Fascinating Quest

"You can choose courage or you can choose comfort. You cannot have both" - Brene Brown
And it is ok to choose comfort. 
This is my first instinct when I read this quote. Not because I don't feel that choosing courage is the wrong choice, but because it is implied that one should choose courage.
Ideally, we would all choose courage and lead perfect lives. 
"Life is unfair" - such a clichè and so very true. As true as the facts that the world is imperfect, the destiny is not in our control, and that life is uncertain. "You get what anybody gets - you get a lifetime" - Neil Gaiman
I think my instinctive reaction of 'it is ok to choose comfort' comes from my being a mother. I have spent years counseling my kids that at times, you choose what is right for you. 
Many a time I feel happier waiting rather than taking any immediate action. And waiting takes a lot of courage.
So, yes make the choice between courage and comfort. Choose courage even.  But decide for…

The basic thought of this post comes from something I read.  Was it a quote? Was it an article? Maybe an interview? I don't remember.  If you have read about this, and know the source, please tell me in the comments below. Thanks.

Disobedience in children is not always a problem.  When I discuss with other mothers about the fact that 'kids don't listen', 'they never agree to anything', etc., I often repeat 'it's good to say no'.
To survive in this cruel world, it is important to be able to say 'no', to be able to disagree, to stand one's own ground. The first place our children learn to do that is at home. With us, the poor, clueless parents.
If our children did everything we asked them to, if they never chose to stand up against us, imagine the spineless individuals they would grow up to be.
Parenting is about teaching the little monsters to balance between the (hopefully) many yeses and few nos, and to disagree without being rude. Parenting is …

I don’t think I really understood the meaning of ‘Bated Breath’ before. Just as I had whispered into her ear ‘I love you’, her brother had cut into the dance. The look in his eye told me that he could sense the life-changing tension between his sister and me. I moved to the back of the room. Our eyes met across the room. She smiled. The brother looked around to see who she was smiling at, saw me, and scowled. I grinned.

The word 'Terminal' reminds me of Tom Hanks and his long, unplanned stay at the airport... Yes, the movie, The Terminal. The prompt, Terminal of Write Tribe Problogger challenge had me instantly thinking of the movie.
Because the movie ends on a positive note, much of the anxiety that I had felt during the movie drained off.  That is why I love my movies (and books) to have happy endings. Tragic stories, and even more so, the ones with cliffhanger endings have me restless. The duration of the restlessness depends on how much I loved the story in question.
Back to The Terminal... The man is without country. When I watched the movie for the first time, I thought of my grandfather telling about his experience as a refugee after the partition. The anger was obvious in his words, even decades after the experience - "We were refugees in our own country".
What is it like to be without country, without home, without a place to go back to at night...
Another instance when I close my …

"Dil Dhoondta hai, phir wahi, fursat ke raat din" (My heart yearns, once again, the leisurely nights and days)
I have always loved this song.
At one time it just meant free time - the literal meaning.
With time the meaning changed to 'me-time' - time to relax, to read, to meet friends. nostalgia Now it means a combination of these two and more. It means the contentment of being alone... Not feeling lonely. It means time away from negativity. It means choosing to put myself first, sometimes. And the possibility of wishing all of this without feeling guilty.
In that one word, 'fursat' (leisure), there are so many layers.
Things become complicated.
The good, old days of simplicity of thoughts, and the lack of worldly experience. A time when leisure could be just that - leisure. When the possibility of there being anything more to it never crossed my mind.
©Nimi Arora

There was once a man who would design new patterns of embroidery every day. He loved his job. 
A colleague of his would embroider the same designs over and over again day after day. The man pitied his colleague's monotonous job.

Before leaving for a week-long vacation, he convinced the boss to let the colleague take over his work for the week. The man thought he was doing his colleague a favour. He returned from the vacation to some beautiful designs by a close-to-breakdown colleague.
Just as designing something new worked for the man, it was the repetitive task that his colleague was comfortable doing.

"Monotony is good" I have repeated these words often over the last few years.
A couple of years of frequent traveling, followed by shifting house too often, and finally, a major problem in the family. For a while, it seemed that everything 'normal' I loved would be disturbed.
The unadventurous lull after all of this, and I felt thankful, which is where 'monotony is goo…

I have been blessed to have known you. I wish I had said these words to you.
I would like to believe that when we, as kids, surrounded you while you told us stories of Guru Nanak Dev ji, you knew we loved you.
When you recited poetry of Shauq, and I was riveted and asked you to go slow so I could write it, you must have realized how much you meant to me.
When you shared your experience of getting married at the age of sixteen, and we wanted to understand what you had gone through, I wish I had asked more questions and have gotten to know more about you.
When you were ranting about what a foolish decision Partition had been, why didn’t we realize that your experiences will become ash with you, if we didn’t listen to them more carefully?
There are regrets, yes. But more than that there is the gratitude that I knew you.
It’s Grandparents’ Day. Over the last ten years or so, all four of you left this world. Is there any way to make the day special for you still?
It is reminisces like these that…

"Count your blessings"
I have been told this by others often in the last few months.  I tell myself this a lot more often.
I recently wrote a poem on fear (Fear - Quadrille). It was in response to a prompt by dVerse.  When I thought about writing on this subject, many things crossed my mind - from cockroaches and rats, to health issues of my family, to the plans of future, and more.
What I zeroed in upon and wrote is that my biggest fear is the words "What worse is possible?".  A lot worse. I think the answer is a lot worse. 
Since there is so much we can't control... Is there anything that we control? Is control just an illusion?...
Anyway since there is so much that we can't control, the possibilities of what can happen are unimaginable.
When something happens that one needs to mourn, being able to take time to do so is not always possible. Life takes over - when does it not? Problems take over and one has to sort out stuff.
The stuff can be financial responsibilitie…

In an ideal world, Laxmi would not be sweeping the floors. She is a smart girl about to cross the 16 year landmark in a couple of months.
The sporadic usage of English in her speech is impressive. It impresses almost everyone, because no one expects anything better from her. A maid knowing a few words of English is wonderful. No one thinks it is in any way needed to help her to, or even expect her to improve.
‘When elders get cozy, youngers don’t put nosy’ – a crazy phrase spoken by Ajay Devgan’s character in the movie Bol Bachchan. What he was trying to convey was that youngsters should not interrupt or interfere when grown-ups are talking. Anyway, the point is we were watching this movie where the ridiculous usage of English was part of the comedy.
Laxmi was watching also watching it with us. “Is that what I sound like?”, she whispered to me (in Hindi). “Does everyone laugh at me behind my back? Should I stop trying to speak English?”
Laxmi used to go to school back in her village till a…

My son is 16 years old. When going to his tuition in the evening, you would see him either on a rickshaw or walking. Once in a while, I would drive in my car and drop him there. It is unusual because almost every boy his age has a Scooty.
I don’t understand my own problems with underage driving. I know that if a cop stops an underage driver, there could be trouble. I assume money is exchanged to solve this. I know that God forbid, if another person is hurt by an underage driver’s vehicle, the driver (and the owner of the vehicle) would be behind bars. That’s what the law says at least.
I say that I don’t understand why I have such issues with underage driving is because these facts are known to everyone. Certainly, all the parents in my neighbourhood would know of these. It doesn’t stop them from letting their kids drive.

My brother is younger to me. He self-learnt driving pretty early. There are stories that are exchanged over family dinners about how he took the keys and reversed the car…