A wise extract from "Three Men in a Boat"

“You know, we are on the wrong track altogether. We must not think of the things we could do with, but only of things we can’t do without.”

George comes out really quite sensible at times. You’d be surprised. I call that downright wisdom, not merely as regards the present case, but with reference to our trip up the river of life generally. How many people, on the voyage, load up the boat till it is ever in danger of swamping with a store of foolish things which they think essential to the pleasure and comfort of the trip, but which are really only useless lumber.

How they pile the poor little craft mast-high with fine clothes and big houses; with useless servants, and a host of swell friends that do not care twopence for them, and that they do not care three hal’pence for; with expensive entertainments that nobody enjoys, with formalities and fashions, with pretence and ostentation, and with – oh, heaviest, maddest lumber of all! – the dread of what will my neighbour think, with luxuries that only cloy, with pleasures that bore, with empty show that, like the criminal’s iron crown of yore, makes to bleed and swoon the aching head that wears it!

It is lumber, man – all lumber! Throw it overboard. It makes the boat so heavy to pull, you nearly faint at the oars. It makes it so cumbersome and dangerous to manage, you never know a moment’s freedom from anxiety and care, never gain a moment’s rest for dreamy laziness – no time to watch the windy shadows skimming lightly o’er the shallows, or the glittering sunbeams flitting in and out among the ripples, or the great trees by the margin looking down at lilies white and yellow, or the somber-waving rushes, or the sedges, or the orchis, or the blue forget-me-nots.

Throw the lumber over, man! Let you boat of life be light, packed with only what you need – a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.

You will find the boat easier to pull then, and it will not be so liable to upset, and it will not matter so much if it does upset; good, plain merchandise will stand water. You will have time to think as well as to work. Time to drink in life’s sunshine – time to listen to the Aeolian music that the wind of God draws from the human heart-strings around us.

Don't cry because it's over - smile because it happened.

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Philosopher and writer

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.
Bhagavad-Gita

How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking; always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you'll know right away what you amount to. And what is your duty? Whatever the day calls for.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832)
Poet and philosopher

I wanted never to come back. I was sitting on the top of a hill in the shade of a large rock. The strong wind was bringing with it rain so light that the drops would evaporate the moment they hit the ground. But it was enough to make the rocks cooler. In front of me lay green fields for miles, dotted by clusters of shacks in-between. Coconut trees waved idyllicaly in the carefree wind. Whenever the wind slowed I could hear the hum of Kannada bhajans played at the temple below.

I wanted never to come back. I was in Tumkur, Satman's home-town. Rather, not Tumkur, but Kyatsandra, a small place about 6 kms from Tumkur. I had never expected to see such a beautifully serene place. So away from the hustle and bustle of city life. We need such an occassional break to lift our spirits, to get poison of city life out of our system.

I wanted never to come back. Or atleast, stay longer, if that were possible. But we had to catch the train. Good that we decided to take the train instead of the bus. It provided some compensation for not staying longer. I laid a newspaper on the floor near the door and sat down on it, my feet resting on the staircase outside the door. The cool breeze of the night was exhalting and invigorating. The voice of the engine and the clatter of the wheels, like always, were music to me. I love travelling in through trains in second class compartments. It is these simple joys of life that cherish our souls, that make this journey worth it all. Unfortunately, we city folks seem to be forgetting these joys of life. Roaming in air-conditioned shopping malls on weekends seems to have become a habit with us. That's what we call recreation. How ridiculous it seemed to me yesterday!

I have now accepted the fact that I can remember only those things that I have written down somewhere. And I don't feel ashamed of it at all. The ability to remember anything and everything I come across, that I valued so much (and cultivated with a great degree of success) when I was fourteen, is not something that I strive to regain. On the contrary, my efforts are to ensure that I have at hand, written down someplace, every piece of information that I need. Hence you would find post-its in my house, which show me which is the "off" position for the gas cylinder knob, or remind me to switch of the heater when I leave my home.

On my laptop you shouldn't be surprised to find files titled something like "How To Start ReflectionX.txt" or "Time Difference between India and Dallas.txt"!! I don't want waste my time thinking about these things every time I need them. Only important thing when writing down such things is that you should be able to find it very quickly when you need it. And that calls for good organising.

As I grow older (!) I realise more and more the extreme importance of being well-organised. Today, that is the most important quality that I want to develop. It's not just about these tiny tit-bits of tasks, but it's about all activities in my day-to-day life - all activities in my professional life, and all activities in my personal life. I want to be extremely orgainsed about the way I work and the way I live.

I have implemented a Task List system at work with fair degree of success. Every morning before I begin any work, I list down all the tasks I have to do in the day. I spend some time to ponder on the details of each task. I also write down the time it would take for each task and when I want to do it. It has surely helped me. Now I want to improve it.

Speak of effectiveness reminds me of something I wrote long time back about being effective at workplace.

Now, I don't just want to be well-organised at work. I want to be well-organised in all the activities I do. I must come up with a plan. I have time at hand tomorrow and the day-after. It's a good time to think. I haven't doen any real thinking in a long time. Next two days will be perfect. Why wait till tomorrow? I should start it right away. It's quarter-to-five now. I think I should go home early today! ;-)

Have you ever woken up after a four-hour sleep, fresh as a new leaf? Have you ever woken up from a ten-hour slumber, more tired than you were before you went to bed? I don't know why it happens, but there seems to be no relation between amount of sleep and how fresh we feel when we get up. Some days you get up enthused and some days you are half alseep even after having enough sleep and a good work-out.

I have often wondered what are the factors that influence quality of sleep. Is it the posture? Is it our breathing pattern? Is it the room temperature? Is it the amount of fresh air in the room? Is it the thoughts that we have just before we fall asleep - how relaxed or distured we were when we fell asleep? What is it that leads to refreshing sleep? I need to know it. As I rarely get eight hours of sleep everyday, I need to know how to compensate quantity by good quality. I need to experiment and find out answers to these questions.