Ode to the daughter of the East

From a daughter rose she to the leaders role
A vision carried forth; afforded to the masses
Fearless in the wake of a rising storm
She rode each tide with graceful form

Traversing glory; fervor amidst the masses
Bellowed a voice that resonated between borders
Swaying the winds of change she progressed
Carrying a message, questions to be addressed

Exiting swiftly before time’s natural demise
Ripples a tide that has swept our corridors
Her presence departed; existence giving way
Remain the ideals, a legacy; the message will still play

Rest In Peace!

The last one breaks the camel’s back!

It starts out fine. You mellow into the zone, the mood kicks in nicely and you are at your ‘fluid’ best; friendly enough to have a conversation with just about anyone, yet coherent enough for them to understand what you are talking about.

Then time ticks away (slowly at first) and you refuel on another just to keep you level. And then the conversation gets funnier, the music sounds better and the moods gets nicer.

Tick tock tick tock, the activity repeats itself a couple of more times and now the conversation is funny without words, the music is perfectly synched to the evening and time is whizzing by on fast forward.

Next thing you know it’s closer to 2 am and you remember your early morning for an errand or some work that seemed quite manageable when you started out even though your schedule was heavily pre-booked.

Boom, you go for the last one of the evening before calling it a night and suddenly, conversations aren’t funny anymore; they are borderline irritating, the music isn’t quite synched in; its plain noise and you are in a rush to head home so you can get some shut eye before the day breaks!

Tick, tick, tick, boom, boom, boom, your head aches like it has a freight train doing the choo choo with a full load and the sunlight is a tad bit too bright for a cloudy day.

You heave yourself out of bed; grab that coffee and toast (bagel for the Americans I guess) and try to hit the day full speed.

Only to realize, the day isn’t friendly, people seem fresher (when compared to you) and conversations are best avoided as the slightest sound drives a spike between your temples.

Yup the last one does break the camel’s back. “Should’ve quit when I was ahead “you think to yourself; but soon enough memory fades as the evening nears and the cycle inevitably repeats itself. The people seem friendlier again, the conversations get funny all over and boy, are you glad to be in a good mood (again)!!

Rambling Remembered Randomly And Rapidly

Inspired Instinctively by V for Vendetta

Rhetoric resonance resorts to regenerating raw ramblings reviewed rather regularly. However, having hinted hurdles helps hamper hurried hatchings harming helpless humans who have hope. This tumult tries tirelessly to tease those trespassers trying tempestuously to tackle tedious tasks taken totally thoughtlessly though they think the tasks tried tabulate the tireless thoughts taken to town thanklessly. Seen sometimes suspiciously, some surreal suppliers submit such salacious stories, seeking subtle snapbacks, somehow stated straight-faced so sweetly.

When we wonder where we went wrong we wonder why; we wonder who, while we whither willingly with wettest waterworks while waning woefully! After all, arrogance and annoyance, awkward attributes, awarded anonymously, avail actions after acting abrasively and allot aches and agony.

However, harmfulness has handed humans hard hits, hampered human health but borne between banishment begins beautiful, infinite inflection impacting incidences inducing insight, initiating implicit expressions, enacting elegance, working wondrously when whatever weighs one wholly!

Holiday season!

Why is it that when I think of ‘holiday’ I imagine time-off, relaxation, time to myself and activities to do at my leisure but as soon as the season arrives, each day brings at least two overlapping activities/wedding invitations/dinners to welcome the season/evening soirees to reminisce the year gone behind/something or the other, every evening.

Not enough that one’s evenings are booked back to back; all this is coupled with an extra load of work to churn out before the long break equaling late evenings at the desk, rushing home to change equaling additional stress on the road (because I’m guessing everyone is going through the same thing) equaling no time-off, little relaxation (if you count falling on the bed late at night because your body is just giving up as relaxation), hardly any time to oneself (either on the road, at a soiree, wedding, dinner or something else) and no activities getting done because; well hey, one is too tired to do anything anyway!

Oh yes, there’s also Christmas shopping for some of us amongst all this and New Year plans to follow suit along with no added pressure of making resolutions you know you are not going to keep.

Why you ask?

Because you are probably too busy not taking time-off to reflect, not relaxed to put your resolution to action, have little time to yourself in order to see if the resolution is working and heck, let’s face it, the activities are running you instead of the other way around anyway!

But somehow, in the end, after all this retrospect, I can’t help but smile to myself and think . . . I like it!

It’s a busy life but someone’s gotta do it! And that someone is me, it’s you and it’s everyone around us.

Happy holidays, Eid Mubarik, Merry Xmas and a busy, hectic, resolute, active New Year!

The Elevator Look

Ever wonder why when you are in an elevator one tends to look at the numbers of the floors change? Why we are insistent on looking like we are doing something useful for those few seconds which seem to last a lot longer than they should?

Man (meant mankind here since this is an equal opportunity blog) by nature has an inherent need to be (or look) busy or let me rephrase that; man by nature does not want to look idle (meant stupid here) when in the company (close quarters owing to the limited space in an elevator) of others!

You all know about the 18 inches of space which is our invisible bubble within which we feel we are secure? My guess is this is an inherent instinct etched in our genetic code probably during our times when we were secure inside a womb protected from all elements outside our world!

What goes through one’s mind when in an elevator?

“Hmmm so the numbers really do change at exact intervals”

“I didn’t notice that there are 57 symmetrical lines each on both doors before”

“I hope my floor is the first stop so I can get out of this sardine can!”

