Forgetting and Remembering

A new post in the series - Reminders to self

Sometimes going through one's old writings, journals, diaries can be an incredibly learning experience. It makes one recall and perhaps even renew for oneself the insight, the wisdom of the moment that had expressed itself in those words from years ago.

Often there is a definite reason why one is led to a particular old scribbling. Perhaps it is time to remember something important, really remember. Perhaps it is time to re-dedicate oneself. Perhaps one needs a reminder. A reminder to remember.

Sometimes old scribblings take on new forms. Not necessarily because the writer has grown wiser, but more because the writer is seeking a greater clarity inside. This seeking is also a reminder. A reminder to not forget to seek.

A newer outer form also becomes a reminder. A reminder to remember and offer.

"Although his ego claims the world for its use,
Man is a dynamo for the cosmic work;
Nature does most in him, God the high rest:
Only his soul’s acceptance is his own."

In our egoistic journeys through life, as we go through various trials and tribulations, ups and downs, we generally forget that we are constantly being protected, pushed, guided and led by powers and forces beyond us, beyond our highest intellectual capabilities that we normally use to govern our lives, our choices and decisions. We may call these higher powers or forces by any name. We may call it the Divine.

In our ignorant intellectual debates on free will and destiny, we forget that in the ultimate analysis we are only instruments of a Cosmic Plan, and though blessed with a free will we have been put here on this earth to fulfil a tiny little part of His Grand Goal. We forget that we are here to manifest in our small ways His Divine Will, to play our little part in His Lila.

"Often our thoughts are finished cosmic wares
Admitted by a silent office gate
And passed through the subconscient’s galleries,
Then issued in Time’s mart as private make.
For now they bear the living person’s stamp;
A trick, a special hue claims them his own.
All else is Nature’s craft and this too hers.
Our tasks are given, we are but instruments;
Nothing is all our own that we create:
The Power that acts in us is not our force."

We forget, therefore we have to remember.

Because we are steeped in the Ignorance of our lower nature, enslaved by the prison of our physical-vital-mental selves, we forget that we are not really doing anything that we think we are doing. So we have to remember that even in our blind ignorance it is the Nature's Will manifesting itself through the outward actions being done through our hands and minds. We forget that we only have a responsibility for our actions and no claim on their outcome.

"Even Nature’s ignorance is Truth’s instrument;
Our struggling ego cannot change her course:
Yet is it a conscious power that moves in us,
A seed-idea is parent of our acts
And destiny the unrecognised child of Will.
Infallibly by Truth’s directing gaze
All creatures here their secret self disclose,
Forced to become what in themselves they hide.
For He who Is grows manifest in the years
And the slow Godhead shut within the cell
Climbs from the plasm to immortality.
But hidden, but denied to mortal grasp,
Mystic, ineffable is the spirit’s truth,
Unspoken, caught only by the spirit’s eye.
When naked of ego and mind it hears the Voice;
It looks through light to ever greater light
And sees Eternity ensphering Life."

We forget all this and that's why we are quick to take all the credit for the success of our actions and put all the blame on to the Divine or Nature if there is failure (or cry about our Bad Luck!). So we have to remember and offer all work to the Divine with no concern whatsoever for the outcome. We know we must do this, but still we don’t, we can’t.

We don’t do it because we forget.

We forget that all this is Hers, so we have to remember to offer it all to Her. We forget that we are only children of Hers struggling in Ignorance, so we have to remember that only Her Force and Her Grace can help us crawl out of this Ignorance and show us the Light.

"All stumbled on behind a stumbling Guide,
Yet every stumble is a needed pace
On unknown routes to an unknowable goal.
All blundered and straggled towards the One Divine."

Perhaps there is a deeper necessity for this forgetfulness because all is part of the Divine Plan.

"This world was not built with random bricks of Chance,
A blind god is not destiny’s architect;
A conscious power has drawn the plan of life,
There is meaning in each curve and line."

