A Hall of Mirrors (Poem)

I walked into a hall of mirrors;

curious to view me in them. 

As I moved from one mirror to another

'for a moment, my images made me wonder,

filling me with good humour.

Gradually my images clouded my mind with gloom;

making my very being asunder.

I gently closed my eyes

dispelling the darkness engulfing my mind;

finding my real self, yonder.

The warm reassuring glow rising from my heart;

Gradually lit my eyes lifting me up

preventing me from falling apart.

Thus dispelling the darkness from my mind,

reviving my belief in 

self, humanism and beings of all kinds

Top of the House 100

There once lived a monk in a monastery in the Alps with only a St. Bernard as his companion. The dog also did the job of rescuing the travellers stranded in snow storm or buried in snow. The monk called him “GOD”. When GOD would rush to the monk and bark aloud raising an alarm to rescue a poor soul fallen prey to the treacherous Alpine weather, the monk would quickly follow him and get the victim to the cosy confines of the monastery.



One cold, dark morning, when snow blizzard was raging outside the monastery, GOD rushed to the monk and tugged at his habit. The monk, who was praying at the alter immediately got up and rushed to follow GOD, who led him to the spot where a weary traveller lay unconscious, buried under a thick pile of snow. GOD immediately began digging up the snow in a frantic gesture to help the monk. To revive the man, the monk poured a few drops of brandy in the traveller’s mouth, wrapped him in a thick blanket and brought him to the monastery where he nursed him back to health.


While the traveller was recuperating in the monastery from his rough encounter with the fury of the Alps, he often found the monk ask GOD to go to the "top of the house" and have his “Hundred”. Curious to know what it meant, the traveller asked the monk, “Father, you often ask the dog to go to "the top of the house" to have his ‘Hundred’, what does it mean?”


The monk smiled at the traveller and said, “Son, the creature you call dog is a God Send for weary travellers like you who fall prey to the nature's fury,  that is why I call him GOD. I ask him to go to "the top of the house" to have his "Hundred" is to go out of the monastery to see if anyone needs our help.


(Foot note: The Numbers or creatures don’t always mean their face value, they also mean the purpose they serve in the grand design called the world at large we live in.)

BAKER'S DOZEN

Once upon a time, there lived an old baker named Barkis, who hardly had any customers visiting his bakery. So, he gradually began losing hope of selling the bread loaves he used to bake every day to sell.



One winter morning, a stranger walked into his bakery and said, “Barkis, I am new to this village and I have no family too, but I still want you to bake me a dozen loaves of bread every morning and I shall buy them from you.”


Happy with a sudden turn in his fate, Barkis baked a dozen loaves of bread and completed his work by daybreak.


True to his words, the stranger visited the bakery in the morning and asked Barkis for his ware.


Barkis eagerly picked up the wicker basket he had packed  for the stranger and handed it over to him.


The stranger quietly took the basket and opened each of the brown paper packet to check the bread loaf. After having checked all the loaves he produced one to Barkis and said,” Barkis, this loaf of bread is partly burnt, can you replace it with a fresh loaf  along with the dozen loaves you will deliver to me for tomorrow?”


Quite amazed at how he could overlook the burnt loaf, Barkis quietly took the loaf of bread from the stranger and agreed to replace it with a fresh loaf the following day.


The following day too, the stranger pointed out to a partly burnt loaf of bread and requested Barkis to replace it with the fresh loaf the following morning and this continued till such time that it became habitual for Barkis to bake thirteen loaves of bread instead of twelve for the stranger.


One day, the stranger visited Barkis’ bakery with his friend who requested Barkis too, to bake a dozen loaves of bread each day.


Habitually, Barkis baked thirteen loaves of bread each for the stranger and his friend and packed their wares in two separate wicker baskets.


Next morning the stranger and his friend visited Barkis’ bakery to collect their loaves of bread and the stranger’s friend was the first to open the basket to check the loaves. After having seen them, he returned one loaf to Barkis and said, “Friend, I had ordered for twelve loaves but you have given me thirteen.”


Barkis smiled and replied “So, after all, no more burnt loaf of bread.”


So friends, to be habitually proactive is what Baker’s dozen means, to avoid any eventualities.




(Foot Note: Especially quality compliance.)