20080512

Pause

Two weeks - two major tragedies.....
May 2 - Cyclone Nargis devastates Burma (Myanmar) - killing more than 100000 people (estimated as per current report in Reuters
May 12 - An earthquake in China kills 10000 - (link)

Makes me pause and think - life is such a Conundrum.
On one hand we dream, aspire, work and bolster faith, have positive feelings and keep giving ourselves an "everything will be fine" appeasement to overcome our daily humdrum life while on the other hand nothing is in our control at all.

There might have been (in both these places and places where such tragedies have incurred their wrath before)

thousands of fathers and mothers planning for their families future......
thousands of kids with dreamy eyes.....
thousands of girls and boys dreaming of their future alliances......
thousands of students aspiring to be someone.....and so on and on......

Basically thousands and thousands of unfinished scripts that were being edited and added to daily by each and every one of those affected - are now forcefully compiled into a soon to be forgotten bound volume - to be stacked in archives of earths library - in the aisle

Natural Calamity.....

A blink, a flicker, a puff, a shake or a shrug and Mother Earth can end your happiness or misery.

My heart goes out to all these people......may god bring calm and peace to all of their lives soon......
but as I mentioned before that life is a conundrum and those of us who are still lucky to be here cant stop dreaming no matter what.....
and thus this song....
Bawra Maan (Bewitched)......

dedicated to Life.....

113 comments:

Prats said...

we live in an illusion called life...so as long as we live, we might as well learn to let go of the past.
I had read somewhere that 'the past is beyond recovery, the future is uncertain, the given moment is now'
So its best to live our present moments with honesty and dedication.

My prayers does go out to all the innocent people who had no control over their lost lives..

Jaggu said...

Nature also frustrates sometimes...not only us. Well, life is like a complete project cycle called as SDLC(Software Development Life Cycle in IT industry) which consists of requirments(birth), design(growing up), Implementation(employment and marriage), Testing(Having kids and further) and Closure(death). There is a chance that project might end at any stage. Anyways, life is a great experience I guess.

Mel Avila Alarilla said...

Hi Ceedy,
These things happen to everybody. God is no respecter of persons. The question is, are we prepared to meet our Creator at every turn of events? Thanks for the post. God bless.

Anonymous said...

The video and post are pretty sad and hurting kinds. You are right.. so many scripts that get abandoned.



I pray for them too.. I know.. thats not enough...

Anonymous said...

what can anybody do before natural calamity ?

Nirmal said...

nery true bro.....
but i guess its nature..if they can give good days , they can give bad one too...
nice post..

Satish Bolla said...

i was abt to write this in my blog. anyways will write too. may god help those who r injured and who lost their beloved. i donno why but these days, whenever i hear of tragedies like this, my heart starts weeping for a few moments.... :(

Solitaire said...

True. People who are left behind will try and dream but may be left only with nightmares.

Keshi said...

yeah it so very sad. I read abt em in the papers and thought for a while...put it at the back of my mind and did my usual thing. Isnt that what we all do..sadly.

U blogged abt it..shows u hv a very caring heart Ceedy.


Keshi.

aneri_masi said...

sigh...yep, calamities happen unexpectedly, scripts get their "twists", but we DO have to plan. Jeena to nahin na chhod sakte darr ke maare?

Cinderella said...

True...all the stories - lost forgottena and growing cold in some rusty corner of memoirs....

Yet life moves on. We live on.

May all their souls rest in peace.

♥ÐÅyÐяєÅмє®♥ said...

natural calamity..it really sucks..
:-|

--xh-- said...

yeah, true. but then, i dont think about that, but keep fighting like there is no tomorrow... live life the moment, and enjoy it as much as you can.. thatz my manthra...

иidhi S said...

'Life is what .. but an Illusion'

You start with slow smooth steps but then you hit!

Yeah too true.. we jus keep leading our lives and never think twice what cud happen the next moment.

Noushy Syah said...

It's so sad..a tragedy...but it could happens to anyone,anywhere,whether good or bad persons...

Thanks for this 'caring' posting..may their souls RIP.

broca's area said...

with u man..:)

Pavi!!!! said...

Nice post Ceedy...n when u say it like the way u do..it hurts more. It makes u feel a li'l guilty abt cribbing abt not having the worldly pleasures. The cycle of Birth n Death is so freakin complicated!

n yes...looking at one person fail, one person die...the living ones can't afford to stop dreamin, stop living!Thats the reality of life..We can mourn..but we must carry on!

