The Flying Poker - Mosquito

It was one of those rare moments of attack by the courageous flying swordsman, on the unguarded fleshy bee-hind on ones back that got me thinking of these mosquitoes.

The biology teacher must have taught with phonetics,”mus key toe” to have us all pronounce it right till now.

Of late these flyers seem to have populated the regions of our living to an astonishing number, they seem to be getting more and more adapted to our environment of fan breeze, the most repelling of the chemicals seem to have no effect on them.

The break in the food cycle could be one of the reasons for the sudden spurt, catching us humans to find a way to keep them at bay. Could it be the frogs we have killed for our vivisection classes in biology, the destruction of the snakes we are scared of, or the rats who are the feeds for the snakes?

what ever the reason, the scientists are kept busy with ways to keep them away with fumes of coils, the electric packs and the liquids which come in fancy containers, or the electric tennis racquet that has got the ladies practicing smashes on them.

The recent chickengunya was blamed on the mosquitoes, the village ponds as breeding grounds for the flyers. Many a veterans’ life has been sacrificed for that disease, with no medicines or too many medicines. May we find quick ways to tackle them soon.

The net seems to be the only barrier to keep them away and see them eye to eye if one can match their eye sight, with a challenge, of “u can’t pinch me now”.

A Lovely Night Together!

I remember that cozy night,
That made my world so bright.
In the bed, together we lay,
Lookin’ into each others eyes, happy and gay.
When your lips met mine, we made a beautiful kiss,
It is the kiss… which I will forever miss.
It was the night when our dreams were same,
Together we lay in bed, thinking of our kids’ name.
I still remember your eyes so deep…
Thinking about it now, makes me weep.

I still feel the warmth of your arms,
That in my fears made me calm.
I still remember with my tresses you played,
And the sexy little moves you made…
I still remember when you touched my neck…
Leaving it with a sweet peck.
All this is what I see when I close my eyes,
And when I open it, my heart cries…
I open my eyes, and that lovely night has gone,
With the end of the night, a difficult morning has come…

- Ragini

The workaholic ant

The whole world is teeming with creatures; all have time to snooze and times of rest.

Not so for the ant and his cousins, they always seem to be on the move, never a moment of meditative stillness.

U can always be sure if u see one on the path, they are scavenging a dead decaying matter or stealing away an organic food particle.(unless they have been cheated by the city junk look alike foods).

One morning at the work station, I noticed the marching of a line of ants to a drawer below the table, I blew them away, only to have them find a path back to the drawer.

I decided to investigate and there I found a dead cockroach, discarding it the ant attack dispersed.

This incident had a deep impact on me, correlating this with the bacterial diseases that are being named these days. The human body as the cockroach and the ants as the bacteria, so if the body is well, where is the place for the bacteria?

The ants seem to have special senses, they seem to bye pass refined sugar and white flour,finding their path to brown sugar and unpolished rice, am sure they have no nutrition classes in their colonies!!

They seem to be slim and not one obese ant in the line, slowing the tempo of the march. I wonder if they have heart clinics, or just exercises in the sun and gossiping on the way to work, playing ”follow the leader”,keeping themselves hail and healthy.

we have things to learn from them. We shall start with,

A is for an ant.

A True Friend

A True Friend

A poem needs…
its appropriate rhyme.
A punishment needs…
a heavy crime.
Life needs…
its lovely colours.
Flowers need…
a daily shower.
I need…
You! My friend; for existence.
To deal with me, you need…
a lot of patience.
You need to walk at my pace,
Jus’ to see that smile, on my face.
You do everything to make me smile,
Though on your mind you have sadness piled.
You shower me with all your care,
And make sure on my cheeks, tears don’t dare!

- Ragini

The musical tile

This is an imaginary game of intimacy for the affectionate couple.

It is similar to the musical chair, the major differences are, it is game of pairs, the chair is replaced by a tile which is already in place on the floor. The rest of the arrangements are the same, u can select a room with a tile a foot by a foot as most of us are slim, for the slightly curved ones, u make a choice.

