The Bond the better

‘Love among the Bookshelves’: Ruskin Bond - Reviewed by Literary Jewels

Penguin/Viking

Rs. 299

Pages: 185

 “It wasn’t a bookshop, or a library, or a great-aunt’s hoard of romantic novels that made me a reader; it was the week I spent in a forest rest house, in what is now the Rajaji sanctuary, between Hardwar and Dehradun.”

READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW HERE:

'Love Among the Bookshelves' by Ruskin Bond


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Absence or Presence

Photo courtesy: Google

The absence or presence of a person doesn't make any difference until it affects them. People are selfish, they'll only miss you because your absence affects their work, performance and output.

#AmritbirKaurQuotes

When I shared this self-written quote, there were a few people, who immediately disagreed with it completely saying that it is a matter of concern and not selfishness. On the face of it, the statement might seem to be a one-sided picture of missing someone. But let's look in between the lines and somewhat beyond the words themselves.

When you say you  miss someone because you are concerned about them, you actually miss their presence. You want to be near the person you miss. It is their company, which you enjoy that helps to keep your temperament cheerful. Their absence might in turn affect your work performance even, and you would end up being in a melancholic mood or even a sorrowful state. You miss a person because you miss the happiness you get by being with them. Thus, at the end, at the centre is none else but 'you'.

Keep it in mind that saying this is not at all a negative or a sadistic thought. It is just that we should keep giving ourselves a reality check. This will not only help to keep  your soul lighter and brighter but also help you to maintain a good health level in any relationship.

This brings me to another important aspect of successful relationships. When I say "The absence or presence of a person doesn't make any difference until it affects them...", it also construes that they may be affected emotionally. One might feel emotionally drained out or experience a lack of enthusiasm for life when the person is not close to him. Now this too implies that on one hand, it is the concern for the absent person, while on the other hand, it is the loss of cheer of oneself that we want the person to be present with us.

So it is a matter of our outlook towards life and the challenges it throws in front of us in the form of various situations. Missing someone is not a selfish thing, even if say that " they'll only miss you because your absence affects their work, performance and output". The statement helps you to give yourself the much needed reality check, whether you are heading in the right direction, whether you are being true to yourself in expressing your feelings towards someone, whether you are just faking to be emotionally so concerned about the other person or you are just being too selfish. So friends, miss but don't miss out on the fun of missing someone, don't miss the absence, just miss the feeling of the presence of that person!!

© Literary Jewels

Moving on...

AMRITBIR KAUR
abcpoet@gmail.com

If moving on in life means that we have detached ourselves completely from our past, then why do we have dreams related to it? If we can forgive and forget so easily, then why is it that we can still feel the pricks off and on? Why is it that we have memories attached when we claim to have detached completely?

DETACHMENT
The tree standing tall
near the river bed,
but never ever got a drop
the yellow never turned red.
The wait was eternal
longer than life itself;
there came thousand springs
but soul couldn’t reveal the self.
The leaves were buried
the twigs swept away:
grayed leaves dying underneath
and the river slid silently away.
©Amritbir Kaur

Silently time moves on and we pretend to move on with the moving time. We pretend to be normal but what we don't want to confess even to ourselves that a part of has stayed behind clinging to the past that we never wanted to pass. It's not that there something bad about it. It is pretty normal to travel back to the past off and on. After all, we all leave footprints behind, it might be in the form of the associations we formed with places, time or situations.

There are things lying dormant in our subconscious, but the things are not the dead ones. They tend to crop up to the surface when provided with a suitable trigger. Occasionally it does no damage but when we are so dependant on the moorings of the past, it is then that we are unable to keep up with the time that is passing by. It is then that we lose count of our own self and we being lost in a reclusive world of our own are unable to keep track of the things happening to us in the present time. And then again our future is affected by it. So we might end up being caught in a vicious circle of delving only into the past, while letting the present go by.
Hence, don't feel guilty if you have spells of visiting your past, but then don't do it at the cost of your present. It is the present that will give you memories to cherish in future and you will be able to sort of compensate for the bitter memories of the past. Let  present be your saviour so that you can rescue your future!

Justified Judgement

"When you are not in a position of judging others correctly, 

                                           don't expect others to judge you correctly."                                                                                                                                                     Amritbir Kaur (2013)

We often blame the other person of being 'judgemental'. My question is: 'Who is not judgemental?' Can you even breathe without being judgemental about something or the other? The answer is a clear NO. Even a very simple and casual remark such as "It is very cold today!" is a statement that depicts your judgement about the weather. "I am not feeling very well today", is something you think about yourself - it is the way you are feeling about yourself and here you might be judging either your physical or mental state.

Cricket and Literature

'Cricket', the mere word does not refer to just the sport itself. It has much expanded dimensions (Of course let alone the huge monetary dimensions added by the IPL...!!!) Cricket was already a religion in India. The sport that had already established its ties with the entertainment industry and Bollywood, the ties that were of matrimony and love, is now even more directly connected with IPL teams owned by  many film stars. Then another important field that cricket has come to show its presence in is the world of 'word play' and writers.

Let's take just the most recent instances where we saw a popularistic amalgam of writing and cricket. If it was Rahul Dravid and Sreesanth at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2013, it was Raj Kundra this time in 2014 at the same festival, organised at Diggi Palace, Jaipur from 17 to 21 January. The reasons behind the participation of both were different. While Rahul Dravid was there to launch the book 'Pataudi: Nawab of Cricket', edited by Suresh Menon, Raj Kundra was here to take part in a panel discussion on two books that included his maiden novel 'How not to Make Money'.