Positive Overtones

Segregating. Pigeon-Holing. Categorizing. Our life has always been surrounded by divisions. While there are some who try to rebel against these divisions we can all agree that we seek some order in life. Some of the ordering points towards an objective way of ordering there are others that are purely subjective. All through history and in ancient tradition, one may observe that divisions and ordering have pervaded in every society. But, this is all human creation. By nature we are called to be people relating with everyone without divisions. I had had an experience like this a few years ago when I was in high school. I would term it as a class of unity. We were a varied mix. Among our classmates, there was an African, some Bangladeshis, Afghanis, Pakistanis and a whole lot of Indians hailing from north and south. But as a class, we never looked at the others as people from different lands. We looked at each other as fellow brothers and sisters. Despite our differences, a great sense...

All of us have desires. Some may be deep-rooted while others would be passing. Whatever the case may be, we cannot deny the fact that each of us have desires. Our desire is an inner restlessness stirring within us. It does not keep us at ease. Further, the magnitude of our desires affects our lives. The small desires have minimal effects. The big desires, on the other hand, shape our lives. The way we choose our desires shapes us. Our desires emerge out of our past experiences. Thus, if we do not experience a thing, we would not desire it. And so, when we choose our desires, we choose the experiences we wish to experience again. Thus, our choice to a particular is affected by our choice of an experience. These are considerably easy at the basic level. However, when it comes to the choices that shape our lives, the level of difficulty increases. Just compare the feelings that run through us in choosing between two flavors of ice-creams and choosing between science, commerce or arts...

Along with the paraphernalia I carry around, there is a card that I treasure. Well, one wouldn't exactly call it a card because it does not consist of the paper-thickness or glossy greetings you find in regular greeting cards you find at Hallmarks or at Archie's. The card that I possess was given to me by one of my childhood friends for my 18th birthday. The cover says that I am legal. Though we would joke about being legal when you turn 18, I never quite understood what the clause of legality contained. The birthday celebrations were peculiar. But, we shall go to those details some other time. Let's not depart from the topics at hand. Getting back to the card. It was made from a simple A5 paper with sketch pen designs and felt pen writings. The preciousness of this card lies in its simplicity and content. I would have revealed the contents of the card but that would more or less reveal the identity of the giver. The giver does know about this as I have mentioned i...

"Remember, do not engage with any strangers on your journey!" The disclaimer of caution was given to Zara by her mother continued to ring in her ears. It had already been three hours since the train she boarded left for Mumbai from Delhi. It was her first time far away from home. And, as is customary with many families, one has to carry along with the many wishes a huge coach-load of advices and cautions: "Drink only bottled water from the platforms." "Buy only dry food, not packaged ones." "Don't eat what others offer." "Don't leave your baggage unoccupied." These are just a few of those many 'quotes of wisdom.' While some are quite helpful, many are outright ridiculous. Yet, Zara had to remember all the advices her mother showered her with; of those, the most sustainable one is to not talk to strangers. She had it ringing in her head like the bells at a temple during a puja . this was because of the situ...

"There comes a time in our life when we have to have a tussle with someone who threatens the values we stand by. Some of us win it while some of us lose it. This is the story of that tussle.". "Who are you, anyway? I never heard of any tussle you had with a teacher." "What do you mean 'Who are you'. I am Ben Johnson, your friend. Stop acting like you don't know me." "Whatever." And with that my friend just walked out of my room leaving me to narrate my story on paper which I will eventually put up as a digital footprint through a blog. Until then, let me just narrate my story. My tussle was for the value of honesty and fairness. And, it was against a high school teacher. Now, before we get to any conclusion, let me just clear the air. the tussle with this high school teacher of mine was not an argument or a physical brawl. Neither was it a brief one. It was a slow year-long intellectual one. However, before we get into the st...

Many of you must have heard Kelly Clarkson's hit-song 'Mr. Know It all'. Well, it is one of my favorite tracks. Not that I listened to it every now and then, rather, she is one of my favorite artists as her songs are quite empowering. I could go on rattling about how good she is as a singer and how amazing her songs are but for now let's just leave it at that. My focus is more on the song title mentioned earlier. The song always brings back memories of a friend I had. In short, he could be nicknamed with the title of the song. For further and easy reference we shall call him Mr. KIA. At first, Mr. KIA seemed like a Wikipedia web portal. He had answers and solutions to everything, so much so that if anyone put forth a different answer, he would resolutely object it and insult the other. It was actually just an insulting statement that was passed. Everyone began to look up to him and regard him as one who had the certified information. It felt as if he was greater th...

I have had friends. Loads of them. Yet, the aspect of a 'soul-friend' was not known to me until recently (recently, would mean a few years back). All through history there have been some famous soul-friendships. One of them is that of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare. So, soul-friendships can take place with anybody you are close to; anybody you can trust. They also act as spiritual monitors. I have a particular soul-friend. Let's just call her SF. I met SF at our own parish church way back from present times. I would consider it a good and healthy friendship as we could just be ourselves when talking to each other. This friendship was strong even as I joined the seminary. It was only two years ago during my novitiate that we became soul-friends. We could share our problems and views on almost anything eventually getting an honest response from the other. Well, they weren't exactly like counselling sessions or psychotherapy appointments. Rather, they were alw...