By design

Wednesday, after a fun lunch with the colleagues, I was getting into the back seat of a van to go back to the workplace. My friend who was driving, slammed her door shut.

A shout, and an opening of the door later, my hands were free. The three fingers that had been caught were slightly bruised, and paining a little bit. I was new to getting into vans. And had my hand around the part between the front and rear doors. Stupidity - yes.

Close/open - check; stretch - check; bend - check. Phew. :)

But, Pain also check :(

"Did the door really fully??" "Yes", came the answer. "That is scary" said another.

Two ice packs, and an Ibuprofen. Home. And a call. At urgent care to see if it were a fracture.

"In all the cases I've seen, unless it is black and blue, swollen, and can't be bent, it has never been a fracture, if it is a car door", the doc said. She also said that it was going to get much worse for the next couple of days before it would get better. I would need lots of ice almost continuously, and 3 ibuprofens 3 times a day. Now, that scared me more than anything else! Two more ibuprofens that night.

Next morning, I woke up, and had forgotten all about it. There was absolutely no pain! And no swelling. One bruise was barely visible, and the others, not at all! Our bodies heal so well!

And someone devised the car door that way! The contact areas were mostly rubber, and there is comfortable finger space in there! The initial pain was possibly only because it was shut with force, and the shock.

Whoever you are, designer of the car door of the Honda Odyssey, and all the engineering that went into it, a lot of thanks for my happy hand!

Two more

It is hardwork that will take me to where I want to be.
And, it is kindness that will take me to who I want to be.

(The apparent contradiction of these two with the last two, is in appearance alone)

Two things

When I'm fighting myself and hoping to make it work,
While I'm thinking of the good story it will make in the years to come

It is time to question the worthiness of 'it'.

Anything worth anything is made when I am not thinking about a future in which I am the center piece.

Anew!

A beginning tomorrow!

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive"
- Howard Thurman

"I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well."
- J.N. Forkel, Bach's Life (1802)

(Both quotes are from the comments section of this post which my brother sent me. Which we spoke about after he sent me this, which is an extremely interesting read. Thanks anna! Also, if you folks have the time, the lectures here are brilliant! I attended each one of them at the Centennial Hall last year :) )

Nugget store

When all the money I needed was the 50 paisa coin
for the old man to fill air in my bicycle tyre
on the way back from school,
where friends were made
who would never be lost.

When maximal guilt was after I returned happily
having played a quick game at a new place, with new found friends.
But to some very worried faces and an angry one.
Four hours had stretched into eternity
along with several search expeditions.

When I couldn't sleep without my mother next to me
telling me things that I would remember forever.
Like the time I lost a gold earring
and she defined what precious was.
It wasn't it, but was me, she said.

When staring at the stars,
like they held the answers,
dreams were dreamt of a future full of questions
but answers too.
And those in joyful abundance.

When stories were spun
of places and people that had been seen
and those just imagined.
And worked with friends,
these thoughts only imagined
could then come to live.

Restart!

When somethings you did seem pointless and somethings that happened and some people are just not comprehensible, and it all happens one after another, it is hard to shrug every one of it, off with a "stuff happens". There is increasing fear that more *stuff* will follow. I wonder who said "patta kaalilae padum".

But there are things that bring forth hopes of better things. New people whom you connect with quickly (but had to leave abruptly). Old pals with whom you laugh until the stomach hurts (but only over the phone). A new place that you are moving into where you can hear the sound of water fall into a little pond and see water lillies from your bedroom (but have to break a back for getting all the stuff into, alone). Random pings and emails that never have to *say* that they care (but from super far).

But there is definitely silver, lining all those brackets. Though, the more I bring myself to start thinking, it all really is gold.

These simple-little-things - that's the stuff that seems to matter :)

Disconnect

Why do we use-n-throw
When we can create everlasting beauty?

Why do we recall the bad
When we could be thinking of all things good?

Why do we draw more borders

When we can be pleasantly inclusive?