To be or not to be-- that is the question ... but only sometimes.

Farewell, dear Pluto

Dear Pluto,
I hear you have been rudely shunned by the planetary world. Oh, how it must feel to be jilted like that after so many years of "service"...all those science books, those projects, all those effusive sayings ...now what will My Very Eager Mother Just Serve Us Nine of? To even have a Disney dog named after you (or was it the other way round...well, this is a tribute to Pluto, so we assume the planet came before the dog)... you were greatness in the making!

Slowly and steadily we were coming to you, dear Pluto. We had, almost, made it to Jupiter... it was a matter of three-four more planets ... a matter of time ... say, about a few hundred decades ... I wish you had waited. I wish we could have waited and tried to discover the wonder that you are, could have been (oh, the anguish of this past tense).

Pluto, you have to excuse us humans...our lives seem to revolve around the milky way (almost literally)... and we have conveniently claimed the spot of the 'Managing Director Of The Solar System' (yes, the position exists, and we rule it...given there is no opponent, and thus, no democracy). We decide who gets to stay and who goes. I know, I hear you...it's a cruel cruel world (is it the same your way too?).

I, Yamini Dixit, take this opportunity to apoloigize on behalf of us 'third planet-ers'... we have, once again, proved ourselves to be an ungrateful race. Further, I extend my gratitude for the time you have spent with us, always giving our 'Nine' something to boast about...you were the support system... eight just doesn't feel the same.

Personally, my world ended at you, Pluto...I do not know what is out there beyond you...and now with you gone, suddenly my world seems smaller!!

I hope you find peace as a separate entity, and as a part of a greater ideology... for me, you will always be my one and only ... The Ninth Planet.

Good bye, and good luck.

Looking in all the 'right' places...?

Do we all need that person? You know who I am talking about...come on now...the one you can "be yourself" with...?

Now I won't go into the whole philosophical "who are we really"...after all, isn't the answer what drew a line between Siddharth and Buddha...but I would love to have the opportunity to explore the possibility of actually being, and then, ultimately knowing myself.

So, it takes me back to my original question--do we need that person to be ourselves?

Who, you ask again...

Someone who will enervate your defences, someone who then gets to see you at your 'vulnerable best', and then actually likes you for it... then again someone who maybe pampers you, and actually makes you feel 'important' (you know, the feeling that the world just might stop if you aren't there-- tsk, I know its all baloney, but hey, it doesn't hurt to want to believe it sometimes :) ... someone listening to you complain, and then you want to stop, but that responsive face urges you to 'let it all out' ... someone who steps in and steps up for you...someone who just loves you for who you are, and for what you represent and believe ... someone who can sometimes look beyond the grumbling and dolefulness, and love and appreciate the person and the gratitude felt... someone who can love you--in spite of 'knowing you'.

Do you get the drift....?

So again, do we need this person? Well, mostly I get the answer...."yes", accompanied by a "duh!" But I am greeted with silence when I ask who is this person...or who should this person be.

I wonder then, why does it have to be someone else? Why not me? Why do I need a different mind, body, soul to make me 'me'? Why do I need someone who thinks, feels and believe differently to understand how I do all that? Am I not my closest ally?

Why can't strength and weakness co-exist (peacefully) within me? Why does it have to be either/or?

Maybe I need me. Maybe we all need ourselves...(of course I would not want to get started on this being a 'need' vs. a 'want').

Could I not be 'someone'? ...anyone?