liveinmyopinion.

  This painting is something to be studied. At the surface, we see Christina, a woman lying in a vast field, desperately trying to reach the house in the distance — perhaps, her home. But I see something beyond that. I see us. We all have something we desperately want to reach. A person. A dream. A place. A version of ourselves. Something that seems close enough to see, yet somehow remains beyond our reach. Christina’s disability prevents her from simply walking toward the house. But she doesn’t turn around. She keeps trying. And perhaps that’s where the field becomes something more than a field. To me, that enormous stretch of land represents the distance, the obstacles, and the circumstances that separate us from what we desire. We can see what we want. We can know exactly where it is. and still, reaching it may demand everything we have. Maybe Christina is not merely trying to reach home. Maybe she is trying to reach something she refuses to give up on. That’s how I see the pain...

The People We Love Become Our Seasons Have you ever met someone who felt like an autumn evening? Not because of what they said or what they did. Just because of how you felt when they were around. Calm. Gentle. Like you could just sit there without having to pretend to be anything else. Have you ever smelled rain before it actually started? That strange smell in the air, when you know something is about to happen but it hasn't happened yet. I don't know why, but sometimes people remind me of that. People can be so different from each other. Two people can have completely different ways of thinking and still somehow end up standing beside each other, talking about the same things, laughing at the same stupid jokes, looking at the same sky. It's a little like July rain and the noon sun. The awkwardness that the July rain and the noon sun share somehow feels familiar. They don't really seem like they belong together, yet somehow they exist at the same time, und...

You Are Loved I think most of us, at some point, have felt like we aren't loved enough. Not necessarily because nobody loves us. Sometimes it's just because the love we want isn't coming from the person we want it from, or it isn't coming in the way we expected. You can have people around you and still feel alone. You can have friends and still wonder who would actually notice if you disappeared for a while. You can have parents who care about you and still feel like they don't understand you. You can be surrounded by people and somehow still think, Does anyone really love me? And if you keep thinking about it long enough, the feeling starts looking like evidence. You begin believing it. But maybe we're getting something wrong. Maybe you are loved more than you notice. Your friend remembers the food you always order. Your mother waits for you to call. Someone asks whether you reached home. Someone remembers a stupid little thing you said three months...

Maanda Mannan Kaaviyam – The Dead King's Epic Hey guys, this is Jeeva. For the past seven months, I've been thinking a lot about Kaber Vasuki's Maanda Mannan Kaaviyam. Every time I come back to it, I feel like I notice something slightly different. For me, it isn't simply a song about kings, wars and the hunger for a throne. I see it more as a poem about people — about the things we fight against, the people we hate, and the strange possibility that, somewhere along the way, we might slowly start becoming them. That's probably why the poem has stayed with me for so long. There is one question that keeps coming back to me whenever I listen to it: What happens when the person you're fighting against slowly becomes a part of you? The poem starts with a warrior who is completely convinced that he is meant to rule. There is no hesitation in the way he speaks. He has ambition, confidence and, honestly, a little arrogance too. One of my favourite portions i...