Today is Someone's Birthday

Today it’s the 30th of June, 2018. We still laugh, play, run, fall, enjoy and make mistakes; the one extra added element is seriousness. You know how they say, any single ingredient added to a recipe can make a great dish poor yet a poor dish great. Such is the impact of seriousness, the only difference is that this element forces out space reserved for the positively happening emotions and actions in our lives.

It was the month of May 2008, not many people visit super sunny and raging hot beaches in India, but there I was right; young, wild and free; me and a very dear friend, Mojo. While Mojo's parents made love, we were busy chasing each other barefoot on the streets of a secluded land with vibrant palm trees on either side of us and grasslands behind them, seems beautiful when I think about it today you know. Back then we were too young to bother about and appreciate beauty, we found happiness and joy in the smallest of things. Serious talk was like banter. Imagine running on heated rugged cement roads, scorched by the powerful rays of the summer sun, slippers were torn on one foot, hopping with the other trying to catch Mojo.

This is precisely where we played

That brat was running around with my haversack, taking away all my chips and chocolates. What was astonishing was I did not have to catch him on one leg, I could use both, but the ground was so hot and my sandal was in shatters so you know I was kind of forced to. Despite this entire struggle for me, I chased him with thorough laughter, sweat dripping down my soft childish skin, a tone of complete freedom and an anonymous love for life followed the vibe as I went on with the venture of saving my munchies.

You see, I wasn't serious at all, my brain had not perceived the situation with frustration as I would today. This is the beauty of life; simple relations complicated on a very intricate level, the whole relation tree unfold as time passes. You come to terms with memories; you smile at random times with no hint that you are smiling. Time has passed, it’s been little over a decade but I yet feel that day just like that day. My point is, don’t be so serious, you have not after all ventured upon earth to grunt about and do your job. 

Run boy Run, this world is bad for you.

Accept: that you cannot deny

Laugh: that you cannot be serious,

Live: like you will never die for when the time comes, you will know that All is one, yet one is all.

In this time of the world, a stranger seldom smiles at another stranger, neither at the homeless. People have become so serious that the fun elements of life are being replaced with the dull ones. What if, just what if you lose all your loved ones or you move to a land where everyone is unknown to you and then in the midst of all the monotony of loneliness one person smiles at you, or a sparrow sits on your shoulder, a homeless offers you a joke, a child shares his/her chocolate, an aged human blesses you, or a little baby wobbles on your little finger like your finger is his mothers.

You can find solace anytime, anywhere, anyhow.

That's a complete cycle, everything comes back to the start, you were happy once, now you are lonely, but the forces of nature and of love are again showing you that there is happiness even in loneliness. Imagine that every ingredient on this planet has every ingredient on this planet present in it. Collectivism is my conclusion. One is all, yet All is one friends. 

Kudos to the 30th of June, 2018.

-Goa, India

Eco Bricks

It was the summer of April 2016, I was somewhere in an underprivileged village along the Konkan coast of India. The villagers had to cross a bridge each day to get in and out of the village. The bridge had collapsed, they were stranded. I witnessed a group of westerners who summoned a spark in their brains, they and their mates visited the garbage "storehouse" and used plastic bottles to fill them with garbage to construct steps across the waters (where the bridge originally was) and behind the tiny hills. They called them "Eco-bricks" This made me see two sides of the story, one where we use and throw undegradable materials, the other being when we rise and innovate, by which I mean we can be creative with garbage to an extent that provides convenience to the masses.

Bricks made of Waste; Used to make Bridges & Staircases

Plastic, as only a handful are aware of, has been a majorly disruptive material in the field of “Environmental Sustainability”. Despite being omnipresent in every industry and being the cheapest source for packaging, it has equally brutal disadvantages. The ocean is so polluted by plastic that sea creatures are getting breathless underwater and eating plastic as a part of their diet which in turn makes a full circle to us. This material has a composition as such, that it is irrelevant for us to comment on its degradability (ranging from 200-1000 years).

