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Book Review: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

December 21, 2025article, literary corner, literature, Uncategorizedbook review, books, franz kafka, gregor samsa, grotesque, horror, insect, kafka, kamlesh tripathi, literature, salesman, shravan charity mission, the metamorphosisshravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is a haunting and deeply symbolic novella that delves into themes of alienation, identity, and the often cruel nature of human relationships. Originally published in 1915, the story continues to resonate today for its psychological depth, bleak humour, and powerful portrayal of the human condition.

The plot is deceptively simple: Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman, wakes up one morning to discover he has transformed into a giant insect. Kafka famously avoids explaining how or why this transformation occurs, which adds to the surreal, dreamlike tone of the work. From the outset, Gregor’s concern isn’t the loss of his human form, but the fact that he will miss work and disappoint his employer. This absurd reaction sets the tone for a story where logic, emotion, and humanity become increasingly unrecognisable.

One of the most striking aspects of The Metamorphosis is its portrayal of alienation. Gregor is alienated not just from his job and society, but eventually from his own family. At first, his transformation provokes horror but also some sympathy from his parents and sister. However, this compassion quickly fades as the family begins to view him as a burden. His sister, Grete, initially takes care of him, but over time grows resentful and distant. Kafka paints this emotional withdrawal with subtlety and cruelty — illustrating how those closest to us can become indifferent when we no longer serve a functional role in their lives.

Kafka’s writing is stark, deliberate, and unflinching. He doesn’t embellish Gregor’s insect form with fantasy or whimsy; instead, he forces the reader to dwell in the grotesque physicality of it — the twitching legs, the difficulty of movement, the slow loss of speech. The horror is not just that Gregor has changed, but that his family no longer sees him as human. This loss of identity becomes the true tragedy of the story. Gregor remains mentally human throughout, but no one can hear or understand him. In many ways, The Metamorphosis becomes a metaphor for how people who suffer — physically, mentally, or socially — are often dehumanised and discarded.

Another powerful theme is the burden of societal and familial expectations. Before his transformation, Gregor was the sole provider for his family, working a job he despised to pay off his parents’ debts. His sense of worth is entirely tied to his ability to work. Once he becomes unable to perform that role, he is treated as useless. Kafka critiques a society that values individuals only for their productivity. This message is especially relevant in modern capitalist systems, where personal value is often linked to one’s job or economic output.

The story’s ending is as bleak as it is inevitable. Gregor dies alone and unloved, and the family expresses relief. They immediately begin to plan a better future for themselves, free from the burden he represented. It is a chilling conclusion that forces readers to question how empathy and love can so easily be replaced by convenience and self-interest.

While The Metamorphosis is undeniably dark, it is also a masterwork of literary precision and philosophical inquiry. Kafka’s ability to compress such complex emotional and existential questions into a short novella is extraordinary. His vision is as surreal as it is realistic — a mirror held up to the quiet horrors of everyday life and the fragile threads that connect us to one another.

In conclusion, The Metamorphosis is an unforgettable exploration of transformation, not just in the physical sense, but in how people change — or reveal themselves — in the face of discomfort, responsibility, and fear. Kafka’s story is disturbing, moving, and profoundly human, making it a timeless piece of literature that continues to provoke thought and discussion.

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Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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What is life without mirth and laughter by Kamlesh Tripathi

December 18, 2025article, Uncategorizedantonio, bhagavad gita, gratiano, kamlesh tripathi, mahabharata, natraj, portio, Shiva, shravan charity mission, shylock, spiritual, the merchant of venice, william shakespeareshravancharitymission

Published on 18/12/25 in The Goan Everyday newspaper.

Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life-threatening diseases, especially cancer. Our posts are designed for our readers, including children and adults, and feature a diverse range of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate to the cause of cancer? The bank details are given below:

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THE STORY OF SYAMANTAKA JEWEL

December 13, 2025short story, Uncategorizedhistory, india, jambavan, jambavati, kamlesh tripathi, krishna, lion, prasena, Satrajit, satyabhama, science, shravan charity mission, Srimad Bhagwatam, sun god surya, syamantaka jewel, tourism, ugrasenashravancharitymission

(A Story from Srimad Bhagavata Purana)

Satrajit, a Yadava king, was a great devotee of the Sun-God Surya. He had ten wives and three daughters named Satyabhama, Bratini and Prasvapini. Sun-God Surya, greatly pleased, offered him the dazzling Syamantaka jewel as a present, which had the power of conferring great wealth upon its owner. When Satrajit wore the jewel, its brilliance was such that he was mistaken for the sun god himself.

During a meeting, Krishna asked Satrajit to let King Ugrasena have the jewel, so that it could be used for the good of all. Proud of his possession, Satrajit refused to part with the Syamantaka.Top of Form

One day, Satrajit’s brother, Prasena, borrowed the jewel from Satrajit and went into a forest to hunt. There, a lion killed him, took the jewel, and went inside a cave. The cave was of Jambavan, the immortal king of the bears. Jambavan killed the lion and took the jewel, and offered it to his son as a toy. When Satrajit did not hear from his brother, he suspected that his brother must have been killed for the jewel, and suspected Krishna of committing the deed. The rumour spread, and Krishna set out to recover the jewel himself in vindication.

Learning that Prasena had been slain by a lion, which had in turn been killed by a bear on the side of a mountain, Krishna entered the bear’s den. He discovered that the jewel was being used as a toy by a child. Hearing the child’s nurse scream at the sight of the intruder, an enraged Jambavan attacked Krishna. They fought for 28 days and nights before Jambavan finally realised that Krishna was Rama’s reincarnation. Awestruck, Jambavan glorified Krishna and offered the Syamantaka, as well as his daughter, Jambavati, in marriage to the deity. Krishna accepted both of them and provided moksha to the bear king. He then summoned Satrajit to a royal assembly and narrated the tale of the recovery of the Syamantaka. He restored the jewel into the hands of the Yadav king Satrajit. Deeply ashamed of his accusation, Satrajit decided to offer Krishna the hand of his daughter, Satyabhama, regarded as a ‘jewel among women’, as well as the Syamantaka. Krishna married Satyabhama, but declined to receive the jewel, regarding it to be the property of Satrajit, as its donor had been Surya.

Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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Poem: When the Summer is Through by Kamlesh Tripathi

December 7, 2025Uncategorizedbhutan, kamlesh tripathi, poem, poetry, shravan charity mission, summershravancharitymission

Published in The Shillong Times on 7/12/25

Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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IS AMBITION A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF GREATNESS? … by Kamlesh Tripathi

November 29, 2025article, literature, Uncategorizedambition, Durga, duryodhana, hastinapur, julius caesar, kamlesh tripathi, karna, kurukshetra, lanka, macbeth, mahabharat, mark antony, ravana, roman republic, rome, shravan charity mission, william shakespeareshravancharitymission

To quote Mark Antony in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, “ Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;/I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him./The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones;/So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus/Hath told you Caesar was ambitious./If it were so, it was a grievous fault,/And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it”.

Ambition is highly incendiary. It can illuminate the path to greatness or burn everything in its heat. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Caesar’s ambition is both political and personal. He is neither a clear villain nor an innocent victim. His rise to power threatens to jeopardise the balance of the Roman Republic. To Brutus and the conspirators, Caesar’s growing influence signals a danger to Rome’s liberty and its soul. They believe that if Caesar’s ambition is left unchecked, it would transform a free republic into a monarchy. But as per Shakespeare, Caesar’s ambition is as much perceived as proven. He refuses the crown three times. He speaks for the people and wins their loyalty. His “fault,” perhaps, lies not in the naked greed for power but in his pride. “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more,” says Brutus. Ambition must be punished before it turns into tyranny. But Shakespeare refuses to make the judgment easy. Caesar’s ambition is not that of a usurper. He is neither the villain nor the saint of the play.

