There were these roses growing in my balcony, for a long while I had thought of them as just flowers, but this morning on my return from Nabha, I re-looked at them and saw that the small buds had grown to an especially large bloom. I bent down to smell it and there was a sweet smell typical of a rose that emanated from the bloom. It was finally turning cold, the Sun was out and the crowd beneath the balcony in the market was buzzing with activity. There was a piece of me that wanted to have a cup of coffee, but then I refrained from it, I was after all going to Anjali's house later and that's when I would do my cooking.
Anjali had been tired of her journey and had told me that she would sleep immediately, she could continue to sleep till late, she tired easily and needed her beauty sleep. The journey back had been uneventful, the rush of meeting Param had been calmed by the constant rattling of the wheels under the train as they commuted on the track. A cab had been waiting for us at the station and we had driven back home like before. Param had been a revelation, both in his attitude and his zest for life, I had rethought my philosophy while with him and constant interaction with him for three days had left me feeling fresh and a tad thoughtful. Come to think of it Param had been doing the same work for over a decade, he hardly had time to think about life but work had dominated his mind, so he saw his God in his work. While he worked on his machines, his total attention was devoted to it, there was a sought of nothingness that came from hard work, my mind revelled at this thought, was it nothingness after all that I sought ?
The bell rang at the door, the maid was in already, it was turning 8am, she would be cooking breakfast and lunch for me, nothing got me going than cooking but she was always a great help, after all what better thought than having flour already kneaded ready to be cooked for pancakes. I walked down from balcony and opened the door for her, my thoughts on still Param,
"Good morning," she popped out, with a smile on her face.
"Hmmm," I mumbled under my breath and as she walked in, I shut the door behind her.
Soon enough the kitchen fire was burning and contrary to my advice she handed me a hot cup of tea while the breakfast was being made.
"Isn't that a cake in the refrigerator ?" she asked me.
"Yeah I think so," I replied not thinking.
"Why didn't you eat it in the morning when you got up."
"I got in late last night,wasn't too hungry."
"Have it now," she said with motherly concern on her face.
I picked up a slice and started munching on it, there had only been typical Punjabi food with Param and his wife, when he had made me a drink the last evening, he had taken me to the garden and told me that today he was a happy man, what with a new workshop and lots of work under his belt.
"Do you want another cup of tea," she asked inquiringly, she had sensed that I was distracted and maybe thinking of something else.
"Yes, I could do with some more."
Immediately another cup was brewing on the burner, this time I could smell the fresh Darjeeling tea and could almost feel the gears in my mind beginning to move, the romantic in me forever wanted to live in a dream world, Param's strong sense of mechanics had revealed another world to me, one where nothing existed but the creation of man. His level headedness had inspired me, I saw a form in the coffee machine that lay on the table top of the kitchen, there was filler, a beautiful body, some buttons and a cable that attached the plug to the socket. But beneath this form was a function that had been created by man too, a function that was dictated by business logic, the function that each of these equipments performed was formed by their eventual users and their utility. The more perfect this logic the better it became for the end user and more money the function fetched.
What Param was doing was a small scale version of what large scale factories would do, build machines that had better utility and maintain them for years. The idea as Param would say, "Perform tasks that fetch the maximum benefit."
"Nothing fetches more benefit than simple pleasures in life," I had countered, standing firm on my logic of life.
"But then why do you dream of writing this book ?"
"Because it gives me pleasure," I had replied with a smile on my face.
"And also if it sells, you would make money, probably enough for you to write another and that would fetch you more money. Pleasure and money go hand in hand," he sounded to his own logic.
Breakfast was ready, and the maid was quickly assembling it on the dining table, I walked from the kitchen to the table, there was a newspaper lying to the corner, she had picked it up from the door and kept it on the table, the headlines were the usual, politics and more politics, I quickly turned to the sports page and read through the cricketing and footballing stories. There was a test match going on somewhere and somewhere else Real Madrid would be playing Barcelona in the afternoon, there was also an editorial on match fixing that caught my eye and started to read it. Five minutes into it and I heard her chiding me to have breakfast that brought me out of my reverie.
"Breakfast is getting cold."
"You bet it is but I am not going to let it grow any colder," saying this, I dug into the scrambled egg and cheese with bacon that was there. With a few munches in my stomach I was already feeling fine, it was going to be a great day. Like Param would say, " First things First, a happy stomach ordains a Happy mind."
