One of my all time favorite singers is John Denver. I love his songs. I have listened to his songs many times. One of his famous songs is "Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy". The song just makes my day bright as sunshine. While living in Tempe, sunshine was abundant so I never thought about this songs the way I thought today. Since we have moved to MI, the weather has been interesting. It rains one day and next day it would be clear skies. Today however, was one of the warmer days since we came here. We took the advantage of sunshine and decided to go out and just walk around in Ann Arbor downtown.
It was bright and warm. Lot of people were walking around, playing on UM lawn, reading or just sitting under the trees. We also took our lattes and sat under a tree. It was so beautiful. A little warm than I thought it would be, but very bright and just sunny! While sitting under the tree I just realized that I was happy sitting there, doing nothing and just enjoying the sunny day. At that moment I thought about Denver's song. Sunshine makes me happy too!
sunshine, on my shoulders - makes me happy
sunshine, in my eyes - can make me cry
sunshine, on the water - looks so lovely
sunshine, almost always - makes me high
if i had a day that i could give you
i'd give to you a day just like today
if i had a song that i could sing for you
i'd sing a song to make you feel this way
sunshine, on my shoulders - makes me happy
sunshine, in my eyes - can make me cry
sunshine, on the water - looks so lovely
sunshine, almost always - makes me high
if i had a tale that i could tell you
i'd tell a tale sure to make you smile
if i had a wish that i could wish for you
i'd make a wish for sunshine all the while
sunshine, on my shoulders - makes me happy
sunshine, in my eyes - can make me cry
sunshine, on the water - looks so lovely
sunshine, almost always - makes me high
sunshine almost al the times makes me high
sunshine, almost always
- John Denver
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
When I was in Junior College I had a wonderful English teacher. She opened the gates to the wonderful world of English literature for me. I used to wait to go to her class even when attending college was not much in fashion :) One day she was discussing the concept of "Solitude" in class. I still remember one of her thoughts that she put well in words "We are too much surrounded by people to be alone". At that time I thought it was some literary way of defining a difficult concept of Solitude. But as grew older and especially when came to US , I found how correct she was. Too many people around us to be alone.
While growing up, I do not remember my family was inundated with guests and relatives. We did have family functions and festivals where we got together with relatives and friends and enjoyed the time. But it was never the most important thing on the list. Personal space was always important and even though my parents did not say it directly,after entering college both me and my sister did have right to be alone. I like to be with people but at the same time I value my space immensely. I think that's why I got used to the American way pretty quickly. I like the fact that people do respect your space and boundaries and do not encroach upon your life.
I had few friends who would always have relatives hanging in their houses even though they had exams or their mom was sick. I used to think how come people do that! But I think in India personal space is not a much valued concept. We try to accommodate so many people in our lives that sometimes it's hard to be alone. Of course I am not anti-social or anything. But what I like is to have some alone time when I like to do my own things or sometimes nothing.
By being left alone also includes not asking probing questions about personal life. I just don't understand why do people want to know about your life so much! And not many of those people ask you about your hobbies, career interests or which movies do you enjoy! All they want to know about is your personal life. I have heard so many questions like, when are you getting married? What does your husband do? Where did you meet? When will you have children? How many kids you want? Why did you get married in US? OMG! Just stop. Give me a freaking break. Some of these questions are not to be asked by anyone except parents. Especially about kids! I just don't understand why do people have this immense urge to probe? I recently chatted with a school-mate after about 13 years and she asked me when am I going to have children? What crap!
I think in our society where we value all these relations (I am not sure if all of them are valuable at all), we need to understand or perhaps teach kids since the beginning that it is important to give space to others and have your own. Unless, one is alone one never thinks! Being surrounded by dear ones is great but being alone is necessary to think and analyze about one's life.
I definitely enjoy being alone and I hope others will too understand the importance of solitude.
While growing up, I do not remember my family was inundated with guests and relatives. We did have family functions and festivals where we got together with relatives and friends and enjoyed the time. But it was never the most important thing on the list. Personal space was always important and even though my parents did not say it directly,after entering college both me and my sister did have right to be alone. I like to be with people but at the same time I value my space immensely. I think that's why I got used to the American way pretty quickly. I like the fact that people do respect your space and boundaries and do not encroach upon your life.
I had few friends who would always have relatives hanging in their houses even though they had exams or their mom was sick. I used to think how come people do that! But I think in India personal space is not a much valued concept. We try to accommodate so many people in our lives that sometimes it's hard to be alone. Of course I am not anti-social or anything. But what I like is to have some alone time when I like to do my own things or sometimes nothing.
By being left alone also includes not asking probing questions about personal life. I just don't understand why do people want to know about your life so much! And not many of those people ask you about your hobbies, career interests or which movies do you enjoy! All they want to know about is your personal life. I have heard so many questions like, when are you getting married? What does your husband do? Where did you meet? When will you have children? How many kids you want? Why did you get married in US? OMG! Just stop. Give me a freaking break. Some of these questions are not to be asked by anyone except parents. Especially about kids! I just don't understand why do people have this immense urge to probe? I recently chatted with a school-mate after about 13 years and she asked me when am I going to have children? What crap!
I think in our society where we value all these relations (I am not sure if all of them are valuable at all), we need to understand or perhaps teach kids since the beginning that it is important to give space to others and have your own. Unless, one is alone one never thinks! Being surrounded by dear ones is great but being alone is necessary to think and analyze about one's life.
I definitely enjoy being alone and I hope others will too understand the importance of solitude.
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