Pri said...

was watching the news about the 6 blasts in jaipur and then read ur post...
it makes soo much sense that it hurts...
life is miserable at times...u never know whats coming next! :(

Anonymous said...

add jaipur blasts to it too. aghast act of terrorism

Neetal said...

:( ... I know what you mean... imagine people in admist of such adversities... my school best friend lost her hand in the big Gujarat earthquake... she was in the debris for 8 hours... !!!!

I guess all we can do is keep the suffers in our good thoughts and hope they would find a way to come out of the impact of such tragedies !

Gunjan Aylawadi said...

i was thinkin bout d same thing today....nobosy's dreams are les important than mine....i just hope nuffin like this eva happens to anybody!
may god bless those ppl with more strength!
n me with more brains to try n look beyond myself!

Solitaire said...

@ Neeku,

I also know of a girl who lost her hand in the earthquake in Ahmedabad. She was in the 8th std then. Your friend?

Neetal said...

@ Sol: Really... will message her name on orkut... may be you might know her as well...

ceedy said...

@prats
I agree with you, life is but an illusion and we have to let go of the past. But events like this invigorate certain man-created tragedies that I have been part of and I wish they erased from my memory.
Thank you for your insightful input.

ceedy said...

@jaggu
That was a very interesting analysis. How about elaborating and writing a post on it. Yes life is a great experience but dotted with these mass tragedies...

ceedy said...

@mel
I agree these things happen to everybody...but what is wrong is stopping to think about these "everybody". It is simple to say it but when one is part of such events they keep haunting you and at that point I really dont know if I want to meet the "Creator" as it seems heartless to me.

ceedy said...

@veens
Thanks - well nothing is enough and everthing is important too. I guess it when one faces or is part of such events and have seen mass deaths in front of his eyes that it starts to matter.

ceedy said...

@ashu
well if you look at it that way, any interaction among two people is also a Natural Process. Arent we all part of this nature.

ceedy said...

@nirmal
Hey welcome here. You are right too. I just wanted to acknowledge that Nature is an ultimate power. We are just mere puppets.....right!

ceedy said...

@satish
Will wait for you to write it on your blog or maybe you have already written. Well if you are sensitive towards other - things like these matter.

ceedy said...

@solitaire
Yeah! I agree with the nightmares part. I see those ghosts being part of several tragedies first hand. But over years I guess I have learnt that its people (professionals trained) like us who can make a difference interating with people in distress. I have done that and tried to share some of their pain.

ceedy said...

@keshi
thank you keshi - we all do that - its just that sometimes things tend to invoke other memories and one needs to take a moment to be thankful

ceedy said...

@aneri_masi
maine kab kaha "jeena chhod do" dar ke mare.....I just was reflecting on the hard reality.

ceedy said...

@cinderella
True! sometimes thats all one can do.

ceedy said...

@daydreamer
Yeah! nothing much we can do.

ceedy said...

@-xh-
I follow the same manthra - but there is nothing wrong in thinking about such things I guess as life is unpredictable

ceedy said...

@nidhi
Well truly we cannot really think about the future much except in a tangible form....and Life has its own program. We just live the moment

ceedy said...

@noushy
Yeah! Thats the sad part.

ceedy said...

@brocasarea
:)

ceedy said...

@pavi!!!!!
I did not mean to say it that way. What we all do is also a natural process of our own evolution. It just taking this moments to be thankful of everything that we already have and acheived.
And death is the TRUTH - its just how you approach it that can guide your existence - my thoughts.

ceedy said...

@pri
Yup, thanks for you and Ankur to share that news with me. It just comes in a blink. Hope those affected at Jaipur can come to terms with this.

ceedy said...

@ashu
Heard about it.

ceedy said...

@neeku
I am sorry for your friend. Hope she is well now, but this trauma will remain with her for life.

I have a close friend who was a right handed as a kid and lost his three fingers in the right hand when we were in the second standard - at his fathers factory when a machine kicked off accidently. It took a while for him to readjust to everything from writing to eating etc etc....today he is an architect too!

ceedy said...

@gunj
We have to do what we have to - it is our Natural Process - but being aware of everything around us helps us to be grounded I guess.

m.flowerr said...

Sad....

