Mirror, mirror on the wall, GET OUTTA MY WAY!!!

There used to be small cupboard in my bathroom. Made of wood, painted white, it is fixed with a mirror on its front..its about 1ft in width and depth...2 ft in height. Recently, it got replaced. Nowadays, it is lying around in the balcony facing all sorts of weather conditions...this sunday, I went out into the balcony, when my brother brought this 'funny' thing to my notice. There was a sparrow...which apparently thought that the small cupboard is a nice hollow cuboidal volume where it could set up a suitable nest. What the mirror presented to our little bird was another sparrow which was preventing it from building a nest. Bird with a birdbrain could not recognize herself in the mirror..she just thought its someone else who has conquered that wonderfully suitable volume in the mirror..so, started the great war...between little sparrow and her reflection.

She looked at the reflection, actually judged its position, then flew a few feet away from the mirror. Then, she flew a little further away, a little higher...finally, with all her might she flew at the bird inside the cupboard hitting beak to beak...then she let her body slip along the height of the mirror, all the while hitting the slipping bird on the other side with her beak! She did this repeatedly, trying different positions, different aims, and different beak strokes...I watched for a while, laughed and then left. At different times during the day, people of my family went out into the balcony and noticed this 'funny' thing. A whole day of fighting a sparrow made of glass, and this brave bird was still not disheartened.

Next morning, I went out into the balcony, and saw the same thing happening. I felt really sorry for the stupid little bird. I wanted to help her realize the futility of her day long efforts. I asked my father if we could put the cupboard with the mirror facing the wall so that birdbrain would stop being fooled endlessly, but my father seemed to enjoy the 'game' the bird was playing with itself and asked me not to. I, however, did turn the mirror around and felt relieved that the poor bird wasnt being fooled anymore..she must be so tired, using all her little strength all day against herself.

A little later, however, I wondered if I was really significantly more intelligent than the sparrow. In fact, is any of us any sharper? Aren't we all being fooled pretty much the same way, fighting with ourselves for that one fulfilling happiness which will last us our lives? Aren't we ourselves, with all our hollow desires for the temporary material things in life (which we just cant let go of) the only and most powerful obstruction to such peace and happiness?
Each of us is the sparrow, the ultimate bliss is the hollow inside the cupboard, and the assembly of all our wishes, dreams and aspirations, family etc is the mirror. The mirror which defines us, but we dont know that it does. We think it is someone else, who stands in our way...but think, if we let go..let go of everything we ever wanted in our lives, let go of everything we are striving for, everything we are angry at, everything we are proud and ashamed of, and fly away into the free sky, wouldnt we be so much more better off? Maybe God laughs at our stupid futile efforts pretty much the same way as I did at that sparrow.
To conclude...Congratulations friends!!! We are all birdbrains!!!

The most beautiful woman...

It was today. I was sitting in Pizza Hut, having the same old pizza plus lemonade, when I saw this woman. Obviously pregnant, she climbed up the stairs very gradually, and almost tip-toed to a table for two at the window side, and sat down. She must be in her early twenties. She was wearing a loose striped black and green dress which fell around her body, and white trousers. Moments later a young man of about the same age joined her. I was seated at a place so that I could see her face and his back. I don't know why, but somehow I couldnt stop looking at this young lady.

At the onset, everything about her was perfect. She had a perfect face, with perfect features. She had perfect height, and apparently had a perfect figure in a normal condition. Her hair was a beautiful mahogany, straightened and falling around her shoulders, her teeth white and even, her complexion was a beautiful peach and cream. Each of her 20 nails were painted a shocking red, and they weren't shocking at all. Her make up struck me most...her brown eyes were lined heavily by black kohl, and a very light but noticeable pink lipstick on her large mouth...I guess she had some kind of concealer on all over her face. She had a perfect husband, who drops all he has to do on a wednesday afternoon to take his wife for lunch at Pizza Hut. To conclude, this girl was so beautiful, so married, so pregnant and so obviously happy that it was difficult to stop myself from envying her at first.


But then, she sipped at her pepsi while I did at my lemonade. As I looked up, I saw her looking up as well...and I saw the pain, the deep, piercing pain in her beautiful brown eyes. She looked at me for a second and then looked away, out of the window. For that fleeting moment, I saw something which I really wanted to confirm. A woman who is married, and apparently happy had such pain stacked up in her eyes that it was difficult not to notice it...it was then that I noticed, my happy lady didnt smile too often, in fact she hadnt really looked happy since she had walked in. Her cheeks seemed to have been nailed at a particular position, like she couldnt smile wider even if she did feel happier, all the things said by her husband were met by a cool response and that same smile. A smile which makes you want to ask her what's wrong. While she ate her pizza etc, every one of her movements screamed compromise. I couldnt look away, and kept looking at her. Everytime she sipped at her pepsi, and everytime she looked up, I saw those brown painful eyes...devoid of any dream, any light..just breathtakingly beautiful in its color and makeup. And then, it struck me...what exactly made her so attractive to me...that pain, and the sheer paradox in it, riddled me so much, that the whole thing appealed to me.

My eyes remained glued to her as I long as I remained there. She also looked at me often, maybe she was feeling awkward about me looking at her, maybe she thought I liked her Pizza (which I did). I came home, did many other things, but couldnt get that face off my mind. So I thought, why not tell all about the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life.