Sustenance - Reflections of a life lesson learnt so far

Close on the heels of the theory of survival of the fittest, sustenance is extremely relevant in any given era. No matter how much effort is put into anything, say pursuing a career for instance, success of a long term career is the fruit of sustainability of that work under the given overall circumstance of the individual. If it creates even a slight lopsided effect on the person, no matter how small a twitch it begins with, is bound to snowball into a big hurdle over time which more often than not does impact the long term prospect of the said career.

We make many, many resolutions at the beginning of the year as well as through the year. But again, unless we plan the rest of our life around that goal, or make ample room for that activity in our daily lives with meticulous planning and execution, the resolution will just die its natural death. A classic case of lack of sustainability.

It’s in the present years as well as in the near future that we as a society have already started to, or shall soon ponder over the many choices that we have made in the past for the sake of convenience such as indiscriminate use of plastics. The awareness of misusing plastic is so much now that that it has finally dawned upon us that plastics are not a sustainable option. Bio degradable options are. But plastics and synthetics aren’t. 

The more we get to know the ways of living of our ancestors even not so long ago, maybe a couple of generations back, we realise that they had made their choices on the simplest of things like choice of food (which we now rediscover in the form of various millets, long-forgotten spices and medicinal herbs that have now come to light thanks to so much being researched upon these and brought to the common man’s knowledge)  and to the more important decisions (such as designing a house to make the best use of sunlight and rain), based on sustainability of the idea more than anything else. 

Somewhere down the line, we just lose track of our priorities for various reason and that is when the quality of our lives get diluted. We have various ideals which we would like to stick by, but when as a society we go wrong, is when it does start affecting a large chunk of the population. We have umpteen examples of this such as indiscriminate marketing and consumption of processed food (so much so that consuming them becomes an integral part of daily lives), use of plastics, chemicals.. the list goes on and on.

It does make sense, now more than ever, to start small, grow in an organic fashion, and most important of all, find happiness in all that what we  do.

Of Baby steps and Corporate dreams

Being a working mother myself, this blog is bound to be autobiographical. At the risk of talking only for myself, I write this with the hope of bringing together similar women, who want to bring
the best for their family, and to the organisation that they work for (in that order only, always,
with only an iota of difference between the two).

I have always been a conscientious student, not in the brilliant league, but studious enough to
take care of my grades, and later in life, a job that calls for a great deal of financial astuteness,
public money being at stake.

My first five years as a young banker placed from campus, had me gain a plethora of
experiences in the junior execution level. After my year's break when motherhood reckoned, I
was unsure of returning to a full fledged career which would entail spending many an extra hour
working with passion, in order to get the wonderful gratification of having given the best to your
job.

As an in-­between solution, I finally took up something that I was already good at, and did not
need all the experience that I had. I thought I'd achieved this wonderful thing called 'work­life
balance' and felt very good about myself to have taken up something less taxing so I could go
home in time for my daughter's dinner. Right? Wrong.

Within a month into the job, I realized the fact that colleagues who were all from a similar
background, putting in equal time at work, are getting much more in terms of pay and visibility.
Why? Only because of my self­imposed thought that I can somehow only contribute lesser that
everyone else because I have a more important role beckoning every evening, which I would
trade nothing in the world for.

The last two years have proved to me, that I just need to put together the best of my skills in
terms of planning and executing, along with taking care of myself well, so that I can do the same
for all around. Everyone likes a sturdy, dependable person around who can be counted on. So
much so, that we as a clan do get irreplaceable. And who better than you as a role model for
your child, to teach them the essential life skills, of working with crystal clarity of making the
world a better place for them to live in.
I am thankful for this bent in my career, for giving me the time to reflect on that added objective,
because of which i now work better, to live better !

Dedicated to The One, The Only Mr.G  <3 br="" nbsp="">
Feelings lost forever
To the eternal chant of time.
That moment, that sweet hope
To bring forth, genuine being;
Left concealed amid relics of past,
Sad nature of that promising start.
Forgotten? Not to be,
For life has more to offer thee,
Enfolded into its curious ways,
Are hopes of brighter days.
Stay true; nurture thy light of faith,
Shore’s never afar to truth.

