Floating Thoughts

Someone always tells you what the best part would be when you start out with something new..

Yesterday learning to float on my back for the first time, I was remembering an old conversation. In his characteristic excited style, dost A had told me long back-"Back-floating is the best part"..Its a weirdly amusing feeling to let go of yourself and be water borne on your back, i couldn't agree less.

And then I was thinking no one can ever tell you what the worst part will be..you have to take the fall yourself  to realize how hard it hurts and if you can stay afloat in the end..

I have just too many thoughts when I swim..
When i am swimming outdoors I tend to think about the universe and the bigger things in life and when I swim indoors my thoughts tend to be more inwardly focussed-the petty challenges of day to day life.

I like to believe that swimming is like a zen state for me with wise floating thoughts!
 

Fluff!

'Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.'- The Catcher in the Rye

Recently I read two books-'The Invisible Man' and 'The Catcher in the Rye'. The central theme in both the novels explores the feeling of alienation, the search for an identity and a certain disillusionment with human behavior. But it is a different alienation in both the novels- one deals with the racial alienation of an individual and the other explorers the physiological alienation of a teenager.

I have to admit that I cannot write an intelligent literary review for 'The Invisible Man' now (its been a while since i finished reading it). However I have a favorite quote from the book which sums up the essence of the book for me : "I did not become alive until I discovered my invisibility." This is the sad truth of existence for a lot of people in the world and the book is a voice for them.

I choose not to write a literary review for 'The Catcher in the Rye', but I would attempt to create a version of the protagonist post the ending of the novel using some imagery from the novel. Here it goes:

I stand at the edge of this crazy cliff..
It’s all silent here except for the wind having a little tiff-
With the waters below and the Rye fields above-it’s a crazy riff!

It’s all silent here except for Phoebe and her gang
She is Killing me with her old hag act as she runs to tag
I’m thinking again about the Ducks that disappear when winter plays tag
I am sure they all hide somewhere cozily under a bag!

I think about the ducks sometimes when I guard the cliff
It’s reassuring to know they’re safe somewhere in bliss

In my mind I keep going over stuff
It’s like Snowballs that roll around and gather fluff!

The last two lines almost describe my mental process.. and the last word helped me give the blog a name..
I hope I did justice to the title of the post :) The lofty goal to write an intelligent book review will have to wait for a while!

(tag- a playground game that involves one or more players chasing other players in an attempt to "tag" or touch them)