“I wonder if jumping up at the exact moment before the elevator hits the floor really does work.”

Yes, yes we are funny creatures when we introspect on these little (but essentially important) activities that seem to have become a part of all our everyday lives.
Ding. ‘Second floor” blurts the computerized voice as I nudge my way out from this OTIS invention circa 1996 complete with an emergency stop button, a hidden security camera and an intercom I hope will work if when lights go out.

Trout or not to trout

Gutting a fish!

Well over the weekend I got into my cooking mode so decided to make some rainbow trout (the common name given to a number of species of freshwater fish belonging to the salmon family) for dinner.

As I opened the neatly sealed Styrofoam box from Shangri-La Fish Farms (+92-300 988 8338), I was faced with the realization that I would have to ‘gut’ the fish myself (on account that our cook has not come back from his one week holiday currently running into its third week!)

Well I sharpened the biggest knife I could find in the kitchen and washed the fish. Flipped it over and let the knife make a neat incision from neck to navel on the soft underbelly of a very good looking fish.

Boy was I surprised to find that it is not as easy as it looks when watching someone else do it. The innards are soft, hard to grip (due to the fish slime) and are quite securely (duh no big surprise) connected at both ends i.e. the mouse and the ass!
Well I dove in (hands first of course) and pulled out the organs and placed them in a sealed plastic bag to throw out in the dumpster (since I didn’t want the kitchen to reminisce and linger on too much about my mid-afternoon adventure). Using the knife with the skill of jack the ripper I sliced and diced out all the things that needed removal (am avoiding details for you light hearted readers).

One experience nonetheless needs to be shared on account of its grossness and humor.

As I tugged at what can only be described as the stomach attached to very frizzy intestines, (picture Weird Al Yankovic with electrocuted hair) the fish farted! Yes, it let out a rip-roaring flatulent flurry which sounded like a mini scooter motor sputtering on its last drops of gasoline. Thank the Lord it didn’t have the aromas associated with this particular activity, else the plan for dinner would have come to a very sudden stop at that point.

Needless to say I ventured on as a brave (and newly enlightened) chef and finished cleaning the fish till it was a smooth fillet out of a magazine and ready for the marinade (my own recipe). Into the wok it went with vegetable oil for that deep-fried taste and ten minutes later voila.

Mm hmm I tell you the trout was delish!

Next on the menu; prawn tempuras and clam pasta!

Destiny Vs. Freewill

The ultimate debate topic! Probably as old as the war between good and evil, more talked about than the last Oscar’s and an answer as sought after as the Holy Grail.

So I pose the question: In a battle between Freewill and Destiny, who would win?

My answer . . . well it’s more of a thought, rather than an ‘answer’ and it goes something like this...

First the definitions.

Destiny:

1. The inevitable or necessary fate to which a particular person or thing is destined; one's lot.
2. A predetermined course of events considered as something beyond human power or control

Freewill:

1. Done of one's own accord; voluntary.

Destiny, by default, would be the winner because as derived from the original word, Destination, it is the conclusion/purpose/objective of a journey. Why, you ask? Well because if destiny is the eventual end then freewill is the path towards that eventual objective/end.

We as humans wish to have the ability to manage or maneuver our choices as our own devices however its time to fess up people. Its already pre-ordained, its already written and though you chose between the latte or the cappuccino or the blue shirt versus the white, that ‘final’ decision of yours which you felt (and rightly so) oh so good about was already preordained to be that way anyway.

So here’s my two bits of wisdom: don’t waste time in debating or finding the eventual ‘winner’ of this debate, they are one and the same thing and its just a loop out there to keep your grey matter buzzing so we can feel like we really pondered upon some knowledge that was just not out there or that ‘aha’ moment when you reach a particular deduction.

Hey, I just noticed something! Destiny, Definition, Default, Derived, Destination, Devices, Decision, Devices, Debate and Deduction . . . huh? Do you see the pattern I am getting at?

I just had my ‘Aha’ moment. Let me know when you’ve had yours!

Selfish by Nature

Man (meant ‘mankind’ and not just the male species of the human race) is selfish by nature.

Perhaps one of the only ‘absolute’ truths in my opinion out there.

Definition of ‘Selfish’: Concerned chiefly or only with oneself (source www.answers.com)

Whatever it is that man does; an act of kindness, a good deed or a selfless action, it is motivated from one’s own desire to attain inner peace or that mental ‘feel-good’ fix where one enjoys that fuzzy feeling resonate within one’s self.

Hence, as my hypothesis states, the good deed is also a selfish act. Any selfless deed at some level when mined or looked inside the sanctorum of your spirit shall echo this one common denominator. It felt good! Now if it felt good to you (which would be the normal reaction/inflection), is that not an act of selfishness where your satisfaction or personal gratification is the motivation; and I’m speaking at a bare-all-the-bones, basic feeling in black and white and not the shades-of-grey, be true to yourself when asking this, kind of way.

Personally I think that we have associated selfishness with negative connotations however depending on the outcome of one’s actions it should be defined neutrally with consequences of a positive or negative nature, as would be the case with other traits we would not regard in a negative or harsh manner.

Now you’re thinking about intentions and all that jazz. Well intentions are another ball game altogether and I might be tempted to write another note on that sometime.
So I’m gonna be a bit selfish today and help out the next chap in ‘need’ so I can do my good deed of the day.

Yes I’m selfish; I’m not afraid to admit it and I like it!