Written long back, but one of my favourites.

To recount on the moments lived,

Each a beautiful chapter embossed in history,

Golden pages of which when turned back on, 

Bring fresh magic alive, blessed by memory.

 

The laughter, the tears, the array of emotions fleet by, 

Subtle shades of the rainbow that capture picture perfect,

Lying safe above the comfort of skies, 

Brought to light upon earthly whim’s effect.

Unknown terrain traversed, mindful not of defining horizon,

Treasures created - by meandering thoughts rich in hue,

Savored and stored away to muster old glitter,

On landscape far ahead, to ring in the gifts ever true.

My little girl


Nine months of patience endured,
My first lesson she taught me
The last month riddled with wild guessing,
What will it be ? He or she?

She it was, filling me with boundless joy,
My second lesson she taught me
Heights of happiness engulfed;
Dunking out any pain that was to be.

Ma, she cried,
a whole new purpose in my life she bestowed,
A beautiful journey began,
Packed rich with nuggets of her just-born goodness.

First to be carried, then my arms,
finally just a finger to hold would do,
To guide her towards her own path,
From me, the only home she once knew.

Now she does all too quickly,
What were once sweet challenges,
Of feeding, bathing, soothing to sleep,
My baby, I suppose, has just promoted me.

I will learn baby, just as you will,
Of giving and letting go, just as much as you need.
Fear not, take your firm little steps further,
You and me, we're in this together, forever.

Echoes

I love poetry. The sheer possibility of depicting a moment or thought in a thousand different ways or to crystallize a portion of life in a cryptic form having a plethora of meanings and angles to it, is simply liberating, to say the least. Though I must say this inference comes from my own experience in writing, and so it is left to be known if readers echo this as well. Something even as simple as an idyllic cozy overcast morning inspires a deeper sense of introspection as in this poem:
On a day like this, when the shades turn mellow,
When sunny skies pave way to frosted serene gold,
Giving - to let go and just be,
Yet holding, still and safe as a bond.
Giving - that offer the best:
To shift gears, to break free,
To be inspired, from nature’s mirror,
Redesign, refocus, but best of all – giving me, me.

Isn’t this safety net what we all seek in life? Yet, we want to hold our own, in the environment we condition for ourselves, created subconsciously by our own choices again. And at the end of the day, what matters is the careful balance between self-realization and what we want to give to the world. For, only if the mind space is nurtured, can the latter be made possible….as tomorrow is another day :)

Long since I’ve been able to write. Sometimes I feel I should just take a break and see how it is to write all the time…what would I write about…it’s something that I look forward to doing all the time, yet have never really given a serious thought as a career…fraught with risks I guess, and also it is something which is bound to flower only when it receives undivided attention coupled with moments of inspiration. The former is possible at any point, but the latter is what is precious and key to quality writing, as I’ve been experiencing over a period of the last…16 years! Has it really been that long ? It all started when I came home with my very first poem written during English class in my fifth standard. It was a cute, rhyming, chirpy little poem about kites. Quite funny when I think about it now. ‘Up,up,up’, it went…’if you can’t fly a kite, don’t give up’…and it went on, like a little march, for I could not stop myself from rhyming all the sentences. :)
In any case, it’s that sense that pervades you when you know you have to write something that is from the heart, which can be termed my inspiration I guess. Similar are my experiences when I’ve written my last few poems…or even when I was having a regular journal back in school, or even much later. Now wait a minute, the journal was a more lazy kind of writing, I admit, to just let the thoughts flow, but taking care of a compulsive need to write, nevertheless. A sample of my 'not so lazy' writing:

Feelings lost forever
To the eternal chant of time.
That moment, that sweet hope
To bring forth, genuine being;
Left concealed amid relics of past,
Sad nature of that promising start.
Forgotten? Not to be,
For life has more to offer thee,
Enfolded into its curious ways,
Are hopes of brighter days.
Stay true; nurture thy light of faith,
Shore’s never afar to truth.