That was a unique sight. One single tree completely dwarfing the rest of the trees and vegetation nearby. Reminded me immediately of Tagore’s “Taalgaach” poem. Also the head of the tree reminded me of the divi divi trees from Aruba!
Taking a break from blogging from my vacation posts to post this one. This is my 6,000th post. What started as a journey of just wanting to write down my learnings from work life during a year off (second one) then morphed into running adventure logs and then a journal for intersection points and eventually became just a place to write down my reflections of moments of my life. And hopefully not forget how to put English words together to form comprehensible sentences.
I remember my biggest fear when I had started blogging. I had a feeling people start doing these things with a lot of gusto and then the energy peters out rapidly. The question I had for myself was how long would I be able to keep up my energy. I believe I have found an answer to that question.
Fifteen years of blogging. That would mean, I have posted a little over one post a day! Some might suggest that is too much! I think they would be right!!
I hope they are right. Life would be nothing if you did not do a few things here and there that people would be critical about.
Went around the island in bicycles. I have not biked in a very long time (30 years)? Nikita took to it very quickly. I had some difficulty in getting the bike to slow down or stop. These rental bikes have no brakes. Took me a few minutes and hobbling down a bridge, desperately trying with my two feet on the ground to slow down to realize that all I had to do is try pedaling in reverse!! Thereafter, it was all smooth sailing.
Next up – motorbiking together?
The three of us went to pick up some stuff from the nearby grocery store. There was an ice cream store (Kilwins?) there that is apparently a very famous brand. I know that they are very famous because
(*) First, Nikita told me so!
(*) Second, there was a long queue outside
Never been a big ice cream guy myself. But I guess vacations are about exceptions. We sat on a bench by the roadside enjoying our icecreams!
I remember seven years back, we were vacationing here and Natasha ran into some school friends of hers on the beach. In fact, I think they split from us to go dine by themselves and Nikita, Sharmila and myself had a Hibachi dinner that night.
Almost an action replay this time! Nikita ran into Grace from her current class! They had a good time in the ocean (when the sharks were not around) and in the pool (when the sharks strolled by)…
First there were a few dolphins that swam by. And then five sharks came by and drove everybody off the water. The sharks were barely visible. Talking to the life guard, I found out that they take a hint from those birds (brown pelicans?). They usually stay 300 yards away from the shore.
When shark – usually small ones – come near the shore, they drive all the fish towards the shore. The birds follow the fish and come up almost to the shore. We saw something we have never seen before. A boat load of fish – I mean a whole lot of them – were jumping up from the water level and then splashing back again making it look like there was a rainfall happening there. Of course, the birds had a great time scooping them up.
One thing I did not realize is that most of the hurricanes we get on the East Coast actually originate from over Sahara and make it westward picking up steam on the Atlantic.
Another thing I had not realized is that dust storms make it to the USA by the same route! This year, there has been a particularly dense and strong one. It crossed the Caribbean last week and came into USA this weekend. As you can see the skies are hazy and the air quality in Hilton Head is fairly bad. Apparently, the dust is going to make its way to some parts of Ohio and Indiana even!
Six years back – almost to the day – we had brought my in laws here. That was the day they saw an ocean up close and personal for the first time, they had told me. I remember that evening, both of them just standing there and gazing into the Atlantic totally mesmerized. My father in law is no more and I do not believe my mother in law can make the journey to the USA one more time.
I read this a few days back in one of those Stoicism write ups. (Roger Whitney had introduced my to Stoicism). Worth reading for all of us. Although the message will probably not resonate with youngsters as much.
If you’ve ever made it to the end of Homer’s Odyssey, you might have noticed a rather strange part of the ending. It’s a part that’s talked about a lot less than the rest of the poem, possibly because it makes so little sense. You see, despite spending every waking second for ten years fighting to get home, despite overcoming nearly insurmountable obstacles on his way, despite all the carnage of the final battle to reclaim his kingdom, Odysseus does something almost inconceivable the second he possesses what he longed for…
…he starts planning to leave again! On another mission. Another voyage. Didn’t he learn his lesson? Can’t he be content or happy for even one minute? Apparently not.
Perhaps this is really the message of the epic: We are incapable of being still. Even when we get what we want, we immediately crave something else. We are addicted to the hunt, to the journey, and ‘home’ is just a lie we tell ourselves. Isn’t that sad?
Seneca, an ambitious guy if there ever was one, wrote about the shameful spectacle of the “lawyer whose dying breath passes while at court, at an advanced age, pleading for unknown litigants and still seeking the approval of ignorant spectators.” He was just talking about Odysseus in another form — he was talking about all of us who can’t stop, who have to keep going, who have to keep achieving, who are incapable of knowing what “enough” is.
The key to a great life — and to happiness — is stillness. It’s contentment. It’s enjoying what we have. It’s the ability to say “no”. To reject the temptation to do more even if more is another impressive journey or an occupational honor.
Stop. At least for today. Just stop. Be still.
The author also talks about the book “Stillness is the Key” as a suggested read. As you will see in review of the book I did in April this year, I was fairly unimpressed. I will post if I come across better books (by my judgment).