The Furobiker said...

very well written paragraph in red.. and to add to it.. the thing which happenen in jaipur yday

aMus said...

both heart breaking tragedies....adding to the anguish is the the hampering of the relief operations

a moment to be thankful for what we have so far ...'cos who knows what lays ahead...

Lakshmi said...

and the most tragic part is when man adds to nature also...the recent blasts in jaipur are shocking and we realize we live in a sad world where people kill to be noticed
lakshmi

Cinderella said...

Apart from 'all that we CAN do'....dont you think its more like, "all that we HAVE to do"...for the sake of our own sane survival...

ceedy said...

@m.flowerr

:(

ceedy said...

@abhishek

yes, heard about it, its just sucks!!!

ceedy said...

@suma

yes...be thankful and try and do good...life sometimes is a drag and sometimes its just too short

ceedy said...

@backpakker

yes...but I do try and look at it as also a natural evolution process...not justifying these actions in any form but we humans are also part of this nature and things are affecting some of us and thus these kind of reactions....

ceedy said...

@cinderella

yes it is like what we HAVE to do....I agree....but in the process we tend to forget that we CAN do much more....and thats what I was eluding to.

HAVE's will be a lifetime story....but its the will and CAN within you that can make a difference...

look at it this way....HAVE TO is like a theoram of life - where survival is a GIVEN and TO PROVE THAT you can endure it....but CAN do is a corollary...

Unknown said...

That's life I guess.. here today no one knows what tomorrow holds.

Yep, for the ones still alive.. they could consider themselves lucky.

Tys on Ice said...

I guess all we can do is appreciate each moment as if its our last...

u wanna know wht i always pray whn i see such things? i pray that they were all loved and have loved...then atleast they wud hve lived.

hey, thanks for the calvin&hobbes link...we all need a lil cartoon in our life :)

Tys on Ice said...

I guess all we can do is appreciate each moment as if its our last...

u wanna know wht i always pray whn i see such things? i pray that they were all loved and have loved...then atleast they wud hve lived.

hey, thanks for the calvin&hobbes link...we all need a lil cartoon in our life :)

Rho Tau GWIS said...

Amen to that!

Emaan said...

nice and very well-written post says mommy... she loved the song too.. its from her favt movie u see...
nice :-)

Pavi!!!! said...

@Ceedy....yes...i think i got wat u were tryin to say....n yeah we don't remb to be thankful the small things in life!

But hey its not how u approach DEATH that guides ur existence..its how one approaches LIFE that does that! If possible one shld not even know that there is going to be this thing called Death!! n shld just live Life!

BTW..looooouuuuveeeeeee the song!

Solitaire said...

Ceedy,

I only can hope and wish and pray that these people have the means, motivation, desire, and resources to seek out professional help in order to grieve appropriately and put this behind them.

AND I HOPE THAT NO ONE GOES TO THEM DURING THEIR NIGHTMARE TO SAY,

"GET OVER IT!"

ceedy said...

@j

yes man...life and its uncertainty sometimes baffles everyone...

ceedy said...

@tys on ice

yeah...yes thats a good way....and no problem for calvin...hope you enjoy it...

not just this moment - every moment of it :)

ceedy said...

@carolinagal

:)

ceedy said...

@emaan
I am glad I made your mom happy and now I hope she treats you with lots of chocolates :)....

ceedy said...

@pavi!!!!!

ok here goes...:P

well what i meant by *how u approach DEATH * I meant if one is not afraid of it arrival then we probably live life fuller...guess that is the same as you saying *approach to life*...

and have you hear the male version of this song

check this - its a nice song with really good lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jmyV2-2R28

enjoy

ceedy said...

@solitaire

I agree completly - what these people need is a way to slowly and steadily come to terms with it not just snap and forget it.....

also I was asking in a generic way, not particularly in this context whether people like us can make a difference....

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I hate this life being so uncertain & sometimes being so cruel!

Anonymous said...

This is true.. I always talk about my life as being unwritten in most of my chapters, YET, like you said these people that lost their lives will never again have a chance to even finish a chapter...

I pray that the ones that have their lives, find the strength and courage to move on also... Just like Solitaire said, they need help and don't need people to let them know enough time as passed and they need to move on!! that burns me up!!!

I will make Daven for them..
Shalom!

