Sunday, December 20, 2020

Develop a skeleton for each day

One has to develop one's own habit of writing. One important  characteristic of habit is that one may not realize what one does in a habitual action. This has positive and negative impacts. 


In skill oriented works, this provides speed and perfection. Even at home we do experience some of these habitual actions that make us happy.  In my  mind the most noticeable habitual action at home is my mother's cooking. She cooks like a magician. All our mothers do this. Mothers are miracles. They are miracle workers. 




Nevertheless, habitual actions may not always be good. Prayer is the best case. We do not even sometimes know what we do during the prayer time. Another less impactful action is our relationships and gestures at home. We take things for granted and lead life without enjoying the thrill of it.  Do we appreciate what our family members do? Do we express it publicly?

Writing can be meaningful even when it becomes a habitual action. It might be boring too after some time. One way to improve writing as a meaningful habitual action is  to have a skeleton for everyday writing. For example, at least invisibly you can have the following points whenever you write.
  • Introduction
  • Inauguration
  • Examples
  • Major stress
  • Narrative style
  • Story
  • Pictures
  • Quotes
  • Comparisons
  • Conclusion
Once you have these kinds of points to focus, take a permutation of them on each day. Let your writing be a flow. Let it be a dance of words on your paper.

Monday, December 14, 2020

Computer and Internet can wait

 As a toddler, I started writing with my fingers on a spread of rice.


Now, when I look behind, the tool and the platform I left on the road less travelled by were  many. They kept changing as I grew up even without my knowledge. Each of these tools and the platform brings in nostalgic memories. Much more are the various thinking processes I had gone through while handling them. Each of them takes me through my formative years from being a toddler to a teacher. Let me list down the writing tools and platforms I used over the last four decades.
  1. Finger and Rice
  2. Pencil and Slate
  3. Graphite Pencil and Paper
  4. Graphite Pencil and Paper/Notebook
  5. Fountain Pen and Notebook
  6. Ballpoint Pen and Notebook
  7. Typewriter and Paper
  8. Keyboard and Computer
  9. Mobile
  10. Voice
  11. Stylus and tablet
I still use the graphite pencil and sheets of paper to draw and sometimes to write. It gives us the flexibility to correct our errors without any hurt. Many authors used to tell me that they use graphite pencils for writing. It is quite a challenging task to leave computers and the Internet. On some days you can experiment with the pencil and paper. Do not forget to keep an eraser next to you.

Thursday, December 03, 2020

Tips for writing regularly

It is wonderful to write. It is even wonderful to write on a regular manner. Here are some tips to make writing as a habit.

#Tip 1

Computer and Internet can wait: Write in a paper using a pencil without looking at a computer or using the internet.

#Tip 2

Develop a skeleton for each day.

#Tip 3

Focus on some keywords.

#Tip 4

One day at a time.

#Tip 5

Include a minimum of three new words.

#Tip 6

Aim a sentence of 11 words at a time.

#Tip 7

An explanation is not a luxury.

#Tip 8

Infuse positivity in writing by intentionally inserting pleasant words.

#Tip 9

Email what you have written, to some of your best friends.

#Tip 10

Believe in yourself. You are an excellent writer.

Tuesday, November 03, 2020

The Rereading

I feel like reading it again and again.
Then, I did it again and again.
I feel I can't reciprocate line by line.
Then I did try in vain again.

Out of me, I doubted, you were born.
Out of mind, I know, when I blow horn.
For me too, I guess, you were born
For all you do, I think, I blow my horn.

I have felt from the day one the bond.
I felt I had this supernatural connection.
I've knelt never to someone else's perception.
I feel proud to see you are on your own.

You could write, things, of your own,
On your life and on your imagination.
On your books and MacBook, and religion.
On your grandma and on your passion.

I am here to read, from dusk to dawn.
I am there to comment line by line,
And sometimes to commend a line,
Or two, but be confident of this bond.

I can't label you in this special connection,
For any label is limiting a bond.
As for me, unbounded is every bond
Spanning the boundaries of every imagination.

Monday, October 19, 2020

Religion of legions

A human being who perpetuates hatred is worse than the stinging nettles.
A religion that is not tolerant is worse than a terrorist organization.
A God who is nothing but love is the evil, if it exists.

I struggle with those who have religion for their hands and heads, than for their hearts and hence,
It is better to be alone than in a bad company.
I may die starving rather than sharing the cup of blood of my brethren.

