A Thinking Man

Reflections on Life

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What are we running for?

Filed Under: Philosophy

I don’t understand the hurry of modern life. We’ve loaded ourselves with commitments. We spend 9 hours at work, 3 hours in commute, 7 hours in sleep. What have we been left with? 5 hours? And, if you take out time that goes into chores of daily personal and home maintenance, what’s left? 2-3 hours of personal time. No wonder we look forward so much for the weekend. We need time right, to enjoy what we’ve been so feverishly working for. So, when weekend comes, we don our finest clothes, visit the nearest pub, drink ourselves to glory, pull out our cameras, snap a few pictures, with ourselves in it, lest we feel that experience was never real.

But, is this how life is supposed to be? To live life on the weekends only? Why isn’t anyone questioning it? Why have we accepted life in this form? What choice do we have here?

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Through Covid Hell

Filed Under: Personal

10 days back my grandmother tested positive for Covid. Then, a few days later, my mother tested positive, followed by my uncle. They showed mild symptoms and were duly put under medication. It was very scary and I was worried.

Everyday news was filled with one horror story after another. Oxygen crisis in one place, medicine unavailability in another. I’ve known a lot of my own friends and acquaintances lose their loved ones to the disease. So, my fear was palpable. Anxiety was at the extreme. I was worrying about even slight variations in the vitals of not one but three family members.

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New Hobos

Filed Under: Personal

Home. I’ve written about it quite a few times in the past. It is a topic that keeps coming up in my thoughts time and again because it is something that is close to my heart and because Covid-19 has shown us how important they are.

What is a home? An oasis. A place to retreat at the end of the day. A place we run our lives from. A place we break bread with people close to our heart. A place that protects us. Once the main door is closed, we are off-limits to others. It is a place for self expression. A place to decorate after our own interests. A place that reflects our tastes. A place where our hobbies are given space.

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Contemplating my Mortality

Filed Under: Philosophy

‘Memento Mori’. Death has never been so right in front of our face than over the last one year. More so, over the last month in India with Covid ravaging the country. You see news filled with one distress story after another. Your heart goes out to them. You know you are not very different from them. It could’ve easily been you, instead of them. You fear, you have anxiety worrying what will happen if you are stuck with Covid? True, many won’t die (thankfully). But, who lives and who dies is still a roll of dice in the air. So, we all worry. We try to bury ourselves in our work, families and try to keep the anxiety at bay. I’m no exception.

But, what if our number is up? Are we ready to leave? Will we ever be ready to leave?

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The Peace of Wild Things

Filed Under: Philosophy

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

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