Fictional victory

It is a curious part on human nature that we are usually more attracted by the bad character in fiction than in good. Long suffering heroes and heroines meeting life's adversities with saintly forbearance do not have the same fascination for us as the outright sinner. We are able to appreciate the excellence of good characters, even to suffer with them, but they do not arouse our passions in the same way as a really evil character. It is true to say that the function of the wicked in fiction is to provide the cliffhanger situations without which we should soon lose interest.
A story conceived only with thoroughly good people would be insipid, not to say boring. If we are honest with ourselves, great heroism and spectacular achievement excite our admiration not so much because he is good at what he does. A character who leads his men to victory against overwhelming odds, or bluffs his way out of one agonizing secret service situation after another, needs the same qualities of ruthlessness and ingenuity as a successful bank robber. On the other hand, since the majority of us are content to live comparatively dull and blameless lives, subjected to the faceless tyranny of tax officials, government legislation and big business, our fascination with the wrong doer is a way of getting our own way back. We can do little to resist the villains in our daily lives, but we can read with mounting thrills and anticipation the triumph and ultimate downfall of fictional villains since the good,even beyond the grave, always win in the end, in stories at least.

One last look

The rust-colored, tiled mansion stood majestic in isolation. It was a two-storeyed, palatial bungalow with spacious rooms, high ceiling,beautifully painted walls and aesthetically appealing architecture, grill windows and ornamental doors. An undivided family consisting of around twenty-five members had lived there for three decades. The walls of the building had echoed with the laughter of the children and the entire structure had been a mute spectator to the gaiety and sorrow, the victories and defeats of its adult members. But whither have they gone? Why have they fled this home? What has inexorably forced them to hunt for a haven yonder? Obviously, it was the collapse of a strong, uniting thread that had held them together.
The stocky, but tough old man who had headed this group passed away a year ago. And disintegration set in, as his dear sons were torn as under by a multitude of passions that they could not surmount. The search began,therefore,for separate dwelling for each of the sons. Nuclear family was preferred to the old joint family system. However, the old building continued to haunt them like a passion. Again and again, his children and grandchildren would trek long distances to have a glimpse of the old building they had once lived in and called their own.
The majestic edifice would fill them with nostalgia and tears would well in their eyes at the thought of their dear old parent who had once ruled there with a loving but firm hand.

Artist and scientist

The arts and the sciences and since have been in competition for the most lively young brains. This competition is itself the clearest evidence that good minds can fulfill themselves as well in one as in the other. Here, in fact, is one of the few psychological discoveries of our generation to which we can hold with a reasonable certainty, that the general configuration of intelligence factors which distinguish the bright from the dull is the same in one man as another, in the humanist as in the scientist. We are divided by schooling and experience; and we do differ, though we differ less, in our aptitudes; but below these, we share a deeper basis of common ability. This is why I write with confidence for laymen and scientists, because the reader who is interested in any activity which needs thought and judgement is almost certainly a person to whom science can be made to speak. It is not he who is deaf, but the specialist who have been dumb, the specialist in the arts as well as sciences.
Many people persuade themselves that they cannot understand mechanical things, or that they have no head for figures. These convictions make them feel enclosed and safe, and of course save them a great deal of trouble. But a reader who has a head for anything at all is pretty sure to have a head for whatsoever he really wants to put his mind to. His interest, say in mathematics, has usually been killed by routine teaching. Few people would argue that those whose taste for poetry has not survived the school certificate are fundamentally insensitive to poetry.
Yet they cheerfully write off the large intellectual pleasures of science as if they belonged only to minds of a special cast. It is not a special sense. It is as wide as the literal meaning of its name : knowledge.

Travel with a purpose

The effect produced on the mind by travelling depends entirely on the mind of the traveler and on the way in which he conducts himself. The chief idea of one very common type of traveler is to see as many objects of interest a he possibly can. If he can only, after his return from home, say that he has seen such and such a temple,castle,picture gallery, or a museum,he is perfectly satisfied. Therefore, when he arrives at a famous city, he rushes through it, so that he may get over as quickly as possible the task of seeing its principle sight., enter them by name in his notebook as visited and then hurry on to another city which he treats in the same unceremonious way. Far different is the effect of travel upon those who leave their native country with minds prepared by culture to feel intelligent admiration for all the beauties of nature and art to be found in foreign lands. Their object is not to see so much, but to see well.
When they visit Paris or Athens or Rome, instead of hurrying from temple to museum, they allow the spirit of the place to sink into their minds, and also visit such monuments as the time they have at their disposals allow them to contemplate without irrelevant haste. They find it more profitable and delightful to settle down for a week or so at centers of great historical and artistic or of remarkable natural beauty, than to pay a visit to all the principal cities that they pass by. In this way they gain by their travels refreshment and rest for their minds, satisfaction of their intellectual curiosity and increased knowledge of the world and its inhabitants.

Monsoon

     The journey to a small village in the middle of monsoon was challenging and exciting with the incessant rain pouring down day and night. When our bus stop at the transit of another town, the passenger got just twenty minutes to finish their lunch and to get back to their seats. The long travel was made less tiresome when a group of people from a local church began to sing, incidentally they were going to the place where I was headed  for a youth conventional, they were  the choirs of their church and were taking part in the competition. One of them was my friend's brother, we had a pleasant chat along the way, talking of how the youths were taking the wrong option as a means to earn their livelihood. The road has turns so bad, we had to anyone can be thrown away without a proper grip on to their seat handles. We anticipated the curves and would tightly cling to the post.
The place we crossed were filled with wild flowers and ivy grown on the side of the tire tracks, looking out the window we found ourselves terrified as the bus would be at the edge of the cliff since the roads were narrow and for the driver its a daily routine so he could maneuver it easily along the way. At one time bus got stuck in the muddy soil and everybody came out to push, hundreds of people travels on those roads everyday to trade for the forest products in exchange for money. The time we reached the sun had set and we were shown to our respective guest house for the next coming week. The morning started with the sun shining right to my face, when I was ready for lunch some of the villagers had already returned from their fields, quite ashamed but continued with my meal. I don't remember what matters were discussed during the meeting but clearly see the life of people undisturbed by the intruding marketing world where there is a free lunch with a coupon of trust.