Shoe Bite

“Yet another shoe bite?” I inquired rather animatedly seeing my friend’s funny gait. She displayed her cute smile as a response and said, “New shoes, new bite!”

“And still you wear it with a smile! What happened to the old one?”

“I’m done with it. I anyway was dragging it for too long." 

I shot an I-am-not-convinced look at her.

"Chill dear!" She said. "Just because a new shoe may bite doesn't mean I’m not going to try one. Also, it’s not that every shoe bites. And the only way to know which one does and which doesn't is to try one!” Her smile remained intact but mine disappeared because in her statement I discovered an important lesson about relationships. 

Sometimes we are so afraid of an emotional bite that we simply don't move on even though that’s the wisest thing to do. We are so hell bound on treating a present relationship on the basis of what we learned from our past that we almost prepare ourselves for an impending bite (which may not ever happen!). 

*

Rhyme

While perusing the work of a famous poet I found two kinds of poems in it: one, with impeccable rhyming lines that made for an engaging read and second, lines with no sense of rhyming and yet they read profound.

It made me introspect: whenever Life gave me a line, a situation, I got busy searching the correct rhyming line for it so that the poem of my life too read like others did. I don't know why I was made to believe if I was doing what everyone else was it was the right thing. It took me away from myself because my existence became a game-of-reactions with Life. It would give me a situation and I would react to it in a conditioned manner. Basically, rhyming with my life’s lines made me conform to what most people were, may be, but more importantly what I was not.

Done with the poetry I concluded I shall let Life choose whatever line it wants to and I’ll choose mine. After all it’s my life. And I should be the one to decide whether to rhyme Life’s lines with something we all are conditioned to do from the beginning or react to it with something that I as an individual prefer.    

*

Channel Surfing

When the time came for me to watch the television serial I was excited about since morning; the channel was gone. I was angry, frustrated, upset all at the same time. When I switched on the television it was on channel number 21. And I ended up surfing forward the three hundred plus channels installed in my television set with no success. Finally, I saw the channel I was looking for at channel number 20.

Sometimes, the incident taught me, the things we want in life are so close to us that we end up overlooking them.

*

The Edible Quotient

There are two dishes in front of me: one contains loads of peas in it and the other has a lot of capsicum. The peas taste great but the capsicum seems uncooked. I inquire about it. I am told the extent to which capsicum, in general, is cooked so that it becomes edible is much less than what peas need. I realize though both are vegetables but they essentially have a different ‘edible’ quotient. Likewise, I feel we all have our own ‘edible’ quotient. Nature ‘cooks’ some of us more and some less only to connect us to the best we can be. Its a waste of time to look at others and be judgmental about oneself.

*

Re-touch

One was sitting on the bed. The other was on a chair. The one on the bed was virtually retouching a photograph on his laptop while the one on the chair was admiring the same but the untouched version of it in his own computer. Once the one on the bed was done he said, “See how awesome it looks now!”

“But that’s not what it naturally was.”

“Okay! But I’ll get more likes in FB than your natural one would.” He mocked.

This was not the first time he saw his friend re-touch a photograph. It made the one sitting on the chair wonder:

Most of the time his friend’s action was a reaction to his presumption of other’s judgment and an imaginary conclusion of it being embarrassing. At every step he had this pervert urge to re-touch his natural self to become more acceptable. But, isn't embracing the imperfection within one a part of being oneself too? And isn't the will-to-re-touch something natural itself a disgusting way to puncture one’s self-esteem?

“I’ll put the photograph just the way I took it. More than anyone else’s like, I love it that way.” The one on the chair said.

*

Boiling Milk

I’m in the kitchen. I put the bowl filled with milk on the oven. I turn on the burner. I wait for the milk to start boiling. I hum a song as well. I hear my mobile phone ring out loud. I realize it’s in the bedroom. I scamper out to attend the call. I come back in the kitchen after some time. I see the boiling milk has spilled all over the place. It’s a mess.

I was committed to boil the milk. Thus, it was important for me to ignore the call. I didn't.

Now all I can do is clean up. But will I be able to retain the spilled milk? Some of it at least?

I sigh.

*

Rocket

All my life I have seen rockets embellishing the night sky during a festival. But the following observation and the subsequent realization happened for the first time during the recent Ganesh Chaturthi.

A guy placed a rocket inside a glass bottle and lit the tiny tail branching out from its chest. A moment later the rocket scooted high up in the air where it expressed itself via a delightful explosion.

Even a rocket remains bottled, to start with, before the necessary fire triggers its journey high up in the sky where it realizes it’s true and irrevocable potential.

*