Reflections - A Journey Through Life

The most beautiful heart One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart as it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it to be truly the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart. Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, "Why, your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing. The people stared—how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought. The young man looked at ...

  Mingling together Tukai deserved an evening out. I gave him options— “Music World? Oxford?” “No way”, his answer was emphatic— it has to be a special dinner. He loves to eat. We call him a gourmet and an evening out with him must nothing less than be a grand dinner. I knew this but teased him a bit. “Where to go?” Quick came the reply, “Park Street.” In our city most of the good old restaurants are bunched up along this half a kilometer long strip. “So be it”, I concurred. We started walking from where Park Street begins. I told him, “We will walk slowly and look around. Whichever place takes our fancy we will step in.” It was a cool Saturday evening. At this time of the year before summer sets in, sea breeze makes the evenings very pleasant. Happily we strolled. Me talking non-stop as I do with him and he responding occasionally at right places with right sounds. We were on the left sidewalk and I knew that a few of the most desirable destinations are situated on...

‘High in the pine forests of the Spanish Sierra, a guerrilla band prepares to blow up a vital bridge. Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer, has been sent to handle the dynamiting. There, in the mountains, he finds the dangers and the intense comradeship of war. And there he discovers Maria, a young woman who has escaped from Franco’s rebels. For Whom the Bell Tolls is Hemingway’s finest novel, a passionate evocation of pride and the tragedy of the Civil War that tore Spain apart.’ …thus ran the blurb on the back cover of the classic. Reading it the second time, I savored its taste. I read it slowly, every evening. The characters waited for me and came alive soon after I immersed myself in the story each day after coming back home. When I finished it, I couldn’t put it out of my mind. Now and then I could see the various scenes, feel the emotions of a moment. And my mind went on evaluating it. Nowadays I have become specially interested in literature. There are a lot...