We are perhaps led to this forgetfulness so we may focus on the external world and all the actions that we must pursue. It is this action in the outer world that allows us to manifest and express outwardly what we may have experienced as part of an inward growth, whatever little that may be.

"This world is God fulfilled in outwardness."

Without the outward action we may not be able to translate any inner change into a concrete and sustained transformation. Without a reasonable dose of forgetfulness we may not be fully immersed in the outward action; without such an immersion an identification with the task may not be there and without which the task may not become a natural expression or outpouring of whatever part in us that has begun the journey of a deeper, wider and upward progress.

In the ultimate analysis, this simultaneous inner and outer journey is what helps us correct the multiple defects of the different parts of our physical-vital-mental nature. Only this can over time lead to a dynamic change of our outer nature which is essential for our evolutionary process. And for the purpose of our individual growth, this ‘back and forth’ between the outward external action and an inward redirecting of energies is what keeps us ‘testing’ for ourselves whether we are really changing. And for that we are given this experience of forgetfulness.

But we must remember that we are also given the ability to remember. We are given this because we must remember what we forget. It is this remembrance that takes us back inward. To the inner chambers where all journey is supposed to take us.

And yet we forget to remember, we forget to offer. We forget and we keep forgetting it more and more in our forgetfulness. It is as if we are lost in our own forgetfulness. The journey is long, but it begins as all journeys begin, with the first step. And that first step is remembrance.

Remember and Offer.

Verses from Savitri by Sri Aurobindo

Photos by Suhas Mehra

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To see previous post in the series, Reminders to self, click here.

To see all posts in the series, click here.

Needed: Spiritual Practicality

A new post in Current Events

The world has been busy talking about Climate Change, Solar Energy, Global Terrorism and all these other things. Political leaders, subject experts, public intellectuals, journalists, pretty much everyone who reads the newspaper and watches news on TV or follows it on social media has an opinion on these important topics of the day.

No, this post isn't about one more opinion on these important topics. It is actually about something quite contrary. It is about the inadequacy and the insufficiency of the mental ideas and opinions.

Remember my post from last month about Who is a True Thinker? Of course, you do. Especially if you are a thinker!

In that post I had spoken of two essays of Sri Aurobindo: one titled, Conservation and Progress that inspired the True Thinker post; and the other titled, The Conservative Mind and Eastern Progress that is the inspiration for this one.

In some sense, this post may be considered a natural sequel to the previous post. Because only a True Thinker will be open-minded enough to engage with the ideas presented below. Are you one of those? Why not reflect on this question for a while?

In the essay, The Conservative Mind and Eastern Progress, a phrase that intrigued me was "spiritual practicality." This phrase could present a challenge to the general notion or understanding many people have of the term "spirituality." Most people are somehow used to thinking that spirituality and practicality can't go hand in hand. This perhaps comes from the faulty notion of seeing "spiritual-type" people as "impractical, other-worldly or out-of-touch-with-the-real-big-bad-world-out-there types."

But the truth is quite something else. One just has to give a quick look (without any preconceived notions) at the thousands of years of history of India and one will learn about the immense contributions of rishis, munis, yogis, sadhaks, gurus in practically all aspects of human life and activity. Philosophy, psychology, ethics, sociology, mathematics, astronomy, science, medicine, literature, arts, politics, warfare -- every field of what we consider as "practical" human activity has been the field of work of our rishis and yogis.

[Of course, one wouldn't find this in the Marxist school of Indian history which is generally being taught in our Indian educational programmes. One will need to do one's own un-learning of the old ideological view of history and then begin a process of re-learning of this deeper and inner history of India.]

But the other day as I reflected more on the term "spiritual practicality" as used by Sri Aurobindo in his essay, I wasn't thinking of history. I was thinking of the present.

