A Big ‘Thank you’!😊

I’m so sorry that I couldn’t update my blog for a few days. I got so caught up with academic stuff and I had to postpone several posts, including this one..

I’m so happy to express my immense gratitude to my sweet Susmita ma’am of  Uniquesus for the Mystery Blogger Award, and to my dear Cheri of  JOYOUSLY HOPEFUL for the The Black Cat Blue Sea Award, both of which I received during the past two to three weeks. I feel blessed, loved, honored and encouraged. A big ‘thank you’ to both !😊

Susmita ma’am is an amazing story teller and an insightful poet. I especially love her short stories as they depict the reality of commoners’ lives with such subtlety and delicacy, often leaving you to ponder over the characters portrayed . I highly urge you to visit her blog here.

Cheri is a lovely blogger with a fascinating blog where she shares the interesting photographs she takes, along with her deep and profound thoughts and understanding on numerous, versatile subjects. I strongly prompt you to visit her blog here to read her heartwarming posts adorned with beautiful photographs.

.

“The ‘Mystery Blogger Award‘ is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging and they do it with so much love and passion” – Okoto Enigma: creator of this award.

As part of the award nomination, Susmita ma’am had asked the following thought provoking questions. Here are my answers to them :

1.Where is the line between insanity and creativity?

I honestly don’t know..This is a very profound question, and there is no absolute answer, I believe. I remember my project guide often remarking, “All geniuses are crazy fellows. But all crazy fellows aren’t geniuses”. I guess it’s true. All creative people are ‘insane’ and ‘eccentric’, such that they think in the most unconventional ways. But, all medically insane people aren’t creative. So there are basically two kinds of madness – clinical madness, and creative madness. Some belong to the first. Some belong to the second. And some belong to the ‘schizoid’ type which kinda falls between the two.

Maybe, if your imagination prohibits you and others from having a healthy life, then that should count as  ‘insanity’ in clinical sense, I guess.

2.How can people believe in truths without evidence?

I can think of four reasons :

1. Some ‘truths’ are believed due to experience, without any direct solid evidence. Like how many of us believe in God. Like how some of us believe in ghosts. Astrology is the best example. Some of us believe it to be true due to former experience with predictions coming right. But there is no hard core evidence to it.
2. Some ‘truths’ are believed because of wide acceptance. Human psychology is such that we all want to ‘belong’ somewhere and be identified with some thing. Hence, we tend to believe what most people believe or say. Like how most of the world believed the earth to be flat until Magellan proved otherwise.
3. Some ‘truths’ are believed because they were told to us by people who we admire and respect a lot. Like how we tend to believe the words of men/women we hold to be wise. E.g. : followers of a religious leader.
4. Now, there are some ‘truths’ that we believe due to no apparent reason. This is what we call ‘vaasana’ or tendency in Indian philosophy. Like how we like to believe in reincarnation, or in souls. We are just psychologically ‘tuned’ to believe certain things with no reason. The environment in which we grow up can contribute to this too.

Then again, I wonder what is true and what is not. Truth is relative in the material plane. Today’s truth can be tomorrow’s falsehood. I like to believe that only ‘God’ is absolutely true. Everything else is transient.

3. If you could choose just one thing to change about world, what would it be?

Myself. I believe in Gandhi’s philosophy, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. I want to become a better, more perfect person with qualities that others would be inspired to cultivate in themselves.

4.What is the difference between living and existing?

I remember a respected speaker, who is a businessman, remarking during a talk in my college, “Existing is being alive for 365 days of a year, while living is leading a life in 365 different ways”. I think that if I spend my life without a purpose, without leaving my print in the sands of time, without making a single difference in the lives of those around me, then it’s ‘existing’. Else, it is ‘living’.

5. What is your best childhood memory?

I’m blessed with so many beautiful childhood memories…But my favourite is the day my little bro was born. I was seven years old, and I remember the little one being placed on my small lap, and while I admired his soft, cute face, he went for his first ‘number two’! (I hope you know what that means 😁). Every adult there then said that that’s because he loved me the most..It made me so happy back then! I soon took over the role of big sister and went with my father to purchase clothes and baby care items for my cute little bro.

Now, as part of the nomination for The Black Cat Blue Sea Award, Cheri had asked the following fascinating questions. Here are my answers to them :

1. Where would you go in a time travel machine? Would you stay?

I believe that Lord Krishna existed and was a historical figure with divine qualities. If I were to go in a time travel machine, I’ll go to his city, ‘Dwaraka’.. He is said to have lived from 3227 BC to 3102 BC. Yes, I’ll definitely stay there.

2.What’s the smartest thing you’ve seen an animal do?

I once saw a gorilla having a packet orange juice at a zoo in Saudi, while I was a kid. Its behavior was very similar to that of a human (as expected).

3.What are the 3 things in nature you find most beautiful?

1. The marvels of sky – The sun at sunrise and sunset, the night sky with stars on a moonless night, as well as the full moon.
2. The flowers at full bloom
3. The fireflies.

Oops! I think I named more than three..😅Then again, everything in nature is beautiful! (except reptiles and centipedes and millipedes and snails and..you know what I mean..the ‘slimy’ ones..I don’t fancy them😣).

 

Thank you, Susmita ma’am and Cheri  for those wonderful questions! Really enjoyed answering them. I hope everyone will forgive me for writing rather long answers. I’ll really try to keep them short and sweet next time!

Once again, a big ‘Thank you’ to all my dear readers. You are my inspiration and encouragement. Please don’t hesitate to participate in the awards by clicking the links given above. Go ahead and have fun!

😊

Love,

Surya.