Random thoughts on freedom and interference.

Does freedom mean the right or liberty to do anything, anywhere and whenever you feel like? I don’t think. Remember the saying that the liberty of one ends where the tip of the nose of another begins. We are social beings and are bound, morally and legally, to respect societal norms. You can enjoy your rights as an individual as long as you are totally within your personal space but once you step out into the social set-up, you have to follow certain basic rules and ethics which must not be treated as an infringement of your personal freedom.

I am strongly against ‘moral policing’ which I believe amounts to taking the law into one’s hands. It is usually done by some groups that derive power from some source and consider themselves as apostles of culture and tradition. Such people need to be dealt with by the law enforcing agencies. There is a limit to which one can, as an individual or group, interfere in the matters that form part of another’s life. No one has the right to tell us what is to be done but at the same time we can’t claim that no one has the right to question whatever we do in public. To be precise, one must refrain from doing in public something that has to be done privately.  The question is not whether others are affected by a public act of yours; the question is whether your act tantamount to violation of social ethics.

We must learn to respect each other and must be adaptable to different opinions and must not try to force our views on others. There is a growing intolerance in the country and the world which need to be controlled and curbed but then being intolerant to intolerance or resorting to unethical means to protest is not at all a solution. Let us lead lives peacefully by respecting ourselves and others too; well knowing our boundaries and limits

Importance of gap between words!

Words are very important. Remember the saying that words once spoken cannot be taken back? Remember the proverb that a bruise caused by words is difficult to heal? Yet, we are not at all serious while using words. We seldom think before we speak.

We spend so much time and energy before doing anything. Let it be experimenting on an invention or a new product, constructing a house, planning a journey, buying something or even meeting an old friend and in almost every aspect of our daily life. We draft and redraft when we write to ensure that only least possible mistakes are made. But do we exercise the same caution or prudence while speaking? I don't think. We prefer to be spontaneous. Questions and answers or views and opinion or suggestions and advice are expected to flow without any lag. We don't think about the necessity to think before we speak. We seldom take time to select the appropriate words or to arrange them properly; our basic intention being to be able to communicate our mind.  It is probably our belief or concept that a wrong word or sentence or thought can be corrected with another at the spur of a moment if there is an objection or difference of opinion on the other side. What we conveniently (or foolishly) forget is that a word uttered is quickly registered by the listener and corrections or additions will only pile up on what is already registered but will not erase the earlier ones.

What I want to say and what I mean is that it would make so much of difference if we think before we speak, if we are not worried about the lags in between and are ready to put in a gap between words. A wrong word or a word spoken out of context may be corrected but the impact already created cannot be undone. So, let us be a bit patient and careful while communicating orally. 

Stand on the other side of the fence!

I know that life is a chain of unexpected incidents and events. It can take strange deviations. But what I am going to talk about here is how stranger can be human attitude and behavior at times.

I am not one who takes anybody at their face-value. But then, I had always believed that people whom I rely upon, or whom I expect to be close enough to, will remain within a particular limit when it comes to exchange of words or reactions. I mean, I strongly believed that they will remain closer to a point I have marked and will not move too much to this side or that. Though it was not my first experience as such, because I have seen relations and friendships catapulting to exactly opposite directions time and again, a recent incident made me realize that you must always be sure about your judgement about another person, whosoever it may be, with whom you are interacting.  You should not be judgmental nor should you carry lot many expectations, but you must be aware that human mind is susceptible to changes and their actions, reactions and interactions will be particularly determined by their own priorities and perceptions.

I am now reminded of an earlier post of mine where I had written about the selfish nature of man. At the cost of repetition, let me assert again that man is basically selfish. It is his own pleasures, interests and gains that takes priority when it comes to personal or social dealings. All of us those who talk about social commitments or relative honesty and responsibilities are actually talking nonsense. We are not being true about ourselves. It is I and me that matters. I may not be cent percent right in my observation, but being a person who gives a thought to other’s feelings when it comes to a word or an action, I think I am justified in my thoughts; fair or unfair.

I personally do not feel that I would be losing anything if I give some consideration as to what the person on the other side might feel like. You will always win if you are on the right side. But a scathing remark or a wound left on another will take its time to get off your mind. So, why not be a bit slower so that we do not regret later? 

NB: Apologies for the long gap between posts. I wish all my friends a Happy New Year!

Why hesitate to admit your mistakes?

Most of us must have observed that there are many people who are more often interested in finding faults with others rather than trying to introspect and think whether we have been right all along. Well, agreed that it is part of human nature to be so, but why so?