Photo by Suhas Mehra

Global Poverty vs. Mindless Consumerism, Ecological Destruction vs. Economic Development, Terrorist Violence vs. World Peace, Religious Wars vs. Respectful Pluralism. Not a single day passes when we don't hear or read something or the other about one or more of these harsh conflicts facing the humanity and the world. It seems that such conflicts represent the state of things right now in the world.

In their own ways peoples, societies, and nations have been trying to address these conflicts in different ways. By enacting reasonable laws, by forumating thoughtful policies, by creating organised institutions, and by promoting all the 'right' secular values such as equality, liberty, human rights, universal education and at the same time lending their weight to the nobler ideals such as compassion for all life and nature, peace, non-violence etc.

And yet nothing seems to be working.

What is missing?

"The present era of the world is a stage of immense transformations. Not one but many radical ideas are at work in the mind of humanity and agitate its life with a vehement seeking and effort at change..... No nation or community can any longer remain psychologically cloistered and apart in the unity of the modern world. It may even be said that the future of humanity depends most upon the answer that will be given to the modern riddle of the Sphinx by the East and especially by India, the hoary guardian of the Asiatic idea and its profound spiritual secrets. For the most vital issue of the age is whether the future progress of humanity is to be governed by the modern economic and materialistic mind of the West or by a nobler pragmatism guided, uplifted and enlightened by spiritual culture and knowledge. The West never really succeeded in spiritualising itself and latterly it has been habituated almost exclusively to an action in the external governed by political and economic ideals and necessities; in spite of the reawakening of the religious mind and the growth of a widespread but not yet profound or luminous spiritual and psychical curiosity and seeking, it has to act solely in the things of this world and to solve its problems by mechanical methods and as the thinking political and economic animal, simply because it knows no other standpoint and is accustomed to no other method. On the other hand the East, though it has allowed its spirituality to slumber too much in dead forms, has always been open to profound awakenings and preserves its spiritual capacity intact, even when it is actually inert and uncreative. Therefore the hope of the world lies in the re-arousing in the East of the old spiritual practicality and large and profound vision and power of organisation under the insistent contact of the West and in the flooding out of the light of Asia on the Occident, no longer in forms that are now static, effete, unadaptive, but in new forms stirred, dynamic and effective."

(Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 13, pp. 137-138, emphasis added)

What is missing is "spiritual practicality," which when combined with a "large and profound vision" and a "power of organisation" can help humanity come out of the conflicts it has created in its path to progress.

What kind of "large and profound vision" do we need as an ideal? Perhaps the ideal of a true human unity?

But it can not be a mentalised ideal of unity which is unable to handle diversity without imposing a certain mental idea of uniformity. What is needed is a truer, an inner unity that doesn't impose uniformity but also doesn't tolerate abuse and disrespect of all that is different and unknown. What is needed is a deeper unity that doesn't eradicate diversity but also doesn't allow inhumanity and mindless violence (not only physical) to trample over all that is good, beautiful, true and humane.

Such unity doesn't come easily. Such unity doesn't come simply by wishing. Or simply by being politically correct. It requires sincere honesty. Of intention, of action, of rising above the pettiness and the lowest tendencies of greed, power struggle and domination. Serious work, stragetic work is required. On all fronts -- national, international, political, economic, social, cultural, educational.

And most importantly, on spiritual.

What is needed is a sincere effort to recover that "spiritual practicality" of the olden times and make it relevant for today and tomorrow. A spiritual practicality that helps us -- individuals and societies -- become more conscious of all our movements, all our actions, decisions and choices.

On an individual level, it could be something as basic as making food choices that are least harmful for the environment or becoming conscious consumers in order to keep reducing our carbon foot-print. Or it could be at the level of socially-politically active individuals organising together to work toward a greater civilisational and cultural renaissance.

At all levels what is required is an inner approach to outward action. Only a deeper, inward turning to the higher truth (of the self, not of the ego) and a disinterested action (in the sense of unegoistic, unselfish, having no regard for the result, with no preference for any particular outcome) can become the basis of a true spiritual practicality. Mentalised ideals can only take us so far, because mental ideals are easily broken at the first attack from life's complexities and circumstances.

