Flying in the rain

An untimely rain was falling against the inflamed, mid-day Colombo streets.  And a shade-less bird was flying against the shamelessly heavy skies. Looking out from the third-floor office window I thought a shade would do very little for the already soaked crow. Yet it kept twitching its heavy wings against the grey clouds and soon disappeared.
Long after it went out of sight I kept wondering why the crow didn’t take refugee of any of the high rise buildings that crowd the Colombo skyline. Like anyone else, did it have a specific place in mind to rest? As a kid I always wondered where all the birds went when it started raining all of a sudden. I always wanted to find out whether they took shade under random trees until the rain stopped or they kept flying in the shower until they found their nests.  For some strange reason, I felt every one of us had been or will be in the situation of the crow which kept flying in the rain.
Perhaps, if someone knows what awaits him or her at the end of the journey, keep flying in the rain would be the better thing to do, rather than stopping under unknown trees. The sky is sure to break into thunder many times and the winds will change its direction without prior notice. The speed and the size of the raindrops will vary from time to time. Perhaps it will rain throughout your journey or you may come across sunny skies in its course. This does not guarantee that the sun will remain shinning till you finish your journey. So, while you keep drying your soaked wings, keep in mind that sky will change its mind any moment and you will be back on the square number one.
But the silver lining of it will be that, you have covered half or three quarter of your journey and the toiling has energized you so much that even if you have to start from the very beginning, you will have the strength and the courage to see the end of it. Sometimes, it is okay to take the long route which has more trees and buildings to cover you from the wind. Sometimes you will need a minute to breathe because your journey has been a long one. Sometimes there will be people who envy your wings and hate their strength. Sometimes no one will raise their heads to look at you because you are just an ordinary bird devoid of shiny peacock feathers.
But always keep in mind that your journey is always for your sake, and it’s the nest that was built for you and your efforts awaits at the end of the trip. If others applaud it, be happy. If others want your wings or try to step into your nest, after making the long trip, you will know you can always make a better and stronger one!

Lessons you keep learning

At one point of your life, you come to realize that when you stop worrying about your health, your health stop worrying about you.  Every time you prod down foods contaminated with preservatives, you make your tongue your friend, but the rest of the body, your enemy.  Just because you run for your day-to-day things with so much, never come to the conclusion that your body tolerates your fickle eating habits. Like the nature, it will show you its fury when you exceed its tolerance levels.
Exercise is not as torturous at it sounds. It is rather fun, once you get the taste of it. You need not have expensive exercise machines or gadgets to keep you fit. If you are an outdoor person, the road is the best machine you can find. If you are an indoor person, yoga will  be a better option.
Don’t mess with your sinus. If your doctor advises you to keep away from cold beverages, ice-cream and cold showers, it’s better if you listen to him. Midnight or early morning showers may sound very romantic, but the repercussions are not so. Your mother knows your medical history better than you do. So, understand that   she has a point when she insists that you drink lukewarm water and forget about the comforts of iced water.
Skip lunch if you want, but never skip your breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a regal meal with thirty-two dishes, but something that is enough to put your gastritis to sleep.
Eat fruits in their natural condition-straight from the tree, rather than straight from the tin. Pick them over cooked snacks such as fries and pastries. Indulge in chocolate, but don’t become a chocoholic. Fall in water.
Keep your mind healthy to keep your body fit.  Stop worrying about things that are beyond control. Be it a great happiness or a sadness that hits the very bottom; don’t take it too much to  the heart. Things are subject to change and nothing remains the same in life-sometimes even the memories.  Try not to get hurt when you are being let down by the people whom you trust the most. When you fall of short of challenges you tried to overcome, don’t beat yourself up for the failure. You cannot put right the hypocrisies of the people which were encouraged or ignored by their parents and respective environments since childhood.
Live for yourself and make others live happily through the life you are gifted with

Love a girl who thinks

Love a girl who thinks about others more than she thinks about herself. That’s the kind of a girl you need when you forget to think of yourself. Fall in love with her empathy and caring nature, for, after your mother she will be the only woman who will have a genuine interest to find out how you are faring.
Love a girl who thinks about little things. She will know how you want your evening tea and when to leave you when you start biting your nails, watching the final quarter of a heated football match. Love her for taking seriously your stupid childhood passions and understanding how much these trivial things matter to you.
Love a girl who thinks about the present. She will never compare present with past and future. She would never complain about forgetting her birthday nor will she ever remind you of the surprise birthday party you threw for her in your first year together. Love her for her sensibility but do not take it for granted.
Love a girl who thinks about crazy things. Listen to her when she says how she caught a man in the bus wearing pink socks with leather shoes. Laugh at the cartoons she sketches, for there’s so much to laugh about even though she can’t draw half so well as you.
Love a girl who thinks out-of-the-computer. For she will still prefer making a card for your anniversary rather than sending an e-card, and when she has to break the news about the new arrival to the family, It will never be a mere SMS. Love her for not getting swept by the currents of technology.
Love a girl who thinks the story of life is written by the person who lives it. She will make you feel that the stars you kept reaching for, have finally fallen into your backyard. She will stick with you through thick and thin and show you nothing indeed is impossible.
Love a girl who sometimes thinks of nothing. She will see the brightness of your eyes in the raindrops drooping down from the kitchen window. She will think of your smile when she cooks your favourite dish for dinner. She will meet portions of yourself in the fictional heroes she admires. she will boast about you among her girlfriends.
Love a girl who thinks about you. She will still love your hair even on the days you run out of hair gel. She will know what is best for you, when you don’t know it yourself. And she will keep loving you despite your blaring temper. The next time when you say, you do not want her, she won’t take you seriously at all!

