Out of the mouth of babes…

So much truth in this saying… 

This morning my daughter sent us a msg saying her little 5-year old cannot find a book in her bag, but can spot a Baskin-Robbins in a super crowded mall from a mile away!!! 

Huge lesson here…..we forget the wonder of life as we grow older…we, carelessly, without thinking, allow all the dross, all our cares (imagined or real), hassles, and unhappinesses to crowd out the wonder of life…. Takes a little one to point us in the right direction…. We would do well to heed these pointers coming to us in sweet baby packages… As adults we have an amazing capacity to hang on to stressful people and in stressful environments… why not just look at life through the eyes of a child. No child will ever stay voluntarily with either stressful people or in stressful environments. No child will stay unhappy for long…the child will find her or his own corner, devise her or his make-believe game, or recreate an environment out of her or his head. Even if punished, a child will not stay ‘punished’ for long…the little one goes into her or his world and creates her or his own happiness. They never let the punishment rankle…neither do they hang on to the issue, nor do they wallow in either punishment or unhappiness…

I am 71…

and it is the going on ahead which I am thinking about. Here are some of my thoughts:

We are older and not so agile. There is a lifetime of mental, emotional, and physical wounds to deal with, illnesses to bear, financial constraints to work through and around….But, this is OUR time. Our chores and  responsibilities are over, and now, older and wiser, battered and tired, we are on the last lap….Now is our very own time to do and be just what we want to do and be. OUR TIME…and we need to enjoy this time, celebrate our small achievements, and let go of all regrets, enjoy the things we liked but didn’t have time for, be responsible for ourselves, now that responsibilities for the family are over. It is a time for enjoying our grown children and the grandchildren as they come along, and be of help as and when needed. We need to look at life, not thinking about things to be done, but as gifts to enjoy. When we needed it, we had the energy to do what needed to be done at that time. Now we only need to do what we need to do for now. But, and this is the catch, now, we need to wake up and use all our mental, physical, and hidden inner energies to celebrate and enjoy life as it happens to us now…in these moments of every day…

When we are young…

we go by what our parents teach us, and exhort us to do, and we absorb the intangibles of our home environment. We live our lives the way our parents teach us, and go by all the norms of our family. We have our place in the society our parents belong to. And so, as we grow we add to ourselves, building on the foundations our parents and society have laid for us. 

But, then, as we grow up, and have experiences of our own, our life view changes and then we try to align what we grew up with, with what is happening within us in the present. I think this is where the conflict begins. Some of what we grew up with works in our present context, some may need a little tweaking, but some downright don’t work. We tend to fail to realize that we are different people now….the environment is different, most of our ‘usual’ habits have changed, often even our focus has changed….what’s important and what’s not has changed. The old is still there, but the new overlaps it. Some of us can reconcile the two, but some find it difficult and then, very often, an insistent voice whispers in our ear - but this is not what we are used to…. Or….. this is not how it is supposed to be…. Or…..this is not how we knew it to be done….. and many such incidents which may well stop us in our tracks. This is our growing up experience, and it is not age-specific. We then find a way to work on what is happening to us (‘something not usually what we were used to’), go ahead and do it, and when the outcome is positive, we feel good about ourselves and more confident in our skin. If the outcome is negative, we are still loth to go back to the old ‘usually done/thought’ way, and so try out new methods and forge forward. However, should we flip backwards and go back to the ‘usual’, then, as persons, too, we go back trying to find refuge in the old. And this never ever ever works out. This is when the dangerous words ‘I’ve always thought/done this like this’ become a trap and take us down into the depths of depression. 

This is a life process we all go through. And we need to look out for each other…

As I grow older…

by the day I’m learning the beauty and power of words. Not only words, but the intonations, choice of meaning in words that have more than one meaning, the punctuation…the entire landscape of words that form the pictures of our minds. 

Ludwig Wittgenstein famously said: “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” And language is all about words. The connection language has with music and math becomes so clear. Words, like notes in a piece of music, or numbers in a math problem can be positive, negative, or hurtful (language)/discordant (music)/a mistake (math). 

One never stops learning how best to use words. Language is so alive that it keeps growing and if one is to make sense of this life then one cannot stop learning words. We want to describe to ourselves how we feel, we want others to understand the workings of our mind, we want to share….and all of these need not only words, but the best use of them…

Talking about the minds…

that have impacted the world, in an article I read yesterday, ‘Shared luminosity’, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, has talked about 5 powerful minds that have influenced the world’s thinking: Charles Darwin (1809-1882), Karl Marx (1818-1883), Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1939), and Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Not too far apart, and with some overlapping, these minds have left a legacy we cannot ignore.

