Evening at Zambezi River, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, May 2015
and so does everything around... the situation, the people, the perspective, the needs.... and we too change.... the wise and courageous seek change.. because only change is constant!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

160. Search


I could not help smiling even though I was little stressed.

The reason for stress was simple – Air India pilots went on strike  - once again – and though the reports said that they have joined duty – I did not know whether my flight scheduled today afternoon will take me to Delhi or not.

But anyway, there is no point in thinking too much about things which are beyond my control.

So, I was taking my breakfast with leisure.

The restaurant was such that I could overhear conversations around without any effort. The usual tourist conversations are not very interesting – so I was not paying attention to those.

Then a large family appeared. The way they came in different pairs attracted my attention. One of the pairs was a woman in 70s and a young man in 20s.  The other family members had already started their breakfast and this pair had arrived little later. They probably were grandmother-grandson.

“What would you have grandma?” the grandson asked obediently.

“Nothing” declared grandma. Then on a second thought she said, “Just bring me a cup of tea.”

Then she probably heard other members talking about various dishes available on the buffet counter.

By the time the cup of tea arrived, grandma wanted a piece of toast.  She said that as she had to take medicine, it was better that she ate something first. Initially she wanted plain toast and  then she ordered for jam. The moment the jam was offered to her, she wanted butter too.

After a minute or so she said, she won’t mind a piece of paratha and then of course she wanted some pickle with it. When pickle arrived, she asked why curd was not served. The curd came.  By the time I left the restaurant people around her were telling her how good the puri-subjee was and I am sure that would be the next order of grandma.  

I was smiling.

I guess the behavior of that grandma was not unusual. We all do the same on various occasions. All new- year resolutions are of the nature of grandma’s resolution of ‘not to have breakfast.”

Why do we get tempted? Why are we not sure about ourselves? Why do we get influenced by what others are doing? Why can’t we take decisions for which we have enough capacity to practice those? Why can’t stand to our resolutions? Why do we get carried away by our desires?

We all search for these fundamental answers. Those who get it, cross the barriers. Those who don’t are caught in the same net again and again. We never know when the search would be over. The key is to keep on searching.


(Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh) 

10 comments:

  1. I can resist so much better in the morning (except to coffee) and lunch time but not after dinner, when I watch a movie or read a book.

    I also eat smaller portions and in a more controlled way when I am with my wife. When I am alone, all my will power disappears :)

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  2. Very thought provoking post. Our humanness is our greatest challenge to our discovering the divinity within. Yet it is our humanness that lets us manifest our greatest intent and fullest potential. Funny.

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  3. Sunilbhai, you can't resist food after dinner (means you are consuming ..) .. that is why you have a much better control in the morning!! :-)

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  4. subho, humanness as you rightly point out is a double edged sword.

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  5. The answer to your question is..we are humans and we are looking for pleasure... :P

    As someone says...'The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it!' :D

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  6. That is a good piece of philosophy Kunal .. about how to get rid of temptations!! But in reality it hardly works :-(

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  7. My late grand mother always wanted to add salt to the veg she liked most on the table.Within moments,she would want some more of veg because now the salt content was extra.
    This happened regularly

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  8. BK Chowlajee, you are visiting after a long time :-)

    We all will grow old like this and the young generation will tell our weird stories then
    !!

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  9. Very thought provoking!!I guess, we get tempted from our resolve or get influenced by others because we decide what is correct by believing what other people think is correct. So, it's always conforming to the standards, principles, behaviour adopted by others...

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  10. Shilpa, you are right. We are always taught (and are expected to follow) social norms. Sometimes however, the mind just wanders :-)

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