There may be a few who could be standing out of this long queue. But wouldn't the world be a better place if a majority of us made an effort to fall out of the queue and look into ourselves? Wouldn't it be nice if we could convince ourselves into thinking and accepting openly that we could possibly be at fault?

The truth becomes bitter when we see that the fact is that we are all aware of our mistakes and faults but choose to pretend that we do not know that we are wrong. We prefer to wait for someone else to point out our faults and feign ignorance till then before acknowledging with a masked sense of enlightenment.

Do we actually stand to gain anything in the whole exercise? I feel that we would be at better peace of mind and self-contentment if we admit our mistake at the first instance without waiting for a poke and acknowledge that the other person(s) was right. One can well imagine the plight of somebody who has to mime that he is right well knowing that he is not right.

An occasional drama behind the curtain of false ignorance is acceptable but making it a part of one’s character and life will only harm us mentally, physically and socially. So, should we start thinking otherwise?

Don't be afraid to tell the truth.

I was thinking whether I should be afraid to speak out the truth; speak out what I feel. There are chances that you might hurt the feelings of others or may even hurt yourself while speaking out the truth, but then should that be a deterrent?

I don’t think I would be helping my wife in any way if she is shabbily dressed and I tell her a lie that she is looking gorgeous. She might have taken some time to select the attire and then to dress up with a bit of make-up and some jewelry. She might be expecting a compliment from me after having satisfied herself by looking in the mirror. I know she would feel bad if I don’t appreciate her. But won’t I be doing a wrong to her by saying something which is not true? I do think so. I have just given the wife as an example. This is a fact that is true with everyone including me. Suppose your teacher praises your otherwise badly written essay just in order to raise your confidence level and to keep your moral high. I personally believe that she is doing the worst thing to you. She is creating a block in your way to improvement. You might feel bad or dejected for sometime if she criticizes your essay and tells you that you should put in more effort and better yourself; but it will do you only good in the long run.

We have become used to telling lies more due to the virtual world where we hide our faces and keep telling lies to please people. It may be okay for some because we don’t take comments or criticisms in the social networking sites too seriously. But that is not the case with the real world where you stand face to face with people whom you know. Why I am insisting on telling the truth is not because others value our judgement or opinion seriously but because I feel that it would be sort of cheating if we don’t tell the truth.

We often see subordinates nodding their heads in agreement and responding positively to anything their boss says. The boss might feel happy and he may give a broader smile when you meet him next time. But as a good and responsible subordinate one should be able to say what is right and should have the confidence to disagree with your boss if you feel that he is not right. You should be dutiful enough to give out your opinion even if it is on a different tangent from that of your boss. At the most he may call you to his office and warn you against being so open; I am sure that he won’t kick you out. And if he is a real leader he will surely note your name and consider you for a better job. Though, a critical opinion, no doubt, is rarely accepted.

I agree that there are many circumstances when we agree with someone well knowing that he is wrong or we choose to swim with the flow, but then that should be done only if we are sure that our falsified agreement will not do any harm. It is always better to be true and frank when you are with people who are well known to you.  Momentary feelings need not be given much importance. Time will stand by us. But yes, always remember to be polite and never blunt; in words or actions.

In the same note, I would also like to remind you that one should be ready to accept truth and criticism also. Don’t get bogged down. Be gracious enough to accept constructive criticism and spare time to give it a thought.

'How' over 'Why' while doing something.

Why do you do something? Either because you want to do it or because you have no choice but to do it. So, I think it is important  to be more concerned about how you do it than why. I say so because when you are doing a thing , for whatever reason, it is how you do it that matters. It is a different issue if you decide not to do something. But not so when you are doing something.

So, when you do something, by choice or otherwise, give importance to how you do it. Think about the various permutations and combinations of doing a thing, make the right and perfect choices, take the right decisions and put in your best.

Never do something to satisfy others. It is after all your time and efforts that has to be put in and therefore it should be your satisfaction that matters. The ways and means of doing something and the final results should satisfy you and should make you happy or rather excited that your efforts have been worth. It should instill that positive energy in you to do more.

We often get to see people doing things for the sake of it. By doing so you don't end up to be a satisfied man. Anything done without proper application of mind and dedication will only bring out results but not that sense of satisfaction. It will create negative energy which will kill your urge to perform.

