Happiness

I am a subscriber of positivity pages on social media. Most of them tell me to find happiness within. Honestly, this concept never made sense to me. How can I find happiness within me when everyone around me was pouring sadness over me, making me sad in the process? Everyone has problems and thats what they want to talk about first. As a listener you can be easily swayed into that direction. So what is finding happiness? And how do you do it?

I just exited my forty first year of life. Maybe half-way or more than half-way through and finally I learnt what this means. It is not happiness that one should seek, but stability or equilibrium with yourself and your thoughts. Happiness simply follows. The first step is to know yourself and draw a boundary around yourself. You will not sway outside this boundary, give yourself enough room to feel your emotions, but don’t let anyone else’s emotion cross the boundary and mingle with yours. It took me a long time to know myself. I am still not there, but I know I am on my way. This path of self-identification is helping me understand who I really am.

When you don’t know yourself, you build these walls of sand around you thinking they are your boundary, but the slightest wind will crumble them. You can never be happy within these fake walls. Its days and days of pretense which you want to believe is the real thing. You cannot wake up one day and say, yes, I have no more fake walls. It takes time effort and people around you to help you get there.

Finally when you find happiness within, nobody can touch it and change its baseline. It is a state of enlightenment, maybe the first step to enlightenment. It’s been a year since I wrote the first part of this blog. At 42 I feel I have come closer to myself and found happiness sitting there warm and cozy. It’s not an easy find, it’s not an easy journey to yourself. Once found, your thoughts are elevated. Do I really need to say something here? Maybe not. Does this really impact me? Maybe not. Does anyone need my opinion? Probably not. Before saying anything you put your happiness first subconsciously and determine the course of action that doesn’t meddle with your inner equilibrium.

You finally know what you want actually let me take that back, you finally know what you don’t want. You can clearly delineate between the negative energies in your life and can manage them. You finally see that door you’ve been looking for and it’s within reach. You can run. You can be free. You can be happy.

Pieces

The pieces

Lay scattered

When they don’t fit

I realize

Their sharp corners

And

The hollowness within

Why are the pieces scattered

Shouldn’t they be complete

There is that one piece

That fell off the table

Long ago

The hollowness within

A resounding echo

Of the emptiness..

Hello

Hello

He said

I am here

Where here, she didn’t see no one

Treading the same land

Seeing the sun as you do

She skipped jumped

Hopped

Her dream of each night

Was coming true

Could this be true

Would it finally happen

Maybe

She mused

When can I see you

The ray had got to her

Through the cloudy skies

She had waited

Days

Months now

To be held

In love

In life..

My little one

Your eyes filled with a million dreams

Tears that roll down your little cheeks

A scary dream about me shatters you

Lying down on my lap

Is your happy moment

When you are happy you have to share it

With me

When you are disturbed

Telling me reassure you

This trust you have in me

That I am there for you

How did you learn this my little one

Was it when I held you

As you took your first steps

Or when I fed you as your little tummy growled

Was it when I held you

Each time you fell ill

Or did it form deep within

Even before I held you

This trust is the strongest of the strong

That I strive everyday

My little one

To hold onto

With my every being.

Journeys

I wanted to travel around the world, always. My commitments to my parents, siblings, family and children held me back from taking off to unknown lands and new people. Today I turn 48 and I am making my first solo trip to distant places. As I board the big plane to Delhi, I think of my yearning to see the Taj Mahal. It was something I wanted to see with the love of my life. Since that plan never materialized, I am starting my journey with the one place I want to see before I die.

It was Diana who gave me the idea of finding a co-traveller on the internet so I didn’t have to make this journey alone. I set up a profile on the findatraveller.com website and waited for a match. This was similar to the matrimony sites but found travelers, not leashes. That is how I found Jay. It was his first time as well visiting the Taj Mahal. He was traveling from Paris to Delhi and the deal was to meet him at Delhi airport. Travel plans were made so we would arrive in Delhi a few hours apart.

I was really looking forward to this trip, a journey through the streets of Delhi followed by a tour of the palaces at Rajasthan. A ten day ordeal. I had packed my cotton clothes to beat the heat and had adviced Jay to do the same. I would wear an orange salwar and Jay said he would meet me at the Air India Lounge. I got there first and sat down browsing my phone waiting for Jay to arrive.

A coupe of hours passed before a pair of shoes planted themselves in front of me. I look up and “Anu?”, he asks.

I stand up as he takes two steps back. I extend my hand which he grabs with a strong hold.

“Yes.. Jay?”, I quip.

“Shall we go?”

“Yeah, let’s go”.

where is she?

Switch off the loud music upstairs
Its not very endearing at ten in the night
The beats drumming into her head
Like the other beats over so many days
The security watching over her entry and exit
The happy friend who turns it into humour
It is a constant wave of emotions
She rides unaware
Blank
The growing one pounces on her with attitude
Again
White haired sits mum
Words sealed in the mind
Little tantrums wants a slice of her
Each day
Every day
He beside her is riding his own wave
Clashing with hers at different depths of the sea
As she finds herself drowning, something pushes her up for air
The pillars are around, supporting like ever
All she has to do is lean
There is the dwelling, about to be born
Nurtured in the womb cared for day after day
Soon it will be born to open a pandora of memories
Where is she?
Hidden in these words, riding the waves
Sometimes under, sometimes over
The wings are tired, they want to rest
On a shoulder strong enough to bear the weight
Of lifelessness!