Over the years in my student and professional career doing
what I do, i.e. understanding earth processes, from time to time, my boat gets
rocked. I compare these moments of
instability with the very earth processes that I strive to understand. The rock record is a testimony of having
endured whatever it was put through – subduction, compaction, thermal and
pressure stress, upheaval, faulting, folding, jointing, erosion etc. My story is one of endurance too, except that
unlike the rocks (or sediment, in my case), my testimony carries emotion with
it. During one such recent event when the ground shook beneath my feet, I found the same old emotions surfacing again.
I couldn’t help but reflect upon the fact that the nature of the calamity was generally similar to others of the past as were the emotions associated with
it. The only difference was that of space
and time and the personnel involved.
Thus, upon further reflection, I’ve arrived at the following conclusion: one’s
objective and effort is best spent in striving to persist with the work
involved – that alone is a constant; other factors surrounding one are variable and
subject to change at short notice. In
other words, carry on doing whatever you’re doing, if you still care about it
and if it still interests you, for the sake of doing that work to the best of
your ability. There’s more merit in it,
than in doing or not doing something for the sake of pleasing or abhorring personnel. Let work itself be the motivator, not the people that you’re
working for, although they benefit directly or indirectly from the former.
Friday, 7 June 2013
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Waiting for a train that never comes
Plymouth to Exeter
Map courtesy:Once again I’ve made the mistake of venturing out in the so called British summer without a rain jacket or an umbrella (colloquially called brolly) or any warm clothing for that matter. I should know by now to always dress for winter or have the supplies ready, just in case the weather changes, as it often does here. It’s a coincidence, or perhaps not, that only a couple of days ago I attended a concert by Amanda Shires, a country/folk singer who sang a song about a train, the Union Pacific not turning up. Here I am, waiting patiently on a wind-swept station, Exeter St. Davids, with rain pelting down, waiting for the First Great Western train that never comes, or one that is severely delayed. The railway company staff can’t stop apologising; every announcement starts with, “I’m sorry to announce..”. The whole problem started at Ivybridge, a town just outside Plymouth where due to strong winds a tree fell down, blocking the railway track. It being a Sunday, everything is taking longer than usual. Some being are happy though. The sea gulls are having a blast. The sea is stormy, and its windy and grey. They always seem to be extra chirpy in such weather. All is well with them!
The scenic rail route just before arriving into Exeter
Picture courtesy: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/Dawlish-Warren.htm
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Right Here, Right Now
On a recent day trip to Teignmouth (an inspirational place indeed), I had this thought come to me that if I can't achieve something that I'd like to, in the present moment or condition that I'm in, then it's almost impossible that I'll be able to achieve it in the future. If I can't do it now, then what guarantee is there that I'll be able to do it in the future? The only certainty that I have is of the here and now, nothing can be said with accuracy about what is to come. Then what is the point of dreaming up something for the future if I'm not able to believe that I can live my dream now?
This came to me in a bit of a raw form as above; I felt that the thought made no sense. I then had counter thoughts about why should one bother dreaming dreams at all, for surely not all of them can be made to come true in this instance, in the now as it were. So if they wouldn't come true now, then according to the above logic, they wouldn't come true in the future too. Thus there was no point to this thought.
I mulled on this further, and slowly came to realise that whatever one aspired for or dreamt of achieving was mainly to do with the feeling associated with the aspiration, dream or achievement. The actual thing that fructified the achievement was a physical thing, i.e. a change in one's physical circumstances, such as place, job, finances, relationship (presence or absence of someone), possessions and so on. The feeling that came out of such a change would make all the difference and thus would be life changing, hopefully bringing about a change in one's mental attitude and making the effort worthwhile.