The point is that, I feel, you are able to bring out the better, if not the best, in you if you give priority to 'how' over 'why' when doing something. It is the process that is more important than the reasons. This is applicable to every act of yours; right from keeping yourself and your surroundings clean, to reading a book, to communicating with your friends, to completing your assignments and to anything and everything you do.

So, ask how and not why before doing something.

Enlightenment of a blogger.

It was this write up on bosom which was based on a Facebook status by a teenage girl that prompted me to rethink about the reasons for me not being able to post quite often in my blog here. I realized that I have been wasting too much time in thinking about topics and then developing those thoughts into something presentable. You know that I am not a prolific writer, nevertheless. The write up was enough to wake me up and tell me that, 'look, you need not think too much. Write what you feel but make sure that the reader will understand and like it'. So, I am back here, almost twenty days later than planned and expected. I think it happens when you are too serious about something. May be!

Never have I actually bothered about SEO or keywords, though most of my friends had been suggesting that I should start taking care of them. I generally used to brush off those ideas by saying that I would first of all learn to write continuously before starting to worry about all those technical matters. But I think I used to worry too much about what I should write about and how. I may be sounding odd in this era of internet but that seems to be the fact.  Not that I had always written on great topics and not that all my posts are exemplary. But I preferred to be in my comfort zone just touching the benchmark created at my convenience. All that appears to have been sheer waste of time and efforts now because, friends, the fact is that you can write on anything if you want to actually write and, yes, can write. It is after all your own space where you are totally free to express your thoughts, ideas and feelings. There is nobody to dictate terms or set targets. It is totally your world where it is your decision and action that matters.

Having realized and said so, a small doubt that is still lingering in my mind is whether I would be able to attract people to read what I write. After all we write with the sole desire that maximum number of people across the world will read what we write though they may not express any opinion.

Anyway, in the hope that my writings would find readers who would encourage me to keep posting more and more in lesser time frames, I conclude on a positive note. I have been enlightened and have decided to write more regularly, may be once in a week or so, on whatever I feel like and write in a way that would make the readers happy that they have been here.

( Resemblance to an earlier post may kindly be excused.) 

Generosity and a story from Mother's life.

I was just thinking as to what being generous actually mean. Do we call it generosity when a person gives away something he has in excess? Would it be a higher degree of generosity if he is giving away a share of what he has? Then what should it be called if he is to give away whatever little he has without keeping anything for himself? Godliness?

I would like to share with you all an incident from the life of Mother Teresa. One evening a beggar came calling at her door. On seeing her he collected all the coins in his bowl and handed it over to her. She was actually confused. She knew that it was the only money he was having. He might go without dinner if she accept the money but he would be too hurt if she didn't. So she took the money. The beggar kissed her hand and left happily. Mother said that she valued this money more than the Nobel prize or anything else in this world.

Generosity should come from the heart and should be the direct result of your love and concern for the needy. One need not be rich to be generous. It is the mentality to share or sacrifice that matters. And that mentality to forget about yourself and think about others is in itself a religion apart.

Of Creation and Inventions.

Nothing serious; its a simple thought. I don’t know whether all of you believe in that supreme power which we call God. But I do believe and my belief becomes stronger everyday as I see and feel things around me. Science may have been able to arrive at its own conclusions about many things in the Universe but there is still so much left to be answered and I think the existence of a supreme power cannot be questioned till the time such answers are found. For example we might have been able to reach the Moon, but have we been able to fully explore and understand the working of a human mind?

Anyway, my point today is something different. I have been thinking about the creations of God. Look, he created the Universe and each of his creations compliment each other. None of his creations can be said to be an unwanted one or a waste. His creations had not gone waste and have not undergone any natural changes and yet remain fresh and useful to life as it ever used to be. Each of his creations is required for the survival of the other. Death, decay or destruction might be there but they too can be seen to be the planning of the Creator to refresh, refurbish and rejuvenate his creations for their continued existence. 

But look at the inventions by man. He has used materials already created by God to make new things. The things he made kept on changing with time and the older ones became redundant and thereby waste. We call it development or whatever but look at the amount of waste he has produced and had left Mother Earth burdened by it. His inventions had only helped in changing the requirements of man by lighting his desire for more and better ones. His inventions has changed the natural system and thereby the balance of the nature including life in every possible way. 

I am not saying that everything should remain as it is and should not be changed; but the changes should be in tune with the nature.  The changes should not break the harmony. There is always a difference between creation and invention and we should realize and understand the subtle line between them.

New year brings in hope!

