Silver Linings!

Just to change the tone of the blog for a bit.
My encounters with the Mighty Orb that can be so easily overpowered by a ball of vapor!

Between the layers upon layers of clouds before landing in San Francisco.
Boy!.. It was day to night in less than 30 secs.
Below, the city was dark and all the street lights were on.

In a remote place in North East India... playing hide and seek in the storm. 
Was able to take the snap just before the winds picked up and blew the flimsy wooden fence away.
No one got hurt!

Outside a public parking lot in Miami, Florida.
The cloud came from nowhere on what was an awesome sunny February afternoon!

 At the Everglades, Florida. 
The solitary (well, almost) cloud in Shark Valley trail. 
Must say, it was a welcome respite. 
We chose a particularly sunny day to rent bicycles.

 Again at the Everglades! 
Peeping out...

Sunset in the Glades that same day, taken from an air boat.. Not one of the typical silver linings but definitely, one of the most beautiful sunsets I ever saw.

On a side note, there is nothing airy about the air boats. They are cumbersome and noisy and I was surprised, we could spot even one gator in the wild.

If I were a gator, I would be miles away from that noise.

Will post more pics and stuff later.

Love and Pain

Love. Pain.
Contradictory.

Yet the subject of more songs in any language than any other perhaps.
Why? One wonders.

Why is pain universally associated with love?


Pain is not born out of Love.
It is the child of attachment.
Of desires.
Of expectations.
Of trying to hold on too tightly.
Of the need to be seen by the loved one.


Pain is not woven into the fabric of Love.
It is woven into the fabric of human nature.


We don't love to love.
We love to possess. 
To conquer. 


We want to conveniently label our associations of convenience as Love.
We are merchants looking for returns on our goods.
When our goods bear no profit, it hurts.
If they bring returns, the thought of losing it hurts.
If we lose it, the loss hurts.


Love is not a business. 
If it is a business, there is only give no take.
Love only gives immense bliss.
It only gives the soul a taste of the divine.
It takes nothing. 
It adds. Never subtracts.

Feel Love like appreciating the beauty of a butterfly.
A butterfly looks the most beautiful flying among the flowers whose colors complement those of its wings. 
Catching a butterfly merely rubs off its delicate scales and brings it harm.
The moment we start thinking of chasing it to catch it, we stop enjoying its beauty.


Relax.
Lay back.
Become one with the flowers in the garden.


Let the butterfly come to you and when it does, don't try to keep it there.
If you have the nectar it needs, it will stay.
If it doesn't, still rejoice in the beauty of its flight.


Let love be a Rise not a Fall.