Fickle faithfulnesses

Loyalty is not something that can be bought for money. If one thinks loyalties are buyable-then the quality of such loyalties are questionable. Loyalty is something one has to earn, win, or deserve. Such loyalties cannot be bought for money, nor can they be easily changed.
Be it in a relationship or in an institution, a lot depends on faith each party has in the other. In fact, a strong loyalty is not a work of a day, but a gradual development over the years. Trust is built on reliability, care and the feeling of safety in each other’s presence. This reaches to a point where one will put the other party before his or her own self ; this can be called loyalty.
No matter whether it’s a relationship between parents and children, siblings or between two lovers, loyalty is a strong emotion which makes one stand up for the other, and be there for himself or herself irrespective of whether they are right or wrong. Loyalty assures the long run of a relationship.
What makes someone to change their loyalties may be a question with many answers. It can be a little misunderstanding grown out of proportions with time. It can be the inability to reach mutual grounds when two parties are involved in an argument, or it can simply be the fact that one has exhausted his or her tolerance levels in the attempt to immerse into the other party’s way of living.
In an institution, loyalties of the employees are considered a long lasting assert. These loyalties also change for many reasons. It can be anything ranging from lack reachability and concern on the part of the employers to de-motivation of the individual.
All in all, these loyalties, once lost are very hard to be restored. New and powerful packages may be strong enough to keep them bound to their chairs. But very rarely does one forget that, by offering those who tried to fly, an arm and leg, those whose integral loyalties that never made them complainers, only feel sidelined and belittled.

Diary page of a book therapist

Gloomy days come without notices. Raindrops trespass the hospitality of your veranda without invitation. Lying on the bed with a book in hand is the second best thing to walking out and getting wet in the shower. The words that greet you would be as magical as the drizzle that kisses your hair and face. The characters you find among the pages will be as fascinating as the melody of the patter. The choice whether to let yourself dance in the rain or let the characters dance in your head, entirely lies in your hands!
Hellen Keller is the best rainy-day companion if you are craving for a dose of optimism in your life. Her biography, ‘The Story of my life,’ not only makes her the most optimistic human being to have ever walked on earth, but also makes you realize that the world you constantly call ‘bad’ is not that bad after all!
If you think your life is a misery-welcome to Charles Dickens’ London. Take his hand and walk down the dirty London streets. Be inspired to make things better for those who are not as privileged as you.  If you feel handling the pile of documents on your desk is a fatal torture, it’s your time to read Nelson Mandela’s ‘Long Walk to Freedom.’
If you wish to dig  deeper and get strangled in subtle realities of relationship and complex individualities, nothing would do better than Paulo Coelho’s magical realism and popular spiritual fiction. ‘The Alchemist’ may be the best piece that came out of his pen which addresses to anyone irrespective of his/her believes, caste and creed. But ‘By the River Peidra I sat down and wept’ and ‘Zahir’ beat ‘the boy’ in many ways.
Even if you read Archie comics or Stephanie Meyer, nothing would stop you from going back to classics. They will be best sellers until you keep falling in love with Mr. Rochester and Mr. Darcy. They will be immortal until you keep treading down the halls of Pemberley and Thorn field hall. And in your hearts of hearts you know, you don’t have to wait for a rainy day hug your dog-eared Jane Eyre for the four-hundredth time.
If you need a new definition for determination and courage, meet Madame Curie in Eve Curie’s biography on her mother. Not only you’ll feel the energy that ran through the body of the small made woman, but also the immovable courage and over-brimming love of a mother. If you complain about 9-5 office work and two kids-madame Curie had three kids-her two daughters and radium.
If you think Princess Diaries are better than all the regency books put together, it is your time to meet Georgette Heyer. If you need good stir in the mind, Oscar wilde should be your first choice, his ‘Picture of the Dorian Grey’ must have got him into trouble, but his ‘Happy Prince’ can make you cry for its simplicity and portraying of universal human suffering.
If you want to pick up something closer to home, Shehan karunatilake is the best person to satisfy your hunger for cricket-reads; that is only if you can handle his razor-blade sarcasm. Nihal de Silva would be your pick if you get used to his settings. Only, don’t fall in love with Captain Wasantha- he is mine!