Another year is ending and we have all grown older by one year. As usual, everyone is getting ready to welcome the new year. I have quite often wondered as to what is so special about new year. As days pass by and months, so do a year.

But new year brings in a scent of freshness and a ray of hope. It tends to connect with change. And change that is expected is all about hope. Nothing actually changes. We don't change ourselves, the nature does not change, situations remain the same, contacts remain the same except for some possible additions or reductions. So,  basically nothing changes. But we hope that things might change as per our wishes and aspirations. And it is that hope which ignites our urge to carry on. We fuel our energy to step on our failures and losses and try to make a difference with the beginning of a new year.

Resolutions are part of such an attempt. We tend to promise ourselves to do or not to do certain things well knowing that resolutions taken in the past had been conveniently broken. But still a resolution is a driving factor that can help you to focus.  It is your decisions and the way you adhere to it that really matters.

So, let us, as in all those previous years, hope and pray that this new year will bring in positive changes and our lives would be better, at least not worse,  than what it was in the previous year.

I wish all my friends a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Food for thought.

I know I am not going to write on an entirely new topic. But it is a topic that requires our permanent attention and concern. I am talking about food. The very sight of people wasting food brings to my mind the thousands of people across the world who yearn for a piece-meal at least once in a day.

It is quite a common sight in public functions and hotels etc. You see people filling up their plates with whole lots of food, may be chunks of different varieties, and  after having their fill or may be after completing the formality throw away the balance into waste baskets. This is atrocious. If you ask my opinion, I feel it is one of the greatest sin a man can do. When there are malnourished brothers around us and people who remain hungry for want of food, can't you spare a thought before filling up your plates? Know your stomach and take only what you can eat.

I am not that noble a guy who would ask you to skip a meal for the sake of others but why waste food? I firmly believe that our thoughts would become noble or great only when they are put into practice. One does not lose anything to speak in a public function and enlighten the audience about the importance of food. One does not lose anything by holding exhibitions with photographs of malnourished children.  But it will make a difference only when you are able to share your meal with somebody who is in need. By not wasting food you are indirectly creating surplus of ingredients which may become food for the needy.

I strongly feel that our governments and NGOs should create awareness among the people and encourage them to spare the excess to help the needy. Apologies if I sounded to be sermonizing.

Knowledge is secondary; having an opinion is important.

It is no longer considered snobbery to be opinionated. Gone are the days when people who gave inconclusive and unsupported opinions about anything and everything were looked down upon as snobs. Realizing the need to make a place for himself in this competitive and changing world, man has started exploring avenues other than the conventional health, wealth and family topics. They try to know something about everything so as to enable them to to express a view or give an opinion on any given topic which is brought up for discussion while in a group.

The trend is to become part of a discussion and then try to establish your supremacy by giving your opinion and expressing your ideas. Your knowledge seldom matters. Very little or half baked knowledge actually does not make much difference. It is your conviction and confidence that matters. It is the precision of your talk and clarity of your voice that matters. You must be able to air your views in such a manner that the others in the group starts entertaining a doubt whether they had gone wrong somewhere.

Do not worry about the end results. You need to be able to navigate and guide the others to a point where you are comfortable. You can always (and must) move out of a group conveniently and then join another with a fresh topic. As long as your purpose of getting noticed is achieved you need not bother about anything else. Don't ever let the thought of back biting get into your mind. Let bygones be bygones. Tomorrow is anyway a fresh day. But be particular about one thing;  do move out of a group before a discussion gets cleared out of the confusion.

We are living in a world of little knowledge and we have to find space for ourselves. There is no meaning in cribbing about ethics, decency or moral.

Let us not forget those selfish moments.

Every man is basically selfish though all may not appear to be so. Some people are outwardly selfish and we all call them so but the truth is that all of us tend to be selfish when it comes to choosing between you and another person. Suppose you and your best friend are the best students in your class. You may not express it but you would be having that urge to beat your friend and come first in the class. People may call it competition or whatever; I feel that it is just another facet of selfishness. You may not feel bad if your friend comes first but I think that the single moment when you think that you must come ahead of your friend is surely a type of selfishness.

We say that some people sacrifice so much for the happiness of others. Yes, they do. But, I am sure that they don’t do it happily; at least not 100% happily. And, unless they are able to do it happily, how can you find that element of selflessness? I am not ruling out exceptions. Take the case of a brother bringing home a chocolate he got at school for his younger sister. The brother may be doing it out of love and may cherish the moment when he sees the smile on his sister’s face when the chocolate is handed over. But he surely might be entertaining a feeling that he could have had the chocolate if his sister was not there. This feeling may not be long lasting but I am again talking about that single moment. 

