What Life is to Me

To me, life is like a game of volleyball (sorry guys, I can't think of any other game to illustrate this :D). It is all about teamwork, anticipation, alertness, concentration, communication, and always being on the move.


As you all now, volleyball is a game that is based on teamwork. Six members of the team take up six positions on their side of the court, to see that a ball that comes from the other side of the net does not touch the ground of their side of the court. The game asks for proper communication and understanding among the team members. The language used here is more than any spoken one. It is composed of words, symbols and body-language of each of the team members. Even without intending to do so, many a time players tend to set the mode of the game by the air they create in the team (which can be excitement, optimism, alertness, stress, distress, pessimism etc.).


While playing, each of the players have to have anticipation. By anticipation what I mean is that the players should be always thinking that the ball from the other side of the court is going to come to him/her. It does not mean that this player should encroach another player's position to save a ball, but be ready to save the ones that come near his/her playing position. For this, he/she has to be on the move at all times, and this is a key to victory in any game. Standing at one point, and waiting for the ball to come to him/her contributes to inertia of rest (thanks to Sir. Issac Newton), which is very difficult to be overcome. On the contrary, being on constant move will reduce the player's reaction time in turn will quicken the player's reaction, which ultimately pays.


Same is the case in every field of life. Nobody in this world can live alone. All of us get into one or the other team knowingly or unknowingly. Just observe around us once in a while. Be it work, home, grocery shop, or mall; everything about a team, as I've described in this post, can be identified in the activities that we engage ourselves in. When we are on the constant move, alert and ready with a positive attitude, we reap excellent results, and when it is the opposite, we end up failing.


It is as simple as that. :)

The Beauty of My Village

The term village brings to me only one image; that of the little place where I grew up. Till I came to stay there (I started staying there at the age of 10), I never liked the idea of going there. My grandparents stayed there alone till we joined them. We used to occasionally visit them before that.

My house is in a hilly terrain in the district of Kottayam in Kerala. The place is called Karikkattoor. Those of you who have heard about Kottayam will know about the rubber plantations there. My village is no different. The highlight of the place is acres and acres of rubber plantations. But that’s not all that the people in there do. If you take a trip round the place, you will get to see all sorts of vegetation in there like jackfruit trees, mango trees, coconut and other palm trees, tapioca plantations, little bit of vanilla cultivation, coffee,  pepper, ginger, other vegetables, many flowering plants, etc. Almost all houses there have cattle sheds with cows or buffaloes or goats and poultry sheds for chicken.

  

Most of the households around there are self sufficient in vegetables and fruits and milk. Almost all people, irrespective of whether they are men, women, or children, know to work in the fields. People there live pretty much in harmony with nature. The best part is that everyone in there has at least primary or middle-school education which enables them to read and write Malalayam as well as English. Education is given the highest priority in every house in there. Many of the families there have some or all of their kids as graduates or post graduates and higher in all possible disciplines.

One important aspect of a village is that everybody there knows almost all other people living in there both by name and face. It is kind of a boon as well as a bane for you. It is a boon because you have many friends around. It is a bane because rumors both good and bad spread around like wildfire in the whole village. People tend to know all about you in no time even before you know it.

Keeping that one factor apart, life in a village is to be cherished lifelong. A village in Kerala is never a bad place to live in. My childhood was filled with new experiences every day. My school was around 15 kilometers away from my house and the trip to school was scenic. The route was through the banks of a famous stream named “Manimala Aaru”. During winter times, I could see bushes of fog formed over water in the stream while going to school in the morning. One could see small hills covered in greenery on either side of the road.

In a village like mine, you can drink water from anywhere without second thoughts. At my home we have always had water from the well dug in our backyard, and I can confidently say that water from nowhere else has tasted so great to me.

All my memories of the village are filed with colors, and interesting activities. My life there was filled with enthusiasm, joy and creativity. There is always some sort of a positive vibration going around me when I’m there. I tend to be happy there whether I’m alone or in a company of friends and family.