Thanks for coming by Ceedy.. I have been a lurker here at your blog for awhile!! LOL!!!

aneri_masi said...

hey, just saw your comment abt my list on Ella's post, glad you liked it, and could relate to it :)

ceedy said...

@an illusion

what can we do bud....thats y I said live it to the fullest...

ceedy said...

@cinder-single

ohoho...I had a blog stalker :)...

welcome and hope to see you often and vice versa...yeah life is an enigma and we all have to just hopefully have fun......

BTW what is Daven?

ceedy said...

@aneri

hehe
I left you a comment on your gratitude blog too....

Anonymous said...

To make Daven is recite prayer!! I am a Jewish Chick!! LOL!!

I should have just said Pray for them! LOL

Yep We do have to live life to the fullest!Live as if everyday may be your last!!!

Shalom!

opps I did come back...I blog stalker? LOL!!!

Cinderella said...

Hell yeah !

Awesome !!!

ceedy said...

@cinder-single

is this an apt moment to say "shabath shalom"!!!

:)

ceedy said...

@cinderella

cool!

aneri_masi said...

yeah, i got it :) Enij to vaat karu chhu, "your comment" about "my list on her post". I shldve said, "your comment on my blessings blog about my list on Ella's post". :p

how goes life, bro?

ceedy said...

@aneri_masi

ok....that was more clear :P

ane use of bro instead of bhai - su pela bike walae kai jaddu kariyu :P

aneri_masi said...

na bhai na, bike waale e to gabhravi naakhi mane, he was so happy! and I was so shocked!

Anonymous said...

Yes on Fridays we usually say Shabbat Shalom, Since Saturday is the Sabbath! Hey you know your stuff!!! LOL!!!

Yeah I came back yet again!! LOL!

ceedy said...

@aneri

hehe
I guess, here people are cool about taking pictures....I was in Vegas - saw this guy who was Elvis impersonator...to gaya photo lene - he obliged and guess what - started asking for money...says he does that for a living....

main kayu "show me written somewhere" or "should have told me first"

well anyways we settled it....:)

ceedy said...

@cindersingle
its friday -so sabbath shalom....

and then dont you say the time of lighting the candle...

hey been here too long not to know different cultures :)

Ankur said...

i was very sad n still m :(

u know this was a natural calamity which noone cud have stopped but instances like bomb blasts are human created and i wonder how can killin someone is a solution!!! :(

hope man will understand that others are human being too!!!

ceedy said...

@ankur

I can feel your sadness...and I am not being a "devil" here...but just to lessen your pain (maybe)

think of any man made tragedy also as part of a natural process...we are after all part of the huge world and nature - just that we are rational makes us hurt more when it is done between two humans....

it is tough to understand this but if you do believe in karmic cycles...no matter waht if your time is up you will have to leave...just the methods are different...

and sometimes I guess HE only picks people he loves...rest like us keep struggling here!

Ankur said...

and i believe a lot in the same... he always picks the people he loves more :(

though we call it a karmic cycle but as human soemwhere we have to be rational enugh!!! isnt :)

also it hurts... though one settles accepting it in the end... :)

ceedy said...

@ankur

well I did not mean that dont hurt...all I am trying to say that when we can be rational about the bad effects we also have to learn to be rational to come out of it...and thus my reasoning...

being humnas there is no escape from sadness, hurt, pain....it part of our being

the idea is to have an awareness of it and lessen its impact

Ankur said...

do agree with u :)

but m still feelin the pain deep inside, and i m a lot sad otherwise too :)

Pavi!!!! said...

@Ceedy: loved the male version of the song ! Thanks.
yeah abt life n death thing..i think we are saying the same thing. but yeah, i donno , we people complain so much as we live but we dont want to die as well...i guess thats how humans are!
n then the thot of "live each day as if it were the last" doesn't make sense...coz u'll spend each day in fear/sadness or watever ur emotion twrds death is. Rite???

n yes..i so so blv that God takes away his dearest children first.

ceedy said...

@ankur

well I know this is cliche...but time will heal it - it has too...

and think of it this way...you know what has hurt you - you are AWARE and not in denial or trying to put the blame of your state on someone else...you have that strength - then build up strength to come out of these states faster...

beleive me life is too uncertain...and what you think is the saddest moment today for you might not even be close to what you might encounter in the future (crossing my fingers that you never do)

Ankur said...

dont u know this bhai that its easier said than done... and i was sad abhi coz i became nostalgic!!! :(

i love her still yaar :P :P

heheh

ceedy said...