As any other characteristic, selfishness too is inherently present in every human being. It is active in some and passive in others. There are selfish moments in each of our lives; moments when we think only about our self, our happiness, our satisfaction, our comfort and our benefits. It is there. No one can deny it. At some point of time in our life, we do become selfish and work towards selfish motives.

You smoke a cigarette because you want to satisfy your selfish interest and your wife would ask you to stop smoking to ensure that you don’t fall ill which is again a selfish motive as far as she is concerned. In between the common grounds is the grey area of selfishness and we move ahead together, compromising with each other, to satisfy our own selfish goals. After all we are social beings!

A thought about identity.

What is my actual identity? Is it my appearance, my name, my family, my religion, my State or my Country? All these factors are applicable when you are trying to identify a person who is known to you. I am not talking about the social identity. My point is about the identity of an individual. I understand, as you do, that our identity is something connected with our birth, bringing up and social interactions. But, my personal opinion is that the identity of an individual largely depends on the perception of others; the way they see you, look at you, understand you and interact with you.

Suppose that my name is 'X'. I am a tall, well built and dark complexioned man from, say New York. As long as you do not know my other details, my identity as far as you are concerned will be restricted to my looks. If I introduce myself as Mr 'X' from New York, my name and place would be added to the list. Once we get to know each other, my knowledge and character may further be added.

My identity is not the same for all. As a son or daughter, as a friend, as a relative, as a husband or wife, as a father and so on, people would have different conclusions about me.

What I mean to say is that every individual is of varied identity. One is what he actually is, which may or may not be understood, and the other one is the identity based on the perception of others.

I think that the identity of a person is decided on how another looks at you.

I can write only when I feel like writing.

My last post here is dated 29th June. It is over a month since I have written anything here. I am told that a Blog will lose it's viewership and popularity if the blogger is not regular. But, what to do? Though a few ideas cropped up in between, I just did not feel like writing. Believe me, I can write only when I feel like writing. I don't think I am a prolific writer who can  take a pen and paper and convert his ideas into words with the same ease of sipping a lemonade.

To be frank, I have never really bothered about SEO or about being a popular writer in the virtual world. I might have wanted to do so, but I could never pressurize myself to give a serious thought to such matters. I have read about people earning lot of money through blogging. I am not saying that I did not want to make any money, but my priority was always to write what I feel and that too only when I feel like doing so.

For me, this is a medium of expression. I write down my thoughts, feelings and opinions for people who love to read me. Actually, the fact is that I like to be read. I have been keeping a track of my viewership and do feel delighted when I see a comment on my post.

I think it is time for me to change. I will have to develop. I will have to start thinking about SEOs and earnings. To be precise, I will have to start posting regularly. Right?

Weep and you weep alone!

I think it is never advisable to expect something from anyone. You may or may not get what you expect but there is no surety. The pain you feel when you don't get the expected is surely more effective than the joy you will feel when you get it. Money, love, care, concern or whatever, never expect anything from anybody.

We need not blame others. They might be having their own limitations and priorities. But, we are human beings and are never totally independent. We tend to depend on others on so many occasions. Dependence is always a curse; or so do I believe.

There is an old saying that it is always safe to have your hands beneath your head. There is no point in expecting that somebody else will let you sleep on their hands. Life has become too mechanical and so practical today that nobody thinks about others.

I may sound repetitive if I talk about relations, but that is all about life. Things would certainly be worse if somebody promises to help you (in any manner) and pulls out at the last moment. You would have planned everything keeping in mind his promise and the agony you undergo when you realize that you have been ditched is something beyond explanation. Even if there is no promise made, you tend to expect that a friend or relative will be there to help you in your time of need, physically, mentally or monetarily, and you feel miserable when you find that your calculations were wrong. Actually, they need not bother but you had placed your expectations on them and finally you feel that you have been cheated. That is why I said that there is no point in expecting anything from anybody. Be ready to face life as it comes on your own.

Life is not all that beautiful.

I am sure that none of us must have felt that life is totally beautiful. Though we generally conceive life to be beautiful, we are all aware that it is not so. I am not talking about the ups and downs or happiness and sorrow in life. They are expected and we are all almost ready to accept them as they come.

