IS THIS WORLD A TORTURE HOUSE?

This is a comment made by me in one of my friends post.

What I am actually looking for is not appreciation but your valuable thoughts, ideas and suggestions to improve upon this comment. Since this comment deals with our life on this earth, it will be extremely useful to all of us if you will put on your thinking caps and open the flood gates of your thoughts and write generously so that all of us can draw inspiration from your words and benefit from them.

Best wishes,

Joseph

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Is this world really a torture house?

Do we get only glimpses of happiness?

Is it enough to take one day at a time?

Will faith and hope take us to the end of our prison days?

I agree and disagree with many of these points.

It is a torture house if we don't have a worthwhile aim, if we squander time, if we don't have a plan, if we float around like a rudderless ship, if we worry unnecessarily, if we live in fear, if we have no love and affection, if we are lonely, if we lose our respect and many more such things. On the other hand, it is a lovely, beautiful, exciting world if we have worthwhile goals, prepared to make sacrifices to achieve our ambitions, abhor present gratification for long term achievement, be optimistic and cheerful, have confidence in our ability, move forward purposefully with determination, save for a rainy day, have a network of good friends, enjoy good books, love nature and so on.

As regards happiness, it is well known happiness is a state of mind. If you let someone or something make you unhappy, then it is a choice you have made. On the other hand, if you decide that nothing will make you unhappy, then again you are making a deliberate choice to be happy irrespective of your adverse circumstances, or nasty people or things which you don't like. What ever is to happen will happen. What is the point in being unhappy about it. What stops you from being happy except yourself?

Taking one day at a time is a good idea. Living in the present is an excellent idea. People who are busy, have things to accomplish, live each day as though it is the last day of their lives, these are the people who find lasting peace and happiness. They have no time for regret, no time for hate, no time for revenge. It is said IDLE MIND IS DEVILS WORKSHOP.

Yes, we need faith in God and hope for the future life. Faith will move mountains. Faith will help us overcome problems. Faith will give us inner peace. Faith in God is the foundation on which our success, our happiness and our future in this life and the next is built upon. We should have a very strong foundation of faith, very firm unshakable faith and a faith that will withstand the storms of this short but sweet life.

I am sure with qualities such as these we can live a worthy, fruitful, satisfactory, successful, peaceful and happy life.

DUTCH CEMETERY AND THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS

KOCHI has a vast hinterland growing spices such as ginger, pepper and cardamom. Arabs, Jews, Dutch, Portuguese, French and English came here to buy our spices and sell their goods. The Dutch, when they left our shores for good, forgot to take the bones of their dead companions. We did not want to throw these bones into the sea and instead we have made the Dutch Cemetery a tourist attraction.(Please click on the photos for a larger view.)




I was astonished to see there were no Crosses on the tombs. All Christian tombs have Crosses.Perhaps you can make a guess.
I wonder how many cities and towns in the world can boast of an exclusive cemetery for foreign nationals who don't live there any more.

Here is an old house left by the Dutch. No one is living here. But I think this house must be infested with insects, mosquitoes, cockroaches, lizards, rats and of course giant spiders with magnificent webs.
Talking of spiders and their webs reminds me of the book written by Jonathan Swift called The Battle of the Books. Here he compares the spiders to the Modern writers and the bees to the Ancient writers. He says that the modern writers are narrow and limited in their knowledge and their work will not last just like the spiders web. On the other hand the Ancient writers are like the bees. They gather their material very selectively and carefully from far and wide from Nature and their writings will last for ever. I am not going to elaborate on this wonderful book but lovers of literature will surely find it interesting. This book has an allegory within an allegory.

TORRENTIAL RAIN LASHING KOCHI

Kochi is reeling under horrible rains. Giant clouds are having a stranglehold on the city and the torrential down pour is flooding this place. Road and streets are getting flooded due to inadequate drainage, pot holes on the roads are increasing, driving has become difficult. Low lying areas are inundated, there is frequent failure of electricity, people living in some coastal areas are being evacuated, trees are being uprooted and blocking the roads, there is landslide in hilly areas and houses have been damaged. Some people have already lost their lives.

On the other hand many parts of India are facing drought situation. Rain has played truant and agricultural out put will be badly affected. Prices of essential commodities will go up due to shortage. I will not be surprised some farmers will commit suicide because they are not able to pay up the loan taken form money sharks.

Sometimes I wish these rains will go to places where they are needed.

I am sitting comfortably in my house, having cups and cups of hot tea, reading your magnificent posts and writing comments whereas more than 3 lakh people have been displaced in Assam due to flooding of the river Bramaputra.

DOGS IN THE BEACH

It has been raining in Kochi continuously and traveling has become very difficult. I have been restricting my movement as far as possible, except for business purposes, in order to avoid getting wet. Today afternoon there was a some sunlight and I thought that it will be a good idea to go to the beach to watch the rolling waves, breathe in the salty fresh air, walk along the water soaked beach and perhaps leave my foot prints on the sand.(Please click on the photos for a large lovely view.)


As I reached the beach, I could hear the barking sound of dogs and then I saw some dogs running on the beach with gay abandon, chasing each other, rolling on the sand and dashing towards the waves to retrieve the coconut husk which the owner was playfully throwing into the sea. The people were standing in awed silence and respectfully watching the dogs monopolizing the beach.

The dogs were having fun. They were enjoying themselves. They did not even notice the people standing there. They were completely absorbed in their game, showmanship, running skills, barking abitlity( it sounded like laughter to me). They were living in the present. They did not regret the past or worry about the future.

I thought about my self. Can I enjoy anything without a feeling of guilt? What about the blunders I committed in the past? What will be my future? How can I earn more money than my neighbor? How can I dictate terms to people? How can I insult people? How can I forgive that man for misbehaving with me? How can I show off? So many, many thoughts came to my mind. In the process I forgot to fill my lungs with fresh air, I forgot to walk on the beach and I didn’t even notice the lovely rolling waves.Oh,what about my foot print:):):)

DEATH, THE LEVELLER

When I was in school, I had to by heart this poem. It has a left a lasting impression on me. Check it out. I am sure it will open up your thought process and you will have many things to say on this poem.
DEATH, THE LEVELLER
By James Shirley
1596-1666
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THE glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill:
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late
They stoop to fate,
And must give up their murmuring breath
When they, pale captives, creep to death.

The garlands wither on your brow,
Then boast no more your mighty deeds!
Upon Death's purple altar now
See where the victor-victim bleeds.
Your heads must come
To the cold tomb:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in their dust.


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