This is a story of a lil girl. A girl young enough to believe in miracles but old enough to be wary of strangers. She lived in a great mansion full of people who never spoke to her. She didn’t know why she was there. The mansion itself was beautiful with views of seaside and beautiful beaches…magnificent and yet scary in its bigness and aloofness. She loved talking and never lost an opportunity to make conversations but was scared of approaching strangers. But somehow no one seemed to care what she spoke about or why she was terrified of thunderstorms. She loved to spend time near the window lying upside down on the couch…and looking at the world that way amused her curious mind.
Did I mention that she loved painting? well, she did.
She liked painting sunsets with big yellow suns…and bright blue birds. She loved dabbling with the water colors…she had found the paints and a beautiful big brush in the attic…and she spent hours drawing intricate images which flitted thru her imagination. You see, she lived thru her paintings.
She would fill every brush stroke with her individuality and dream of accolades and admiration….they were not the driving forces for her love for painting…but who amongst us don’t dream of being told we are good?
Once she was done with the painting.. she would hang it on the corridor, so that others in the mansion can see and tell her what they think of her work. The corridor had her paintings on either side. Just yesterday, she put up a painting of a rose’s heart. She had seen it in the early morning mist. She had worked for hours to catch the exact hue in her water colors.
She would hide behind the stairway to look who would walk up to her painting in the corridor. Her heart would give a leap of thrill every time she thought of the expression on the beholder’s eye. In fact as she stood there waiting… she would see appreciation, acknowledgment, scorn…..on every other person’s face and she would blush when she imagined somebody telling her that they too had seen a rose’s heart and it was exactly the way she had drawn it and how she would defend her painting when someone would laugh at it!
But the truth was.. she never saw anyone. No, one stopped.. even once to glance at her painting. Day after day…her hope would turn to despair as people just passed by never noticing the paintings.
As days passed, the girl grew miserable…it became obvious to her that she was bad. She did not hate painting but she resented that she would never get to know what others thought!
One fine day, out of despair she broke her beautiful brush and cried her heart out sitting under the rose bush.
When she woke up, she could see stars shining down on her…and she got up to get herself to bed. As she moved towards the corridor she heard hushed voices and just out of curiosity she peeped into the corridor and what she saw made her eyes pop out!
She saw people gazing at her paintings…exclaiming…praising and sometimes shaking their head as if displeased.
Of course they didn’t ignore her paintings! She ran back to the place where she had thrown her brush…Miraculously the brush had mended itself. As the girl walked back smiling with her brush held to her bosom, the rose bush angel smiled..
Moral of the story: Please drop a comment in my blog now and then
Hmmm… Well said..
.. You aren’t responding to online messages nor your orkut scrap book tho’… What gives?? Has crossing over to the other side done something to you ??
..
While I was in the middle of reading this, I was thinking whether to leave a comment that “lack of receiving comments coupled with serious recognition crisis has lead to this story”. It turned out to be the same, and I lost an opportunity to irritate you!
- V
Somehow writing this story made me laugh…at my own desperate attempts to get some comments on my blog:D
I enjoyed writing it….dont you agree with my sentiments on comments?
I could not come online…will respond to your comments pronto:)
You know one of the things about your posts is they are usually very Honest(why do I feel that I have already told you this….)(and No you are not allowed to ask which one’s are not…..)it’s a quality very few people have and it’s nice to see a new year begin with such a nice and honest post…..oh btw…. Happy New Year…may the Gods of health,wealth smile and good writing be with you this year and years beyond…….
Iam a passer by. Have read quiet a few of ur blogs but did not comment on any. But had to comment on this one.
The girl shd have painted just for her self. not for the acceptance or appreciation or even criticisms of passers by. To me writing is to draft your thoughts so tat u can revisit those at a later time.
If we think this way we wont have to break any brushes
Yes, we deserve to get some comments…does not matter whether they are good ones or bad ones…
One of your anonymous commentors feels that we should write only for ourselves. I beg to disagree, if that was the case, everyone would have had a private blog!
- V
oh! i totally agree with the above person’s comment! very well said.
Happy new year and wish you a very happy married life.
Sorry, could not make it for the reception.
cheers,
Anish
Maybe the gal was a Howard Roark who suddenly suffered from peter keating syndrome !!
Maybe others who saw the painting were too awe-struck by it’s brilliance that they became tongue tied !!
But there’s one thing i have observed through Blog o sphere – the blogs which get more comments generally write what people wish to read !! But every artist does need the occasional pat on the back !!
Thanks..I am aglow with happiness..Happy New Year to you as well.Lets hope that this new year we have more people dropping comments in our blogs:)
Dear passer-by,
I agree with you…but its easier said than done.
The girl painted what she saw in her mind’s eye for her own pleasure…but arent we all seeking other kindred spirits who see,feel and think the way we do?She was searching for someone who had seen a rose’s heart..and agreed or disagreed with her interpretation.
Similarly,I write becoz I love to..But then writing is in a way.. having communication ..an exchange of ideas..a form of story-telling.I am randomly throwing ideas into the universe..and i would like to know whether there is someone out there who feels the same about things or discuss ideas with someone who disagrees with me.