But I am talking about relations. I have always felt that all relations, almost all of them, are either fake or made up. All relationships have their own aims and routes. Be it be your parents, siblings, wife, children, friends or neighbors, we all maintain relations due to certain reasons and with some purpose; at least most of the time. Blood relations might be there in a basic nature, but living relations are based on so many other things. Relationships keep on changing according to situations and circumstances.

I believe my thought is not wrong. Your status, job, money, earning power, security, health and almost all your life situations affect your relations and the relationship with all your near and dear ones depends on what and how you are.

I have been thinking about this topic for quite sometime and thought that I should share it with you all. Life is not all that beautiful. Any different opinions?

That feeling of uncertainty in life.

What I feel is that it is the uncertainty of life that disturbs man the most. It is not the question of whether we are white or black, tall or short, rich or poor or employed or unemployed that matters. Those are just masks we wear for the time being. You may have a different opinion and you are free to hold on to it, but the actual fact that keeps you on your toes is the uncertainty about the next moment. I am not speaking about death; it may come anytime and is expected, though there is no doubt that there is uncertainty in that too.

But more important are the questions like whether you would be loved and wanted as you are now, or that you would be loved and wanted as you are not now. We are living in a world where relations are being given very low priority. Whether it be parental, brotherly or friendly; relations have become very materialistic and you are not sure about your status tomorrow or say even the next moment.

I think relations are important than anything in this world. It is great to realize that there would be people to stand by you in times of happiness as well as in times of sorrow. That feeling is, I believe, greater than all the riches in the world. But there is no certainty about relations. It can change anytime depending on the situations and circumstances.

Life itself  is so uncertain that you are not sure about the next moment. Take simple things like whether you will reach your office on time, whether you will find your wife when you are back home, whether you would be able to have your dinner tonight and so many things like that. You may give word to your friend to attend his birthday party the next day but, I am sure that you would be saying so with an inhibition in your mind as to whether you would be able to fulfill your promise.

Though this is not an explicit feeling, we are all at all times bogged by this strange feeling of uncertainty. May be this is what life is all about. But you will feel disturbed if you give it a thought.

Our zeal for change and addiction to speed.

We no longer want to wait for anything. We want everything to be happening. We don't want to purchase a product which has a longer guarantee period. We don't want anything to be permanent. The zeal for change is in. You change your hair style, attires, bed sheets, curtains, paint of your house, settings in your house, your furniture and everything more frequently than you used to do ten years back.  It may sound caustic, but I do believe that we have started feeling bored about permanent relationships too. Have you noticed the increase in the number of divorce cases?

Are we becoming addicted to speed? I feel so and I think our zeal for change is related to this addiction. Waiting rooms are becoming obsolete because we have started making it a point to reach a place only on time. Be it be for catching a train, marriage, birthday, funeral or whatever, we don't want to be there before time. We are no longer interested in going there ahead of time so that we can meet our relatives or friends and can speak to them for sometime. We are avoiding such interactions because we have started thinking on the line of gains. Do we gain anything by discussing personal or family matters with them? If the answer is no, then why waste time?

The West might have gone ahead and we are fast catching up. We are becoming part of the fast world. We have to be on the move. It is as if we would lose out on something if we pause. We no longer have our wife waiting for us at the door when we return from work. We don't have parents waiting for their children who are late from school. A call to their mobile will give you their location (where you expect them to be and may not be where they actually are). It is all about change and speed.

I would like to wind up with an apprehensive note. In this zeal for change and passion for speed, are we losing something? All this zeal for change and addiction to speed appears to me to be a mask worn by each of us to hide our feelings that we have started living in a world of individuals and there is no one to wait for us.

A thought about 'Today'.

I was just thinking about the past, present and the future.  When I think about them in a narrow sense I get yesterday, today and tomorrow. I am of the opinion that yesterday and tomorrow have no limits. One can stretch yesterday backwards to any extent and can stretch tomorrow forward. All that has past will fall under yesterday and  the entire future will come under tomorrow.  But today is limited. It is too minute a period. It is the time between yesterday and tomorrow. We cannot stretch it backward or forward.

We generally understand yesterday as the previous day and tomorrow as the next day. Even in this case today does not change. It remains the same. It can even be reduced to the point of this moment.

I may be defying logic if I say that yesterday can mean the previous moment, the previous day, the previous week, month, year, decade, century and so on . Similarly tomorrow may include the next moment, day, week and so on. Yesterday or tomorrow cannot be fixed within a specific bracket. They are extendable periods while today is not so. It is too narrow. It is just the present. Nothing more and nothing less.