On My Way To Chicago Bookfair

I was flying from New York to Chicago to attend the book fair held in the American Booksellers Association. Suddenly, a young man stood up in the aisle of the plane and announced:
"I need twelve volunteers each willing to carry a single rose when we get off the plane."

Several people raised their hands. I did too, but wasn't chosen. Even so, I decided to follow the group. We landed, and the young man indicated a young woman in the arrivals hall at O'Hare Airport. One by one, the passengers presented their roses to her. At last, in front of everyone, the young man asked her to marry him, and she accepted.

An air steward said to me: "I've been working here for years, and that's the most romantic things that has ever happened in this airport."

Paulo Coelho

Wish

"Wish we had a second chance
to live the days once more,
And rectify mistakes we've made
to even up the score.
Wish we had a second chance
to use our knowledge gained,
Perhaps we might become at least
as fine as God ordained.
But we can't retrace our steps,
however stands the score,
BUT tomorrow brings another chance
to finally try once more."

What's In A Name?

The first rays of the morning sun kisses my face, making me bask in its warmth and light, filling me with a deep sense of bliss and I wake up with a jolt from my sleep. What must I give in return? Can I?

The moment this thought pops up in my mind I think of the mechanism, named relations, that is existing since times immemorial. Relations. Life is a river of relations - moving faces of people around you. They happen to you for a certain reason. The reason can be as simple as giving you company when you are in need of silence! When one starts discussing about this otherwise taken-for-granted mechanism of existence, one instantly returns to the relations, past and present in one's life. But must all relationships have names? What was your relationship with that lonely figure watching you from a distance when you returned from school? What was your relationship with that stealing glance and lowered eyes when she pretended to ignore you? What was your relationship with that stranger in the street who helped you in times of trouble? What was your relationship with that baby in his mother's lap, who just gave a toothless smile with twinkling eyes and stole your heart away? Can you give a name to such relations? Perhaps not! Do they make you sad? Never!

As time grows, so does the nature and depth of relations. Some painful, some blissful - but they are all there. As maturity overwhelms the child in us, we come to understand some relations are just there - no beginning traced, no questions asked, no expectations expressed, no meaning unearthed! Its just there - just like the rays of the sun touching the earth and spreading its warmth and light. The moment you try to dissect its existence, limitations and boundaries crop up, expectations arise, additions and subtractions are calculated, blame game begins and the relationship starts to groan under the pressure of too many explanations!

So, some relations are better left pure - untouched by our bottled, worldly thinking pattern. The rose does not think about where to its fragrance will travel, while blooming; the apple tree does not think about who will eat its fruit when it is ripe and neither does the rain think about what it is worthy of giving when it rushes down to meet the earth! And we the earthlings know the riches we reap because of their unawareness in giving unconditionally. I wish, sometimes, so be it with us, to realize the beauty of a spiritual bond! No wonder Rumi once penned, " Beyond what is right and wrong there is a whole existence. Lets find each other there."

Pamira