If...

If you can keep your head when all about you
are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
or being hated, don't give way to hating,
and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream,and not make dreams your master;
If you can think,and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster,
and treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken,
twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
and stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings,
and risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
and lose, and start again at your beginnings
and never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew,
to serve your turn long after they are gone,
and so hold on when there is nothing in you
except the will which says to them - "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
or walk with kings, nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute,
with sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
and which is more - "You'll be a Man, my son!"

--- [a poem by Rudyard Kipling]

• bio
• works
  

Nalini Nadkarni on TreeTop EcoSystems...

I bow to her ...!!!

• More on Nalini
• The Big Canopy Database
  

An Escapede...

i sometimes dream of an escapede to some natural paradise... where i can swim in the tranquil waters with abandon.... sit and smile into a welcoming sunrise... watch the birds fly in and out of their nest, hear their little ones chirping... stay transfixed at the awesomeness of auroras, the canyons...learn about the endless wonders of the universe...dedicate life to preserve whatever is left.... far away from mundaneness, far away from needless cry... happy and smiling, experiencing boundless energy each day.

Anton Chekov says...

(Pssstt ... My own views on the sacred knot have not been any rosy. In fact, the thought of marriage still freaks me out to this day, although I have kind of given into the thought now, that this fear would come to pass one day and I would eventually 'happily' step into it too.)

About this quote.. I chanced upon it at AskOxford's 'Quote of the week' section.

A doctor, playwright and story writer...needless to say, Anton Chekov's persona is extraordinary and I'm his huuuuuggge fan ..!!!

Some links here...

• his Wiki page

• an article on Chekov from 'Heart Views'

• his works, the literature network page

PS - picture is an edited version of his Portrait by Chekov's brother Nicholas, 1883

A lost word...

I lost a word yesterday..
unguarded, from my tongue;
It slipped into the atmosphere..
then trouble had begun..!!

A dozen others followed it..
they filled the room with grief;
No matter then what word I said..
it could not bring relief..!!

If only I had stopped that word..
before it crossed my lips;
My day had been a happy one..
sweet with companionship..!!

I think I wasted yesterday..
hurt self as well as friend;
Today I want to watch my words..
and let no one offend..!!

Design and the elastic mind...

- a talk by Paola Antonelli

The Butterfly...

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.

...>i<

The man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shrivelled wings.

................>i<

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened!! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shrivelled wings. It was never able to fly.

....................................>i<

The restricting cocoon, and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through its tiny opening, were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight, once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

......................................................>i<

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If we were allowed to go though our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been.

..................................We Could Never FLY ...!!...>i<

P.S. - Pic was taken on a trek to the smokies... (Aaahh.. the smokies..!!! :)
Content - an excerpt from TOI's sacred space.