Silence

Life is full of poignant silences where one must contemplate why there is so much beauty surrounded by so much death.

The Blue Tractor

It was a gloomy Sunday afternoon, travelling by train from Danapur to Varanasi, and in the middle of the muddy, flooded fields sat this blue tractor, a splash of bright colour in a muddy verdant landscape ....

Imperfections....

This flower is not perfect. If I wanted to capture a beautiful lotus flower, I probably would not have chosen this flower... 

It's petals were drying and dropping off, it had spots on the newer petals and even the leaf looked old, aged, wizened by veins... 

Yet, this flower drew me to it. Faced with a pond full of flowers, it was only after returning from my trip did I realise that I had photos of only this flower... 

It was then I realised that it's very imperfections had captivated me... 

We humans are marred by imperfections. Maybe that is why the ancient Vedic verse talks about ......

असतोमा सद्गमय ।
तमसोमा ज्योतिर् गमय ।
मृत्योर्मामृतं गमय ॥

asato mā sadgamaya

tamasomā jyotir gamaya

mrityormāamritam gamaya

From ignorance, lead me to truth;
From darkness, lead me to light;
From death, lead me to immortality

The verse is almost saying lead me from imperfection to a perfect self....

However, is being imperfect such a bad thing, don't our scars and wounds define us, and make us who we are... 

Yes, striving towards perfection is a beautiful goal, but until that utopia is reached, we should understand and accept our imperfections...