In Indian mythology, we find numerous characters whose fates mirror that of Caesar’s. Ravana, the mighty king of Lanka, was a scholar, warrior, and devotee of Lord Shiva. Yet his depraved ambition to be invincible and possess Sita led him to his downfall. As a result, his strength turned to self-destruction. Finally, it wasn’t Rama’s arrows alone that destroyed him, but his own unchecked ambition. The same holds for Duryodhana in the Mahabharata. His craving to rule Hastinapura mirrors Caesar’s political hunger. He could not bear to see the Pandavas prosper. His refusal to grant even “five villages” led to the catastrophic Kurukshetra war. Like Caesar, Duryodhana believed power to be his birthright.

Karna’s story offers a fine parallel to Caesar’s personal ambition. Born into secrecy and raised in obscurity, Karna’s entire life is driven by a longing for recognition and respect. His ambition is noble. He wishes to prove his worth against Arjuna and rise above the stigma of his birth. Similarly, Caesar’s early life is marked by political struggle and a fierce determination to climb the ranks of Roman power. Yet both men get entangled in loyalties that blur moral boundaries. Karna’s devotion to Duryodhana, like Caesar’s trust in Antony and others, leads him to defend causes that conflict with dharma. Ambition without a noble cause, Shakespeare and Vyasa both suggest, can make even noble men pawns in larger tragedies.

Hiranyakashipu’s ambition to rule the three worlds and attain immortality resembles Caesar’s own belief that he was beyond human intervention, as he proudly declares himself “as constant as the Northern Star.” Caesar’s rise disrupts the harmony of the Roman Republic. Their arrogance invites downfall—one at the hands of Narasimha, the other at the daggers of Brutus & co.

Similarly, Mahishasura, who sought supremacy over the gods, embodies unrestrained ambition that disturbs the cosmic balance. He, too, is destroyed by the divine feminine force, Goddess Durga. In every tale, ambition that crosses moral or spiritual boundaries brings destruction, not only to the ambitious themselves but to the world around them. Narasimha’s claws and the daggers of Brutus are but instruments of the same law: that unchecked ambition invites its own end.

Mythology offers a counterpoint in the case of King Mahabali. Mahabali desired to rule heaven, earth, and the underworld. But when faced with Lord Vishnu in his Vamana avatar, he chose humility over defiance, surrendering his kingdom and ego. Unlike Ravana or Duryodhana, Mahabali’s humility redeemed him, earning divine grace and immortality in memory. Here lies a profound contrast with Caesar: where Mahabali bows, Caesar refuses to yield. Shakespeare’s Caesar, standing tall against the soothsayer’s warning, “Beware the Ides of March”, becomes the very image of a man too proud to listen, too ambitious to step back.

Ambition, then, is the fire that can both create and consume. It is political when it seeks power, personal when it seeks recognition, and tragic when it forgets restraint. From Caesar to Ravana, from Duryodhana to Macbeth, the pattern endures; the greater the climb, the greater the fall. As Shakespeare and the epics remind us, ambition is not inherently evil. It becomes dangerous when it blinds the heart and mind. To be ambitious is human. To be over-ambitious is to challenge the divine. The lesson of Caesar and his mythological counterparts is eternal. Ambition must be guided by wisdom, or it becomes a double-edged sword. One that wins glory in one stroke and brings ruin in the next.

From Caesar’s Rome to Ravana’s Lanka, from Duryodhana’s Hastinapura to Macbeth’s Scotland, the story remains unchanged. Ambition is both the sculptor and the destroyer of greatness. Ambition is divine when guided by purpose, but deadly when driven by ego. It can build empires, yet when it loses sight of humility, it consumes all that it touches.

So, is being ambitious a double-edged sword? Indeed, it is. One edge gleams with glory. The other drips with ruin, the cost of believing oneself to be larger than the truth. Caesar’s blood on the steps of the Senate, Ravana’s fall in battle, Duryodhana’s broken crown, and Karna’s dying smile, all remind us that the line between greatness and downfall is as thin as a sword’s edge.

Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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POEM: I WANT MORE

November 27, 2025Uncategorized, POETRY, poemkamlesh tripathi, food, shravan charity mission, more, pauper, dogs, prayer, military, footfalls, malls, poem i want more, aspire, brands, counters, dishes, relationshipsshravancharitymission

POEM: I WANT MORE

by Kamlesh Tripathi

“A man is never satisfied with what he has. He always wants more. But what is the limit of that more?”
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I have enough,

Yet, I want more,

Since enough doesn’t prescribe a limit,

I wish to have more.

Enough and more are not two of a kind,

Yet they work in tandem,

They are mutually exclusive,

Where more aspire’s to fulfil your greedy aspirations.

Enough doesn’t remain adequate,

More doesn’t become surplus,

Because greed expands,

And together they consume mankind.

The baskets and trolleys in the malls,

The stock-keeping units and the brands,

The war cry of enough and more,

The floors and the expanse of the malls,

The queues and the billing counters,

They all expand with the burgeoning footfalls.

One enters the supermarket as if a pauper,

And comes out like a king,

After consuming a range of food dishes,

And buying a range of things.

Between enough and more,

There is a bridge of uncertainty,

That convinces the human mind,

To keep stocking till eternity.

There is no limit to wanting more,

But the idea of life is to enjoy…

…the grace of satisfaction,

Which comes when you feel you have enough,

And you don’t want more.

The gap between enough and more,

Is a thin line called satisfaction?

So, let satisfaction be the motto of your life,

And do away with the idea of I want more.

“There is no limit to your wanting more. Come out of that mindset to enjoy a life filled with satisfaction”

Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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Storyteller Soothsayer: Margaret Atwood

November 25, 2025article, book corner, book stall, book talk, literary corner, Uncategorizedamerica, book review, book-reviews, books, canada, fiction, kamlesh tripathi, margaret atwood, ottawa, shravan charity mission, the handmaid's taleshravancharitymission