Bamboo is a natural source that comes from mother earth, every bit of its composition is environment-friendly. If we consider it as an alternative to plastic it would be the most prudent choice by humanity in the 21^st Century. There are billions of humans on this planet from which at least one-fold have enough money to purchase toothbrushes, the rest probably just make do. Consider a possibility where we only produce Bamboo Toothbrushes; that would save us from 5 percent of Plastic Pollution and would, in turn, lead to healthier life cycles for the threefold that cannot afford these essentials.

Another possibility is using the strong fibers inside bamboos to make bags that common people carry every day of their lives; which accounts for another 10-15 percent of Plastic Pollution. Plastic also seems to tear due to heavyweight or sharp objects. But, something as natural and strong as Bamboo fiber can withstand such stress and also increase the lifetime of such bags.

An example I could personally think of is  Bamboo Straws.

Bamboo Straws are long term usable items. Not just a one-time use and throw, but this can also be used over and over. Also, in cases where products with straws are being sold to tourists, these straws are surely disposed of, but the Bamboo version boasts a quality of biodegradability which is a big plus as it would cause no harm to its surroundings.

Why is it better than plastic straws?

•        Reusability
•        Recyclable towards making more intricate materials for the lower class
•        A completely new fashion towards drinks: Bamboo Straw

If we wish to keep humanity safe from a disease induced and looted world, we should have already begun the process of revamping our environmental standards. Substituting Bamboo for Plastic shall be an ideal manner of putting a restraint on the materials that make this world a more dangerous than comfortable place to survive. Imagine if we could curb the usage of plastic, if we could obediently follow the positive results of an environmentalist's research, that’s when we will live healthier, eat healthier and breathe healthier. So, let’s all, from this very day, begin the process to alter our choice of essentials.

Autonomous Perception

The only person you need to compete with is yourself. Today, we shall read something about Perception, how realizing that perceptions are a base for what's to come, not just for one moment, but for all.

The inside world, the outside world. Look what separates it? Multiple square glass pieces forming a window?

Undeniably, we all know that our planet currently runs on competitiveness. Let's get to the crux of this matter. Just like your children or parents, even you are in a constant battle with others to prove your worth and establish a position in the corporate world. But, what the masses do not realize is that they can use their most gifted weapon, Perception.

Truthfully, if they realize that their competitors are mere shadows and alternative personalities of themselves, then they rule out the most demonic mental blockage, which is that they are competing with fellow humans. The constant battle we have with ourselves is what leads us to abandon the most sacred temple in our head, the temple of Perception. If we were calm, intricately trained to control the flow of our thoughts, emotions, and actions, then we could patiently understand our varied perceptions and effectively act upon them. My point being, your only competitor is yourself. He is not your colleague, nor is he your friend, neither is he your neighbor.

You will feel more than you see!

Just a little piece of advice in order to experience the understanding of perception fully, You must leave your smartphone for a week, leave all the tech behind and go spend time under an open sky with strangers who are too seeking for the unnamed. Then you shall be in the very center of the world, with heightened awareness "Amongst Yourself". 

The Now

Another morning begins, some part of today's positivity/negativity comes from the previous day's nostalgia, some part of it comes from the present day's excitement and thrill. No harm in it all you know, but factually speaking this is induced into us by society and the sly weapons it uses to keep our conscious mind fully under control. Living in the moment, living in the now, not even the very second, but the very second, is a forgotten art in these times.

This specific art was omnipresent at the time when we had only a few leaders of various political classes and industries which produced on the effort of others. But now, by draining the simplest of our intellectual abilities, they have managed to chew away our most beloved gift, which is, living in the moment.

My advice to all readers is 'Live in the moment', don't stress over the past, don't plan your day, while you inhale oxygen at this very moment, cherish only that and nothing in the past or future, for nothing is greater than fully knowing the present.

Shnogpdeng, Meghalaya