Be Still

Be still my wandering mind

What are you constantly looking to find?

This quest for Knowledge

This quest for Learning

Can it be a blessing

Or is it a curse?

Be still my wandering heart

A lot of things you seek are already with and within you

Though a few things seem really beyond you

Accept what is to be.

Be still my wandering eyes

Stop looking o' er the bend, o'er the hills,

O'er the skies.

Be still my wandering ears

Choose not to listen and magnify your fears.

Be still.

Still.

Still is not stagnation.

It is revelling in the moment.

Contentment does not mean you are unambitious

Contentment does not mean you do not want to grow, learn, experience new things, ideas.

But on the other hand if we have been taught always to chase,

How do we be content?

Is ambition and contentment mutually exclusive or is there a way to balance it?

Or maybe the best thing to do is to ponder on what Buddha says

In the end these things matter the most,

How well did you love?

How fully did you live?

How deeply did you let go?

Still..

Source: Pintrest

Lone Star

Lone star 

Shining bright in the dawning sky.
How many centennials did it take you
To attain your moment of glory.
To be the Lone Star
In the endless sky.

Lone star 
Shining bright
A beacon of hope.
Earthlings are looking upto you 
And making wishes.
I know I made many too over the years
To different lone stars,
And all have come true.
Others may call me superstitious, or a pagan or a fool.
But I believe in your power, Lone Star.

You were just one among the multitude of twinkling stars in the sky until today.
Some were bigger than you
Some twinkled brighter than you
Some shone in different interesting hues to you.
Yet, you persevered.
You knew your time would come.
You just needed to patiently wait 
And watch.

And now your time has come.
Shine bright Lone Star.
Shine with all you have.

Image Courtesy: ramblingeveron

Leave the Light On

I'll leave the light on for you
Just in case
When you come back home
You won't need to stumble on things that might have changed
Objects that may have moved
Or trip over strings that may have been broken.

I can only imagine the horrors that you might be facing out there, out in the battle field.
In these wars between nations, 
Between religions
Between corporates 
Between ideologies
Between normal people.

I'm afraid this might change you irrevocably.

Once you have navigated the Webs of Deceit,
Halls of Power
Misplaced ideologies
Empty words
Mounds of lies
Corporate bullshit.

Once you have seen traitorous politicians,
Deceitful friends
Shifty workmates
Unfaithful lovers
Adulterous marriages
False promises of 'now and forever' relationships.

After seeing all this, 
You can never be the same again, you will never be the same again.

I'm afraid this will make you more cynical, more mistrusting, more jaded with this world.

I'm afraid you are never coming back.

But when all this is over,
Even if it's never over,
I'm here for you.
I'll leave the light on for you,
Just in case.

Image Courtesy: LampsUsa

The Lake

Have you ever been mesmerized by someone 
So utterly bewitching and baffling at the same time
It's maddening but enthralling
Like a drug, an elixir.
So bad for you, but oh so good.

Her moods can vary from passionate fire to icy disdain.
Depends on what she has read or seen, 
Could be due to perceived or real injustices.
Or her moods could get set off due to the ignorant remarks from people around her.
Or unkindness.
Or the fact it rained when the forecast said sunshine.
Her moods are like the colors of the rainbow,
It can go from yellow to grey to black in seconds.
And may God give you strength if you can't keep up.

The last thing she will ever be is tepid, or worst, boring.
She is never going to be a wallpaper, blending into the background.
If she chooses not to be the brightly lit centerpiece, she sure as hell will be the billowing curtain in the wind, in the corner.
In the sidelines for the moment, but making a vortex of her own. 

With her high standards and idealisms, it isn't easy  being her,
And she knows it.
Is completely aware of her flaws, maybe even too self-aware.
It isn't easy for anyone to be around her either,
But still looks like people choose to stick by her.

Why?

Because she can warm your heart with an absurd comment.
Or set you roaring in splits of laughter with her goofiness.
Hack away at your barrier and analyze the real you, hidden to most others.
But her frown can set you mildly panicking inside,
And her icy demeanor and the burning coals in her irides can freeze your heart until it is numb
And you can feel no more.
But the worst for you is when she looks sad and defeated, disappointed.
That you cannot bear, cannot handle.