I’m mentioning only two of the thoughts Gandhi has written about…..deep thoughts that often trouble us. The first one is relevant in the Ukraine-Russia war which might just spill over to the rest of the world….in fact, it is relevant to every country, as there is some kind of conflict in every corner of the world….it has to do with our humanity—something we tend to forget when looking at those who are seemingly different from us….and yet, in fact, are as human as we are. The second has to do with the power of our minds and how we use that power…

‘Days before he died, Einstein signed, along with Bertrand Russell and nine others (including Linus Pauling and Joliot Curie) the ‘Russell-Einstein Manifesto’ of July 9,1995, which highlighted the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called upon world leaders to renounce war and seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict. Towards its end, the text ended memorably with the words, “Remember your humanity, forget the rest.”

I do not doubt when Einstein pondered these words, the words from the author of Faust (Goethe) resounded in his mind: We are our devils; we drive ourselves out of our own Edens.”’

The rest of this wonderful article can be found here:

https://www.telegraphindia.com/amp/opinion/shared-luminosity-context-shapes-even-the-most-brilliant-of-minds/cid/1887299

So much is being written…

about the Queen’s passing. But what I am finding increasingly intriguing is how in her passing the Queen has brought the whole reality of colonisation into focus. Quite unwittingly. Historians, thought leaders and influencers are pulling out all kinds of data on colonisation and are analysing how it has affected and impacted on people and, in fact, still does. This one sole lady has, somehow, caused people to reflect on the condition of the world. She did her bit to help deconstruct and dissolve the British Empire, but it is as if a Pandora’s box has been opened with discussions and debates on the British Empire, leading to discourses and debates on other colonising powers….So many man-made and man-created empires pillaged and looted and occupied lands not their own, created so much turmoil in the lives of ordinary people, spread so much fear and grief…. Colonised nations are still trying to rebuild themselves even after years of freedom… Thing is, we are all human beings, all created in God’s image—black, white, yellow, whatever, bright, genius, not-so-bright, challenged, SLGBTQ, of various faiths and denominations…the differences are many…and yet we are all human with all of a human being’s thoughts, feelings, emotions, concerns, fears…This may sound simplistic, but it is the reality—the simple true reality which we are so busy trying to complicate. There has been huge pain in death, holocaust, partition, tortures… Can we not try and put the past behind? Can we not concentrate on the aspects of life of our countries that connect us - music, sport, literature, technology, to mention some… Can we not allow our human-ness and humanity to link us…and look to the future which comes with its own set of problems that need to be solved… that need us to work together….? 

Some people…

are like shooting stars. They appear on the firmanent of our lives, brightening up our own personal universe for a bit, scattering stardust on our quiet moments mundane lives.

Legendary Vietnam War photographer, writer, and counter-culture documenter Tim Page was one such star. An Australian friend and fellow photojournalist, Ben Bohane, described Page as one of the great war photographers as well as a “real humanist.” “He always said it was more important to be a decent human being than a great photographer,” Bohane said. 

One of Page’s famous lines was, “The only good war photograph is an anti-war photograph.”

Page covered the conflicts in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia during the 1960s and '70s. Later he covered the conflicts in Afghanistan, Solomon Islands, Israel, Bosnia, and East Timor. His images were iconic and featured in top news agencies. 

Page also worked as a freelance photographer for music magzines including Rolling Stone and Crawdaddy from the late 1960s. 

Page wrote a dozen books about his war experiences and music. 

His was not an ordinary life.

I have often wondered what makes people like Page famous? They don’t crave fame….they just live full lives, not trapped…nor allowing themselves to get trapped…in the narrow worlds made by man. Their world has no boundaries and their mind soars unafraid and untrapped by the confines we usually draw for our minds. 

The most beautiful aspect of Page’s life was that he believed in the inherent decency and dignity of man, and he lived this belief…

Some of Tim Page’s quotes:

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

They say: Belief is important. I say: No, actions are important. Judge by deed, not by creed. 

The more a man knows, the more willing he is to learn — the less a man knows, the more positive he is that he knows everything. 

I leave you with this question. How many of us will truthfully be able to say what Tim Page says:

Go where you will; commit what crime you may; fall to what depth of degradation you may; you can never commit any crime that will shut my door, my arms, or my heart to you. As long as I live you shall have one sincere friend.