Author: Ajmal

realizing roots.

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Illustrated by: The Border Of a Mind.

There are many intricacies that often stay in the realm of thoughts that is yearning our awe. Think of the trees with their branches spreading through the air and producing fruits. With the ease of them growing and diverging into the air, their roots also spread and diverge through hard rock and earth beneath. Seeds and grains bear huge trees within them. Thinking casually about them takes into a realm of an unexceptional everyday sight.  At the same time, pondering deeply lifts this curtain of blindness from our eyes and opens the windows of realization that these are indeed spectacular miracles. There’s kind of a solace on realizing that everything, be it a new leaf forming, an old leaf tumbling down the branches, things happening to us beyond our plans are under a divine command. Realizing bounties is key to a state of remembrance, gratitude, and reflection, the key themes that I’ve thought of today. The illustration you see in inspired from an image in my mind around a cottage garden in Ooty, South India.

dormant cobwebs

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A beautiful cobweb style rooftop that I found somewhere near Abudhabi many years back (atleast six!). I’m unable to recollect the exact place, but I remember how the sunset hues diffuse through the roofing. I was returning from a site visit and found this on the way. Nema Al-Araby writes in Remnants and Ashes:

“And the cobwebs of time
would surrender,
dormant, so that the rainbows
of new eras can emerge
Despite the hollowness
of you.”

nurturing dreams.

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illustrated by The Border Of a Mind Studios.

“Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.”

― Lao Tzu

In line with our vision, I’m planning to author a series of illustrations with some of the most inspiring stories and allegories that I’ve come across. Let’s blend wisdom and art. Write me your thoughts.
Some other artworks to explore:

Undream
Build with the mind
 “forsaken steps”  in objet trouvé concept.
Humble Life
Paint with Light
Choosing the Circus
Mind Vessel
Dreaming Beyond
Mirror
Done in Love
Enigmatic
Tranquil
Parallel worlds
Book of beautiful moments
Swayed In
About the storm

reliant traveler of the desert

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A slice of photographic memory from a desert goes well with a story that I read recently.

“Someone who makes a journey through the deserts of Arabia has to travel in the name of a tribal chief and enter under his protection, for in this way he may be saved from the assaults of bandits and secure his needs. On his own, he will perish in the face of innumerable enemies and needs. And so, two men went on such a journey and entered the desert. One of them was modest and humble, the other proud and conceited. The humble man assumed the name of a tribal chief, while the proud man did not. The first traveled safely wherever he went. If he encountered bandits, he said: “I am traveling in the name of such-and-such tribal leader,” and they did not molest him. If he came to some tents, he was treated respectfully due to the name. But the proud man suffered indescribable calamities throughout his journey. He both trembled before everything and begged from everything. He was abased and became an object of scorn.

My proud soul! You are the traveler, and this world is a desert. Your impotence and poverty have no limit, and your enemies and needs are endless. Since it is thus, takes the name of the Pre-Eternal Ruler and Post-Eternal Lord of the desert and be saved from begging before the whole universe and trembling before every event.”
– Excerpt From The First Word, “The Words, The Treatise of Light,” Bediuzzaman.

Amble out.

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“Arise from sleep, old cat,
And with great yawns and stretchings…
Amble out for love”

― Issa, Japanese Haiku

photographed from Istanbul, 2014.

Vicky.

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While looking at some old notes from 2016 that I wrote when I watched this short video in 2016, I can see that I had left a note in a book to write about it sometime in the future. This is done very brilliantly. The theme, visuals, and the overall message is ferried well to the listener and what’s wonderful is that it’s beyond any language or geographical barrier.

For some reason, I remembered the cat that we had around at our home when I was in Kerala. It used to be around all the time. When I used to walk to college, this would come long for a little long. This cat is no more. It passed away in 2010. Life is fragile.

mind magnet

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I have read somewhere that mind is akin to a magnet in a certain sense.  It’s concomitant of the thoughts espoused within. If we put our thoughts about blessings,  the mind tends to attract and discover blessings and their deeper meanings. In the same manner,  channeling thoughts of problems would bewitch and attract problems and restlessness. Nurturing and cultivating good thoughts would help in assuming a positive and optimistic frame of mind. That’s a lifetime of learning. Remember the humble life illustration?

Being calm about everything allows your mind to find solutions. Calmness is also a state of trust. Instead of overthinking and overreacting, you just surrender for that moment and allow yourself to receive guidance for what doesn’t make sense – Idil


I’ve personally felt that the strength of calmness is often derived from a trust in the divine timing of events happening and not harboring or apprehending any internal dissent or distress in the way certain things are in the way they’re supposed to be and in accepting certain aspects on the way they are. I believe that’s a quality that’s to be built up with time and experiences and everyone would have different journeys. God bless.