@pavi!!!!!
cool you liked the song...actually the songs of hazaron khwaishain aisi and dor....are simply awesome...try to listen to them

i know what you mean...but over years of meditation and self awareness one can build a strenght within to see death not as an end but a beginning of journey to something unknown...and thats what i meant how one views death...most of us are afraid - absolutly....
but then the truth is also like the dialogue by amitabh in KANK
"mohabbat aur maut been bulaye mehmaan hai"

ceedy said...

@ankur

who to sahi kaha...and i know your dilemma...

like you flourished in love you have to learn to flourish in its absence...only then you can find another....or else devdas ho jayega

ceedy said...

@ ankur

main abhi abhi NASA jake aaya hoon :P

and beleive me if we humnas want "nothing is out of reach and impossible" - it is all in the mind and our attitude.

Ankur said...

pata hai pata hai :D :D
hehe... Its all possible!!!

hehe

par kya karoon... 17th is a nice date for me...hehe

chalo koi na.. bhool jaate hain usse :D :D
hehe

Cheers!!!

Ankur said...

and devdas main ban chuka hoon ;)
hehe

Anonymous said...

98,

Anonymous said...

99

Anonymous said...

here u go sir, 100

Satish Bolla said...

@ashu
u stole the life out of me. waiting for long to make the 100th post on ceedy maharaj's blog. lucky u... :(

Anonymous said...

bolo ceedy maharaj ki jai

ceedy said...

@ankur

so you are drinking profusly?...are bhai aisa mat karo....

and who is the paro then for who you are writing all those lovely poems ;)

ceedy said...

@ashu

ok so thats a second hundred in your record....

and main Air India ka logo kab se ban gaya?

ceedy said...

@satish

sorry man....you need to be more quick i guess :P

and like I asked ashu

how did I become Air India's logo? :P

Hiren said...

first time here ... good post yaar ... can't do anything about the mysterious ways of GOD except pray for both the living & the freed souls who are affected ... but it feels sad to see that now a days everyone (except for the victims near & dear ones) have taken the phrase "Life Moves On ..." a bit too much seriously .... such calamities just become the subject of coffee talks .... people dont even stick to the news channel updating abt this ... if there is a cricket match or a fav tele serial going on .... not that watching the news will be of any help to the sufferers .... but its the emotional link thats gradually diminishing .... its sad to see that even educated and professional people hardly get perturbed .... :(

and the way you have put that sentence of unfinished scripts ... simply bang on ... sometime back I had written something similar about the feelings of a person who knows that today is the last day of his life ... loads and loads of unfinished desires, responsibilities :(

have a gd day ahead !!

ceedy said...

@hiren

welcome here...have been a silent reader for sometime of your blog....

well i agree with you...life does move on only for people not affected...those in this are traumatized for life

even though I put this up...I still wish I could do something more...but circumstances dont allow it...

thanks for your comment

Hiren said...

thanks ... and bhai silent reader kyun ??? I would appreciate the brickbats whole heartedly .... so bindaas gaali dene ka .... :)

I can understand that feeling of doing something but not able to ... never mind ... its the thought that counts and i believe that someday sometime you will get a chance to help ...

Deepali said...

Thats life :( things happen and you have to move on if you survive. Both events were really sad.

I remember an interesting discussion I happened to have with a friend maybe a few years ago - he said that if disasters are getting worse it is still the fault of human beings. Because earthquakes, landslide, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions etc have always happened. It is just that because there is such a large population now we reallyyyyy feel the disaster these events cause.

I know this isnt relevant to the post you wrote but just remember the conversation. It is something to think about.

We are creatures of habit and we also live believing our mortality will not be challenged anytime soon. So dreaming we will keep doing...

ceedy said...

@hiren

yes got your message loud and clear...now you will have bricks, bats, mortar...whateva you want :)

ceedy said...

@deepali

yes - it is right in a way...and this increase in population is also a reason that people are fighting for "space" and identity that is leading to all these terror attacks...so its a cycle I guess....

and dreams cannot rely on what is lost...its been going on for ages and will go on...so you are right there

Sameera Ansari said...

May their souls rest in peace.Amen.

Wonderful post!

ceedy said...

@sameera

wish the same...thanks