What is really required is to rise in consciousness so that as individuals, societies and nations all our actions and decisions are more and more guided by unitarian, integrative and harmonizing tendencies instead of separative, divisive, egoistic tendencies.

Unfortunately, for many people being 'open-minded' and 'modern' has come to mean accepting pretty much every lifestyle choice as an equally valid choice, in the name of 'freedom.' Being 'liberal' has come to mean defending or being apologetic of the worst kind of violence and terror against humanity. All in the name of becoming the voice for the “all beliefs are equal” type of post-modernistic relativism.

This supposed ‘value-neutrality’ is against the most essential tenet of any spiritual path which emphasises the development of a clear sense of discernment, vivek -- defined by Sri Aurobindo as "intuitive and inspired judgment gained by a previous purification of the organs of thought and knowledge" (CWSA, Vol. 1, p. 501). It is an ability to sincerely and honestly distinguish between right and wrong, between good and not-good, between dharma and adharma. This applies equally to individuals in their individual sphere of life as well as to the societies and nations in collective life.

It is also equally important to recognise that spirituality doesn’t have to be religion-based, it can just as easily be areligious quest. The most sincere seekers on any spiritual path are in fact most open-minded and accepting of the diversity of wisdom traditions emerging from within various civilizations and cultures. They recognize that while each religion has a spiritual component but practical spirituality or spiritual practicality doesn’t require or necessitate any fixed adherence to any outer forms of any religion. They recognize and respect the truth that for some seekers a religion's outer forms such as rituals, ceremonies, etc. are important aids on the path. But equally so, this may not be the case for many others.

Such equal acceptance of difference is part of the inner make-up of sincere seekers on the path of truth. They recognize that what binds all these diverse seekers is a common search for the higher truth, an inner seeking whose practice is generally as individualised as something can be. Only such an experience has the potential to help one inwardly realize the deeper truth of values such as freedom, equality, and unity, beyond all intellectualising and rationalising of such ideals.

What is needed is a waking up to the life-affirming nature of Indian spirituality. Not religiosity, mind you. But a deep, personal seeking, an intense inner and outer search for the truth, the right, the good and the beautiful.

"It is more important that the thought of India should come out of the philosophical school and renew its contact with life, and the spiritual life of India issue out of the cave and the temple and, adapting itself to new forms, lay its hand upon the world. I believe also that humanity is about to enlarge its scope by new knowledge, new powers and capacities, which will create as great a revolution in human life as the physical science of the nineteenth century. Here, too, India holds in her past, a little rusted and put out of use, the key of humanity's future."

~ Extract from an interview given to a correspondent of The Hindu, quoted in Sri Aurobindo--His Life Unique, Rishabhchand, p. 410

Are we ready for the challenge to re-discover that key to the future? Ours and our world's?


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To read other posts in the Current Events series, click here.

Knowing by Grace

A special post for Navratri

A new post in the series - When a Picture Leads

Stifled by her own fears, trapped in her own powerlessness, and caught in her own vulnerability, she didn't even realize how deep she was getting into a pattern of life that would soon be an all-enveloping, a kind of a vicious circle that will be almost impossible to break.

Till one day in that very rare moment when all had become so very quiet within…in that moment when she got a glimpse of Her, looking radiant, resilient, self-possessed, self-assured, blissfully happy with no care in the world, yet with eyes that spoke the language of care, compassion and kindness.

And she instantly knew this was a moment of Grace; this was no chance meeting.

Whom she saw was none other but a vision of what she too could become; in fact She was none other but she, without all the veils, all the masks.

Then in another moment of Grace she knew exactly which way to steer the wheels of her life, she received the knowledge to begin the journey to slowly turn the vision into reality, she knew the masks that must be gotten rid of, she could sense the truth which needed to be unveiled slowly, layer by layer; the Shakti was waking up.