This feeling of bliss perpetuated my mind as I drove down to Anjali's house, thoughts of Param and his friendship made me a happy man, there was a reason for which I had met him, and that reason was evident enough now, there is duality in nature as well as in science and evidence of it had been found in my trip to Nabha.
"A Rose By Any Name Is Still A Rose."
Anjali had been tired of her journey and had told me that she would sleep immediately, she could continue to sleep till late, she tired easily and needed her beauty sleep. The journey back had been uneventful, the rush of meeting Param had been calmed by the constant rattling of the wheels under the train as they commuted on the track. A cab had been waiting for us at the station and we had driven back home like before. Param had been a revelation, both in his attitude and his zest for life, I had rethought my philosophy while with him and constant interaction with him for three days had left me feeling fresh and a tad thoughtful. Come to think of it Param had been doing the same work for over a decade, he hardly had time to think about life but work had dominated his mind, so he saw his God in his work. While he worked on his machines, his total attention was devoted to it, there was a sought of nothingness that came from hard work, my mind revelled at this thought, was it nothingness after all that I sought ?
The bell rang at the door, the maid was in already, it was turning 8am, she would be cooking breakfast and lunch for me, nothing got me going than cooking but she was always a great help, after all what better thought than having flour already kneaded ready to be cooked for pancakes. I walked down from balcony and opened the door for her, my thoughts on still Param,
"Good morning," she popped out, with a smile on her face.
"Hmmm," I mumbled under my breath and as she walked in, I shut the door behind her.
Soon enough the kitchen fire was burning and contrary to my advice she handed me a hot cup of tea while the breakfast was being made.
"Isn't that a cake in the refrigerator ?" she asked me.
"Yeah I think so," I replied not thinking.
"Why didn't you eat it in the morning when you got up."
"I got in late last night,wasn't too hungry."
"Have it now," she said with motherly concern on her face.
I picked up a slice and started munching on it, there had only been typical Punjabi food with Param and his wife, when he had made me a drink the last evening, he had taken me to the garden and told me that today he was a happy man, what with a new workshop and lots of work under his belt.
"Do you want another cup of tea," she asked inquiringly, she had sensed that I was distracted and maybe thinking of something else.
"Yes, I could do with some more."
Immediately another cup was brewing on the burner, this time I could smell the fresh Darjeeling tea and could almost feel the gears in my mind beginning to move, the romantic in me forever wanted to live in a dream world, Param's strong sense of mechanics had revealed another world to me, one where nothing existed but the creation of man. His level headedness had inspired me, I saw a form in the coffee machine that lay on the table top of the kitchen, there was filler, a beautiful body, some buttons and a cable that attached the plug to the socket. But beneath this form was a function that had been created by man too, a function that was dictated by business logic, the function that each of these equipments performed was formed by their eventual users and their utility. The more perfect this logic the better it became for the end user and more money the function fetched.
What Param was doing was a small scale version of what large scale factories would do, build machines that had better utility and maintain them for years. The idea as Param would say, "Perform tasks that fetch the maximum benefit."
"Nothing fetches more benefit than simple pleasures in life," I had countered, standing firm on my logic of life.
"But then why do you dream of writing this book ?"
"Because it gives me pleasure," I had replied with a smile on my face.
"And also if it sells, you would make money, probably enough for you to write another and that would fetch you more money. Pleasure and money go hand in hand," he sounded to his own logic.
Breakfast was ready, and the maid was quickly assembling it on the dining table, I walked from the kitchen to the table, there was a newspaper lying to the corner, she had picked it up from the door and kept it on the table, the headlines were the usual, politics and more politics, I quickly turned to the sports page and read through the cricketing and footballing stories. There was a test match going on somewhere and somewhere else Real Madrid would be playing Barcelona in the afternoon, there was also an editorial on match fixing that caught my eye and started to read it. Five minutes into it and I heard her chiding me to have breakfast that brought me out of my reverie.
"Breakfast is getting cold."
"You bet it is but I am not going to let it grow any colder," saying this, I dug into the scrambled egg and cheese with bacon that was there. With a few munches in my stomach I was already feeling fine, it was going to be a great day. Like Param would say, " First things First, a happy stomach ordains a Happy mind."
This feeling of bliss perpetuated my mind as I drove down to Anjali's house, thoughts of Param and his friendship made me a happy man, there was a reason for which I had met him, and that reason was evident enough now, there is duality in nature as well as in science and evidence of it had been found in my trip to Nabha.
"A Rose By Any Name Is Still A Rose."
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