Random Stirrings of The Mind.

A very good friend of mine gifted me a wholesome book a couple of months ago, while I was departing Budapest. The book, has given me an interesting yet fulfilling perspective about life. Thank you my dear friend :) It goes without saying, questions did find a way to squeeze in between the love of literature. The book, "Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café" by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is a sequel to his first novel and continues to delve into the mystical and emotionally charged world of a unique café in Tokyo. This café offers its customers a singular opportunity: the chance to travel back in time. However, the journey is governed by a set of stringent rules: They can only visit people who have been to the café. They cannot change the present, no matter what they do in the past. They must sit in a particular seat. They must return before their coffee gets cold. The sequel introduces a fresh set of characters, each with their own deeply personal reasons for wanting ...

Anytime Songi Songi by Maud Elka feat Hiro belts on his headset, a distinct waft of memory crawls to mind. Two souls, blessed beyond words; immaculate voices, crafty fingers that weave the most sumptuous of feasts. Relishes imbued with age-old love, akin to the great adages of the sages.  I'll trade my time, at any chance to behold such memory, even if it's a flicker.  But then, mystery surrounds one. A gentle spirit, an evocative voice, and for those who see beyond veils: a motherly gem. Grace shines beyond what the eye can see, good finds good for sure.  No words can fully drape the window that his eyes see through; descriptive essence, one that contains top notes of pink pepper, an after-fragrance of citrus accord and vetiver laced with heart notes of grapefruit, well aged dry cedar and labdanum. If his heart remembers right, it feels like a dry down of scents containing Frankincense, ginger and sandalwood.  Free spirit, up-tight and conservative at he...

A reset is something that hits you when you least expect it. Just like sickness, it knocks at your door at odd hours, bringing with it a period of great adjustments and shifts.  A bit of a background story, a couple of weeks ago, I was reading an anecdote by Norman Vincent Peale (the father of positive thinking) where the author posits that one should change their thoughts if they wish to change the world.  This got me thinking; all those instances where I have seen people on the streets or in restaurants in seemingly boisterous conversations and showing broad smiles unassumingly made me think that they might be living life happier than mine. I assumed that they were happier than me or even smarter than me. Instances are rife where we sit in our little apartments imagining what it would be like to be someone else.  That feeling that we often behold that everyone around you seems to be doing better than you, or the one where we feel that piles upon piles of decks are stack...

Where light first shone, To thine eyes when I made the first squeak. The first whimper,  that sharp cry, piercing the silent dusk, when birds flew home to nest, And the goats and cows trudged back to their pens, The distant sounds of the local mill,  The heartful moos of the calves calling for their mothers Ooh, the sounds of a time long gone. Little thine spirit, how life seeped into my new form, To the beguiling chants of the womenfolk... Bubbling with joy, the silent whispers of prayer, And the welcoming of a new born into the world. The day, thine tiny hands held onto new fold, The start of a ticking time pouring in to a sum of old, Those black tiny eyes, staring at a vast  expanse, New and fresh to every feel,  Then a squeak, a cough and a shrill cry marking a grand entry. Our birth relieves sleep forgotten: The Soul that rises with us, our Life's guide, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire heedlessness, And not in utter bareness, ...

We hold onto so much, that we at times forget to live and let love, we abandon our true selves, to accommodate the pressures of the world, we forget that there is joy in letting life and living in the moment.  The treasure we seek, the one that we’ve been made to believe it exists, requires no lengthy expedition, not does it demand expensive equipment. It doesn’t need superior aptitude or special company; all we lack is the willingness to accept and to imagine that we already have everything we need. The truth: The only thing missing is our consent to be where we are. To live in the moment. He hasn’t felt settled in a long while. The few days leading to this post were filled with fresh thrill; the urge to pursue; he’d forgotten how it felt to look for something, perhaps because he’d closed down all doors and windows and had denied himself a fresh touch of warm sunshine. No one understands nature: a tree bathed in sun rays, a weathered tree trunk, maybe the animals, a mountain perha...