Now that this had come to light, linking it with the here and now made sense. It has been said before that in order to achieve a goal, the best tactic is to assume that you are already there, i.e. the goal has already been achieved. This philosophy as I understand it now, has mainly to do with the feeling/attitude/awareness associated with achieving the goal, not so much with the physical attribute of the goal itself. Thus, if one proceeds with the task of making their dream happen, the feeling that they already own the outcome should necessarily be adopted. Working towards the goal with such a feeling makes all the difference in many ways. There is already a feeling of lightness, enthusiasm, joy, peace and a sort of unattachment to the result. Doing the work then allows you to enjoy the journey to the goal and totally removes the stress element of achieving the result. The state of happiness that one envisions with one's dream whatever it may be, is already there. Thus is it possible to achieve, right here, right now.
But hang on, it's not over yet. From my own experience I know that although I have tried in the past to assume that I'm already at my goal, and have worked with the diligence and sincerity that it takes to reach the goal, it has not been physically achieved after much labour. How can this happen? In answer to my querie, I found this article that cleared the glitch (http://lawofattractiontutor.com/) . It speaks about an inner resistance that one might have towards one's dream/aspiration that prevents one from achieving it. For whatever reason, one may not feel deserving of the result, or may not even want it, even though externally one may work hard for it having adopted the attitude stated above. With such resistance comes doubt, thus the total commitment needed for adopting the 'winner' attitude is not there. The words by Goethe and W.H. Murray talk about commitment beautifully (http://www.goethesociety.org/pages/quotescom.html). One has to be committed externally through physical effort and internally through the attitude. I do believe that with such a combination, it is possible to achieve your goal right here and right now.
This came to me in a bit of a raw form as above; I felt that the thought made no sense. I then had counter thoughts about why should one bother dreaming dreams at all, for surely not all of them can be made to come true in this instance, in the now as it were. So if they wouldn't come true now, then according to the above logic, they wouldn't come true in the future too. Thus there was no point to this thought.
I mulled on this further, and slowly came to realise that whatever one aspired for or dreamt of achieving was mainly to do with the feeling associated with the aspiration, dream or achievement. The actual thing that fructified the achievement was a physical thing, i.e. a change in one's physical circumstances, such as place, job, finances, relationship (presence or absence of someone), possessions and so on. The feeling that came out of such a change would make all the difference and thus would be life changing, hopefully bringing about a change in one's mental attitude and making the effort worthwhile.
Now that this had come to light, linking it with the here and now made sense. It has been said before that in order to achieve a goal, the best tactic is to assume that you are already there, i.e. the goal has already been achieved. This philosophy as I understand it now, has mainly to do with the feeling/attitude/awareness associated with achieving the goal, not so much with the physical attribute of the goal itself. Thus, if one proceeds with the task of making their dream happen, the feeling that they already own the outcome should necessarily be adopted. Working towards the goal with such a feeling makes all the difference in many ways. There is already a feeling of lightness, enthusiasm, joy, peace and a sort of unattachment to the result. Doing the work then allows you to enjoy the journey to the goal and totally removes the stress element of achieving the result. The state of happiness that one envisions with one's dream whatever it may be, is already there. Thus is it possible to achieve, right here, right now.
But hang on, it's not over yet. From my own experience I know that although I have tried in the past to assume that I'm already at my goal, and have worked with the diligence and sincerity that it takes to reach the goal, it has not been physically achieved after much labour. How can this happen? In answer to my querie, I found this article that cleared the glitch (http://lawofattractiontutor.com/) . It speaks about an inner resistance that one might have towards one's dream/aspiration that prevents one from achieving it. For whatever reason, one may not feel deserving of the result, or may not even want it, even though externally one may work hard for it having adopted the attitude stated above. With such resistance comes doubt, thus the total commitment needed for adopting the 'winner' attitude is not there. The words by Goethe and W.H. Murray talk about commitment beautifully (http://www.goethesociety.org/pages/quotescom.html). One has to be committed externally through physical effort and internally through the attitude. I do believe that with such a combination, it is possible to achieve your goal right here and right now.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
A kind of traveller
There is a kind of traveller who travels around without needing a base to return to. Wherever he travels is his base; it’s where he wholly operates from, it’s where he lives in his physical entirety for the time that he is there. He travels with reckless abandon, with nothing to lose or gain; he travels for the sake of the travel, following his heartfelt instincts. When it’s time to move, he lets go of everything that may bind him down, and trusts that the Universe will bring new supplies, resources, opportunities and encounters for him to experience and benefit from in his new ventures.
