Showing posts with label failure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label failure. Show all posts

Sunday, December 25, 2011

The Power Beneath the Wings....(edited)



Sangeeta Khanna is a versatile blogger friend, who goes on Himalayan bicycle treks, takes great photographs, cooks amazing recipes, and knows loads of stuff about plants because she is a trained scientist.

I recently came upon this photo , posted by her friend, a young Vipul Bansal  on FB, and it said "dedicated to Sangeeta Khanna"..... 

This is such an amazing photographic find, redolent with life meanings. There is a message somewhere in there.  For all of us....


original photo found here
Aerospace,
something to confuse,
but actually
all about
creating
your own space
in the air.

Some have fancy profiles,
aerodynamic shapes,
pilot beaks
luggage tails
and often
fancy twin engines
revving up
on two sides,
which are ignored and jettisoned
when dumb
in crisis times....

And some,
in brilliant colors,
happily plump,
with all encompassing wings
that help it soar,
and sometimes,
when the
two little life engines
are still new,
the wings
open and enfold them,
doing a vertical takeoff,
teaching them
what flying high is all about.

We've really never learned
that success
is all about
teaching someone
to fly high with you,
and never about
how to jettison folks
who are problematic to you......


Sunday, June 12, 2011

The Bells of Life

My blogger friend Harekrishnaji, loves to travel on the small roads in Maharashtra, and finds places unknown to others. He spied this ancient bell at an old ( 1000 years) Shiva temple that he visited recently; and the other photographs are here.

It just rang a bell somewhere in my old mind.... a Marathi verse resulted. The English version follows.

(photo by Harekrishnaji)
आयुष्याच्या कितीतरी
डोंगर माथ्यांवर
मनाच्या देवळात घंटा वाजतात .....
"अरे, जरा जपून "... ची घंटा ,
"दहा अंक मोज रे , मग बोल " ची घंटा,
"खोटं बोलू नकोस "....ची घंटा ,
मग कधी कधी
हर्षभराने वाजवलेली घंटा,
यशाने हुरळून जाउन वाजवलेली घंटा ,
कधी
देवाला आळवून पाणावलेल्या डोळ्यांनी वाजवलेली घंटा ....
आणि
एखाद्या पावसाळ्यातील ढगाळलेल्या
संध्याकाळी ,
दुखरे गुढगे सांभाळत
खरे डोंगर चढून ,
नातवाला उंच करून
"जय बाप्पा "
म्हणून वाजवलेली खरी घंटा ...
आणि गाभार्यातला तो म्हणतो ,
"आयुष्य हे असा असतं...."

The bell chimes
so many times,
filling our minds,
high up,
in the
Temples
of our life.

It chimes to say
"Take care...",
Then again,
to ask you,
to count till 10,
before blowing your cool;
Then a warning chime,
saying.
"Please Don't lie...";

And then
inexplicably,
sometimes
it chimes
with the sounds of Joy,
and
the flush of success
sometimes
decorated
with a tinge of
hope and sadness.....

Many moons later,
Late
on a cloudy monsoon evening,
as you trudge
up the hill,
to the temple,
on sqeaky arthritic knees,
and lift your grandkid
to
ring the
real bell,
joining him
in celebrating
and
praising the Big One,
He peers at you
from the inner sanctum,
nods, winks,
and says,
"That's Life for you !...."