Don't be a disaster journalist...

at least when chronicling life, that is.

Today, I was showing my daughter (who is almost a year now - time has the pace of a concord) the pleasure of being thrown up in the air. She was pleasantly surprised as was evident from her smile revealing her two small teeth. There is something in a baby's smile that attracts you like none other - may be its the innocence that they seamlessly possess or maybe its the fact that they are so un-adult (I know, its not a word) like.

The sun was shining bright through the window and its rays ignited a sparkle in her eyes. There it was - a moment I would  like to cherish and store - my daughter and I having a great time together.

But then , the inevitable afterthought had to ruin it for me. In life, we tend to be like disaster journalists when we chronicle our life. Flip through the photos in your mental photo album - have memories of unfortunate events registered  more than the pleasant ones? We tend to remember how friends, kith and kin were mean to us, how we got the short end of the stick in our lives and how hard it is to get through a normal day. When we grow old, will we talk about our kid's rebellion or will we talk about  all the fun time we had with them?

I don't know the answer, but I sure would like to capture the beauty of the moments that were pure joy and bliss, rather than focusing on the spectacle and ruin of moments that I would rather forget. The  truth is that bad moments hit us hard and the more we try to forget them, the more etched they are in our brains. Maybe the key is trying hard to forget the pleasures we own now, thereby digging it deeper into our memories.

BTW, did I tell you about the motorcycle accident I had? Oh wait...

Fireflies in a jar

Lights shone bright, music played crisp and his mood was elated. As he hummed  to the tune of the song that was being played, his hands kept going in and out of the small bag of chips he had on his lap. If he had paused for a moment and had a thought, that would have been "How could this moment get any better?".

And then, the lights went out.

Instantly, he was kicked out of his comfort zone. The bag of chips ceased to be a guilty pleasure. As he waddled through the dark corners of the room, he saw a small beam of amber light coming from a corner. He approached the source of that light swiftly, and as he turned the corner, he was delighted to find out what it was.

It was a jar of fireflies. He opened the lid and the fireflies flew out, lighting up his room. There he was, laying down again, being reminded of a night when the sky was clear and the stars shone bright. He then thought to himself - "How could this moment get any better?".

Come to think of it, isn't that how true friends are in life? They may seem insignificant or worthless when everything around you is bright and joyful. But then, when things go dark in your life, they come out and shine a light, however small, to instantly rid you of your phobias.

So get your jar if you don't have one already, and start collecting. Load up your quiver with more arrows to fight the uncertainties and unfortunate events in your life. The war of life will happen nonetheless, but you will be sufficiently armed for the onslaught. And carry the jar close to your heart as you hustle through the busy streets of life - who knows when you might need to turn the lid open? That scary dark street might be just a corner away.


P.S - I owe the conception of this thought stream to this lovely song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI4JLa0hbUw. I recommend taking a hear when you have some time to spare.

A series of fortunate events

(You are being forewarned - this is a long post; but I have done my best to keep it interesting. Hope you like it!)
******

"911. what is your emergency?"
I took a deep breath and replied -  "I am stuck in left most lane on highway 680. My SUV just refuses to start!"
---
We had been planning on going for a cabin trip for a while. The excitement really began to build in the last week prior to the trip. 7 of my friends, their families, a rusty wood cabin in south lake Tahoe and a weekend. Mix all of that in equal proportions and it becomes a perfect recipe for fun. I took off from work early that day and started packing for the trip.First step, clear all the junk that has piled up in my not so fuel efficient SUV. I cleaned up, locked the car, threw the trash in our apartment dumpster and got back to my home. It was then I noticed that the car key was missing. Maybe I left it in my other car - I thought. I took the keys of the other car and looked  - No, it isn't there. Then it struck me and the mere thought of it brought sweat to my temples - Yep, I had thrown it with the other trash into the dumpster. Fortunately, the dumpster had not been cleared yet, so I was able to retrieve it. While walking back, I thought - the other car is pretty messy too, I should clean it. So I followed through.
---
"Ok, is there anyone other than you in the car?"
"Yes - my wife, 2 kids and my mom". After making sure that all of us were alright, she said that she would send someone to help us in a couple of minutes.
---
"I think that's it", I said as I was looking around inside the apartment. "Right?" and I looked at my wife for reassurance. She usually remembers all the stuff that I forget (and most of the time, they are the most important ones). "I think so. If we missed anything, we can always buy it from there.",  she said as she was walking towards the car. Kids loaded? check. Seatbelts clicked? check.Directions? Check. "OK Jacob, let's go!" - I shouted in excitement and off we were to a fun trip. Or so we thought.
---
"Does this mean we won't be able to get to the cabin?" My son asked with tears rolling down his eyes.
"No, Jacob. I called someoone and they are going to send someone to help us."
"Yaaay!", came his reply. I was just glad that everyone in the car were calm and were not freaking out. I wouldn't be surprised if they did - After all, we were right in the middle of a highway, stranded in car on the left most lane and waiting for help of some sort. I started calling my friends one by one to update them of my status.
---
As we made made a turn to get out of our apartment complex, I took out my phone to make a call and thought - "Darn, the keys of the other car are still in my pocket - Now I will have to carry these through the weekend. Too late to return and put it back.". I called my friend and told him that we were on our way ahead of the scheduled time and that we will make it to the cabin well before nightfall. At this point my wife said "You know what, we forgot to take the beach chairs - now we won't have chairs to sit on the beach". Oh well, it is only the chairs, that's fine, we concluded.
---
In the rear view mirror, I saw 2 motorcycles with sirens and lights come to a stop behind my vehicle. "Ah, help has come" - I said with a sigh of relief. He gave me instructions to slowly turn the car back to the shoulder lane and as I followed, the vehicle slowly slid back into the shoulder lane, clearing the path for the traffic behind us. "The tow truck is on it's way" one of the cops said and they were on their way. "That was quick" I said to my mom and my wife alluding to the fact that the it had only been around 10 minutes since our car stopped to take my orders. "Is a big truck coming?" My son asked. "Yes, and it is going to take our car out of this road" I replied as I got out of the car and kept an eye out for an enormous ( and yellow most of the time) tow truck.
---
"Oh god, the traffic is horrible" my mom said as we were trying to merge into the highway filled with people and cars trying to "getaway from it all" during the weekend. As we were moving inch by inch, I called and synchronized the statuses of all of the attendees of our cabin trip - everyone was on their way except one. His son had some homework to do, so they will be starting late. "Oh no, they will be missing the early fun", I said in disappointment. "At least we will get some time to unwind since we reach there early", my wife added. Little did she know that it was all about to change in 20 minutes.
---
Approximately 20 minutes later, our car sputtered, hissed and then came to a stop as it was climbing a small slope under an overpass. That marks the end of this time warp and takes us to the beginning of the story.

