A day in the life of LIFE

I still remember the stout medium sized digest that Dad handed over to me even as I entered 2nd grade. The one thing that attracted me the most about the book was it's shimmering gold edges that looked very beautiful when the it lay closed and the pages stuck to one another.The front cover of the navy blue hard bound presented to Dad by a Sailor friend was titled "Bartholomew" and what followed in Italicised font underneath was "World Atlas".

I was too young to know who Bartholomew was then, let alone try and spell his name. It was later in life that I realized that Bartholomew Diaz (Am sure we all recall the actress by the same surname)was one of the greatest explorers the world had ever seen. But back then, the "Atlas" as I came to call it, became my prized possession, for, it captured the limitless expanse of the globe in finite sheets of glossy paper.

While the 4 color combination presented the perfect visual appeal, the illustration of some of the most unheard of places took me on a virtual tour each night as I lay awake in bed, with a mission to explore our planet. All this was special, especailly in a world devoid of the internet which is so ubiquitous these days that it has made a lot of things to be taken for granted.

Well, why am I blogging about this today? - Today was the day which provided the opportunity to revisit this childhood interest of mine. A lecture that had almost taken its toll on us owing to the relentless and hectic academic schedule, had myself and PG(who was sitting in the chair adjacent to mine) utilize the world map printed in the final pages of a complimentary diary I had received for the new year.

We took turns in providing each other with names of cities and geographical forms to be located, even as we crisscrossed one continent after another. While some were crackable, others simply had both of us at our wits end. (I must admit PG fared much better than I did)

Well, did you know that the "Naresh strait" separted Ellesmere Island from Greenland? Or that the "Barrants Sea" covered the region to the north of Finland beyond the Arctic Circle? The "World's Amazing Race" took us from Zervis to Kingalon with a pitstop at Port Morsby. And yes, we did have a brief stop over along the journey at IIM Shillong to catch a few worlds of what the lecture had in store for us.

The experience just went on to show that there is so much more to explore and unearth under the expanse of the global canvas. It was a pleasant recall of the experiences I had nearly 2 decades ago and my special thanks to PG for the same.

Now let me get back to finding "Seram" on the globe since I need to "get around the world in 8 seconds....."

Till then, Happy Navigating folks...

Pic below - The Map we used for our short but rejuvinating game....

Not often we seriously think,
As to what would happen at life’s brink;
We try and postpone things to accomplish,
Hoping for free time in which to cherish.

And as these wishes and feelings we park,
Goes on; life with its routine tasks;
We get caught in the quagmire of misery,
Caused by the permanence of unending drudgery.

We run the race to beat the competition,
We strive hard to achieve the mission;
We go that extra mile to prove we are better than the best;
And all the while we forget to pause and rest.

In the midst of finding the never ending solutions,
Overawed we are by the sea of emotions;
We missed the smile, the warmth and what not in the ongoing strife,
We failed to savor the musings of everyday life.

And then when we look back on the transience of the permanence,
We take note of the pursuit of perseverance;
But by then there’s very little left of self sustenance,
And it ends up reflecting on the epitaph of erstwhile existence.

With all this comes the importance of the present,
It’s a gift that exists which is why it’s a Present:
As we go along we choose what we make of it;
There’s no room ever for regret in life, and so my friend, “Just do it”….