HELLO JI!

PROFOUND, PROVACATIVE AND SOMETIMES FUNNY

“Problems are like washing machines. They twist, they spin and knock us around. But in the end we come out cleaner, brighter and better than before.” Image credit: ELEVATE on Unsplash.

At my high school in Bangalore, India, students were assigned the task of writing the quote of the day on the blackboard by turn. Gandhi and Mother Teresa were mined on a regular basis. “Be the change you wish to see in the world” and “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Of course, as an adult, one realized that Be the change... paraphrases a much larger truth. Google it and you will find the original quote: “We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.”

Now we are a jaded bunch that giggles over WhatsApp good morning messages.

“It’s a factory,” says one of my friends. Having opted to stay off the groups, I made the mistake of asking how bad could it be. She sent me a whole slew in response.

Problems are like washing machines. They twist, they spin and knock us around. But in the end we come out cleaner, brighter and better than before.

Be bold when you lose, be calm when you win. Changing the face can change nothing, but facing the change can change everything.

Motivational quotes are big business. Not only are the ones doing the rounds on family and friends’ groups embellished with fancy fonts and colourful images, books with quotes are big sellers, too.

Some quotes in I Really Needed This Today and This Just Speaks To Me are from well-known people, others from people the #1 New York Times best-selling author Hoda Kotb knows well. She personalizes each quote with her own little stories on how they speak to her.

There’s this quote from Mary Oliver: Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your wild and precious life?

To which Kotb responds thus. “Those words – ‘wild and precious’. There’s something about them that makes you see life as a gift, not a grind. Since my battle with cancer, I’ve tried to live in a way that would... let’s say... please Mary Oliver.”

While many quotes are trite, some remind me of Kabir or Rahim dohas, delivering wisdom and insight in a couplet. Others may be light on philosophy, but can help start the day with a smile.

Find joy in the fact that someone somewhere is thinking of you. They may not have the time to compose a whole message, but, “You are the artist of your life, choose your colours wisely” has to give you something to think about!

I’ve loved these two in recent times and am happy to share them with you!

“The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.”  LP Hartley in The Go-Between.

“A man is not the sum of his minor misdemeanours, but of his best endeavours.” Oliver Sacks.

Baisakhi ki badhai! Happy Easter! Happy Earth Day!

Shagorika Easwar