Monday, October 12, 2020

Knowing that someone else loves what one loves

A night has passed
With a bite of shock.
Nothing seriously did I do,
But the act of night, sleep.

I am fresh, but with the tremors
I am at shock even after a night.
Hearing that you are a hoopster
Is what made me motionless.

Hearing about you singing,
Dancing, Writing, Painting
Drawing, Acting, Chanting
Would never give me shock.

What a wholesome person
One can be with a taste
For letters, stories, thoughts,
Art and a fine mix of sports!

Nights and days can't stay
So the tremors will recede
And happiness will succeed
Knowing a wholesome person! 

Rain

Rains are rare,
But when it rains,
It reigns for, sure,
One who minds.

Friday, September 11, 2020

Life as a teacher

What a great life it is!
I know not how long I live
No one knows it too.

Indeed, it's a great life
I know not how long it lasts
No one lasts long too.

To read, to write, to speak
I exist, but with no claims,
No one thought I could.

I read, I wrote, I spoke
To some fine souls
No one knows but I.

This time, my time, is
Finer than ever, than
Anyone else imagines.

It is not the longer life,
But a long teaching life,
God, grant me for you.

Tuesday, September 01, 2020

Being Wanted

What is the greatest happiness one can have in life?
Is it money, food, sex or power?
Money's value diminishes
Food's taste is short-lived
Sex leads to frustration
Power powers to hatred
None of these lasts forever.
One who lays trust in any of these has a universal name: FOOL.

What is the greatest happiness one can have in life?
A moment of being wanted.
Tes, the feeling of being wanted.
A moment of giving.
Yes, the act of giving.
These differentiate the HAPPY from the FOOL.
In the last couple of months, 
I have been happier than ever.
I have the feeling of being wanted.
Being wanted by knowledge-seekers,
Is an amazing feeling.
Oh! I can feel it.

I can't think of a session without some of you*.
You make me better.
Although I cook the same,
Like every time a mother cooks
the most delicious food for her children.
But I am getting the 'unlikely' response,
Of these magnificent ones
And that makes me feel better.
Oh! I can feel it.

O God!
What a happy person I am!
Help me serve better.
Help me feel more wanted,
Even at the cost of every loss in this world.
Supply me with knowledge seekers
To whom I can offer my life.
Enkindle me, a candle,
To be melted to the last dust of the wax
For these great ones given to me.

*My most vibrant and ever-responsive PhD scholars....

Saturday, August 01, 2020

An ode to a wonderful student

Can I believe my eyes?
How do I trust my senses?
With sheer unbelief, I started twitching my eyelids.
With utter mistrust, I started testing my senses.

Never had I seen someone so scholarly attending my sessions.
Seldom I  sense someone reshaping the uttered words into structured treatises at ease.
No one has any idea how happy I am.

Did someone tell you anytime that you have the gift of words?
No wonder, if it is so.
But, did someone tell you that you have the extraordinary gift of abstraction?
You are focused.  You have an enviable power of clasping.

May God bless you to be a mother of infinitude of written words.

Friday, June 19, 2020

Quo vadis?

What a great run during these months! 
A run in a circuit shortened by the former and the latter normals.
Restless I may, but overfull is the desktop in all sense.

Life is changed inevitably, but that is life.
Society is changed reluctantly, but that is society.
Being part of a changed society with a changed life is what I experience now.

Some pass the day fearing the unknown and the unseen to pass them.
Some fear the pass of the unknown and the unseen days.
Some pass the fear of the unknown and the unseen.

But some, like me, fear the unknown and the unseen may pass them.
My run in this short circuit makes me pass the comment
That the known and the seen are always the delightful ones.

Thursday, March 19, 2020

FISH on the shore

Fear.
Ignorance.
Suspicion.
Helplessness.

I was safe in the water.
I could go to the deep waters.
Sometimes, I could go to the shore.
I was in the sea of confidence.

Suddenly, the water is receded.
It continued to recede.
So also is my confidence.
Masked, sanitized, alienated fish is out of water.

Deep sea fish is no more in the deep.
It is in the shallow water.
Fear. Ignorance. Suspicion. Helplessness.
Alienated to insanity.
Sanitized to be masked.
Masked to be alienated.

Divided we stand. United we fall.
The new philosophy of the time.
But not a new one.
Many human covids tried to divide the people
Before the covids appeared.

Empathy
Knowledge.
Acceptance.
Support.

Rise up humanity.

Develop a skeleton for each day

One has to develop one's own habit of writing. One important  characteristic of habit is that one may not realize what one does in a hab...