A Cyclist

Getting to write to you after a long time. Was stuck in depths of personal matters. Now things have lightened up.

Yes, bought a cycle last week for commuting to office and also for other errands. I am riding the cycle daily to my office. I am riding a cycle after I rode it last when I was in PUC 2.

The experience so far has been beautiful; though for the first 2 days, my thighs and arms squealed. Cycling is pure joy. As my new house is 10 kms from my office- tailor made for cycle travel, I decided to go that route.

There are encouraging signs all over for me to continue paddling. First being, time! Yes. It takes 1 hr 20 mins by bus to reach office and by motorcycle it takes around 40 mins and the cycle gets me there in 45 mins flat. Second, money. No explanations needed, right? Third, fitness. Fourth, mood. My mood remains upbeat most part of the day and that reflects in my personal and professional life. I also get to spend more time with my family, an added advantage. Add to that the advantages of no parking hazzles and minimal traffic delays... that makes for a great transport means.

Another important benefit is the fair MY TIME that it gives- that small time you want to spend with yourself.

While buying the cycle, there was a thought that Bangalore roads are not ideal for cycling... to an extent they are not, but not strong enough to discourage one to take up cycling.

I am planning for short getaways in and out side of Bangalore on weekends. Let's see how it all goes.

"Smile, you idiot..."

"Truth alone triumphs”, goes an old saying. In this hustle-bustle of life, where creating untrue images for self is a norm than exception, do we at least be true to ourselves? If we are true, we don't need to remember anything. Most of our mental stress and pressure is due to dealing with our false self.

The title of this blog is the line that was said to me on my wedding day. "You'll look well in photos... marriage may be for one day, but photographs are forever". So are we living for a good photo shot?! This may seem a small occurrence, but then, isn't life a pool of small events? It's the small events like these that give shape our character.

Once we start living a life to get approvals from people, then it becomes a habit. People will accept us as we show them we are. But in this course, we too start believing in our untrue image. Then, the disconnect between our self and our fake self occurs, and then comes stress and misery. Now how about dealing with multiple self-images to get approvals from multiple people. Catastrophe. With our fake living, we create fake expectations in others and ourselves. And there is fair chance that we might not fulfill them, for we are not that. Isn't this always the source of all our sorrows?

Progress is the life-blood of life. All our efforts should be towards self-improvement. But to progress, shouldn't we have complete knowledge of our current state? But, by living a fake life, we are nipping all opportunities of progress in bud. I feel the primary reason that we don't feel complete is that we have cut the link between who we are and who we show we are. We are not allowed to make mistakes; we are forced not to think independently, but follow- the herd mentality. We fail, we learn, we progress. We are not allowing ourselves to blossom.