I have taken the topic of Free Thoughts as my favorite topic for writing down the article both as an article and as a poem. I present the article first:
It is never that I would have got such an enjoyable period in my life where I could pen down my Free Thoughts. And mind you, I am no Vajpayee who wrote his “Musings of Kumarakom”. I neither have the placid backwaters of Kerala, nor the houseboat to sit, relax and enjoy the lush greenery of nature along with the lake to fill my heart’s content. Here I was huddled in the corner of my own room, next to the wooden cupboard having books of different size, colour, aroma and height to just prompt me to unleash my free thoughts.
I am ever grateful to my wife who used to dole out dishes at the right point of time during the morning, evening and night without expecting anything in return. I wanted to give her a tight hug and a peck on her cheek for this very service. Unfortunately, I have crossed that age and stand on the threshold of retirement. My grown-up son is at home who “works from home” only to eventually cross over to my room and get me into some small talk. He wants to know what I am working on and probably get inspired in his own way.
My free thoughts start from my daily morning walk. I look at nature. I look at the beggar woman who religiously sits in front of the Shirdi SaiBaba temple which I visit in the morning during my walk. I start thinking that if she could find a purpose to live, why can’t I? The dog which wags my tail, without expecting anything in return is probably prompting me to be kind with everybody n the same manner.
I was boasting of my speed walk till my son gave me a tough fight. At 58, I could not keep pace with his 28. But then, I was happy that I sweated a lot and burnt calories the way it should be. Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it. My son taught me this lesson. These days I am more interested and concerned in picking up lessons from whomsoever I can. That they are younger to me in age or knowledge does not seem to matter. I am rediscovering my youth. As somebody said “Learn, unlearn and re-learn” seems to be the process that has caught hold of me tightly.
I left the job in November 2021 without any earning source. My son chipped in and God was kind enough in providing him with employment the very same month. Now I seem to be somewhat financially secure and am free to explore my pursuits. That is precisely what I am doing. I doze for an hour during the day to give relief to my aching muscles. I find the morning Yoga and breath control travelling to my “trouble spots” and relieve me of the “burglar alarm sounds” coming from my body – from my spondylitis-affected neck, my paining back due to 30 plus years of two-wheeler drive, my hip, my thighs, and my coccyx. I love writing poetry and keep my date with it daily, churning out 1 poem a day. I attempted and successfully wrote a novel of 50,000 words in April 2022 under Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). I am part of close to 20 anthologies of poems and am creating awareness to the common public and connoisseurs of poetry that here exists a budding poet. It is a brand-building exercise that I am consciously doing.
My long-term goal is to become an international poet/ novelist in English of repute. I have been taking tiny but firm steps in this direction. I am part of a few apps like “Thinkly” where my poetry can be published.
One more thing that has attracted my attention is teaching English to those who are needy and want to shine in their careers. I take classes on WhatsApp calls. I plan to expand my horizon in this regard through the Ovvio app and SuperProf. The pandemic Covid-19 has thrown up so many opportunities to earn. It also gives one the comfort of working from home. As long as you know to separate your professional and personal world, despite staying put at home, it is fine. I follow it up with exercises and verify if they have understood the language. I take pride in having shaped the life of my colleague in one of my earlier companies in this way. He was just a commercial assistant struggling to speak at least one full sentence in English. One fine day, it looked like he was clearly possessed. He did not utter a single word in any other language other than English. I got the clue and kept on motivating him. Today he speaks chaste English and has gone on to become the Assistant Vice President of a reputed company in Bengaluru. Even a crore of rupees would not give me the happiness of having brought up a guy.
All these should eventually lead to a fan’s club for me. I seem to bask in adulation. I do know the flip side of it – lack of privacy, possible chances to fail. But then Goddess Saraswathi seems to be benevolent enough to shower HER GRACE on me, and I do not see the spring of language flow drying up any soon. Jai Mata Di!
The poem written by me as a part of this article is given below:
TODAY’S POEM
Where is my poem for today?
Why is it that my thoughts went astray?
Was it that I did not see you?
Was it the reason why my mind blew?
You incite the poet in me,
You ignite the dynamite in me.
Your stunning presence,
“You” made all the difference.
You left me spellbound,
You left me dumbfound.
What is so special about you?
What is it that I never knew?
I discover something daily new
I look every time deep within you.