All compromise is based on give and take,                but there can be no give and take on fundamentals.                          Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender.             For it is all give and no take   ~Mahatma Gandhi~ For all the walks we make in life; tire and wear, toiling at most, we have always thought that in everything that we have to give, we must take. Most times we hide behind shadows. Our complete reflection hidden from the public view. Even we ourselves cannot see it. Be it success, failure, frustration, name it. Putting on a false veil, well, in a bid to cover that what we hold on to; failure? maybe, but mostly ego. So, to the world that hands a life, and takes another, balance of nature, it's been coined; where veil still re...

Seasons fade in and out like soft lullabies, their transitions slow but never faltering. Like mother earth herself they only turn in one direction, always onward, never back. As they wax and wane the pace of life changes. During the holidays, everyone is high energy, all systems go. With the first touch of new years, and well into the crisp feel moving over the high-rises and suburbia like a shallow wave, a  quieter  pace sets in. Dry winter sets in, flatter still, but never falling into a negative spin, dust and snarling  traffic. Town-folk are recovering from spending sprees.  Then spring comes to wake the  intermittent downpours, dirty streets and gloomy skies.sprouting grass , trees and blooms.  The seasons come and go like old friends. They bring memories of seasons past and the promise of seasons to come. They dance by us changing gradually in their back and forth way, two steps forward and one step back. And like time itself we cannot halt th...

Sleep failed me, I shuffled my cards but, a mnesia wasn't one of them. I have been under wraps for sometime now. A life cycle, I have to call it; cocoon stage is pretty nasty at that. I feared the light of day and cowered behind shadows of self piety. I rocked back and forth in darkness mauling huge chunks of fear. Every approaching footsteps of opportunity was too condescending and deafening, and often made me peer into the blinding light, with a tiptoe.  Neighbors next door, whispered, that a forlorn spirit had possessed me, I could hear frightened murmurs and naysays when I collected enough courage to walk out, or so I thought. (This goes out to all those who think they are freaks; talk and smile alone, notwithstanding). There is this huge dark cloud, that started out in the horizon as a tiny wisp of an imaginary shape. I dismissed it to be some bloke burning charcoal or sending a smoke signal to some primitive chap, maybe. Drawing closer, with time, it took the shape ...

There are situations in life that pushes us to the limits. At times, the same situations come as good-will.(A story for another day) We often depend on our strengths, virtuous abilities or even close confidants to face these challenges, albeit with a straight face. But there are instances, where all these are meaningless. At crossroads for the least, between a hard rock and the devil so they say. Digging deep, we wonder where we might have gone wrong. Glancing right does not help, looking left doesn't either. Then we remember, there is a friend forgotten in the sands of time, one that we often turn to when no one is available. We hardly look for Him when life is bliss and fortitude bountiful. Thanking Him is the least of our deeds and utterances, and when we do, it's for the food. Life, he has blessed us with, living each day unbeknown to us, is someone taking their last breath, being ran over by a car or undoubtedly, being struck by lightening. We gaze not into who hast gi...

2015, you've been a devastating year to me. I feel your wickedness all over what's left of me, it tastes like bile in my tongue; contempt written all over my face, I glance around, cussing, my insides writhing with discord. Why, oh why? You started with promise; the stars looked brighter than ever. I swear I could see through to December. But somewhere midway; I don't know what happed, somehow, I think I got carried away by fortuity, I mean; a place to work, great friends, amazing colleagues and much more. I saw opportunities, one after the other. I saw that take-off, unperturbed, I took the bull by the horns, locked my eyes at my nose. Dark shades to say the least. Woe unto my sights,the reigns broke, the carriage toppled. I have never seen a trailer before a truck, at full throttle on The 98, doing a 90 mile per hour over the inter-state. This life, oooh, it just turned hue and smoky. I walked right into a mine field, coroners waiting at the end. Vultures circling...