Wishing You A Little Bit Of Everything

I've had just enough time to...   wish everyone a little bit of everything

The sun finally breached the the distant Himalayan hills and clouds

Wishing you a little of everything

A little bit more joy, a little bit less sorrow

A little bit more peace, a little bit less strife

A little bit more progress, a little bit less obstacle

A little bit more fulfillment, a little bit less work

A little bit more variety, a little bit less of the same

A little bit healthier, in mind, body and spirit

A little bit wealthier, in what really counts

A little bit stronger, to weather the storm

A little bit happier, with enough to share

For a little bit is all you need but I wish you

Lots and lots of love in the coming year!

_______

Himalayan Dawn, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Santoor

In The Morning When The Moon Is At Its Rest

I've had just enough time to...   walk the mist in the morning

 Taken one early morning when the world is still shrouded in mist in Hanoi

In the morning

When the bird is still in its nest

And the world still at rest

Peaceful under a blanket of mist

Soothed by a mother’s kiss

I walk a path half imagined

Taking it all on the chin

The sun is not yet up

To serve reality in a cup

To sear through the mist

And smack me with its fiery fist

The sun did me no service

There can be no promise

With gaze as sharp as steel

Leaving no room to steal

An idea from the God

That he left for the poor sod

Who survive the bloody scrum

To retrieve from the squalid slum

I need the blurry landscape

I need the world of indistinct shapes

I need to silence the lambs

The silence to silence the violence

And this is best done in the early morning mist

In the morning when the moon is at it's rest, 

You will find me at the time I love the best

Watching rainbows play on sunlight; 

Pools of water iced from cold night, In the morning.

Tis the morning of my life.

Bee Gees - In The Morning

Everyone’s Free (to Wear Sunglasses)

I've had just enough time to...   wear sunscreen and sunglasses :D

Taken in the morning market of Kota Kinabalu just before the sun is high on the sky.

Trust me,

Everyone ought to wear sunglasses

Before facing the sun.

Sunscreen may cover more

But if you protect your sight

It will be quite alright.

When the world is too bright

It will let in just the correct light.

But remember to take it off

When it is approaching night.

For when all around you is getting dark

It is best to trust your own sight.

(Inspired by Mary Schmich - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

_______

This humorous, witty and charming "commencement speech" by Mary Schmich will be what I would have loved to hear if I am among the graduating class. But no, the one we heard was dried like sand, rough like sandpaper and probably palatable only to chickens in a coop. So enjoy this imaginary speech that is full of great advice including scientific one like wearing sunscreen (ha ha love that! what an opening!) and I even throw in the song by Baz Lurmann for you to enjoy!

Planting Rice Is Never Fun.

I've had just enough time...   to see rice been planted.

Taken in a kampung in Cilegon, Java, Indonesia.

This field of ripening padi that I took in my visit to Cilegon in Jakarta is no more. It has been bulldozed over and converted to another factory. All in the name of progress.

It is easy for me to say this is bad. That the old way of Life should be preserved. But I know how difficult it is to walk in deep mud. And how back-breaking it is planting padi under the scorching tropical sun. And I remembered that nursery rhyme that I sang as a boy –

“Planting rice is never fun,

Bend from morn to set of sun.

Cannot stand and cannot sit,

Cannot rest a little bit.”

And I hesitated and reserved any hasty judgement. And I find the only thing I can condemn outright is – “poverty is bad”. Progress? It has two faces. But I sure miss the undulating field of ripening padi dancing to the wind.