Anyways,glad that you visit my blog.I love to have conversations ..isnt it the biggest thing about being alive?Thats probably why,I hanker about comments…
thanks da…
hmmm..
Well I am flattered that my story’s character is being compared to Howard Roark!!
But frankly,I wouldnt want to live like Howard.i am a person who rates warmth and affection very higly and perfection is not something which rates high in my scheme of things.I would prefer an imperefect..less talented but happy human being!well,you see this Howard thingie is something I have ay discussed a million times…
Coming back to the “comments” discussion..thats what irks me…a blog entry like “my day sucked!” gets a 100 comments and my poor stories dont even manage 5 comments… when that happens your pride takes a beating na?;)
Another thing..what do you mean by “things people wanna read about?”..whats so un-readable about the topics I pick?
Hmm .. Good that the howard roark analogy flattered u
.. Aneeways Howard was just Ayn Rand’s concept of a perfect man and i guess it will always remain a concept !! Just wondering after reading ur comment – was howard roark unhappy ??
U’r stories a bit too intricate ..It’s not of the ordinary types which are the read-laugh-comment type.. But do continue writing – they are good !!
And the part abt writing what people prefer to read – that’s fairly simple .. Have seen lots of blogs which start of well and as time wears on – just to keep readers interested they start writing “fillers” !! And soon the “fillers” become the staple course and ends up in misery for the reader !!
Yeh the passer by again. Iam Deva.
Ok Agreed to ur response. U want to know if others feel the same way as you do. But if no one feels as you do what do u do about it.
1. Hate the world which doesnt share your thoughts
2. Change your ideas to suit that of others
May be end of day feel bad abt it all. And stop writing or pouring thoughts in.
If we ignore other’s thoughts and think just from our perspective we would never feel unhappy as long as we are clear in our minds.
thank you!comments do great things to the writer-ego in me:)
Hi Deva,
I don’t resort to extreme reactions…
1.I love the world too much to hate it for not paying me enough attention.I have a very good self-esteem quotient(ask my frens…they say I need a dose of humility!)
2.I have too much self respect to change just to conform…and I am the kind who gets a kick out of being different and feel no need to “belong”..
huh,and that silly story is taking me into a vicious cycle of explanations..
let me put it this way…writing is a need..cant live without it.more comments will only make me feel better!
dont agree with Ayn Rand’s perfect man!I dont think he ever had a belly laugh or licked his finger tips after a good meal!not enough to be creative and idealistic…one needs to have warmth and a sense of humor as well…what say?
The heroine is total weirdo…but the industrialist gets my sympathy vote. ONe of my fren loved that book..so got a kick out of abusing the characters.Anyways you seem to love that book as well,so will refrain.
Do you read a lot of books?Which one is your fav?Maybe we can discuss
And thanks for the implied compliment.Will resist the temptation of resorting to the use of fillers:)
Was there an implied compliment too ??
.. Aneeways it was a nice book – one of those books which are refreshingly original and whose charecters remain etched in ur memory all life !! And i dont think there any sympathy votes in life !! The heroine was a total weirdo – agreed .. Warmth and sense of humour – hmm .. U cant ‘xpect everything in a person can u ??
Btw, we have interacted b4 – i (still)work in ur company .. I am karthik – i work in Hp chennai. And new books – did u read – “Inheritance of Loss” .. I am still figuring out how they gave a booker prize to it !!
Hi Karthik!
How are you? well,the implied compliment was about my blog not getting enough comments as I dont resort to fillers!anyways,I believe that being happy is about percieving compliments where none exist!
I havent read Inheritance of loss…I am reading “breaking tongue”..and some essays of R.K.Narayan and some hilarious sci-fi nvels thrown in druring tea time.
Which is ur best read so far?
Hmm .. R.K.Narayan – the Mysore connection eh ?? …
I tried to buy his autobiography, but on seeing the price, decided to wait for the cheaper pirated editions..
Best Read – hmm .. that’s a toughie – i loved FountainHead and Atlas Shrugged was good too.. Then there were other books which i still remember – ‘To Kill a mocking Bird’ was awesome, even boring books like ‘The life of Pi’ and ‘Alchemist’ were good in patches !! But if there’s one book which i love and keep on reading again, it’s gotta be ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanence’ – simply love the way the narrative flows, the way he connects so many discrete elements !!
Hmm .. so What’s yours ??
I pity u attention seeker…
May life show you how to enjoy with Barefoot on grass rather than walk with High heels and try to get attention….
Sorry for the first line ..
The wise thing is to know that the kind of fun in walking in high heels is different from the joy of walking barefoot in grass…
And before you blame me…ask your heart whether you are not an attention seeker yourself…as they say..people who live in glass houses do not throw stones at others..(or change clothes only in the middle of the night)
And if this comment was written by Dhruv…I am going to kick the hell out of you(in my high heels)!
Hmmm…
My best read would surely be H2G2.I love all classics.i simply loooooooooooooove “pride and prejudice” and i love “Far from the madding crowd” as well.I feel a slow soft ache in my heart every time I read it.
I dont find Alchemist boring at all…infact every time I need my faith reaffirmed i read it.
Sometimes I wish I could live a million years just to read all the books I want to..but then,one should want and not have it granted….if not the zest of being alive is gone..rite?