Wise thoughts ...
- Never let go of your faith in God.
- Never lose hope. Always remain positive.
- Whatever has happened is good, whatever is happening is better and whatever is going to happen will be the best. Time will surely prove this.
- Understand the law of karma: wherever you are, whomever you are with and whatever happens to you, for all this, there is a reason and that is your past karma.
- It is always better to be well prepared in a crisis situation. 'Prevent and prepare' rather than 'repent and repair'.
- Getting retrenched is something beyond one's control. The majority of the stress is because we try to control things that are beyond our control. Practice meditation. It really helps in experimenting peace and disciplining the mind. Most of our energy are drained due to the wasteful thoughts.
- Use the layoff time productively to build your inner resources so that we are up and ready for a new opportunity when it arrives.
- Finally, change the way you look at things. Just think - how boring life would have been if not for those extra challenges.
The seaside sojourn!
It was after ages that we took a vacation – a short one, though. But a weekend getaway at a fishing village called Chirala by the sea shore (South coastal Andhra Pradesh) about 400 kms from the TN border. Came to know that this place also fell prey to the destructive Tsumani flood but not sure of the casualty numbers. We had Piklu and family for company and honestly, the holiday was possible because of the ITC guesthouse at the location. I feel very refreshed and revitalized thanks to this short break although, I have come back tanned and skin infection due to sand and salty water. Never mind, all that will pass.
The days prior to our departure have been very disheartening for me. I never quite recovered from the CPA ‘shock’ but some negative energy was dissipated due to this change from the daily grind. I think, I might have even escaped a heart attack...
The highlight of our stay was the two days we spent sun bathing followed by sea bathing and the skin burns are ample proof of that. For the kids, this was a holiday, first of its kind by the beach. Infact we all begaved like children, playing in the sand with balls, rings, etc. We all thoroughly enjoyed bathing in the sea though it was more sand bathing as we never actually ventured much into the sea away from the shore. It was also nice to see the fishermen carrying their daily booty of fishes caught in he deep sea all through the day as the boats, launches, steamers brought in different varieties of sardines, tuna, baby shark and even sword fish!
Hmmm, that reminds me of the food items that were served at the guest house. Since there were quite a few visitors, the handful of staff members struggled to meet the expected service standards but the cooking was good quality. Though we were mainly served veggie items - the prawn and promfet dishes were mouth watering ... I guess even the chicken dishes were yummy.
On hindsight, I feel that since this was a rather quiet place, a holiday with a bigger group would have been more fun or perhaps in total solitude to read and meditate! We hardly saw much of the town as there was very little transportation available there – but while traveling to and from the station, the village reminded me of a more developed version of my native place.
A weekend well spent - away from the hustle bustle of the city life, I will certainly remember this weekend sojour during recession times (we managed with a paltry budget of 1000 bucks per head) for a long time!