Hiya folks, compadres, asdiqa, friends

Well, Friday is back again, and the manner in which time is flying, we will be back to the fun cooler days of Autumn.

What about winter? Nay, we do not have winter, just a few days when the thermometer reminds us that we have jackets and sweaters to wear.  To tell you the truth, it gets quite warm if you have a thick sweater on. So, it is a better idea to have very thin pullovers.

Nevertheless, the Desert gets quite cold in the night. I remember, many eons back, our ‘all guys’ tennis team and friends went for an outing close to Jebel Ali Hotel (which is now so near, you won’t be calling it an outing. Then if you go way back, people used to picnic close to Iranian Hospital, and even the area behind Ramada Hotel in Bur Dubai were all sandy dunes, and when I am speaking of way back, actually it is only early 70’s that we are talking about). Well going back to the outing near Jebel Ali hotel, we stayed near the beach overnight, spread blankets on the sand, barbecued and devoured biryani rice (local version) and that appeared to be a lovely, I think, a starry October night. One of our guys had brought with him a sleeping bag, and he was the pun of many a joke that eveningt. Until wait, a Shamaal hit us (northern cold winds), then he had the last laugh. It was so cold, that a couple of us, found it nice and cozy (bien and calentito) to sleep in my car. I had to be careful, because Sharif was sleeping next to me, but then, he was so tired that he remained quite a gentleman throughout the rest of the night.

That brought back another memory, when this time we went camping on an island off the beach of Khorfakkan.  Well, that was certainly something to think about. A friend had a harpoon gun with him, and when we snorkeled in the water around, replete of fish such as Shahri, Hammour and Sultan Ibrahim , he actually asked us to choose fish scampering about, and he would harpoon it for us. I had never thought that fishing at times could be such an easy matter. Later on, one of the guys, everyone would point out it to be  Shar, got a little intoxicated, first he burnt down half the tent when he disposed off the end of his Marlboro lights very close to the tarpaulin, and which eventually led to the tent ablaze, and t if that was not the end  of his pranks, he began pelted us with chicken eggs, or for  some unfortunate guys, I can humbly point out that I was one of them, smashed the eggs open using our temples as the base, and prompting us to go swimming, to clean off the muck and smell, at around 4 in the morning. Well, that was a couple of ‘down memory lane’ episodes for you. Who said the ‘past’ was monotonous and dull?



A guy once asked me to define ‘contentment’.  I had to do a lot of thinking on this. So, what is contentment, and what is enough. I have pursued the path of ‘enough’ once before in a previous blog, therefore I will only touch on ‘contentment’ today.

Answers.com describes Contentment as

Contentment refers to the neuro-physiological experience of satisfaction and being at ease in one's situation, body, and/or mind. The freedom from anxiety, want or need. Contentment is the goal behind all goals because once achieved there is nothing to seek until it is lost. A living system cannot maintain contentment for very long as complete balance and harmony of forces means death.



Collins Gem Dictionary:

The act of being mentally and emotionally satisfied and the willingness of accepting things as they are.

Well, in my belief contentment is coming very close to achieving  ‘nirvana’ (paradise, or being in a state of emancipation from ignorance and the extinction of all attachment.)

So, what does that actually mean?

In a lay mans words, I guess:

It means that it is when we are at a stage of having achieved also everything in life, that there is no possibility of wishing or wanting more, and striving for more has no meaning at all, and the thought of ‘giving up everything’ is most pleasant and melodious, then only we are in the total state of contentment.

So, then, what is giving away everything:

Sometimes in life, we have to take on decisions that at many other times would seem preposterous. Thus, a  state of mind when achieved, where every physical, emotional and spiritual possession can be sacrificed resulting in a hurt deep down in one’s system; a hurt that is sustained in any condition whatsoever, then that would tantamount to ‘giving away everything’.

Okay, no one told you that I am fully sane. No one said that I cannot be boring at times. Actually, believe it or not, we all have some very good genes, and some very defective ones. We are all born like that. It is only the most powerful, famous guys/gals who are able to disguise and mask such defective genes, are people who really shine in the world (until caught out, hee hee) and emerge as leaders and mentors.

Now, I promise to give you all some rest and hope to write my next blog in mid September.  As usual, my advice for you would be, whatever you are doing in life, do it good. Remember if you tell the truth, then you do not have to remember anything. And last but not the least, “LIFE is simply what YOU learn to make of it.”

Chao