The players are requested to dance around while the music plays, when the music stops the players find their own partners, deciding on a tile they stand inside it, balanced.( there is no compulsion that 4 feet must be on the tile)

U are given 15 seconds to get in place and must stay inside the tile for 15 seconds.

Those who step out are out, the rest carry on the tiled dancing rounds, for the next halt.

For the best performance practice at home.

There are no prizes for the winners, the game is the prize and all who play, WIN.

Republic feelings

We made it to the republic day celebration of our kids school . We found a place under the shade of a tree and watched the events.

The kids were all in sports uniforms and according to the colors of their houses.

Every ones speech was kept to the minimum but touching our heroes of the past and

enticing us all to become like them, in safe guarding our country, to make us land lords of our own land.

The chief guest was a local forest ranger and he wanted to remind us all that we do need to make our land cooler, with planting trees and making it greener.

The principal of the school took time to remind us, of a few courageous heroes of the past and intelligent ones who drew up our constitution, that we need to remember them and so this celebration.

Some children had made speeches about other heroes and poets who fanned the spirits of patriotism in us all .

It was a real pity not many parents were there, to see our kids show such feelings of “Our land”.

“Civics is the art of living together” I have heard this many times voiced at home, it is from this that the word civilian and civil has come. To achieve that we do need rules, regulations to guide and guard the citizens of the land.

To maintain that we need to have a constitution which is respected and rules made to suit our needs and not fooled around for the benefit of a few .Leaders come and go but the rules of the land stay for the benefit of its country and its rightful owners.( we are seeing other lands and its destruction happening)

May we respect the constitution and the ones who have worked hard to pave the way for its legal adaptation.

Happy Republic feelings of freedom.

A call from the mountains

It was a time 9 moons ago, there was a call from a cousin in the morning,“are u going to the mountains today? Of course we are I replied”.It certainly was like a call from the mountain itself inviting us to its top.

The mountain is called as “ kancha malai” meaning the Golden Mountain, it has no gold, but the folks of those days must have had a reason for its name. It has iron-ore, they knew methods to turn base metals to gold and help humans to reach golden heights in other matters.

It was my wife,kid, cousin and me.We dropped our vehicle at the foot of the mountains near a temple and along with the crowds started to walk up the slippery mountain path,making a silent prayer to the guardian spirit at the base.

On full moon nights folks walk up the mountain,as a ritual and others as a trek up for the sheer pleasure, folks from near and far enjoy the climb.There are arrow marks made in case we loose our way. The evening breeze is cool and for the initial climb can be really welcoming as we have a bit of the sun light at our backs.

I got myself a stick at the base and it helps for the climb with the shoes. There are many who do it barefoot, to absorb the energy through the sole and feel mother earth more.

The initial climb is at 45 degrees for the first mountain and it sure makes one sweat and huff and puff for that normal breath .

Once we reached the top of the first mountain the sights of the land below,the herbal breeze,the twilight coming on with the dusk going,made the rest of the trip easier. We sipped some water and saved our eats for the summit.

The whole path is made of mud and slippery steps of natural formations and some times laid by fore walkers.We reached the top to the welcome of more chill breeze and vendors of eats calling for a treat.

We parked at a parapet wall outside a temple with the slight drizzle on, we shared our eats of sandwiches of tomatoes and spent about half an hour on the top.The on coming rush made us decide to start the down ward trip.

The full moon was showing us our path down and we sat and moved our steps at places and let ourselves slide at others. There were some who brought their battery torches, they found ways but lost paths,with the lights.

The silvery moon light was romantic,if u had your partner,or it was just a light at the sky, sending its beams of lunatic feelings to us.The lights of the plains were dazzling ;like the creations of stars in the sky, salem on one side, on the other it was the coimbatore high way, we saw our village lights and connected them to our streets with guesses.

The way down was more slower and cautious steps taken to prevent falls, there were times of being recognized by country cousins,greetings exchanged till we reached the base, where lots of folks were offering free drinks of country gruel and other food to the treckers. My stick was taken by another deserving climber.