Such a traveller wastes no time. He goes at a pace as slowly or quickly as is needed to accomplish the purpose of the travel. There is nothing wrong in travelling a great distance if it’s only to stay there for a short while. Equally, when all his travels are done, he may stay put in a place of his choice for the rest of his life. Such travel is purely about quality, it has nothing to do with quantity. With quality is meant the lesson to be learned, the experience to be had, the work to be done.
Thus, you may travel without roots, stumbling along and allowing serendipitous things to happen to you, or you may travel with a plan and yet allow amazing things to happen to you. You may travel all the while having an anchored base to return to, or you may finally travel back to your roots. Each of these types of travels may be experienced by you if you wish, and then it is left to you to decide which journey was the most liberating and most worthwhile.
Such a traveller wastes no time. He goes at a pace as slowly or quickly as is needed to accomplish the purpose of the travel. There is nothing wrong in travelling a great distance if it’s only to stay there for a short while. Equally, when all his travels are done, he may stay put in a place of his choice for the rest of his life. Such travel is purely about quality, it has nothing to do with quantity. With quality is meant the lesson to be learned, the experience to be had, the work to be done.
Thus, you may travel without roots, stumbling along and allowing serendipitous things to happen to you, or you may travel with a plan and yet allow amazing things to happen to you. You may travel all the while having an anchored base to return to, or you may finally travel back to your roots. Each of these types of travels may be experienced by you if you wish, and then it is left to you to decide which journey was the most liberating and most worthwhile.
Monday, 23 January 2012
On Sarongs & Throws
Or How to hide your mess when under-the-bed is no longer an option.
I have always been mystified by sarongs. These Indonesian/Malaysian traditional wrap-around skirts are so colourful more than anything else, that I’ve always felt they would serve better as wall pieces or displayed as materials of art rather than a piece of clothing. My feeling came true recently when some friends announced their intent of visiting me at very short notice. Delighted as I was to be seeing them, chaos reigned supreme in my room, and in my mind too upon receiving the news of their imminent arrival. My mind went into auto-pilot mode and before I knew it, I was working at amazing speed, efficiently bundling clothing and books away into the closet and the book case respectively. Narrow longitudinal gaps between the closet and the wall can be efficiently used to squeeze in things such as overcoats and the laundry basket. At this moment I remembered my sarongs. I quickly dug them out from the closet and threw them over the piles of things that were seen from the in-between gaps that had been used as storage space. Open cupboards could also be covered by draping their front with a sarong. I immediately regretting having discarded a rug that I had bought years ago from a shop called South Of The Border Imports. It was a Mexican style rug woven in bright colours, rugged and huge as a rug should be. Not only would it have adequately done the job of covering up things, but it would have made a bean-bag if wrapped carefully around a pile of winter woollies and pillows.
Sarongs http://flic.kr/p/adGKTK Mexican rugs http://flic.kr/p/fLQoe
Sarongs http://flic.kr/p/adGKTK Mexican rugs http://flic.kr/p/fLQoe
Saturday, 9 July 2011
A snapshot of Vietnam
“We could run down the gangway shouting Ho! Ho! Ho Chi Minh!” suggested one of my shipmates jokingly, as we prepared to dock. “ We’re in Nha Trang, on the south coast of Vietnam, and quite far away from Ho Chi Minh city”, I reminded him, but he had already vanished in the excitement of disembarking from the ship after our 2 week long cruise in the South China Sea from Singapore to Vietnam. Much as I had enjoyed every bit of the cruise, I was relieved to set foot on ground again, as I left the ship to spend a couple of days in the scenic coastal town of Nha Trang. The local Oceanography Institute had organised a welcome party for the entire crew followed by a short tour of the institute and its in-house aquarium. I had my first taste of the delicious local food which seemed to set me up for a life-long love of Vietnamese food. Our hosts had organised music and dance for later in the evening; we couldn’t have had a warmer and more heart-felt welcome!