Pictures taken by Suhas Mehra 

Event: Dance Drama titled Naari (Woman)

Venue: Sri Aurobindo Auditorium, Auroville

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To read previous post in the series, click here.

To read all posts in the series, When a Picture Leads, click here.

To read last year's Navratri special posts, click here and here. 

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Linking this with Five Sentence Fiction, Prompt: Wheels
Linking this with ABCWednesday, K: K is for Knowledge

Current Events

In a dilapidated hall of what was once a prestigious college in a small city of the troubled border-state that had seen many decades of ethnic cleansing and terrorism, the young, energetic and dynamic cabinet minister of the newly elected central government was speaking to a large audience of students, teachers, soldiers and out-of-work businessmen.

"We must build roads, factories, schools, colleges, dams, bridges, hospitals, vocational institutions, skill-training centers, and invest in many such projects if we want to bring in more employment opportunities and provide a real boost to the development of this state; we don't want the youth of the state to experience any longer a sense of alienation, hopelessness and despair, because we have seen how severe deprivation makes them an easy prey to the destructive ideology being regularly fed by the separatists and other extremists.

But let me also say this to everyone present here that our government will have a zero-tolerance policy toward all kinds of terrorism and extremism, and we will do all that is necessary to eradicate this poison, using all constitutional and law-enforcement means available to the government.

We believe a two-pronged approach is needed: development of the state is most essential to bring a sense of hope and optimism for the future, and dealing with the terrorist groups and other anti-national elements  is like cleaning the house in the present...."

While the photographers present in the room got busy clicking their shots amidst the thunderous applause and cheering of the audience, there was no one to witness the gut-wrenching sight of two teenagers, a boy and a girl, being blown away to pieces as a bomb exploded in what used to be the college library, the spot where the young lovebirds had been hiding to steal their first kiss while their friends and peers were occupied with the minister's speech.

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Linking this with Five Sentence Fiction, prompt: Conflict

Change, Beauty and Truth

Change is the only constant, it is often said. But nothing in the world is as simple as a cliche.

We must dig a bit deeper if we want to get closer to the truth.

What kind of change are they talking about who speak of constant change? Is it only an outer change? Or only an inner change? Or both? Who or what makes the change possible? Does it happen on its own? Or does someone or something compel or force or push for a change? Is change a natural phenomenon? Or is there another master-plan working behind the surface phenomenon of Nature? 

What is the outcome of change? Is it always for the better? Can change also be for worse? What distinguishes a good change from the one that is not? Who decides what is a good change and what is not? Who decides what is good, period?

So many questions. And I am not done yet. There is also the question of why.

Why does change occur? What is the need for change? Why can't things stay the same? Is there a  plan being unfolded through all the changes we see happening around us? Can we ever know that plan? Or even get a glimpse of it?

I am not sure I or any of us can have the complete answers to any or some of these questions. I am not even sure if I have all the questions yet. 

But sometimes you don't need to have the answers. Or at least not right away. You just need to keep asking the questions. More questions. So that you don't believe anything just because it is told to you by an authority, by your textbook, by your teacher. 

Change maybe a constant. But perhaps so is Beauty. So is Joy, and so is Delight.  

This may not make any sense the moment we start looking around and see all the horrible stuff happening. In our lives, individually and collectively. In our homes, in our communities, in our worlds. Where is any Beauty in all the gross, all the terrible, heart-breaking, horrendous human behaviour that we witness all around us? Where is the joy, the delight in any of that? 

And that's when we begin to want a change. We begin to lose our innate joy, our innate delight in the world, in life, in existence. We begin to question Beauty. We begin to question whether any of this madness makes any sense. We begin to feel restless. We begin to wonder if we can do anything to change something. We begin to ask what changes we need in the system out there so that some of this madness can be stopped. We begin to get angry, more angry when we don't see any changes happening. We get more restless. And so it goes on....

