When you want to write

I want to write.

I need words, I need the topic, I need some inspiration.

Why? To impress people. Because I don't have much to do today. I want to pen down my thoughts and try to think of myself as an intellectual.

A motion picture of a man brooding over some pages with his fountain pen at his desk is what plays in my mind. Intelligence, thoughts, words, pages, fountain pen.

Actually, its all imagination.

A dusty screen, a keyboard with some non-functional keys, a blank mind is all I have.

Funny how imagination plays such a vital role in our lives. When I want to write something I am imagining people admiring me, complimenting my post, (I am even doing that now, imagining posts popping up which say 'Nice read', 'Good one bro', 'Super macha'.) and me grinning and feeling that I have achieved something.

When I think of it from another angle, it isn't a great way to be appreciated by people. Why be appreciated at all? 

Why do people write actually? 

To pen down their feelings, so that they feel lighter or richer when those words are transmuted from their mind to their books?

So that the verse that is in a state of flux in their heads can be worked upon by noting it down and thinking about it.

To try to shift the chaotic sentences forming in their heads to the paper and then try to sift through them, arrange them in order and then understand what they were thinking.

To feel lighter, now that all that was bothering them is now recorded in another medium which they can refer to later on, and hence ensure that their mind is calmer.

Why do people write?

Why do I write?

I write to share. What I feel, what I am going through. Somewhere in the corner of my heart I want to connect with someone reading my blog, through my articles and say 'Hey friend, I empathize with you, connect with you and can relate to you, without knowing you, if you liked what I wrote, if it made you relax, smile or laugh, it made me happy'

I do like appreciation. I feel nice when people compliment me on something that I wrote, but trust me the compliments are few and far apart. The compliments, more often than not, are the reason to sit and write something, like I did right now. I wanted to write something today, to impress someone, to convince myself that I am intelligent, To imagine myself to be that poet or writer who comes home from work and broods over his desk with a cup of coffee and pens poems.

No. Not at all. I am a simple guy who comes home from work, gets his filter coffee, sips it, reads something, listens to some music and writes to share what he feels, thinks and likes with other people. That is who I am.

I write to share.....

Small things

Everyone runs after big things, a house, a car, a promotion, a performance award, victory in an argument and so on and so forth. Everyone is chasing something big. In the process, many of us actually speed through the day. Sometimes that goal becomes so overwhelming, we just don't see and appreciate the small things around us.

I started thinking about this after a chance meeting with a friend for a cup of tea at a thela. I actually felt nice, when I realized I was in the same area as him, when I called him and he was available to have some tea at a tea stall.

Nothing remarkable, old friend, small tea stall, a normal cup of tea with the taste being nothing to write about, but it made me feel nice. Meeting after some time, talking, enjoying the tea.

Then I started thinking a little more and found that when I try to remember all the so called big things I achieved, I don't feel much now. Small things though, if I when I remember them, I tend to still feel nice when I relive those moments.

Mundane things like,

When
A person who is normally rude to me spoke in a pleasant manner
I got a window seat in a crowded bus, by chance after a couple of stops
The fast local train I boarded actually sped past stations
I got a side lower berth or a lower berth without expecting to be allotted one
A person or a service provider actually spoke nicely to me and did my work efficiently
I got some green chilly free when I purchased vegetables
I saw a movie without expecting much and it turned out to be very good
I switched on the FM radio and one of my favorite songs started playing on some channel
A person driving a rickshaw didn't refuse and speed away spewing dust in my face
I got change for Rs 100 at a shop for purchasing a packet of biscuits
I got dry coconut chutney with my plate of Idli without actually asking for it
I find that the coffee filter has some decoction in it, so that I don't have to boil water to prepare it
I get an offer which lets me order two pizza's for the price of one
The ready made garments I purchase for myself do not require alteration and fit me perfectly

And many more such small things in life....

Whenever I remember such things, and they make me feel good, I sometimes wonder how happy life would be if we focused on these small things one at a time rather than rush behind that one big goal.

Not saying that we shouldn't have goals or aims in life, but what if we appreciated these moments as and when we came across them and enjoy them? What if we paid more attention whenever we have an opportunity to enjoy such moments. Like when I used to walk across Parsi Dairy farm everyday and one fine day I went inside and purchased some milk cake and savored it. When I actually spoke to someone I was longing to speak to and enjoyed the conversation. When I made up with a friend I had a quarrel with..so on and so forth.

I am sure there would be many such opportunities and moments to look forward to. Instead of being burdened with excelling, performing, achieving, winning all the time, I could also look forward to enjoying, relishing, blushing, thinking, listening.....

Food for thought....