STORYTELLER SOOTHSAYER: MARGARET ATWOOD
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published in Economic Times 16/11/25
Storyteller Soothsayer
The New York Times
    Margaret Atwood doesn’t like being called a prophet.
    “Calm down, folks,” was her response when asked why her fiction often seems eerily predictive. “If I could really do this, I would have cornered the stock market a long time ago.”     Still, she concedes she’s been right on occasion.
    When she published The Handmaid’s Tale in 1985, some critics were sceptical of Atwood’s vision of an authoritarian America, where the government controls women’s reproduction and persecutes dissidents.
    Since then, events in the novel have come to pass. Abortion has been outlawed in parts of America. The rule of law feels increasingly fragile. Censorship is rampant — Atwood, 85, herself is a frequent target.
    In a career that spans nearly six decades, she’s published more than 50 books, including poetry, short stories, non-fiction, speculative fiction, psychological thrillers, children’s books, graphic novels and historical fiction. Memoir was one of the few literary forms Atwood hadn’t already tried, but that too changed with Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts.
    Her book has been adapted into ballet, opera, film and television, including an award-winning television series based on The Handmaid’s Tale. She’s won the Booker Prize twice and has sold more than 40 million copies of her books worldwide, which have been translated into 50 languages. She’s a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize.
    TELL-ALL OF SORTS
    For years, Atwood maintained that she had no interest in writing a memoir; she thought it would be tedious. When asked what changed: “Two words: People died,” she said. “There are things you can say that you wouldn’t say when they were alive.”
    In the memoir, Atwood lays into childhood bullies who tormented her, blasts male critics and reveals how the Canadian literary scene was, at times, a hotbed of vicious gossip, jealousy and backstabbing, particularly among poets.
    Atwood admits that, once crossed, she holds onto resentments and that she has occasionally taken revenge in her fiction. “It’s not an admirable trait, but why deny it?”
    MAKING OF AN AUTHOR
    Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1939. Nicknamed Peggy, she grew up spending time in the wilderness in northern Quebec, where her father, an entomologist, studied insects that caused forest infestations. Books were one of the few forms of entertainment. In first grade, she started writing poetry and fiction; one early story was about a heroic ant named Annie.
    An awkward child who had a caterpillar for a pet, Atwood sometimes struggled to fit in. At age nine, she was tormented by a group of girls who left her out in the snow and buried her in a hole. She drew on the experience in her novel Cat’s Eye.
    Atwood got her start as a poet. She self-published her first book of poems, Double Persephone, in 1961, and sold copies for 50 cents. A few years later, she started to gain recognition when another poetry collection, The Circle Game, won a prestigious award.
    Her provocative debut novel, The Edible Woman, a satire about a young woman who develops a strange relationship with food and struggles to eat, made waves in 1969.
    The novel generated debate — female critics saw it as groundbreaking, men generally found it unsettling, she writes — but was far from an overnight success. Her first book signing was held in the sick and underwear section of a department store in Edmonton, Alberta, where she sold two copies.
    Atwood’s international breakthrough came with the release of The Handmaid’s Tale. In 2019, Atwood published a sequel to it, titled The Testaments, which she’d been mulling over for decades. While she was promoting the book, her long-time partner, novelist Graeme Gibson, died after a cerebral haemorrhage, following a years-long decline into dementia.
    Atwood went on with her tour, in a daze. Later, she wrote about the disorienting experience of living without him in her story collection, Old Babes in the Woods.
    She cried while writing the stories, but also found it comforting to imagine Gibson’s amused reaction.
Sometimes, she can’t shake the certainty that “Graeme is in the next room”, she said. The Testaments was a risky gambit. But it became a bestseller and won Atwood a second Booker Prize. It’s also being adapted into a TV series.
PLAYFUL, GOOFY, OMINOUS
Throughout her career, Atwood has resisted categorisation. She’s often bucked being labelled a feminist, noting that “there are 75 different kinds of feminists”. She’s bristled at her futuristic stories being classified as science fiction and prefers the term speculative fiction.
Stephen King said he was struck by Atwood’s ability to infuse her futuristic visions with gleefully weird details. “Science fiction has never been so goofy and so ominous at the same time,” he said by email.
Atwood’s contrarian streak colours her worldview. She’s fascinated by science and technology — she reads pop science magazines for fun– but she also has a charming affinity for astrology and the occult, having learnt tarot and palm reading.
In her memoir, she describes how a home she and Gibson once lived in was haunted by a spectral woman in a blue dress who could wander into her tiny writing room. She attributes her habit of holding grudges to being a Scorpio — specifically a Scorpio with Gemini rising, Jupiter in the 11th house and the Moon in Aquarius.
As for her own outlook, Atwood remains surprisingly upbeat — a trait she attributes to the resourcefulness she developed growing up in the wilderness. “I’m an optimistic person,” she said. “‘I’m doomed’ is very far down the line. I wouldn’t say ‘I’m doomed’ unless you’re about to be eaten by a bear.”

Posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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POEM: THERE IS NOTHING RIGHT, SAYS GEN-Z by Kamlesh Tripathi

November 24, 2025poem, POETRY, Uncategorizedkamlesh tripathi, nepal, shravan charity mission, there is nothing right says gen z, vote bankshravancharitymission

Happy to share my poem, published in Bandra Times’ October 25 edition.

Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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CELEBRATING THE JOY AND RIGHTS OF CHILDREN by Kamlesh Tripathi

November 24, 2025article, Uncategorizedçelebrating the joy and rights of children, chacha nehru, children's day, kamlesh tripathi, pied piper, rabindranath tagore, shravan charity mission, united nations, vm kulkarnishravancharitymission

Happy to share my piece on Children’s Day, published in the October 25 edition of Bandra Times.

Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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INTERESTING QUOTES

November 20, 2025quotes and lines, Uncategorizedbrecht, fredric jameson, greek, gyalwang drupka, heart, indian proverb, john milton, kamlesh tripathi, life, love, quotes, rene descartes, ruskin bond, sa bobde, shravan charity mission, sri aurobindo, thich nhat hanh, THOMAS MACAULAY, zenshravancharitymission

Appreciate and rejoice without any expectations. It doesn’t matter if people are nasty to you … betray you … don’t even say ‘thank you’ to you. By appreciating everything around you, from happy experiences to upsetting experiences, your life could be so meaningful, full of understanding, happiness, joy, strength and full of fearlessness … GYALWANG DRUPKA
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The worst speculative sceptic I ever knew was a much better Man than the best superstitious Devotee and Bigot … Scottish enlightenment philosopher … David Hume
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History is what hurts … FREDRIC JAMESON
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A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself can make heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n … John Milton, Paradise Lost
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War is the continuation of business by other means, Brecht famously said, in his play, Mother Courage and Her Children. He wrote it in direct response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939
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Grand vision of justice, without adequate means of securing it and efficient means of delivering it would benefit none … SA BOBDE
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Unless you doubt, your ‘wisdom’ itself is in doubt is a Greek adage
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Authority is not truth; truth is the only authority
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Ram’s example reminds us that being human is super
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So paraphrasing Rene Descartes’ famous dictum… Cognito, Ergo, Sum- I think, therefore, I am, you doubt, therefore, you are.
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Spiritually, there’s nothing big or small. Such ideas are like those of the literary people who think writing a poem is a high work and making shoes … is a small … low one … all are equal in the eyes of the Spirit … it is the spirit with which they are done that matters …SRI AUROBINDO
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Shakespeare’s lines in As You Like It: ” Do you not know I am a woman. When I think I must speak.”
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Only a fruit-laden tree has rocks thrown at it… Indian proverb
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Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men … Joseph Conrad
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If you lose, you learn and, therefore, you win.
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If we all look into our own homes, how difficult we find it sometimes to smile at each other … Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love, and once we begin to love each other naturally, we want to do something … MOTHER TERESA
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Even if the vilest sinner worships me with exclusive devotion … Speedily he becomes virtuous and attains peace … Fix your mind on me, be devoted to me, worship me and make obeisance to me; thus linking yourself to me and entirely depending on me, you shall come to me … THE BHAGWAT GITA
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When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object … Novelist Milan Kundera
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It is often said in English that hunches seldom let you down. What emanates from the recesses of the heart doesn’t go in vain.
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Hakim Sanai writes in one of his couplets in Pahlavi, ‘Zee an az Mee manzil zaaq-e-zehan/Shee’ and mansookh aawaaz-e-dil sehan’ … So long as I listened to my mind, I failed to reach my destination/ The moment I listened to the voice of my heart, the destination was before me.
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Mind misleads, heart heals … An old adage
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The symphony of the heart doesn’t have a single flawed note. It’s divinely prophetic
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Who would deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole literature of India and Arabia. … Thomas Macaulay
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There is a flower I meet on my walk … these days. It has sprung out of a … mug in Mrs D’s little balcony and is always nodding and dancing in the breeze. It is a happy flower, deserving of a happy, light name. I have named it Merry Heart, and sealed our friendship … RUSKIN BOND
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The opposite of forgetfulness is mindfulness. Mindfulness is when you’re truly there, mind and body together… When your mind is there with your body, you are established in the present moment. Then you can recognise the many conditions of happiness that are in you and around you, and happiness just comes naturally … THICH NHAT HANH
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Your heart, mind, object – may all these be One. So shall you prosper, all, and live in peace … God harnesses you all to the same yoke; the sacrificial Fire of Spirit tends ye all with one intent … walk ye together … and may your minds all know the Self-Same Truth … RIG VEDA
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“The thing is to be happy,” he said. “No matter what… try that. You can. It gets to be easier and easier. It’s nothing to do with circumstances. You wouldn’t believe how good it is. Accept everything, and then tragedy disappears. Or tragedy lightens … you’re… there, going along easy in the world.” … ALICE MUNRO, DEAR LIFE
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It is often said in policy making that let not the perfect be the enemy of the good.
