Travel 2014

I just realized that I have not written anything on the travel in the year 2014. I strongly believe that traveling this year is going to be terribly limited, a polite way of saying that it can be probably nil.
All the more important to recollect travel 2014.

1. Solitude is a wonderful gift for therapy: I initially planned this trip as a destination I ve always wanted to go, and time was just right. It slowly turned out that I absolutely had to take the trip to reconcile from the several odds that I went through.

2. Don't build dreams based on Bollywood movies you saw as a kid: Enough said.

3. Breakfast is good: Those times when I was a kid, my dad used to tell my mom "she can as well stay home than go to school if she refuses to have breakfast". Not that skipping school was allowed, skipping breakfast is not allowed either. Trust me, it is a good idea.

4. You don't have to be rich to dream: Nor to live dreams. There is always a way if there is a way. Just go with the flow.

5. Have a map: I remember reading in the article "everyone is free to use sunscreen" that you should carry a map whether or not you use it. Don't always rely on the internet connectivity on your phone. Carry a map. The best thing that happened to me for having carried the map was that it gave me a freedom to go wherever I wanted to, and still find my way back, or my way wherever I wanted to go.

6. It is not bad to get lost: Come to think of it, getting lost was the best part of the trip. I went cycling to places I otherwise would not have bothered going to. I still found my way back. But those few hours of being lost were nice. If you are lost. You don't have to panic. Enjoy the new place, When you want to get back, just pull out your map. If you don't have your map, ensure you know how to find the trails to your place. It is not as tough as you might imagine.

7. The best part of an art museum is when you can get inside the head of the artist: I like Vincent Van Gogh. But having the option of knowing his life, his thoughts, his ideas and ideals in life could not make me like him more than what I now do.

8. Time management : It is a thing, kinda. However I hate this concept, and not a strict follower of it, it is something important to keep up with.

9. Life is calling: There is so much to see, so much to do, giving up is not a worthy option.

Gossip

Gossip has somehow been the most appealing activity to many women. Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, men also like to indulge in gossip.

I grew up being taught that gossip is not to be believed or entertained or to be considered as anything lesser than a sin where the Almighty will pierce your eyes out for that sin (Thank you game of Thrones season 4 for giving us an idea how it would have been like if the tambrahm kids actually had Ummachi kuthufying our eyes)

It is again noteworthy that the elders, nay the generation that has just retired, or has plans of retiring, or has retired long back enjoy the pleasure gossiping.

It takes a lot of people by an unbelievable surprise that gossip is something I don't engage in. Although I grew out of the fear that my Ummachi would bother coming all the way down to poke my eyes, I found it basically pointless. Further, I should also be honest that I never actually took the effort to learn how to gossip. Yes, I am THAT lazy.

As usual, there have been a series of events that made me take the effort of writing this post. I have been examining the nature of gossip. To me, I like to define it as the need to know private details of someone's life, judge, comment, have fun, compare thyself, mock insult, harm, feel jealous, (okay, the list is long), repeat
The inevitable aspect of gossip is that there is always a scapegoat.

I have been noticing people enjoying the idea of having me in the center of the circle. I cannot deny that I absolutely loathed it in the beginning. I used almost every word in the bible of cuss words, I wanted to do everything to defend myself, offend those, till at one point I decided to give up. That point came when I understood the mechanism of gossip. This is when I was happy about being lazy, and fearing God as a kid.

The last time I almost began to worry about being a scapegoat, I was reminded of how gossip looks like from my perspective. To put the entire thing in a few words, and one picture, here below is how gossip looks like, and shan't bother if you choose not to care.



Amused, de-stressed, peace restored. 

Roughness

Every year, I take time to retrospect the previous year, and introspect for the coming year. This session strangely has been immense.

2014 was nothing short of a massive turbulence. I turned 25, and thought that things could not get worse.
Lesson 1: Never tell yourself things cannot get worse. Life will show you the worse !

These few days of 2015 has been much more severe and intense than the entire 365 days of last year. God knows what is in store for the rest of the days ! No, I am not questioning if it will be good or bad. I am just in my own paranoia to say the least.
Lesson 2: Never let anything even touch your core being. The harmony of your life does not deserve battering that you otherwise take.

Lesson 3: The physical body is mortal, ergo temporary. Does not really deserve all attention. It is the immortal that always gets unnoticed.

Lesson 4: Silence is golden

Lot more lessons learnt, too personal to write. And certainly a lot of things I look forward to.