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Silence and the World

May 23, 2020 | Life | 2 Comments

I’ve begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own.
– Chaim Potok, The Chosen

Even before you start reading this, I will ask you to do one little thing. Switch off all devices producing any form of sound if you can, and try to stay in absolute silence for a few seconds. Put away the device you’re reading this on and just listen… listen to the silence.

Intriguing, right? Did you just realize that there are so many sounds around us on a daily basis, and yet, we fail to listen to them? The truth is, there can never be absolute silence, at least not as long as life exists. Silence is somewhat related to darkness, neither of them exists of its own. You might be wondering “Eh, what? but darkness exists, if I go out of my home at 2 am, it is dark around”. Well, darkness is not an entity on its own. It’s just the absence of illumination. Same is the concept with silence, it is the absence of any sound, melody or noise. By now, you must be wondering what is the point of this post, like, what am I even trying to tell you through silence?

You see, in our course of life, our brain gets trained to hear those sounds only which we need, like the ring of your smartphone, the horn of a vehicle, human communications, etc. But apart from these sounds, there are millions of other sounds around us, which, although we hear, our brain doesn’t perceive them as to our brain, those sounds are not of much importance. And this is where mother nature hides her beauty. Just cut off all non-natural sources of sound and you will be left with this unexplored set of sounds around. Now, try to listen to them one by one, try to observe them. These sounds… these are the sounds of life around you.

You love to listen to music, right? A great composer, John Cage, had composed one of the greatest musical creations, 4’33” (pronounced as Four minutes, thirty-three seconds). Now, music is about notes… a sequence of notes synced together in harmony to soothe the ears of the listener. But this composition is formed from absolutely nothing. Yeah, that’s right, it has no sound in it. It is just silence for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. This composition was premiered at Maverick Concert Hall, which is an open concert hall, meaning that it’s right in the middle of nature with no walls. So, the audience sat there and for all those minutes and seconds, they did hear the greatest symphony ever – the symphony of nature. Birds chirping around, the rustling of leaves, the breaking of branches when a squirrel walked over it, and such.

Another advantage of silence is that it makes you realize your self. When there is silence, there is no noise to distract your brain. Thus, you can use your full concentration. Now, if you start looking for answers to any thought in this state, your entire concentration is spent on looking for that one answer. And when you start finding answers about your self, you start discovering your self. An Anechoic Chamber can practically teach you the importance of your own heartbeat. For those of you who don’t know, an Anechoic Chamber is a specially designed chamber with foam wedged walls that reduces echo to the maximum, in here you can get almost absolute silence. Now, if you spend some time in such a chamber, with a total absence of sound, your mind will gradually start shifting towards the lower decibel perception. It will keep getting lower and lower to a point when you can hear your own heartbeat and also the blood flowing through the arteries. Now, just imagine the situation, you’re in a dark room, hearing your own heartbeat only. This very moment, this very lub-dub brings the essence of being alive!

Never miss a good chance to shut up!
– Will Rogers

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By Sayan Kundu

Crush, and Confusion.

April 20, 2020 | Life, Love, Romance | 1 Comment

Isn’t it funny how just one little phone call or text can make your bad day suddenly wonderful!
– Nishan Panwar

Every time you get a text, you hope it’s from her or him. You unlock your phone to find that it’s a text in your friends’ group. You become disappointed, and just about you’re about to put aside your phone, that text from that person, which you have been waiting for appears. You open up the chat and reply as fast as possible. Then you wait, for the reply. The other person is online, and you keep waiting for that “typing…” but, it soon changes to “Last seen: “. And that is only a small emotional coaster that you experience.

The period of crush is full of confusion. You have no idea if your crush likes you, or worst, hates you. You try to make conclusions out of every act of theirs, and end up with 10-20 scenarios in your mind. You think that the person is talking to someone else who is much more important than you. Then you get a text from that person and you start feeling good again. You get confused at their acts. “That little smile she gave me – is it a sign? or is it just normal? or maybe she did that just to avoid getting into a conversation with me?” You start finding signs in almost everything. And so, become confused, cause one thing gives rise to hundreds of types of signs.

Just thinking about you brings a smile to face, a twinkle to my eye, and a skipped beat to my heart.
– Ash Sweeney

All these strange feelings that you get during this “crush” period, trust me, once you get into a relationship, these feelings will not be the same. Although it will be better in a relationship, but there’s something strange about these feelings during the crush. It’s as if although they are complicating your life, yet, you like this type of complexity. Although you don’t know if they are texting you first or not, yet, that very little thought, be it the one in thousandth thoughts, that single thought of being the first person they reply back, surely give you a wide strange type of smile on your lips, you blush. Although they didn’t talk to you the entire day, yet you feel them while watching the warm orange sunset on your ride back home. You fell the warmth of the sun slowly take a human form and hold your hand, as you enjoy the gentle breeze, as gentle as the words coming out of their lips.