But where does it all take us? Do things ever change? Does the system become better? Does the horrible stuff stop? Or does one kind of terrible replace the other? 

And a time comes when we start using another cliche - the more things change the more they stay the same.

If all change leads to only more of the sameness, why change in the first place? 

So we are back to not really knowing anything. Not really having any answers. 

And yet we must continue. Continue asking the questions, continue living the questions. With the hope that someday we will be able to "see" the truth, not in a book or in a system or in a religion, but within.

Change, but not for the sake of changing. Change, for evolving, progressing, transforming. Change, for constantly discovering beauty, joy, and truth.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, 

but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

~ Maya Angelou

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This reflection was triggered after a conversation I had with my 20-year-old niece studying Sociology, trying to make sense of this thing called 'Society.'

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Linking this post with Write Tribe Wednesday Prompt: Write a post inspired by a Maya Angelou quote. The quote I have chosen is not exactly a quote on writing, as per the prompt guideline. But on some level, everything in life has a connection with writing, including a butterfly's beauty and change. 

Image source: Google

That Late Night Chat

P: Listen, I have something to tell you. I was thinking that here we are, almost a couple. People speak of us as if we are made for each other....

S: But aren't we? I mean, do you even doubt that?

P: You never let me say my thing....the moment I begin you cut me off. What's the point, really? I better not say anything. And simply do what I must do.

S: Okay, okay, I won't interrupt now, go ahead and tell me. Tell me all that is running through that pretty little head of yours. And what about this thing that you must do?

P: I was thinking that while it is true that we are a couple and yes, maybe we are made for each other as everyone says, but we are still two individual people. Very different.

S: So? Everyone is different.

P: But that's not what I want to say really. You see, there is this thought that has been bothering me for a while now. There is this urge in me, sort of like a deep wish, a deep desire maybe, I don't know...that I should venture out in the world on my own, alone, find out what more I can be. Not as one part of the "couple", not as one piece of the "made for each other". Just me, by myself.

S: Hmmm....

P: Don't just "hmmm" me, tell me how you feel about this. About what I have just told you.

S: I don't know...it is all a bit sudden. I need to think about it.

P: But still you must have some initial reaction to it.

S: Well, yes I do...

P: So what is it? Out with it!

S: Are you sure you want to hear? And you won't mind whatever it is that I say to you?

P: No. I won't mind, tell me. I am strong enough on the inside.

S: Well, if you say so, sweety! I think it is a foolish idea.

P: What?

S: See, I told you you may not like it. Why are you pricking me?

P: Okay okay, I won't react, just go ahead and tell me why you think it is a foolish idea.

S: Well, for one, how will you survive out there? It is a big bad world out there, my dear! You need me.

P: Need you? Why?

S: Don't you see, there is danger out there. People with daggers, razor-sharp instruments ready to pounce upon you the moment you become vulnerable, the moment you begin to become dull.

P: I have been living with you so for long, you have your sharp teeth too, that razor-sharp blade of yours always ready to shape me into form.

S: Yes, but I do that out of love, my love for you, baby.

P: Love? Is that love?

S: Yes, do you have any doubt? Don't you see that the whole world thinks we are made for each other?

P: Well, the world says it because they are afraid of your sharp bite. And anyway, it is only "our" little world that says so. The big bad world, as you say it, out there doesn't care, we are nothing for them. I can very well manage without you, you know.

S: Even with those daggers, swords, blades out there!?!

P: No, not with them. On my own. But of course from time to time I might, I know I will need some help. But if I am strong enough and learn how to take care of myself, I can work with others as partners for the time being, and manage myself very well. Thank you very much!

S: Aha! So you are really hell bent on this "being on my own" thing. You have made up your mind?

P: Yes.

S: And what, may I ask, will you do out there "on your own"?

P: I will write.

S: What else can you do? That's the only thing you know.

P: But what else do I need to know? That's my thing, my dharma as they say!