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The following day we hired a boat and went off on a snorkelling trip in the coastal waters of the South China Sea. The boat was skippered by an old man. The old man met tourists from various countries through his boat business and he maintained a notebook of his encounters and conversations with foreigners. He showed me a page in his book of a popular Indian song written in Hindi by an Indian person who had been on his boat. He even hummed the tune to me, which he remembered very clearly. I was amazed and inspired by him. From his little wooden boat in Nha Trang, he was able to stay connected with the rest of the world. His notebook contained snapshots of multiculturalism from around the world. It was my first attempt at snorkelling, and although I was somewhat overwhelmed to be out in the open ocean with a pair of flippers and a face mask with a pipe to work as a breathing apparatus, the scene of the colourful corals underwater made every minute of it worthwhile. On returning to the boat, a delicious Vietnamese lunch awaited us, prepared by the skipper and his assistant, while we were out in the water.
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Later that evening upon returning ashore having bid our friendly boatman a warm farewell, I took a walk along the sandy beach lined with palm trees. A local musician strummed a guitar playing local tunes and accepting whatever change people dropped in his hat. Local kids played in the sand, with no seeming hurry to go home. The next morning we made a trip to the market in paddle rickshaws. The driver of my rickshaw would not accept a tip, and he insisted on waiting for me until I finished shopping at the market so that he could take me back to the hotel. Most of us bought the traditional Vietnamese straw hats that are typically worn by workers in the rice fields. One of my colleagues couldn’t stop taking pictures of the market place. He said it felt so warm and homely that he had to take back as many reminders of it as he could. We treated ourselves to traditional Vietnamese coffee and spring rolls at a street-side café. I bought portable statues of the laughing, travelling and the meditating Buddha, local paintings and picture postcards depicting life in Vietnam, all as souvenirs and gifts. At another street-side shop, I bought a t-shirt embroidered with a traditional scene of a rice field. Happy with my purchase, I walked away. A few minutes later, I saw the owner of the shop hurrying towards me with a t-shirt. I thought she wanted to sell more of them to me, so I politely refused in English and started walking away. She followed me, insisting on something in Vietnamese, all the while holding out a t-shirt to me. I ignored her for a few minutes, and then I tried to explain again that I did not want another t-shirt. She pointed at the t-shirt that I had bought from her which was in my shopping bad and said the word ‘damaged’. I pulled out the t-shirt from my bag, which she hastily grabbed from me, unfolded it and pointed out to me a large tear in the cloth! She had realised that she had sold me a damaged product, so she had followed after me to exchange it for another t-shirt! I was touched by her honestly, and I gladly exchanged the t-shirt with her. She smiled in relief and went away.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/biaebruno/4167568840/
The following day we hired a boat and went off on a snorkelling trip in the coastal waters of the South China Sea. The boat was skippered by an old man. The old man met tourists from various countries through his boat business and he maintained a notebook of his encounters and conversations with foreigners. He showed me a page in his book of a popular Indian song written in Hindi by an Indian person who had been on his boat. He even hummed the tune to me, which he remembered very clearly. I was amazed and inspired by him. From his little wooden boat in Nha Trang, he was able to stay connected with the rest of the world. His notebook contained snapshots of multiculturalism from around the world. It was my first attempt at snorkelling, and although I was somewhat overwhelmed to be out in the open ocean with a pair of flippers and a face mask with a pipe to work as a breathing apparatus, the scene of the colourful corals underwater made every minute of it worthwhile. On returning to the boat, a delicious Vietnamese lunch awaited us, prepared by the skipper and his assistant, while we were out in the water.
