Somethings Would Remain Forever

Someday existence would cease,

Soon some day would cease to exist...

But the moment You look back,

I would still be alive...

For Somethings Would Remain Forever.

Somethings Would Remain Forever...

The way they had then been,

The time You had bid good-bye;

Believing and hoping silently.

Somethings would be just the way

You had left them at and hoped to find

Someday when You would look back

And watch your hopes fulfilled.

Impressions on the shores of the mind

The foam of the breaking waves

Little droplets pouring in rhyme

Would all reflect remembrances of good ol' days.

And I'd see to it that somethings remain eternally

For You to find them whenever You search;

To not let Your expectations and dreams

Shatter and turn to dust.

Somethings Would Remain Forever...

Not because they are eternal

But because we believe them to be eternal.

Beliefs would remain forever.

Somethings Would Remain Forever.

The Essay that won me the First Place

BUDDHA LEFT HIS PALACE IN SEARCH OF PEACE AND CONTENTMENT- WHAT ARE WE AIMING AT?

The first thought that comes to my mind as I am penning down this essay is, “At long last, having read The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, The Alchemist, and to a certain extent, Osho, would serve as an advantage”.

Jokes apart, Peace and Contentment may sound ordinary words out of the Oxford English Dictionary, but they hold a lot of meaning within them. The path to Peace and Contentment, yet, remains to be explored to completion; yet remains to be walked upon by many men, and those many men might as well include us.

Buddha apparently had realized that Happiness was something evidently not present in gold coins and hearty feasts in huge palaces, or in those heavily embroidered robes of royalty. It was much more present in the natural fabrics, the wooden chappals and in sitting below a Banyan Tree at Gaya.

Well, what Buddha did was probably quite dramatic. But it sent a message out. The quest for happiness couldn't possibly be fulfilled within the realms of materialism. Peace and Contentment were maybe something that we had all been searching for in the wrong places, with the wrong notions.

Why is it that most of us are running behind those green strips of papers, flashing out silver and gold circlets and getting materialistic by each second? Why is it that we forget and ignore and ridicule the joy in small things, in details, and keep staring at the big picture screened on the drapes of our mind?

What is that inevitable charm in the green of rupee notes and the silver of coins that the green of the fresh grass blades and the silver tint of the clouds cannot overpower?

The paradox is that, almost all the answers to these questions, almost everything we need to know, is already present, deep within our own selves. ‘Perception’ is a clue.

Buddha had decided to find happiness and peace in meditation, in the blissful company of himself, in the quest of exploring his own mind. He was a human, so are we.

I am not implying that one should absolutely give up on all his possessions, strand his family and set out in search for contentment in the not-so-pleasing-for-a-holiday streets of Bihar. But what one must realize, is that, Peace and Contentment aren't something that money can buy, or something you could find being sold out in discounts at the Dollar Shops, neither something that are totally beyond the reach of the common man. They are something that are already present right within our souls, and all we need to do, to get to them, is realize our dreams, realize our potentials and realize the power and enigma that we ourselves pose unto us. What we need to do is expand our horizons and look within, rather than peeking around.

My dream and ambition is to be at oneness with my own self; to set out on the exploration of my own mind and soul. And my advice, that would also serve as the words for my conclusion and a sincere attempt at inspiring all the human beings out there, in search of Peace and Contentment, lost in the muddle of materialism, would be-

Just keep in mind the words that had once been so aptly quoted by some brilliant and wise personality-

‘THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS IN LIFE COME FREE OF COST.’

(Dated: November 19, 2008)

Sipping over a hot cup of Mocha and sniffing in the comforting aroma it offered, she spoke to herself virtually,

"Speak to me, My Knight".

The sunset cast the skies a purple tinge, darkness was on its way.

Redefining Love and struggling to maintain the perfect balance between providing space as well as an everlasting companionship for her Knight, she couldn't help ceasing the little droplets of salty liquid trickling down her cheeks.

As fiercely she wanted to maintain her Atheism, she wished there could be something or someone she could pray or make a wish to, with the belief that the prayer or wish would be heard. She wanted to pray for the safety of her Knight, who was apparently in a battlefield of unknown realms that managed to evade her speculation.

84hrs with no news or word that could count to be informative regarding her Knight, she played with the thought of stepping into the pages of The Alchemist’s protagonist, and looking for omens. And what an apparent omen showed her 28hrs ago was a November Rain; A November Rain in Mumbai; or maybe just a drizzle; But, in November; In Mumbai. She couldn't possible fathom much meaning out of this except that it was unusual, was something unpredicted. So?

All she was concerned about at the moment was her Knight. Was He all right? Was He happy? Was He alone? Was He in too much of trouble? What was the situation? What exactly was it that was bothering Him? Who was He against in this battlefield in realms unknown?

She would keep revising happier times they had shared not very long ago. She had now known Him for the past 5 months and 19 days. They had come together in A Union roughly 3 months back; A virtual union. Yet it appeared to be so important for sustenance.

Glancing at the spot in the purple-pink haze in the skies where the sun had been a few minutes ago, she realized there was a sweet pain in patience; something similar to the comfort in the addiction to caffeine; Similar to the happiness and contentment in the inertia in being loneliness and sorrow. It wasn't hope. Perhaps it was a hope for a hope.

Another day had passed, taking decades in it. But almost three centuries were to go before she could be clear of worries.