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Remarking that only a work that “reveals an unknown fragment of human existence” can be called literature, he added, “to be a writer does not mean to preach the truth, it means to discover the truth.”
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A referendum may look smart, but to get into its tight outfit, one has to unhook citizenship of its ribcage and place most of its vital organs in deep freeze … DIPANKAR GUPTA
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Humorist Kin Hubbard says … no one ever forgets where he buried the hatchet.
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I forgive all living beings; may all living beings forgive me. I cherish friendliness towards all and harbour enmity towards none … Renouncing all passions and delusions with a pure heart, I beg your forgiveness if I have not been prudent in my behaviour towards you due to inadvertence… Achara Samhita
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Every twelfth year of the Chinese calendar is considered the year of the tiger, and children born in that year are considered lucky and powerful …29.7.23 SPEAKING TREE SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA
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During my childhood … the … years I spent at school, and again while I was working in Bengal … the time I spent in the jungles held unalloyed happiness for me … My happiness resulted from the fact that all wildlife is happy in its natural surroundings. In nature, there is no sorrow and no repining …JIM CORBETT
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Certainly, old age has a great sense of calm and freedom; when the passions relax their hold, then, as Sophocles says, we are freed from the grasp not of one mad master only, but of many … he who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age. … PLATO, THE REPUBLIC
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Laughter is far more sacred than prayer, because prayer can be done by anyone; it does not require much intelligence. Laughter requires intelligence; it requires presence of mind, a quickness of seeing into things … In deep laughter, the ego disappears … If the ego is there, it will keep you serious. OSHO
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Cows are of various colours, milk is one colour; The wise man looks upon the soul as milk, of bodies as cows of different garba. Knowledge is hidden, as butter is in milk.*
There is more power in rock music, videos, blue jeans…than in the entire Red Army. REGIS DEBRAY
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It was only a smile… It didn’t make anything all right… A leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird’s flight. But I’ll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting … Khaled Hosseini
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The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you understand why … MARK TWAIN
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We build too many walls and not enough bridges … Isaac Newton
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If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all
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Feminism is not about making women stronger. It is about changing the way the world perceives their strength … Geena D Anderson, Australian feminist
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To grow up is one thing, and to grow old is yet another thing. Growing up involves adding life to your years. Growing old involves adding years to your life.
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Citizenship is the chance to make a difference to the place where you belong … CHARLES HANDY
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Men owe something at all times, whether in peace or in war, for the privilege of citizenship an that the burden rested equally on rich and poor … Theodore Roosevelt
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You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today … ABRAHAM LINCOLN
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This city is what it is because our citizens are what they are … PLATO
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Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair… KHALIL GIBRAN
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If God is all you have, you have all you need … Biblical message
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A rose by any other name,’ remarked William Shakespeare in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Would smell as sweet.’
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The timber’s already a boat; the rice is cooked … CHINESE SAYING
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What great ones do, the less will prattle of … Twelfth Night, Shakespeare
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For murder, though it has no tongue, will speak … Hamlet, William Shakespeare
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The harlot’s cheek, beautified with plastering art, … HAMLET
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To be, or not to be: that is the question … Whether ’tis nobler in mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles … HAMLET

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Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

Author, Poet, & Columnist

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Shravan charity mission

Our NGO works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer: We cover our blog with short stories, children's stories, articles, book reviews, vignettes, spiritual, episodes, poetry, analysis, news report, general knowledge, quotes for the benefit of our readers.

Tag Archives: kamlesh tripathi

Book Review: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

What is life without mirth and laughter by Kamlesh Tripathi

THE STORY OF SYAMANTAKA JEWEL

Poem: When the Summer is Through by Kamlesh Tripathi

IS AMBITION A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF GREATNESS? … by Kamlesh Tripathi

POEM: I WANT MORE

Storyteller Soothsayer: Margaret Atwood

POEM: THERE IS NOTHING RIGHT, SAYS GEN-Z by Kamlesh Tripathi

CELEBRATING THE JOY AND RIGHTS OF CHILDREN by Kamlesh Tripathi

INTERESTING QUOTES