We thanked the mountain guardian at the base for the trip, had a bath at the well near the temple. Refreshed we returned home to a sound sleep.

The joy of walking

An occasion of coconut breaking( a village celebration) is the first few steps of a child, who makes it on his own, leading him on to a life time of exploration and adventure of taking steps.

It is such a pleasure to see a child balancing and walking around, also the aged who with the aid of a walking stick make it back to the house after a simple stroll.

These days it has become a common feature, seeing early morning walkers gaily swinging their arms and brisk walking on the roads, some talking along their partners, others alone as others can't keep pace with their speed and talking .

The health care personnel's recommendation into walking is seriously taken for the concerned with the rich mans diseases now prevalent to all,not that all have become rich ,but the middle and poor have copied the rich man in many things, to become tense.

It is actually the feeling of being free and relaxed during and after the walk that one seems to get up early for the stroll. Many pilgrimages, have walking up a mountain or a long trail to reach a temple as a package of vows. May they all be blessed with what they seek.

There are times when walking to a place of work is considered a mark of ill times and many would politely enquire what has happened to a vehicle, some even offering a lift to the work station, little realizing we are just having a pleasurable walk.

There are many who do not have normal limbs or are unable to use them , there are others who have lost the ability to co ordinate the mind and the limbs, others who have missed them through calamities .

We are lucky to have them and have them function. May we use them to enjoy the benefits of their presence, as source of joy to the heart and an exercise to the physical body

Lets” take a walk”.

A temptation at a farm well

On my way to the bath place a distance of 3 kms from home, there are a few things of interests.

There is a place before a village of 30 houses, two large tamarind trees, which nests cuckoos. If u respond to their calls it could go on and on with their lovely tunes.

There is a church with tiled roof and no church spires. A temple close to that and a plot of curry leaves ,kept trim with the occasional harvest.

A row of electric pylons criss-crossing a farm of small mango trees, banana plantations, then my kid’s school, a few guava trees and a farm of coconut palms.

The road is at the edge of a hillock. Hugging the road is a well with a pump set which brings out the water to a tank. The water over flows to a muddy canal to feed the fields. Today the motor was on and the water was gushing .

My vehicle( tvs two wheeler) crossed it and then”u” turned to stop at the well.( my vehicle has taken a part of my mind and feelings I guess.)

The water flowing out of the large pipe filled the small tank and overflowed, I was quick with my shorts and trashing away at the water .

After the initial enthusiasm faded I laid down and let the water fall across the potted belly and flow away into the canal. I watched the sour lime fruits hanging over the tank, the tall coconut trees with their heavy fruits.( flowing water can make one loose sence of age and discipline.)

I saw an occasional bus pass by. Poor travelers, no stops here at the well for them, so they must have all been jealous from the looks. I did call the ones going on the bicycles to come and enjoy the surging waters. Most just smiled and went away; maybe some saw me as one who landed from the moon, too bad.

I enjoyed for some more time and then went back home, short circuiting my bathing schedule and place, for a good break fast of dosais and coconut chutney.

A water spot for the stray dogs

One day we had a casual discussion, about the cruelty to animals and how when we see a stray dog we are tempted to practice our aims with stones on them, how they run and get our aims bettered. We have seen them quench their thirst after the runs, at water puddles near public water taps.

We made an arrangement of laying an empty cemented pot, filled with water at the front of our home in the shade of a few plants, partly buried in the ground, it was wonderful to see street dogs come causally and have a drink.

One morning we found the cement water pot missing and other pots broken. We are not to be broken that soon, so we thought ok only cemented pots can fetch a price we switched to an ordinary clay pot.

During the hot summer we can see the dogs bring on friends and have a drink and take a quiet nap at the shade, other times we see them all come during the heat season, one followed by a large gathering of admirers.

We do not have dog catchers yet in our village, nor are there any reports of rabid dog bites recently, may be we will be allowed to have the presence of these warm affectionate animals at our shade for a simple drink of water, for the time being .

This is sure a better way of praying to God Bhairava,( nature has many names) who has a dog as his vehicle and companion and asking for his blessings, than leaving his cousins on the main road run thirsty or find dirty puddles to drink.

