Divas 217: Carmina laudantur, sed munera magna petuntur.

My to-do list for this lovely morning:
  • Meditate for 1 hour.
  • Read 1 section in The Power of Now.
  • Read 30 lines of Ars Amatoria.
  • Design newspaper advertisement for Gyaan Ghar part-time teacher.
  • Update proposal for visit to Manav Mangal Smart School.
  • Make changes to blog page on Mumbai.


I hate to share my experience in bullet point form, but this is very much how it felt today! I postponed my shower repeatedly thinking I'd take it after attacking "one more thing," and ended up finishing all my pending odds and ends before washing up and chilling out a little bit (I fell asleep while meditating this morning -- oops). Of course, many of the little "chores" were fun, and I interspersed the above with snacking on aesthetically pleasing fruits (left) and digging up ancient photographs for a secret project. :)




As I've said before, I'd do nothing but work if my stamina could take it -- not that my to-do list for today contained any back-breaking labor.

Over lunch, Gaikwad Uncle gave me a wonderful lecture -- both detailed and big picture -- on the history and present impacts of Mumbai's urbanization. I'm proud to say that I actually understood most everything, and have had at least some level of exposure on this trip to most of the key urban areas he highlighted:

1. Housing
2. Transport
3. Water Supply
4. Stormwater Drainage
5. Sewage
6. Solid Waste Management

I rested at length after lunch (goodness knows I needed it) and then enjoyed a long conversation with Mama over Skype. She closed with the words "Thank you for your smile" -- you're welcome, Mommy! Thank you for my existence!

I was moved by Uncle's briefing to read the last chapter of his Initiatives in Development Administration over tea -- about his time working to transform the city's infrastructure as Metropolitan Commissioner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

I read the last few pages during a grueling (i.e. minimal) workout on the treadmill in an attempt to do justice to my comparatively minimal afternoon agenda:

  • Work out for 1 hour.
  • Meditate for 1 hour.


I think the one thing that really tends to stress me out is planning, and I was inclined to try to plot and plan the rest of my year during this evening meditation session, but I did my best to maintain awareness and equanimity (the cornerstones of Vipassana) and made it through the session! I chalked out the remainder of my gap year after meditating, and here is my tentative schedule (also visible in the left sidebar):

9 April - 3 May: I'll be in Punjab, spending more time with family as well as Gyaan Ghar students and staff.
3 May - 15 May: Receiving teaching training from Mr. Chang, and a week of classroom experience at Flint Hill!
15 May - 15 July: Working on environmental conservation in Latin America (I'm thinking Mexico).
15 July - 1 August: Coaching teams to compete at Latin Convention, and attending the event myself.
19 August: Participating in Harvard Pre-Orientation!

Didi joined us for dinner tonight and we were all in a very jovial and silly mood -- we had great fun. I just finished chatting with her about the training program she is conduction for the ICICI Fellow Program; it sounds like those kids are having a great time and learning more than ever (like me!).

Before now, I thought "happiness" meant laughing hysterically or feeling on top of the world all day. But I'm beginning to experience a new sort of placid pleasure -- not going to lie: I really like it.

--

P.S. The title of today's post translates roughly to "poems are praised, but great (material) gifts are preferred" -- the Roman poet Ovid made this observation in the lines I read today, and I think it's stood the test of time!

Comments

  1. Yay, I am so happy that you're definitely going to nationals! Me too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Also, wanted to tell you that for some reason one sentiment from your letter to Priya stuck out to me: [paraphrased] "If you're not happy now, why do you think you will be in the future?" I've been thinking about that a LOT ever since reading it. Thank you! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha not to be weirdly solipsistic or whatever, but I'm proud of that one, too. It makes sense, right?

      Delete

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