Once this period goes, it won’t come back. So enjoy it while it lasts! Enjoy the little windy touches made by the breeze with a feather you feel on your shoulder, that you consider being theirs. Enjoy the hiccups you get while eating, thinking they are remembering you. Enjoy the rush you feel to check if it’s a notification having their name every time your phone lights up. Enjoy yourself imagining you and your crush sitting on the lap of the mountains, on a cold evening, wrapped in a blanket, with a campfire in front. Enjoy the blushy smiles you get every time their thought comes to you. Enjoy getting lost in their thoughts, enjoy all those moments you spend wishing to have your crush with you. Enjoy all the confusions you get after overthinking about your crush, cause once solved, they won’t give you the same restlessness as now! Enjoy the “Does she like me? or does she hate me?” Enjoy all those tries you make, just to see your crush, to be with them. Enjoy the smile you get while looking at Facebook notifications having their name on. Crush, in itself, is one of the sweetest feelings which, if not enjoyed, leaves out a huge blank in our lives. No matter what the outcome is, always remember,

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened!
– Dr. Seuss

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By Sayan Kundu

Happiness

March 14, 2020 | Life | No Comments

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happiness… a single word that we all chase after. But only few gets it. Why is that? Why can’t we all be happy? What is causing us depression? What is the reason for all those long hours of crying at 2 A.M? The answer to all of these questions is nothing but our understanding.

What primarily makes us lose our happiness is worrying. Worrying about anything – be it your studies, job, relationships. The thing is, uncertainty about the future will always prevail. And this uncertainty is the very foundation of worries. If there is something you can do about the stuff that is worrying you, then why are you even worrying about it… You can simply do what’s needed to be done. But, if there is nothing you can do about it, then also, why are you worrying? You can’t change it, it’s not under your control.

Do you have a problem in life? No? Then why worry?
Do you have a problem in life? Yes? Can you do something about it? Yes? Then why worry?
Do you have a problem in life? Yes? Can you do something about it? No? Then why worry?
– Gaur Gopal Das

Remember our childhood? We were all so happy and jubilant? How come we were happy then, but today, we can’t be happy? We are the same human beings, we have the same skin, the same lungs, the same brain. Then, why can’t we enjoy our every breath? Life was simple back then, we knew little and thus we had to care for very few things. As we grow up, information is forcibly fed into our minds, it becomes congested. All those information’s, they bring up new questions. Questions like, will my friends like my dress? will I get the job? And with these questions, we begin to doubt our selves. We doubt our self morale, our self-beliefs. And that is where depression sets in. We try so much to make ourselves perfect for the other, but the reality is, perfection does not exist. What we think is perfection is merely our interpretation of perfection. No matter how hard you try, it’s a fact that you will never be perfect! Nobody is! So, stop chasing perfection, and start following purity. It does not matter if your friends like the dress or not, you bought it because you liked it, and you liked it because you wanted to wear it. So, go on, wear the dress! If your friends are really your friends, a simple dress won’t make them leave! And trust me, out of the 7.5 billion people, there will surely be one who will just absolutely love your dress! Don’t ever underestimate your own value! You are your most precious jewel! Don’t let anyone hold you down. Don’t ask who will help you, ask who will stop you from achieving what you want!

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.
– Dr. Seuss

There is a saying “Fake it till you make it!” Follow that! It takes only 21 days to change any habit. Just for 21 days, pretend you’re happy! And trust me, after that period, you’ll just forget that you’re pretending! You don’t have much control over the outside world. But on the inside, you are the supreme ruler! If something is amiss in the mental world, fix that first! First, achieve mental peace! Then you will automatically start seeing the world with a better viewpoint! It doesn’t matter what age you are, it is always okay to be yourself, that childish your self! Go out to the park! Play with the children, you’ll see the real joy in their eyes! Talk with the aged people, understand them, help them! They have already had their rough chapters in this world! Help them to achieve happiness! And trust me, they will share that with you!

Just because you are happy, it does not mean that the day is perfect but that you have looked beyond its imperfections.
– Bob Marley

You see what you think! Stop thinking about all the negative sides! Look at the brighter optimistic side! There are always two ways to view something, one, the pessimistic approach, which will depress your mind, mentally force you down; and the other is the optimistic way, which will open an entire world of open happiness to you! Don’t look at the dark clouds in the thunderstorm, look at the rainbow following it! The answer to the question “How to be happy” is already inside us, we just don’t make the effort to find it. Make that effort! Understand yourself! Understand what you like and what not! Because only after you have understood your self, you can look forward to understanding the world.

