Paradoxes

rrmahalle

This post from David Perell is illuminating.

Here are few points I’d like to mention.

  1. The Paradox of Reading: The books you read will profoundly change you even though you’ll forget the vast majority of what you read.
  2. The Paradox of Writing: Great writing looks effortless. But because the ideas are so clear, casual readers don’t appreciate how much time it took to refine them.
  3. The Paradox of Decision Making: It’s better to choose, commit, and get started instead of waiting for the best possible option, so the correct decisions are actually sub-optimal.
  4. The Paradox of Originality: Many of history’s greatest artists have found their voice by copying others. We discover who we are by imitating others and watching our uniqueness emerge over time.
  5. The Paradox of Abundance: Information abundance, like all markets of abundance, are bad for the average person but great for a small number of people. My favorite metaphor is health, where obesity rates and the number of people in incredible shape are *both* rising.
Paradoxes
rrmahalle

I’ve found that you need an audacious madness to enjoy life. Not that stupid alcoholic or drugged madness – those are very fickle things. You need your OWN madness. Because I’ve found that your own self is the greatest drug you can have…!

Headphones – stop doing everything, close your eyes, and fly…!

rrmahalle

No Ways…!!!

I don’t want to post his art, it is his and his only. But this will be the last post about Laurent Nivalle. Just a couple of photographs which he has posted yesterday.

I promise, this is the last post referring his photographs. But boy, he surely knows how the lights and photographs work…!

rrmahalle

Did I tell you that I forgot every other photographer when I had found Laurent Nivalle?

This…! /raised hands/ 🙌
The colors, the lights, the composition – MESMERIZED!

I feel that I am very lucky to know him and his photography.
Not everything is earned in money or numbers.
I’ve spent nights and nights going through his photographs (since previous 3-4 years 7 years).

@lrntnvlldiary
@LaurentNivalle

Dear Laurent, if you happen to notice this post, I know I have placed your clicked photograph without your permission. I don’t monetize my website, neither I seek any. I placed this out of reverence.

rrmahalle

Guys, I was AWOL for previous few days. I know you all missed me, and I missed you too. I’ve got a few e-mails regarding where I am, what’s going on, why haven’t I written anything? As a few of you know, I’ve mailed you back promptly. Here are my thoughts, put orderly in pixels, words, and sentences…

You were nothing, an atom in space. Then entropy kicked in. You burned, you broke, you were left in pieces. Stranded, hanging in vacuum; you gathered every single broken shard, one by one, each individually, still fighting fiercely. Intense energy bundled up in you. You packed the whole Universe inside you. You thought that either you’ll choke up, or you’ll burst out. And then God touched. No choke up, no burst out – He said, keep everything and RADIATE…

Do you know that feeling where you know that you have won the bravely fought, toughest race already, where finish line is so close, but you still have to drive till the finish line? (/rolling eyes/ another F1 analogy)

You are broken to pieces, you fight, you die, you do everything, you pray, you cry, you endure all the convulsions you get from the nightmares – nothing happens.
And suddenly, God touches, and not a single effort is needed.

I have endured a lot – a lot. I did everything to find my sanity, and I was able to put a leash on my insanity most of the time. When I was aware, I used to leash it – but at nights, in sleep, those nightmares used to stab me bleeding all away. And the funny thing was – I thought that nightmares would subside as the time passed, but they kept on getting stronger and stronger (in turn, making me stronger). I’ll never be able to forget those horrifying convulsions I used to get in the sleep. I remember that night when I had fallen from the bed when I was asleep. Because of those convulsions, my head had banged on the corner of the dressing table, blood was all over the floor.

Sometimes, I wonder that if where did I get this strength. With innocence, resilience, and the belief in miracles – I endured every deathblow. It was so tough that even I was addicted to pain. I had become a monster. You should have witnessed me deadlifting.

Broken inside, death whirling around, I smiled and stood tall.

Now, everything comes to an end. No insanity, no leashes, no nightmares. Everything evaporated. I fought my war bravely. I fought it with a wide smile and a strong heart. I did not earn the golden spoon – the golden spoon earned me. I did not compromise, and God did not let me compromise.

Rupesh, you were the strongest when you were the most weak. Rupesh, you smiled the widest when you were all destroyed inside. Man, you answered death by being Alive at the highest. God wanted to show me that it is not me who is living, but He, who is breathing inside me…! For he made me who I am today. For He answered every single test I gave, even to the tiniest details.

Even though I used to die night and night, I lived man, I lived… I learnt to live life. God, I thought that the exam was way too much longer, but it was not. Now I feel that it didn’t take that much time. It was worth it. Previous few years used to feel like lifetimes, but now, they feel like mere passed seconds.

I had thought that I’d weigh the weight of my endurance on my back for the whole life. But in an instance, He evaporated everything. Will I ever forget? Hell no! A Warrior never forgets, and a winner never ever…!

Here’s your Rupesh My Dear Reader, tall and never bent… My dear reader, I don’t think that I’d need to tell you when I’d reach the finish line, because I am already a winner, always have been…

And THANK YOU my dear readers, for being with me. You don’t know how important you were, may be more important than oxygen as well. I owe you.

Finally, this Volcano has become an Ocean…!

rrmahalle

Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps 20. And yet it all seems limitless.

The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles
Quote
rrmahalle

Nightmares, bring it on…! Did you think that you could overpower me? Did you think that you could annihilate me? Nightmares, you all are cowards. You come once or twice a month. Because you too know that if you come frequently, I will eat you up.

Why do you come? Who created you? You come because my innocence and selflessness were exploited. Those who betrayed me did not create you; I created you. You are the child of my innocence and selflessness. You wouldn’t have existed if I was insensitive. Do you think that you will make me lose my innocence and selflessness with your visits? Do you think that you can exploit me, use me, and leave me suspended in the space hanging? You are f***ing wrong! I deny you the permission. No-one has the permission to exploit me.

Nightmares, don’t come once or twice a month, come every f***ing night you b****…! And know that I am not sitting in a corner – there’s no use lurking the corners – find me at the center of the ring…! Come on, bring it on…!