You still goad her at every opportunity and try to get a reaction.
Any reaction is worthwhile to you,
Except for ice.
Fire is fine, you can handle fire, heat is good
You can handle being burnt alive at the stake
Consumed in your desire to piece together this enigma, your muse.

Maybe she will mellow one day and you will get to see only her smooth unruffled side.
No meandering of the stream, no resounding crashes of the waves, no waterfalls.
Just the glassy stillness of the lake.

But the question is 

Do you really want to see only the lake?

Pic courtesy: Demo.Wpzoom

The Lioness Den- Entrepreneurship Programme for long- suffering wives

Have you seen the Dragon's Den series? It is/was a fairly popular TV show in UK and Ireland, where entrepreneurs with a product idea come into the Den(Studio) and pitch their idea for funding to a group of cash rich investors (Dragons). These series are in the news recently as 3 of the Dragons are contenders in the upcoming Irish Presidential elections. Interestingly enough, one of the Dragons is my ex boss. If my former boss wins this election, then Irish Civil Services, here I come😂

Anyway, reading this news took me back to the days when I used to watch this show on telly and started thinking more on the lines of this, there needs to be a similar series focused on inventions that will make the domestic lives of long-suffering wives/ girlfriends/ moms easier.

Image Source:Boldsky.com

Here are a few ideas I came up with:

1) The Laundry Sniffer :-
Tired of sniffing clothes lounging on 'The Chair' or on hooks that your other half's been piling for wearing 'another day'? Are your Olfactory Neurons dying a slow death, one by one?

Enter, the Laundry Sniffer! This tiny device can be held against the suspicious clothes and it will turn colour and emanate beeps to warn you.
A) Orange- Neutral- Can survive another week on the door hook or chair until it wrecks your head and you throw it in the laundry.
B) Green- Proceed with Caution. Needs a wash for sure but not danger-level radiation yet.
C) Red- STOP. Use gloves or tongs to pick up this piece and hurl them into the wash.

Your Olfactory Neurons will do a thank-you jig inside.

2) The Dishwasher Re- arranger:-
Does your other half feel guilty sometimes (read once in a blue-moon) and offer to help you load the dishwasher? And against your better judgement and given the fact that your bones are giving up on you, you take up on the offer. You come back and check the dishwasher after it's been loaded and all hell breaks loose! You realise that the spoons and forks are all upside down (Does anyone else have a problem with this or is it just me), the other bits of cutlery are not in their 'logical' assigned places?

Instead of an argument , Enter the Dishwasher Re- arranger. This little beauty can fix itself to any dishwasher and will re-arrange all the dishes to your liking and preference (Your preferences need to be programmed in only once)

Happy dishes, Happy you (And Happy Spouse)

3) The Sockbot:-
Now this one takes the prize for the best product idea, even though I do say it myself.
Are you tired of buying endless socks for your kids because one of the pair seems to mysteriously disappear every time it comes out of the wash? It is not the end of the world if both from the same pair and pattern go missing, but I ALWAYS seem to lose just one from the pair.

What are your options during the rush-time morning's when you can't find a matching pair for your child?
A) Throw a fit
B) Send your child in mismatched socks (And do the walk of shame while other mothers look on and judge you)
C) Call in sick at work and spend the day alternating between sobbing into your pillow and watching Netflix.
                                                          OR
Use the Sockbot! Feed the bot with the image and pattern of your sock, and this tiny device will crawl into all the corners and crevices in your house and locate the missing sock.

Till death do us part, missing Sockie!

4) Snore Blocker Pillow with white noise:-
As a mom, do you get by with less than 4 hours of 'good' sleep every night. Out of those 4 hours, is the snoring by your other half, making you want to commit murder and bury the body? (Dial M for Murder)

Presenting to you suffering ladies of this realm- The Snore Blocker Pillow with white noise! As soon as the snoring levels beside you raise to an intolerable decibel, your pillow will start emanating white noise to counter the noise from the snores. No more eviction to the couches, spare rooms or pull out sofas , no more murder planning.