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By Sayan Kundu

Be Yourself

May 9, 2019 | Life | 9 Comments

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
– Oscar Wilde

Ever wondered what the secret to success is? It’s YOU. Yes, “YOU”, not the person you want to become, but the person you are.

In the wild rapid of life, we often forget to have a look at our own selves and just get this blind belief that the person in front is better than us. Well, She may be a great singer, or maybe a great dancer, maybe she’s even a famous actress; but, that’s HER, not YOU. You great somewhere else, in some field where you are unbeatable, like, let’s say, Painting. Both Michelangelo and Leonardo-Da-Vinci were great painters, but do their creations looks the same? No! And yet, even while being in the same field, both of them are equally famous. Why? Simple! Each had his own style, his own signature of artwork, which was mastered by his own self.

The moment you start valuing yourself, the world will start valuing you.
– Sandeep Maheshwari

People are unique. Just because you saw a genius who can solve any mathematical problem in seconds, doesn’t mean that you have to too! It is certain that you can do something far better than that mathematician. YOU are unique, and only one in the universe! You represent others by their names or nicknames, but you represent yourself by “Me” – this very word has a lot of power, the infinite power to change your entire life. You’ll never call anyone else by the word “me”, it’s reserved for you only!

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Success is not what you want to become, it is who you are. Stop chasing someone else, you are not someone else, you are your self. You are unique and precious. Let them be engineers, businessmen, whatever they want. You focus on what YOU want, not anyone else. Ultimately it’s your life, and when you’ll be sitting on a hospital bed one day, waiting for the final hour, the only question you’ll be asking yourself is “did I enjoy my life? did I make good use of it?” and trust me, if you keep on following others, you will never have a positive answer to that question. If you want something changed in your life, you yourself be the change, the rest will just follow! What happens in the outside world, that’s not under your control, but what you can control is your inner world. And if that inner world is peaceful, well, congratulations, you are living a truly peaceful life!

What you think about yourself matters more than what others think about you.
– Sandeep Maheshwari

Understand one thing, how harsh it may sound, the world, it won’t care about your struggle. It won’t care about anything else other than results, YOUR results, not someone else’s. So, stop caring about what other’s think of you and start emphasizing more on what you think of yourself. Don’t lose yourself in the crowded street, rather be the one unique person… the one person who becomes an inspiration to many… the one person who proves everyone who said “you can’t do it” wrong!… the one person who you once dreamt of becoming. People take more care about anything if a substitute for that particular thing doesn’t exist, like an antique. Be that only one unique person, don’t become a substitute to someone else, because just like you, there will be a lot of other substitutes too, and, so, you can easily be replaced. Don’t be the copy cat. Be the one unique antique! Be YOURSELF, second to none, irreplaceable! Life will automatically make you valuable. Prepare… Prepare… Prepare, and then one day, stun the world with who YOU are!

Dream of being the best version of you. Try impressing yourself and when you are done you will find that the world is already impressed by you.
– Avirupa Chakraborty
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By Sayan Kundu

Destination or Journey?

May 8, 2019 | Life | 2 Comments

Aim for the sky, but move slowly, enjoying every step along the way. It is all those little steps that make the journey complete.
– Chanda Kochhar

One of the most asked questions is – which one do you prefer more, the destination or the journey? While the busy working class will argue for the former, the real adventure seekers always prefer the later. Why?

If one set off with the sole motive of just getting to the destination, that very thought of the place to reach will occupy his mine during the entire journey; and in doing that, it will not be able to take in the beautiful memories that the journey itself has to offer, which, most of the time are far more precious than those at the destination. However, if one goes on a trip just for the sake of going on a trip, the only thing he will be thinking about is the trip itself. And believe it or not, the journey itself comprises of the major portion in any trip.

So, my dear reader, don’t go on following the thirst to reach the destination, rather be happy that you are on a trip… an expedition… an adventure; for the destination cannot impart that happiness to you that the journey can. The destination may be a snowy hill station atop a peak covered with the ever mesmerizing warm glow of the sun, but it will never as thrilling and romantic as the journey through a tunnel through the same mountain.

So, you may or may not reach your appointed destination on time, but be thankful about the saccharine memories you get in the slow and tedious process of reaching the place; for toil makes the result much more sweeter.

Remember one thing,

If my ship sails from sight, it doesn’t mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends.
– Enoch Powell

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By Sayan Kundu

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