New Shoes: Change

Change, often, is like a new shoe.

At first, the need.
To buy or not to buy? To change or not

Then, the considerations.
Is this a better shoe than the one I have? A change for the better?
At what price? How much is too much? How much am I willing to stretch?

And, then finally come the moments of truth when we wear the shoes to walk through new ways. Or perhaps on old roads.
Well, who really focuses on the scenery when one is nagged by a vague, weird feeling of discomfort from a fit which is a wee bit too snug...Or if one is nursing angry blisters.

Until the shoes are broken in or shall we say, we are reconciled to the change, one has to continously resist an overwhelming urge to shake the tightly encased feet, hoping for a little more breathing space down there. But, once you get past the blisters and the snug fit, the newness wears off and comfort levels rise the change is no longer a change, but a well worn comfortable habit.

And, how would you know when change knocks at your doors?
Just as you know when its time to trade in a well worn pair of shoes...

It is time for change when there is an ache in the soul..when the familiar no longer delights us but instead, fills our being with a sense of jaded tiredness and self loathing. Sometimes, every now and then, we come across a thought that grips our hearts and fills us with an undescribable excitement and intense yearning to make it a part of our lives.
When this happens, you know that change is beckoning.

And when change comes calling, we can either stay. Or we can choose to run as fast as we can in our old worn shoes till the threadbare soles completely give away and then, my friend, is when change is gonna catch up & bite us hard on our bumms.

Chocolat

There are no words in the English language to fully convey the experience of having one's senses stirred by a chocolate square. It is an art, a blessing which only the privileged can enjoy.
In chocolat, Robert Jacobs tries to evoke in the viewers a deeper understanding of the sensual pleasures of chocolate to which a supressed town eventually succumbs to. As one watches the various characters in the movie chomp, suck and savour chocolate in its various forms, the viewer without realising smacks his lips in anticipation, only to discover a frustrating emptiness. But movies are movies and no media can completely recapture the sensuality of a chocolate experience.
For a true chocoholic, the sensual experience begins with the selection of chocolate. I maintain that nothing but dark bitter chocolate would do do for a true coinosseur but that does not in anyway make other chocolate experiences any less sensual. It is all a matter of taste. A chocolate is a pleasure beyond description or explanation. But I digress. The selection of chocolate demands imagination for if one were not to imagine the bitter sweet taste of the chocolate melting in the mouth, how would the sensualist know which would gratify his perked up senses?
The selection done, all that is left is to find a place condusive to the indulengce at hand. What more can one want more in life that to sit by a lakeside or stand over a bridge and look down on the rolling waters as you gingerly unwrap the foil and take the first tentative bite of the chocolate. Some people argue that savouring the entire square is how chocolate is meant to be eaten. But I like to make the good things last. And am content with mouse sized bites of my chocolate square, where I can enjoy the sensation of slowly warming, thick chocolate coating the roof and insides of my mouth as it melts. Aaah. The sheer pleasure. Undescribable. As also is the sense of joy which steals over my body as the serotonin transmits messages of happiness and wellbeing to my mind...As if I have been enveloped in a great bear hug by an warm glowing outside force.