and a drudgery for
those of us who constantly travel. But the moment even one of them
flashes a broad smile and thanks me for allowing them to do their
job, it makes me feel so much happier ! This might not be a common sight but
the fact that even one among them makes an effort to do so , makes all the
difference to me, and it teaches me to smile at my customers even if it is
through a phone call !
Till last December , the date 16th was to look
forward to surprises, gifts , loads of love and blessings , but 2012 Dec
altered it completely . The untimely death of my daughter’s close friend in a
car accident and the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi on the same date, tainted 16th
Dec ! But soon, it made me realise that on every birth date , there are sad and
horrific incidents that are bound to take place and there is no stopping it !
This L2 learning filled me with a strange sense of calmness difficult to
explain. And a couple of weeks later, when my daughter asked me “ Ma , can we
celebrate your birthday today ? , I gave her a tight hug and said yes ! That
day we just celebrated the feeling of being together , the fact that it was not
my birthday didn’t matter at all !
Just this morning , I had the good fortune to see a Marathi
film “Astu – so be it “ which is a story revolving a father who loses his
memory and wanders off . His relationship with his daughter who looks after him
is engulfed in many a flux and the film connected with me in more ways than one
! There is a line in the film when the daughter says that the children can
serve their parents only till the crematorium …how true ! When they are around,
we don’t seem to have much time for them as we are also busy with our own lives
! The biggest L2 learning that I have had is never to multitask specially with regard to
your parents ! I used to put my amma on speaker phone at nights and have my
chats with her while I went about the chores in the kitchen. Little did I
realise that I was not giving her a 100% audience and that she always had to
repeat herself the next day to me on the same topic ! How I yearn for those
conversations now !
I could go on and on but it is true that every episode in my
life has left me with a positive L2 effect and here’s hoping to many more
chapters which will hopefully make me a better human being !
