1 year off

Last year today was the last day when I was paid for the day. 

(I did not want to write a long congratulatory note but wanted to be precise so I decided to write just 3 things under each head)

I wrote and rewrote the first line a couple of times because apart from that rest everything else was still a reality.

• I still work daily  

• I am still responsible for certain outcomes

• I still have meetings / schedules / travel

Yes, the quantum of the above 3 is significantly less, maybe 1/4th of what I did earlier. But I choose to do a lot of other things.

• I am learning what I want to learn

• I feel good about what I do because it has meaning for me 

• I prioritize mindfully what works for me n family

But, this does not mean

• I don’t have conflicts

• I don’t feel lost or worthless at time

• That I don’t have gnawing feeling that I could have done much better / much more

So did I learn something on the way

• You can only plan that much. Rest you have to ‘Go with the flow’. Life will throw curve balls you can never escape so be ready.  

• Having choices is not important. Clarity of what you want is.

• You cannot do it alone. Learn to trust people and letting go off your biases

Wrote on 31st August 23

Hope 5 - Songs

Kabir Session by Vipul

Music: This has been my eternal go to place for comfort. 

The 3 playlists which I play the most

• Amol Palekar playlists which has songs from his movies mostly Basu Chatterjee / Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The movies (Gol Maal, Choti Si Baat etc) which were fun, light hearted and gave you this nice happy feeling at the end of it and I never paid much attention to songs but now that I listen deeply I realize that they have so much meaning. Sample this (Aane waala pal jaane wale hain, ho sake to isme jindagi beeta do…)  - The moment which is going to come will also go very soon and so make the best of the moment and spend your lifetime in it. This is the core of any philosophy you read. But that is just one part of it - like our memory works - these songs evoke the carefree settings of the movies somewhere in my mind I relate to 70’s. And brings a smile on my face and the day 🙂

• My Elvis playlists - mostly his love songs - There is no such philosophical musing like above, but at times I just crave for his voice and the deep - pure feeling of love when I listen to “Take my hand, take my whole life too..but I can’t help falling in love too…” It’s like my heart would melt and all my pain would flow out. Especially after seeing a few documentaries and understanding his meteoric rise and fall and all the struggle he went through - they feel more real. 

• Kabir - Multiple playlists - I got introduced to Kabir in one of the Kabir  singing sessions which was hosted in someone’s balcony in Bangalore. The teacher was Vipul Rikhi. Then I stumbled into several singers like BinduMalini, Shabnam Virmani of Kabir Project. The impact was phenomenal - In a way I took him as a teacher, every song has so much meaning that listening to him you would just forget the daily tussle as it would melt away in the soulful rendition of these songs.