Vettaikaran(hunter)

Can one imagine that a movie gets released in a small township, along with the whole world? but it did with lots of fanfare, crackers and pooja for the film role and horse carriage for the film box. Vettaikaran is the movie.

My kid is Vijay’s fan, and so I volunteered to go along with him and wife for the movie, a fortnight after release.

The theatre is opposite to my street and was full of cut outs of Vijay. We were parked amidst the fans who blew whistles and made hell of an heaven for themselves.

Most of Vijay’s fans belong to the moustache less or just sprouting moustache boys.

They seem to get so excited seeing him on screen that they loose themselves.

Vijay is a do gooder and takes on the villains of the society, group dancing with handsome men and beautiful half clad women, strange steps and movements.

A few fights with the thugs, he flirts with a damsel and duets with her, where we cannot even imagine, locations of natural beauty. The fighting sequences seem like dance movements and the dance at times seem like he is fighting.

There was a time when he does tumbles and stands on his hands and kicks in the air during the dances, the dance master must have been short of steps, at that moment, or may be the words of the song needed these to show happiness of a child.

The music lyrics composer must have been caught in a traffic jam, when he came out with the words “ daarrr ingggu they,burrringgu they” for the words of a song sequence, it is a pity; we have come to this state of entertainment for want of words for a song.

The violence these days in general are gruesome, the dancing movements are ludicrously posed in imaginations and scintillating in actions. Fans are willing to pay a lot of money to see his movie many times over and over.

With dancing sequences for his child, “Sanjay” the future of an artist has been founded.

I wonder if Dr Vijay will ever be allowed by his fans, to move away from his model roles and play art and character, and a variety of roles to bring out all his talents in future..?

As cool as a country Cucumber

The summer has started and Mother Nature has got her presents ready for us to keep sane .

On the way to Coimbatore from Salem on the national high way in Tamil Nadu in south India, if u could slow down when u zoom on the superway, there is a place called Sankagiri, which has a mountain like a conch shell,visible close by, u could get the cucumbers fresh from the farms nearby.

If one travels by bus, the driver makes a stop for a minute, when the village maidens rush with their baskets of sliced cucumbers, sprinkled with salt and chilly powder, selling for a rupee or two,for those who are very hygiene conscious, u can get a bundle for 5 rupees and wash away with your mineral water, then munch while u lead on your way.

These are not the ones I mean, u get at the posh seminar dinners at the salad counter, those ringed ones laid with the tomatoes and carrots, they are insipid, need to be seen to know what u are eating, they are the hybrid variety. These are the country variety small and tastier.

We got them yesterday on our way from work, in our village. I usually like them cut linear fashion as they say the yin is at one end and the yan of the fruit is at the other, they go great with the brown bread as sandwiches, or just to munch away while u are helping your partner to prepare a late dinner for the family.

Don’t tell the cosmetic properties to the girls, they won't eat them but use them for beauty applications, u will wonder where the basket of cool cucumbers vanished.

Happy cucumbering.

A calamity called Haiti

Disaster seems to have a way of controlling mankind and his progress, with peaceful Living.

The recent disaster striking the Haiti land is scary. We had Katrina, then the Indonesian tsunami, then the Chinese quake, now this, frightening what will be the next, or who.

How can a creator who made such beauty in this world cause such destruction?

I decided to meet the creator within me, as I know catching him outside is difficult, he can't be found, may be he is nervous of the creations he has made.(there are none in the evolution process after Man)

I was sitting in the shade of a tree with a paper and pen, quietly I went inside myself. (Make any names u like or none at all.)

Some times we don’t need maps to find places and folk, we meet them on our way, this was one such time, I met the one who is the master of all these things good and bad.

He was all gagged and bound and literally weeping with a loss of his armaments, I asked him what happened.He was at a loss, he said “I used to own the machines which brought on winds and rains and all the natural forces,of volcanoes and earthquakes, but they have been abducted; now I have no say in those matters”

Silently I walked back thinking who would have done this, may be we have black sheep among ourselves,playing God, sitting high above the artic clouds with regulated programmes, or deep under the sea of Antartic ice, or hiding in the jungles of the dark continent, or simply those who organize the traffic on the roads and make rules to govern us.

