A lesson in Gratitude

As its eyelids started drooping, the day’s garish eye was beginning to mellow. I had just stepped out, my camera in tow, for my date with the evening. The sky’s royal hue was inviting and the breeze was starting to rustle the leaves slightly. My feet picked up pace and I was approaching the near 90-degrees bend in the street. The tea vendor’s stall on wheels stood at the corner surrounded with its usual, not so well-off crowd.

As I was just nearing the strong aromas of crushed tea leaves in bubbling liquid, my eyes came upon a middle-aged man in tattered clothes and a filthy hat covering a matt of unwashed, dusty hair.  Slow, non-deliberate movements and an eery sense of detachment from the immediate, surrounded him. I saw his hand reach into his pocket and suddenly out spilt his clutch of money. Coins ran and settled in spots across the road and two or three currency notes fell down, with a pace tad slower. I picked up whatever I saw and gave it to him. He gave me a sweet smile in return and softly thanked me.

Meanwhile, a bunch of 3 teenage boys found the whole thing quite amusing and started joking and laughing at the man’s expense. The man towards ‘em and what he did next stunned me. He went to them, smiled broadly and said, in broken English, something to this effect – “Thank you…thank you. At least someone noticed me. I am a forgotten person. No one sees or hears. I’m happy you see me. Thank you!” The boys went quiet; an uneasy guilt lurked in their eyes. The import of his words hit me too and i just stood looking at the man as he gave em one last smile, joined his hands and started to leave.

I had so much, yet had so little. I had so little, yet it never seemed to end.

The tea vendor said something in Kannada and offered a cup of tea to the man. He accepted it graciously, said another thank you and melted into the growing darkness. The forgotten person I’ll never forget…

The song for today is a one i've heard recently and something about the ticky, slow music makes me wanna go back to it over and over - "House of cards" by Radiohead... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nTFjVm9sTQ

The Head-stand

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;

There is a rapture on the lonely shore;

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar;

I love not man the less, but Nature more...

- Lord Byron

"I am Super Tramp..(looks at the apple)..and you are Super Apple!"

"Mr. Franz, I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one."

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greather joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

- Christopher McCandless a.k.a. Alexander Supertramp

A man whose story made my life do a head-stand; and never feel like going back on my feet. I remember ever so clear, the night i finished reading about Mr. McCandless, i was ready to stuff my bag with a few necessities and whatever cash i had saved and stashed somewhere, and leave. Just leave. Where? No one knew. The world was out there and i had to savour it before it was too long. It took my friends' 'rational pleading' and persuasion that my time would come (:P) that i decided that perhaps tonight could be spent in a quilt. After that, many less nights were spent akin. And i can safely say, most days too.

Thank you Chris, the head-stand is more alive, more raw, more everything. I hope you smile wherever you are. "Happiness is only true when shared.." :)

Songs for tonight, two songs from the motion picture on the man's life - Into the wild. One, is the first song i heard and the opening piece of music gives me goosebumps till date; "Hard sun". The other is the one which never, ever ceases to make me fall back and look around once - what are we thinking? Are we even aware? "Society" in Eddie Vedder's unfaltering, haunting voice..plunge yourselves, the night is long and uncluttered.. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpkeJWXY4ZA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGKVpTRe8GM

~ Shards ~

"Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears."
- Les Brown


"Sometimes we love with something more than hope. Sometimes we cry with everything except our tears. In the end that's all there is - love and its duty, sorrow and its truth; to hold on to tight, until the dawn."
- shared by Raghav Jain


"With the sun on my face and the wind beneath my feet, autumn outside and spring inside me..
i step out looking for life; instead life finds me."
- c'est moi

Song for tonight, "Dust in the wind" by an old, 70s American Rock band - Kansas..immerse...


I close my eyes
only for a moment
and the moment's gone
all my dreams
pass before my eyes a curiosity
dust in the wind
all we are is dust in the wind

Same old song
just a drop of water
in the endless sea
all we do
crumbles to the ground
though we refuse to see
dust in the wind
all we are is dust in the wind

Now, don't hang on
nothing lasts forever
but the earth and sky
it slips away

And all your money
won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind
all we are is dust in the wind
dust in the wind
everything is dust in the wind...