Category: The Daily Prompt

Daily Prompt: Play lexicographer

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Play lexicographer: Create a new word and explain its meaning and etymology.

When I saw the prompt for today, I thought it would be a good idea to write about a word from India that has found its way into the English dictionary. Even before this thought would vanish from my mind, the word that I am going to write about flashed in my mind’s eye.

The word is Juggernaut (pronounced as ‘Jug-ger-naut’), the word means a mercilessly destructive and unstoppable force. The word has been derived from the Sanskrit word Jagannath meaning ‘lord of the world.’ The word has its roots in the festive chariot carrying ‘Lord Jagannath’ of Puri, Orissa. It is said that once the chariot starts to roll, bringing it a standstill was difficult, almost impossible and often the people would get crushed under the weight of the chariot either voluntarily (as a sacrifice) or involuntarily (due to some freak accident). Hence the English word has come mean an unstoppable force. The word is quite often used in sports a team continues its winning streak unabated (e.g. The Juggernaut of Team India continues).

Journey

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The Daily Prompt: Free Association

Write down the first words that comes to mind when we say . . .

. . . home.

. . . soil.

. . . rain.

Use those words in the title of your post.

There are so many words that comes to my mind as I think of these three prompts.

Home: Heart, Family, Happiness, Comfort

Soil: Life, Patience, Roots

Rain: Elixir, Joy, Water, Flood

But if I try to associate these three prompts with my life, the word that comes to my mind is, ‘Journey.’ Please continue to read on about my journey.

Like a child eating his favorite candy happily, I was enjoying the pleasant comfort of my home. Years flew like seconds which I could barely acknowledge or recognize. I was jealous of the eagles that were flying, the horses that were running and the fishes that were swimming. But I never made an effort to figure out if I was an eagle or a horse or a fish. Soon enough like a loose soil, I was swept away from home by the winds of change. No goal to pursue and no destination in mind, but yet I continued my journey.

And like a voyager lost in the sea, with every additional step I was more lost than ever. Every time I tried to make a course correction or return, hope triumphed over experience. Years passed and here I was; sometimes stuck on the root of plant or sometime stuck on a rock but always wondering if this is where I wanted to be. But one fine day, there was rain. A rain like nothing this loose soil had seen before. A rain that brought back the loose soil back to where it started from.

It looks like the journey is over. What is most valuable thing that I earned in this journey, is it fortune or fame? Is it love or legacy? It is the ‘experience’ that I gained in pursuit of all these. And in this journey I learned as much about myself as I have learned about this world. A journey with no destination to pursue but which leads to self-awareness is much better than a journey that leads to an intended destination but with no self-awareness.

All human beings are in their own unique life-long journey with no permanent destination. The journey is the only constant thing, all destinations are only temporary.  If I look back at my journey so far and have to assign an adjective to it, what would it be? ‘Interesting’. It was an interesting journey. It is an interesting journey and it will continue to remain so in future as well. The journey continues from another temporary destination.