The first word I remember being fascinated with was 'pretend'. This was around the time that I started writing poems quite seriously. I think my fascination with certain words was the reason I started writing poems. The word would play inside my head. It would start with the pronunciation and then I would start thinking of all the contexts in which it could be applied. Could I use it in a positive word if somehow the inherent connotation of a word was seemingly negative? That subjective quality of words kept me engaged for long hours. I would write multiple poems in which the word appeared; for me these were essentially multiple versions of the word. I distinctly remember my trysts with 'disillusioned' and 'psychedelic'. These were just a few that I have been obsessed with. I think I will probably have to add the word 'fragile' to the list now. I read the word and the image that popped into my head was that of a newborn, with eyes that are barely open, yawning away to let the world know her chagrin at being woken up with the only visible sign of that is the wrinkled forehead and that two fists trying to make their way out of the baby blanket wrapped around her. This was accompanied by the sounds of glass breaking and a delicate flower petal floating around. Then there was the fragility of the invisible yet conspicuous ego. It is indeed a weird mix of images. This is when I began to wonder - are most fragile elements considered equally precious? The baby indeed is. How about the others? Maybe it is because that it is precious that we understand and acknowledge the fragility of it. It seemed like the case of betrayal - it is always a betrayal only when done by someone we didn't think would betray us in the first place. Do we necessarily recognise the fragility of a glass mirror, say, in a shop? Of course, almost everything comes down to perceptions. And therein, I believe, lies the power for each of us to make things count or in some case, fortunately, to not make it count at all. I guess that is why the heart can be equally fragile and strong. It is a wonderful contradiction; one that makes for an interesting life. One that makes you look at that baby to "aww" as well as in awe.
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