LIVING

 

                LIVING           

                        What follows is a ten-line anonymous poem titled ‘Living”. Its purpose is to give useful hints to the readers about spending their life time joyfully in this world.

            We shall have a look at each line separately and try to learn from it whatever we can about the art of living.

1.To touch the cup with eager lips and taste, and drain.

The cup here means the cup of life. Let us hold it eagerly and decently and drink its contents gradually. There should be no haste, no hurry.

2. To woo and tempt and court a bliss---and not attain it’

      Try to win over a sort of life’s bliss but not succeed in attaining it as much as you try.

3. To fondle and caress a joy, yet hold it lightly.

       Do long and embrace a joy of life but not hold it tightly. Do it gently.

4.  Lest it become necessity and cling too tightly.

      We should not make any joy an addiction, a habit, or a necessity.

5. To watch the sun set in the west without regretting.

     We should not feel sad when the sun which rises in the east in the morning sets in the west in the evening.

6. To hail its advent in the east-the night forgetting.  

      We should welcome the arrival of the  sun in the in the morning but should not forget that it will disappear at night.

7. To smother care in happiness and grief in laughter.

       We should keep a touch of care or worry in happiness and grief in laughter.

8. To hold the present close ---not questioning hereafter.

       It is fine to focus ourselves closely on the present time but should not forget that it will be over and the future will follow.

9. To have enough to share ---to know the joy of giving.

     We must not spend all our assets immediately; on the other hand making savings and share them with other needy people because there is a joy of giving.

10. To thrill with all the sweets of life ---is living.

In this final line the anonymous poet gives his central message and that is sharing our sweet joys of life with other people.  

                                                *****

G.R.Kanwal

2^nd February 2026                                                

PUNCTUALITY

 

          PUNCTUALITY

            Punctuality is timeliness. It may also be called promptness. It is doing things at pre-arranged, pre-fixed, pre-appointed time. It is a virtue. To be unprompt and late is a vice.

            Unpunctuality has many disadvantages.The saying better late than never is not admirable. Untimeliness,  even by the fraction of a second , can be dangerous.

            Here are some famous quotes on punctuality.

1.     I could never think well of a man’s intellectual or moral character , if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.

2.     Habitual late comers are unreliable.

3.     Want of punctuality is a want of virtue.

4.     The English divine Richard Cecil (1748=1777) said: Appointments once made, become debts. If I have made an appointment with you, I owe you punctuality; I have no right to throw away your time, if I do my own.

5.     According to the English essayist J. F. Boyes (1811-79) Strict punctuality is, perhaps, the cheapest virtue which can give force to an otherwise utterly insignificant character.

6.     The English novelist Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) believed : Punctuality is the stern virtue of men of business, and the graceful courtesy of princes.

7.     An interesting quote on punctuality is by the French Gastronomer Brilliant-Savarin (1755-1826) . He says: The most indispensable qualification of a cook is punctuality. The same may be said of guests.

8.     Arriving late is a way of saying that your own time is more valuable than the time of the person who is waiting.

9.     Punctuality is the soul of business.

10.                        The while we keep a man waiting, he reflects on our shortcomings.---French Proverb.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

1^st February 2026