The Writer in Me: The Mind Body Connection

I grew up as a child spending lot of time with books. What outcome could you expect in such a scenario? Someone who wants to write. And hence my life is now long years of reading, writing, and more writing. And the best place to visit all time has been the library wherever I lived.

It isn't surprising, is it? My earliest clear memory is of going to the District Library in Jorhat, a small town in Assam, India, where I spent most of my school years. That was the formative period of my life.

For some reason, I wasn't much into games and sports. I wasn't a weak girl. Somehow, that aspect of life never interested me. Later, after passing out from school, I became a yoga enthusiast. and right now, I regularly go to the gym and walk in the park, also bike sometimes. Haven't reached the half-marathon level. But this isn't that bad. It isn't about all head and body care. I do try to live a holistic life, taking care of my physical as well mental well being.

One thing I've learnt over the years is that, one cannot live just the way one likes, especially when it comes to the body, mind and spirit. Eating and drinking anything, at any time, or inputting anything into the mind, sleeping at any hour, no control in life... One cannot abuse any part of it. There is a clear connection between all these aspects.

Life continues because of balance. It's so important to take care of the body if one wants to use the mind. Writing is nothing else but using the mind to produce words from ideas. Dynamic ideas are born in an active energetic body. Just like an oiled machine works efficiently, similarly, a well maintained body (not just aesthetically, it's about health) works better than when it hasn't been cared for.

Health is wealth. I don't know who said this or from where it has come. The older I am getting, I realize the significance of good health more seriously. Everything in life is connected to health. As long as one is alive, health affects that person. It could be good health or bad health. When we talk of bad health, it brings up the image of a sick person, who cannot walk straight and tall, or someone in a hospital bed with pipes everywhere, or coughing an eyes watering.

These are just a few images that I get when I talk about bad health. a person who is in bad health is not in normal condition, is unable to perform optimally, and is a drag to herself and others surrounding her. The opposite scenario applies to a healthy person. She is full of energy and can apply herself to the task at hand with full focus.

Not that good health guarantees the best writing. Many other attributes also go into making a great writer, like life experiences, perception and empathy, power of observation, ability to interpret incidents in a writerly way, etc. etc.

But a writer in good health, and with better than average abilities is a boon to everyone. A society needs writers who write well.

New Year Resolution 2013

Palm Springs, California

So the time has come and almost gone to make New Year resolutions for this year. Like so many other years, this year has come, is on its way. January has started, and we're almost in the middle of the month. Soon January would be over.

The more the years pass, the faster the speed of life, of time passing. When we are young, much younger, time has a slowness that it never has later on as we grow older. The closer we move to the closing line of life, the faster is our sprint towards it.

And there's more and more to do as we approach the Finish Line. A lot to do. And in that, organizing the list, making it manageable, is so much more necessary. That way, the available little time is well utilized.

The Oscars: Dreams on Screen

Why is there an obsession about award ceremonies, including the Oscars, the Grammy's, big time games on the field like golf tournaments, the Big Bowl, the various beauty contests, etc. etc.?

Every year, the award ceremonies come and go. There is a blitzkrieg in the media about the hosts, the participants, the sponsors, often the venues, and then the nominees.  

What are award ceremonies all about? I'd say, they're about achievement. Stars. Promises kept. Dreams fulfilled. What is life without dreams? And what is life without dreams fulfilled? About hope. About the future. Will anyone be able to live on without hope? These award ceremonies give us hope. Hope that people could achieve, despite all odds, despite a hundred issues.

It gives an exhilarating feeling to see achievers, and to find hope in our lives too. Like stardust falling on us. Like light from glowworms.

Maybe Las Vegas

Some time ago, I wrote about our major dilemma about where to go for the year end celebrations. There should be a way to bid adieu to 2009 and welcome 2010. The next year, everyone is saying, will bring in major changes, and these changes would be good ones. So, there is a need to doubly make the new year feel welcome amidst us.

Always I feel weird when an old year comes to an end. Especially the last few hours, when I feel sad that one stretch of my life has come to an end, but I am also waiting for the new year to begin. I'm sure everyone feels similar emotions, when waiting becomes a torture. We just want old things to end, although we feel sad, but we want new things to begin.

These cycles of years, seasons, days, months, weeks have a beginning and an end. Everything earthly has a start and a finish, I would say, and all of you would agree on that, I feel. This is what marks our life. This is what differentiates us from inanimate things. Life – that is what it is all about.

And at the end of one year, when a new year is on the horizon, wanting to celebrate it in a big way is not a bad idea at all. These are not things that do not come again and again. The moments come, and then go away. They go for ever.

It is about catching hold of the moment, even if for a moment only. Then then go back to it later in the mind, repeatedly. Moments live only in our memories. But for it to be in the memory, it has to be lived and experienced at least once. Life is all about living the moments, then reliving them in our minds again and again. As long as we have memory, we are alive. That is why diseases like Alzheimer's is so dreaded. If we don't have memory, it is like death.

To have an enriched memory, to have great moments, we've thought of making a trip to Las Vegas. We'd welcome the new year, 2010, in Las Vegas, in all probability (that is, if we get hotel reservation). That would be a different place from our residence, and a different memory. Hope we're making the right decision.

Laws of Inheritance

Finished reading the novel Esther's Inheritance by Hungarian author Sandor Marai a few minutes ago, and I'm still in a daze. It was a page turner. I couldn't stop reading. Of course I shouldn't have taken two days, considering it is slim. But I've been doing my own stuff, so finishing it means a lot.

There are very few books that say so much in so few pages. And all great writings are about love. And also about life, death, intrigue. It was so deep, had to stop and re-read occasionally, either to grasp the meaning, or to let the idea sink in.

As if I had a long talk with the writer. As if he was telling his story only to me. It was absorbing. Please don't be surprised by my gushing his praise. I'd love to read all the other novels that he has written. Including Embers, Casanova in Bolzano, and The Rebels.