"He was by divine choice only a poet and often unhappy but with him one had the feeling that he was catching every minute as it flew and turning it upside down to expose its happy side."

Lawrence Durrell "Alexandria Quartet. Justine"

Karela is a bitter vegetable widely used in cuisines across Asia. The taste is bitter. Very bitter. It is eaten raw, stuffed with green mango or few other things, fried with spices, pickled, boiled. 

An unexpected perk to the brave who bites into it is the sweet, crunchy, very refreshing aftertaste. It leaves one wishing for more. It keeps me going to the Indian store on the delivery days to buy the freshest one possible. I developed my own way of choosing the ones I want from the box of many, different in size, ripeness and the color. After choosing a few, I then begin to look for my favourite one, the karela that is ripe and soft. The one with yellowish undertones in its greenness. I open this one at home right away or save for a student to see. 

Life is karela. Bitter, very bitter. It is lived raw, stuffed with green mango or few other things, fried with spices, pickled, boiled.  It takes just a few bites into the bitter flesh to learn about the refreshing, clean, sweet aftertaste. To recognize the sweetness in the bitter even before biting into it. To make the biting all the more wanted, experienced to the fullest, sweet and happy.

The opened one, with crimson red seeds inside is like a boat. A boat that sails amidst the gentle or fierce waves of life. Look at it, feel it, draw it, write a poem about it. Live it one moment at a time.

"The meaning of life is to love others as we love ourselves and to serve others"

Amma  (Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, Hindu spiritual leader)

If you never experience both happiness and sorrow,

You will never know the difference between the two.

                                                              Tibetan Proverb