Storm approaching

"I remember an old friend of mine who lived in Normandy as a child and who witnessed the Allied landing in Nazi-occupied France. I will never forget his words: ' I woke up, and the horizon was full of warships. On the beach beside my house, the German soliders were watching the same scene, but what terrified me most was the silence. The total silence that precedes a life-or-death struggle.' It is the same silence that surrounds me now, and which is gradually being replaced by the sound...I have witnessed many storms in my life. Most storms have taken me by surprise, and so I've had to learn - and very quickly too- to look farther off, to understand that I cannot control the weather, to practise the art of patience, and to respect nature's fury. Things do not always happen the way I would have wanted, and it's best that I get used to that.

I can see the storm approaching. As with any storm, it brings with it destruction, but it also waters the fields; and, with the rain, falls the wisdom of the heavens. As with any storm, it will pass. The more violent the storm, the more quickly it will pass. "

Like the flowing water, Paulo Coelho

Luck.....

‘Don’t be silly,’ he said aloud. ‘And keep awake and steer. You may have much luck yet.
‘I’d like to buy some if there’s any place they sell it,’ he said.
What could I buy it with? He asked himself.
Could I buy it with a lost harpoon and a broken knife and two bad hands?

‘You might,’ he said. ‘You tried to buy it with eighty-four days at sea. They nearly sold it to you too.’
I must not think nonsense, he thought. Luck is a thing that comes in many forms and who can recognize her? I would take some though in any form and pay what they asked.....

The old man and the sea, Ernest Hemingway

few insights

She asked Fraser not to tell anybody, this was her reason:
‘I had conflict, common to my generation of women, about commitment and career, and is this the right person, and being scared. I said yes, but my mind was whirling. The trouble is, we’re all fed a diet of knights in shinning armour, whereas what I had in reality was this descent, good-looking, nice man who I was terribly comfortable with, but wasn’t fireworks and parties every night and traveling round the world. May be the knight in shining armour was round the next corner. But the guy who produces fireworks is not the guy you want to spend your life with. The comfortable alternative sometimes puts people off because lots of us want to live on the edge. What I’ve learnt now is that the companionship, trust and laughter are so important, and it can seem fuddy duddy – but it’s not, it’s real. And we do have our firework moments.’

I get a lot of this sort of attitude from women and men in their thirties and forties. They find it almost impossible to make commitment in case something better turns up along the line…I don’t really know what the answer is here, in almost every case there has to be give and take, compromise and a willingness to take the long view.

Tales from the country matchmaker, Patricia Warren.

This one is for the book I read

I was waiting for this moment. I finished ATLAS SHRUGGED on this Monday. It took me one whole year to read the book by taking breaks in between. I brought this book by my friend’s suggestion in November 2006, so that I can read it in Delhi during my internship of two months. I am generally not scared of the thickness of the book, when I opened the book I found font size is comparatively small to read. I think I only read 5 pages at that time and thought may be this is not the time for this book, I will read it later. Then I started reading finally this book in September 2007 when I left for Bangalore for diploma project and I got totally hooked by the book. I liked Dagny a lot! This character has portrayed very sharp, clear and passionate about her carrier. I relate to Dagny, Hank Rearden, and John Galt. I felt may be these characters are there in the world around us who are fighting for right things, determined, honest, idealist, they believe in there work, do not compromise at any cost and posses there own set of rules. I can relate to the experiences portrayed in the book. Story in the book makes you read more and more and makes you curious what happens next. I was reading book in buses, trains, in the night before sleep and also have just read for hours seating in my room…

But then again one break happened when I left for Sweden in Feb, 2008. I didn’t carry that book with me. (My mom didn’t allow me to carry due to weight of the book, I was sad at that time. I so wanted to read the book since I was alone there and had lots of time in hand after work). I started reading that again in December, 2008 when I came finally back to home after finishing all my post graduate studies and on 27th April, 2009 I finished the book. Very good book, you need patience but its definitely WORTH reading!! I have always put my favorite part from the book on my blog and I have noted more in my diary… The language is simple, detailed and captures minute observation of human mind and its true response.

Last few lines from the book - You will win when you are ready to pronounce the oath I have taken at the start of my battle. “I swear - by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine”

I would like to mention this incidence, I was traveling in train, standing and reading the book...( That’s what I do most of the times when I travel in Mumbai locals or stand at the train door ) One girl asked me can you please tell me the name of the book? When I told her the name she said " I just thought… It should be Ayn Rand only! And she asked me my profession. After that she told me that who ever she has met reading this book most of the times they are from creative field!! see you are a designer and I write columns for news paper.