Let me speed you through the rest of story as it is not interesting as the previous part had been (at least to me). The tow truck came (contrary to my assumption, it was not yellow - it was white and did I mention huge?), loaded my SUV onto it. My son and I were amazed at the sheer size and capability of this truck (I think it's a guy thing). We then rode back to an exit and and were unloaded onto a "safe zone" (I rode in the tow truck and my family, in another SUV that accompanied the tow truck). So there we were - in the parking lot of a shopping complex, waiting for the AAA technician and wondering whatever will happen to our greatly anticipated weekend getaway.

Now, you may be thinking - what does this title have to do with this story? You had all this happen and you call it a series of fortunate events? I know - I must be crazy, right? Let me explain - as it took me 3 weeks to figure it out - the prominence of the title is in the unfolding of events after this point.

The AAA technician finally arrived and he said he couldn't fix it that day, so he would have to take it to his shop. They would be closed for the weekend, so he could take a look at it only on Monday. I called my friend, who had not started for the trip yet, arranged for him to come and pick me up, transferred all our stuff on to his trunk, kept the keys of my SUV under the front carpet, locked it and left it there to be picked up by the AAA guy. We then drove back to my apartment, got the other car, came back to the "safe zone", picked up my family and were on our way to the cabin trip. It was like nothing happened. The weekend was great, we had a lot of fun and our family realized that a huge SUV does not augment to one's capability of having fun.

Now to the series of fortunate events - Cleaning out the other car enabled us to take the car for the trip. It helped that we left the beach chairs at home as it would not have fit into my other car or my friend's SUV. I locked my vehicle when I left it for pickup, so taking the other set of keys helped me to get back into my apartment and take the other car for the trip. If it were not for bumper to bumper traffic, some other car would have rammed into us when we suddenly slipped into "stationary" mode on the freeway. And finally, had my friend started early, we would have hailed a cab, gone back home and spent the weekend thinking -"Whatever  happened to our ever reliable SUV?". Besides, the traffic did not let us go very far from where we live, thus "making the trip back home and then heading out again idea" a realistic one.

To conclude, here is what I think - unfortunate events can happen at any time in your life, but if you have a series of fortunate events precede it and great friends to break your fall, the event may turn out to be - well, not that unfortunate.

Who appointed you the leader...

of this moral outfit?

Yes, I am talking to you - the CEO of big corp who was once an entrepreneur, took advantage of all the facilities a middle class society provided and now wants the middle class eliminated.

Yes, I am talking to you - the priest who talks about what the lord commanded us to do, works towards elimination of women's choice, vehemently supports the preservation of  'the sanctity of marriage' and then molests boys behind the walls of a closed confession box.

Yes, I am talking to you - the married couple who say they are too busy to have kids, claim that they are not mature enough to raise kids and then lecture others on how to properly raise their kids.

Yes, I am talking to you - the mullah who swears by the Koran, preach brotherly love and then brainwash kids to strap explosives around them and fight infidels so you can have your moral orgasm.

Yes - I am talking to you - the elected representative who puts on a 'friendly face' mask while you plead for votes, promise the people their unfettered dedication and love, and then go to bed with special interests and their lobbying prostitutes.

Yes, I am talking to you - the Hindu pujari who supposedly embodies negation of worldly pleasures, is a servant of the gods, but refuses to touch a devotee because he/she is from a lower caste.

Yes, I am talking to you - the political and financial pundit who is a know it all and is an 'enabler' of the common man, but try to push your own agenda through scare tactics and other worldly intimidation.

And finally, I am talking to you - the person in the mirror, who set out to lead a good life, provide for you and your family and do some good deeds along the way, but ended up selling up a piece of your soul to be a "team player" for humanity so that you can be a "normal" and "successful" specimen of the homosapien species.

You may be a leader of hypocrisy, but a leader of me - you are not. I know that there is next to no chance of this happening, but I am going to keep hoping that our paths do not cross.

End Rant.