Ta da, lead a happy married life! :)


What do you guys think? Time to start looking at manufacturers in China and get the prototypes ready?

Any other product ideas? Let me know in the comments.

The IKEA Conundrum

Few places match what IKEA offers. Not only in terms of goods but also in terms of analyzing human psychology and emotions and relationships. It is a giant experimental lab and if you analyze the footage from their CCTV’s, it will not only give you consumer and behavioral insights, but also insights into relationships as well. In fact, if I ever end up doing my PHD, this is the place that I will gather most of my data from for my thesis.

Folks who have visited IKEA before can perhaps relate to this piece. Close your eyes and picture yourself and the family at the start of the IKEA trip. You find a parking spot, yippee! Then you and your partner walk hand in hand to the entrance of the store. You are joined by other couples, also hand in hand, looking at each other with stars in their eyes.  This is the foundation of building our future together, baby/ Our place is finally getting a complete makeover, baby! How exciting!

All the star-struck, completely besotted in love couples slowly make their way up the elevator (all the time in the world now) and  pick up the order forms and pencils and paper tape measure (I always pick up two of those and of course don't use it even once). You marvel at the displays of bedrooms, living rooms, all gloriously lit up by cleverly concealed lighting that makes the displays so attractive. You ooh and aah and run your hands lightly through all the stuff (still lots of time left, no rush at all).  At this point in time, you haven’t still gone to the actual section from your original shopping list.

You land now in the IKEA restaurant section, yes that of the famed Swedish meatballs. Looking at the snaking queues, one would assume the country has come out of a meatball famine. After queuing up for what seems like hours, finally the order comes through and the couples feed each other bits of meatballs, looking indulgently into each other’s eyes, marveling at how spot on the price Vs taste is, for this generous portion.

Now folks, this is the point where the imbalance in the relationship starts. The man now is now completely replete with the meatballs and all he can now think is of going back home and plonking on the couch and watching some telly. The woman however, has realized that nothing in her original list is even short-listed, never mind finalized and she starts panicking slightly. Urging her man to help her pick out her list, but by now the man is too far gone, he has reached the point of no return. If you look closely at most couples in the sections after the restaurant, you will notice that  most of them are no longer holding hands, nor love-struck and one person is lagging behind the other, with some good bit of muttering under the breath.

Finally the couple reach the billing section and this is where the man completely loses it. What was intended as a trip with a budget of X, has now finally become a trip of 4X, burning a hole in his wallet. Perhaps IKEA realises that the chance of  return visits to the store is minimal in this state of mind, so in a last feeble attempt to lighten the mood and make the man happy, they sell HOTDOGS at the exit, all for an amazing 75 cents each, the cheapest Hotdogs in the planet. The man’s face lights up looking at this oasis in the desert. Once he has had about 4 Hotdogs, all is well and right with the world, the couple is back again holding hands and walk out into the glorious sunset with a burp.

Feel the Beat

You Feel the Beat
You are the Head Banger
You are the Foot Tapper
You are the one who has attempted to practice mindfulness and meditation

But quickly realized that even the simple act of concentrating on your own breathing for a few minutes,
Is plain torture.
As you are wildly impatient,
And your mind can't be stilled,
Not even for a few minutes.
Your neurons are always at work overtime,
Trying to process everything that is going on in your mind,
Juggling the different acts and spinning plates.

Suddenly one day you realize that instead of concentrated mindfulness,
You realize being mindful of the music in your ears,
In your soul,
Is more than enough.
The rhythm that sets your head banging,
And foot tapping,
In a packed train of commuters or walking on a crowded street.

While waiting for the traffic lights to change,  you look across the street and see another head banger.
Your eyes meet for a second,
And you share a knowing smile.
Two kindred spirits,
Connected for a split second by this act.

The lights change,
And you disappear back into your individual headspace,
Into your individual rhythms, dancing on your own.
The brief respite from the demands of the day,
Your own time, your personal time,
Before you need to pick up all the spinning plates and juggling acts again.

Image Courtesy: Independent.co.uk