Life

On Friday morning, John woke up hurriedly and prepared for work. He worked in a busy institution and was expected early at work. His wife worked a distance from where her husband’s office was. As a result of doing things in a hurry, John unknowingly, carried his wife's mobile phone leaving behind his own. After he had gone, his wife Jane noticed the mix-up but it was too late for her to do anything about it. She thought for a while and decided to carry her husband's phone in case he came back for it. On arriving at his place of work John noticed that he had confused his wife's phone for his but decided not to go back for it. He sighed deeply because he knew his wife could access romantic messages sent by his many mistresses. His wife too was disgusted because she had several toy boys. Drama began to unfold when John received an SMS intended for his wife sent by somebody saved as ‘Peter-Taxi’, which read, "Hi sweetie, ope yo monin’ is fine, 4 me am okay just mad! My...

Gwendolyn Brooks wrote a poem for her children. It is a little but lovely book to read called "Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress Toward." What amazes me about this book is what she says at the end ‘Live not for battles won. Live not for the-end-of-the-song, but Live in the along.’ What she tells us, the children of God and universe, is that we have to live for the present. We have to be in the moment. Whatever that happened to you in your past has no power over this present moment, because life is now!! Nonetheless, Dr Martin Luther King said that not everybody can be famous. It is quite unfortunate that most of us live each day trying to please others, trying to be like others. Do not get me wrong. It is good to be ambitious. But fame is a trip. If you read the rest of what Dr. King says, he reckons that everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service. He acknowledges the fact that you do not have to have a degree to serve. You do not have ...

I tag you in this note as my friend. and you are not just friend for friendship sake; but for the little but important part you played in making a better Murugami in the year 2009. I may not know each of you in person but in the way I know you, there is a part of me you influenced. This list has been prepared in no specific order. What is important is that you are a part of who I can call ‘My best friends-2009 and beyond”. Each one of you is unique and provided me with a different aspect about life. I am happy I have a mosaic of what an ordinary person would ever wish for in friends. I may not group you into any category, nor can I classify you in any way. I never cared which tribe you belong to nor did I care so much about your leanings in politics. I appreciated you all, the profession in which you are in not counting much. All I cared for was a friend I could learn from. And I am so happy for the invaluable lessons. We are now inseparably woven together by a common destiny-to be t...

This note best addresses those born prior to 1986!! We survived being born to mothers who took aspirin and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies on a mattress on the floor not baby cribs covered with bright colored leso. To be put to sleep you were carried on the back tied with a leso and not put on rocking baby cribs or wheeled around on baby cycles till one got dizzy and opted to sleep. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets. When we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took climbing walls, trees and posts. As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. The matatus those days were the seven aside type (pick ups) so riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from anywhere; from the river, lake, rainwater that collected in the ndoo; the garden hose, directly from the ...

Every day is always a challenge. There are a lot of expectations each of one of us wants to fulfill. There are a lot of dreams we want to make a reality. Perhaps we do what we do as a result of pressure from other quarters. You want to make more money so that you can be like your friend. You want to be seen with a handsome man or with a beautiful lady just because your best friend managed to pull a surprise! You want to study in some prestigious university not because you believe in the philosophy of that institution but just for the sake of ill advised legacy to your clan. Or perhaps, you have completed your college degree and now you want to push for masters, not because you are objective enough but because you want to scary the neighbors. But when I look at all things we do, I come to realize that this is just the story of life. It is that story of life that makes us who we are. Sometimes we hate not because we want to but because it is human enough to do so. In other words, it is...

One of the most influential piece of literature I have ever read was by one Robert Frost called the Road Less Travelled. It is thoughtprovoking and an eye opener THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Frost intended the poem as a gentle jab at his great f...

The world has so many lessons to teach us. The earth is like a school and our life the classrooms. Sometimes here in this Planet Earth School, the lessons often come dressed up as detours or roadblocks; sometimes as full-blown crises. But the secret to getting ahead is being open to the lessons. We must always find ways of walking life, eager and open to self-improvement and that which is going to best help us evolve. Do not think we have any other mission, because that is really what we are set at-evolving as human beings meaning growing into more of ourselves, always moving to the next level of understanding, the next level of compassion and growth. There is a lesson in almost everything that we do and every experience we go through. We can only move forward if we get the lesson. It is how we enrich the spirit because inner wisdom is more precious than wealth. The more you spend it, the more you gain. It is so certain that when we doing the work we are meant to do, it feels right ...