Later that evening upon returning ashore having bid our friendly boatman a warm farewell, I took a walk along the sandy beach lined with palm trees. A local musician strummed a guitar playing local tunes and accepting whatever change people dropped in his hat. Local kids played in the sand, with no seeming hurry to go home. The next morning we made a trip to the market in paddle rickshaws. The driver of my rickshaw would not accept a tip, and he insisted on waiting for me until I finished shopping at the market so that he could take me back to the hotel. Most of us bought the traditional Vietnamese straw hats that are typically worn by workers in the rice fields. One of my colleagues couldn’t stop taking pictures of the market place. He said it felt so warm and homely that he had to take back as many reminders of it as he could. We treated ourselves to traditional Vietnamese coffee and spring rolls at a street-side café. I bought portable statues of the laughing, travelling and the meditating Buddha, local paintings and picture postcards depicting life in Vietnam, all as souvenirs and gifts. At another street-side shop, I bought a t-shirt embroidered with a traditional scene of a rice field. Happy with my purchase, I walked away. A few minutes later, I saw the owner of the shop hurrying towards me with a t-shirt. I thought she wanted to sell more of them to me, so I politely refused in English and started walking away. She followed me, insisting on something in Vietnamese, all the while holding out a t-shirt to me. I ignored her for a few minutes, and then I tried to explain again that I did not want another t-shirt. She pointed at the t-shirt that I had bought from her which was in my shopping bad and said the word ‘damaged’. I pulled out the t-shirt from my bag, which she hastily grabbed from me, unfolded it and pointed out to me a large tear in the cloth! She had realised that she had sold me a damaged product, so she had followed after me to exchange it for another t-shirt! I was touched by her honestly, and I gladly exchanged the t-shirt with her. She smiled in relief and went away.
We went to a restaurant for our evening meal. I ordered two servings of spring rolls. The waitress laughingly informed me that two servings would be too much for me. She recommended one serving to which I agreed, although I was somewhat confused and embarrassed that I was being told to eat less. When the food arrived, I realised why her advice made sense. One serving consisted of a medium sized plate full of about 10 small-sized spring rolls! I couldn’t possibly have managed to eat more than a plateful. My short stay in Nha Trang was over. As I waited in the airport lounge for my flight, I wondered when I would be back again. Although 2 days seemed like such a short time, almost like a snap-shot, after 12 years my memories and feelings of the place are still alive and fresh.
Saturday, 4 June 2011
Self appraisal
"It's all very weird", the man behind the serving counter said, as he poured hot water on to the tea bag in my cup, " Earl Grey with milk! Thai noodles with a fork?". Yes, it's pretty weird being me, I thought, as I sipped the fragrant tea and reflected on things. I was back to the basics. I had felt to be the victim of recent events and had narrated my side of the story to a colleague, whose surprising and somewhat shocking reaction had been, "Well, it's natural for 'so and so' to have been the way they were with you." I was hurt and infuriated that the colleague had justified the offending party's behaviour and called it natural. After fuming over it for a day and gradually allowing myself to mull over it, the realisation came to me that I was all in all quite an intolerant and self-righteous person when it came to morals and principles. In my world, there seemed to be no room for anyone to err or be less than perfect in their behaviour and lifestyle! It occurred to me that I may have been leading a militantly hostile life all this while, unknown to me, yet obvious and uncomfortable for others around me, to say the least.
It then led to some self-questioning:
- Why did it matter so much to me to continue being righteous about what had happened? Wasn't the loss and the lesson learned enough?
- What did it matter anymore as to who was right and who was wrong? The damage had already been done.
In the end, only kindness matters. Kindness to others and to one's self. A fresh start is needed.
It then led to some self-questioning:
- Why did it matter so much to me to continue being righteous about what had happened? Wasn't the loss and the lesson learned enough?
- What did it matter anymore as to who was right and who was wrong? The damage had already been done.
In the end, only kindness matters. Kindness to others and to one's self. A fresh start is needed.
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