
The other day, on a sultry afternoon, I was out to
visit a book-store in the upmarket of South Delhi. The purpose was to spend a
couple of hours to keep myself abreast
of latest books in the town, especially
in my favorite genre - Self Help, Brain Power, Health/ Fitness, Happiness.
When I entered into that basement book-store, I felt the
inside ambience soul-lifting. The fragrance of fresh -print-books was elating.
The air-conditioned bookshop did not tire my legs when I snaked through the
shelves, sometimes standing to take a glance of couple of pages of books
and some other times bending my back to take a quick look in the bottom racks.
For a bibliophile like me, it is like a pilgrimage in the new town which I
quite enjoyed.
It is one of the best bookshops I ever found in Delhi with
a tailor-made for book lovers. You
instantly find the best-seller list, list of books of Booker Prize winners and
Nobel laureates.
I gazed deep into the best sellers in non-fiction category. The book you are seeing in the image is the one I selected to buy.
I gazed deep into the best sellers in non-fiction category. The book you are seeing in the image is the one I selected to buy.
The Book 'The Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin is # 1 New
York Times Bestseller in 2009. It is a reprint of 2011 edition. One interesting
fact about the book is that the author has spent twelve months test-driving the
wisdom of the ages to know first-hand of how to be happier. The cover flap
depicts that she found novelty and challenge as powerful sources of happiness.
Much before I saw the Rubin's book, I have already embarked
my own journey of happiness in April, 2013 with a dedicated note book on
happiness culling out great sayings of wisdom masters of past centuries
including the sutras of contemporary masters.
In this internet era, there is no much danger for copyright
violations to cull out perennial wisdom which you find abundant in each
culture. The main aphorisms of happiness are timeless and uniform across all
cultures and a little inner-exploration gives anybody a hint of what it
is.
I use to read any book from back-end with acknowledgement of
writer first. In the process, I read some stuff in the above book which was
very interesting. As I flipped through the pages, suddenly my heart-beat
stopped for a while when I found pages 125 - 126 of the book terribly torn
leaving no hint to manage the contents. Much to my dismay, the succeeding pages
127 -128 also damaged partially leaving no words to describe my agony.
I could not exchange the book as I wrote down my name with
date of purchase. The title of the book suggested me not to react
wildly. I stood silently to come to terms. I thought what best I could do to
get over the situation is to subdue my negative emotions. Soon enough, I pat my
shoulder that I should not loose my peace for the thing happened.
After a while, the solution was seen round the corner. The
Zen wisdom permeated my system and I convinced myself that I should not worry
for the things which I could do nothing. But I desperately felt the need to
vent my feelings , but how ? Suddenly I got a flash of insight. It is my blog
where could I pour out my heart. It is a
place where I speak candidly.
Writing these lines gave me the much needed relief. They acted like magic pills to sooth my raging nerves. I find that peace can not be either bought or brought from outside and it is well within me. What I need is only to give a command to my own self with love like a ring master does to a roaring lion in the circus !
Writing these lines gave me the much needed relief. They acted like magic pills to sooth my raging nerves. I find that peace can not be either bought or brought from outside and it is well within me. What I need is only to give a command to my own self with love like a ring master does to a roaring lion in the circus !