Who ever they are, may they all get surrounded and destroyed, before they destroy our small blue planet.

My Love!

My Love!

In the earth so round,
My love was found…

In the silence of the ocean,
My love came into motion…

In the depth of the sea,
My love was free…

In the sky so blue,
My love flew…

In the nights so clean,
My love showed dreams…

In the days of disaster,
My love had no way…
Leaving me alone,
My love… had flown.

In the galaxy where the stars gather…
I saw my love… holding hands with some other!

-Ragini

A gift of golden berries- the yellow gooseberry

I was at work( relaxing) and I had clients who brought two kids, I made friends with the kids and I shared my salted goose berries with the family .

That evening another client was discussing things and suddenly the word goose berry came in, she voiced her views and concerns, that she has a gooseberry tree at home and how she cant take it as she gets cold.(poor rich lady she did not know that it was cleaning her system.) I shared my love for the berry.

Later that day she sent a bag of golden yellow berries in a yellow bag tied like it is in Unca scrooge money bag in the Donald duck comic series, this one without the U.S. dollar sign.,but much more valuable than the declining green paper printed out of thin air with no security.

The goose berries are of medicinal value and goes great as a home made pickle,Some let it soak in honey, others like me just have it with salt and chillie powder.

The effects of this berry are innumerable to list and help from a simple cold to indigestion to bringing down cholesterol, increasing the insulin secretions and more, I am not an agent for any herbal medical company, but I sure am, for MOTHER NATURE.

I am Legend

A movie which has made a strike on the vaccine industry, but which has

been lost to the world at large regarding its pitfalls, is “I am legend”.

It is for this reason I prefer to read the plot before I see the movie, lest I miss the things that the movie actually wants us to see and know.

I tried many times to see the initial scene where an interview is done on a chemist who says a vaccine has been discovered for cancer and it is 100 percent effective, then after many years what happens is, the start of the movie, this part is not available on many versions on, on-line movie downloads.

The movie says practically the whole world is wiped out, reason the vaccine and the mutated virus krippin,those who escape are in a fortified fort and one lady and son are out to reach that place , destiny brings them to Mr. Smith and his research findings are sent through them for the welfare of future generations.

Will smith seems to have worked hard to get that face of a lonely person and not the happy go lucky new yorker to do the scenes.

The empty streets of New York look scary and am sure it would hurt a new yorker to tears and depression, great scenes and the bridge where he hits the golf ball are wonderful.how Mr Smith longs for communication is done smooth at the super market to the doll .

The 5 million dollar bridge scene is the costliest it seems for a movie of 150 million budget .

One more time to show that a dog is a mans best friend, companion and full of zest for the work of the master, it is hurting to see him die.

These days western movies seem to bring on god or natural forces and more of heart and compassion and feelings, we seem to notice those things in this movie of science and laboratory matters.

May be the first real step into religion is after the ultimate steps of scientific research and activity.

Avatar-a lesson from the aliens

Avatar was playing in the local theatre, here the English movies are dubbed in Tamil,

For the sake of the village vernacular, but it is sure odd to see and hear the folks from other planets speak in an Indian dialect.

With the net facility now,I made it a rule to read the plot of a movie before I go for an English thriller,or I wont know what is happenng other than see the actions .

As we had planned for the movie in advance I read the plot on google and all the details of the make.Wife kid and me got in time for the night show for 15 rupees a ticket.

The mind was not able to accept the strange fauna and the hanging rock formations and the usual show of military might for some time.

The director shows what we military are doing to other lands and cultures.(very courageous theme)

The movie needs to be seen in many angles, the looks of another planet Pandora,strange and alien and yet homely, lush and green and water falls and yet so different with the lizardy animals and Pandoralings ,the touch me not like plants was wonderfully done, if the Creator wanted an assistant for innovative creations on a planet am sure he will seek out Mr James Cameroon.