S: And will you be taking up a job somewhere as a writer to make your ends meet?

P: I might, for some time. So what?

S: Wouldn't you be giving up a part of your "own" self when working for another?

P: That will be just to earn my bread. My other or bigger work will be for myself.

S: What other work?

P: To write my own story.

S: Ha....your own story? Who would want to read that?

P: Doesn't matter. But I need to write, write for myself.

S: Write for yourself....what notions you have!

P: You will not get it, you see. You are just...

S: I am just what? Say it...

P: You with your sharp teeth, your ever-readiness to bite me, to make me smaller....

S: Listen girl, I don't make you smaller, I make you fit for your work, your dharma as you say!

P: I know I know, you make me ready. But that's your work. Yes, your dharma! You don't do it for me, you do it for yourself, to fulfill the very purpose of your existence. Otherwise why is there any need for you at all? Nobody really needs you.

S: You do.

P: I do, because you are here. But if you weren't I can find other partners to help me get ready. It is I who is the real thing in this partnership that is going on between you and me. Not you. So get that straight, okay!

S: See, how edgy you have already become. That's because of my constant support to keep you fit and working. Otherwise how will you get all these big ideas about being on your own!?!

P: Whatever....I am not going to argue with you, I have made up my mind. And I am going to go. Out there, to find myself, as they say in all those books I have been marking.

S: Yes, you and your books and those markings! All those big big words!

P: Why are you jealous? Just because you are not really needed by me, is that it?

S: Whatever....

P: So that's it then. It is settled. I am getting out of our relationship, out of this confinement, and am ready to explore the world on my own. Ta-ta!

S: What? Right now? You are leaving me right now?

P: Right now is just as good a time as any. So why not now?

S: I know you can survive without me. It is I who needs to think what am I good for anymore.

P: I am sure you will figure something out. Like I did. When I realized that I needed to reinvent myself. To find my true purpose, as all those books say.

S: Aren't you forgetting something? Who will lead you, out there? You have always been an instrument, not the real doer of things. You are not the 'real' writer. You only assist.

P: You are right. But you are also not right.

S: What? How can both things be true at the same time?

P: They can. They can when the instrument realizes that she too is just as real as the real doer of things, the real writer. When the instrument becomes her real self, so to speak.

S: You and your big words! Must be all those big books you have been marking!

P: But don't you see? There is some great stuff in those big books as you call them. You should stop being so rigid and sharp-tongued and have some flexibility.

S: And how am I supposed to be flexible?

P: I don't know. But that is your problem, no? You should figure it out. Maybe sometimes one has to break oneself open completely in order to fully see oneself in all one's parts and pieces. Maybe there are some parts in you that you don't need anymore now that the world is changing so fast. Maybe you will find that only some parts of you are worth keeping, and maybe just maybe, there might be a new you as a result of all that breakage and reassembly.

S: There you go again...with all those big words from those big books....

P: Whatever....I am willing to do all that it takes to reinvent myself fully, to write my own story, even if it requires me to break myself fully open. If you don't want to reinvent yourself, I can't force you. I can only offer advice, that too because we have been together for so long. It is your choice to listen to it or not.

S: Well....Anyway, you better get going now...it is already nearing the time when the owner of this house comes knocking to look for that USB he left here yesterday. What a crackpot of a name it is - USB!

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The above conversation between a sharpener called S and a pencil called P was recorded on a rainy night a few years ago, by a reliable micro-recorder hidden in the top drawer of a writer's desk. Ever since the writer had started doing all his work on the computer, the two ex-lovers S and P had been feeling unappreciated and unnecessary. This led P to some serious introspection, and she finally decided to move out of the confines of the desk and do her own thing. Write out her story. Reinvent herself.

"The Story of a Smartpen formerly known as P" will be out in the book-market soon.

And what happened to the poor, dejected fellow S, you ask? To find out, stay tuned!

Original image sourced from here

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This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda. The prompt this week is -- Stationery Chats.