The mind could not manage the change in situations from science fiction modern gadgets to sudden primitive jungles; one could literally feel the tiredness of the characters who switch from the two different environments.

It was pagan worship, but with so much of intimacy beyond understanding, for even a villagers mind to see. Such religiousness exhibited on screen, for the modern world of the questioning kind, with no trust in nature.

It is the first time we see bow and arrows beat the guns, lots of lessons for the mighty military I guess who take orders from the muggers ( pun intended) who drink coffee sitting on arm rests of a chair, so casual, the military commander sipping coffee in his fighter bomber plane, was a great scene of arrogance and military stupidity.

Too many lessons here, if allowed I would like to do an interview with Mr Cameroon, as we are loosing things he may have wanted us to see and appreciate in this movie

Not good to compare creations of a creator, but the feast for the ears was lost, while it was so good in Titanic with the music which goes on playing in our heart with celine’s lyrics.

Even now after so many years.

Such a lot of hard work done with his creative style, the Director and team prepare us for possibilities of happenings in the future world

Solar Eclipse-a celestial show of light and shadows

It was a flurry of activity all morning, this Friday shanty day, all market goers finishing

business soon, the temples getting ready to close,even though they had just opened.

Many activities of the evening were pre-poned and finished in the morning, like a local temple ritual.

By 11 odd the bright sky started to darken and it was cooler,like one wearing on dark glasses,it was so magical yet this was no trick.

The shadow of the leaves of the plants had a funny curve,and the branches with many leaves were like a bunch of grapes on the ground.

The roads were literally empty and a rare cyclist was there or a gossiping group at the steps of a closed shop.

Most folks sit quiet( now the entertainment industry takes care of that) ,pregnant women are advised to sleep and not to do work of any kind.

Many were visualizing the sun through the goggle papers of plastics,our son got one from his school and my dad refused to allow him to see the sun through it, for some time there was a scuffle of a clash of two generations and a third of me standing in between, I could only take sides with my dad, to convince my son we cant take a risk with what we don’t know, let us play safe, by observing with others eyes or camera effects and study more.

He is one who is already into ecliptical questions that are far fetched, like why don’t we have an eclipse every month,at least some part of earth must get it ???? too far fetched for me.The teachers for kids these days need to be really sharp, they find answers for them.

The darkness started to brighten after 1. 30 pm and life was returning back to normalcy.

The post eclipse time is a big issue in the village, as they feel there is a lot of cosmic radiation, so head bath and cow dung mopping to mud floor homes,more things follow, I think I am forgetting most things of the past.

At least to some life would not be the same,but for most it is back to work with light and shades of the human kind.

Union of Duality at Thiru chengodu

Thruchengodu is a town close to Erode, it is noted for the temple atop the mountain and borewell sinkers and farm businesses and the teaching institutions that have recently risen up.

There are many ways to reach this place and we selected to go via attayampatti a village close to our home.We split our journey into two,part on scooter and the other in a public transport bus.

We started after breakfast, me with the helmet on,in recognition of the safety rules. I looked like a racer, the only thing lacking was my speed and the other gears (pun intended) of a racer.It was cool and we enjoyed the shaded ride under the tamarind trees and later in the breeze of the bus.

We reached T.G. and rode up the mountain on the bus,( there are steps too) it was wonderful like a ride to the bottommost cloud with shrieks and yells by us while the kids in the bus were quiet and matured, the 10 minutes ride was scary yet safe and worth the donation of 7 rupees.

We roamed around the temple complex, completely lost in the maze of barricades made ready for the crowd the next day of new moon pilgrimage.

The deity is a union of duality of man and woman.-Arthanaareswarar.

(For those who see religion in other ways can enjoy the Mountain View around.)

The noon meal scheme at the temple served us lunch and we returned to the base in the same bus that took us to the top.

The most lovely part of the return journey were the stops at the bore well pump and the leaking water pipe which sprouted water like a fountain( most know what happens when venkhat sees water.) We had sapotas and bananas on the way and reached home.

I was lost in contemplation, what was it that the folks who made the temple wished to share.There is manliness in a women and grace and sensitivity of a women in a man.

We are a union.(The ionic state at the mountain top helps too in this realization)

The English man has wonderfully done that in his language.

There is a man in every wo’man’ and a person with a womb with qualities of a man is a wo man

Burota-the local parathas

There has been an invasion from the north,this time not the moguls,but a mugalayan dish called Parathas.

In our village we have rechristened it as “burota”and adulterated it to suit our palate.

White flour,water,eggs,(some leave this)ajinomoto ,salt and palm oil are the ingredients I have noticed.

They are mixed and battered and brow beaten and made into small balls,then soaked in palm oil.(the Maida mix needs to be battled like a wrestler, I have seen the chef, he is titled as ‘master’,beat the dough and thrash it on a stone slab with punches).they are later made into spiral shaped balls.

At the time of cooking the white flour mixed balls are patted into flat discs and cooked on a large frying pan which is heated using a fire wood stove.This goes great with kurma (gravy)made with taste enhancing chemicals and spices, this dish is now turning into chilli burota,visiri burota and other versions.

The locals adore this and the craze starts with age one and the elders are catching up on it.

All that one needs is the eyes not to notice how it is made,but the guts to stomach the real dish.

Distance Generates Love

We all like to maintain a good relationship with the ones who we become friendly with .

(from Mom at home to a stranger on the bus)

Some get sour when we get too close and others remain bland at a distance of insensitivity.

Now where do we learn to find the right point of balance .

If only someone or a method was available to share an understanding in this, all relationships can be maintained.

I was once reminded that a garden is beautiful if we see it at a distance, get very close and we notice it is dry and not well maintained or the arrangements are disarray. Move too far and we do not get its fragrance or notice its greenery.

So a distance has to be maintained to appreciate things.

I am sure this goes with all relationships, some to an advantage and others for a slide.

The advantaged ones come back and the slid ones climb up,like in a game of snakes and ladders

May we get the dice rolling again,to play and get along in this game called LIFE.

Duty is a 4 letter word

When we pay back our dues through actions it becomes a duty.

when we do it with affection it is love and when we pay back with annoyance it becomes hate.

The love and sacrifice shown by parents is difficult to express and when we care for them later it is difficult to express too.

I was a lucky one who came on late in my parents lifetime, was lucky to have all the pamperings and beatings and being tied up to windows sills and best eats and more.

Was given a western sort of an education on Indian soil at the best missionary schools and all the freedom possible to become what I am .

Now the little errands that I do for them seems so wonderfull that when some one calls it as duty It seems out of place as a paying back action.

So what is it that parents do for children and children do for them ???

Such a wonderfull relationship.

One is love with concern and the other is concern with respect.

Meet the Meat we Eat

I belong to a class who has moved from one side of the sea-saw to the other, with no intentions of returning, these words are to make my convictions firmer.

There was once a time, when I was a regular eater of things that moved and had a feast of things that had a tag, that said it was eatable, now I don’t as they mean different things to me.

Those days I actually ate any thing that moved, now only things that move me.

I once had a client who proposed a trip to a meat /egg factory, along with a friend.

I did get to read things from Menaka Gandhi “ Heads and Tails”and so I survived what I saw at the chicken factory/farm, situated a few kms away.

First it was the stench of the place and the stuffyness of the chickens in the cage that made me suffocate.They are fed chemical filled feeds and enhancers of growth, to make them heavy,grow quick, others to lay lots of eggs, depending who are selected for what.

They live in an artificial lighted dormitory styled cage,a large area where the droppings fall through the floor to be collected for manure.

Many procedures are taken up to keep the fellow chickens from getting hurt, like debeaking and declawing , I did not see those procedures.

In our village a few years ago meat was not an affordable food for many, there used to be an abattoir for it and folks used to go there to buy,now the meat has become affordable to almost all and we can see the chickens boiled and defeatherd on the road side, fish and goat

disemboweled and de-skinned and hanging on hooks.

I have seen many ceremoniously putting a knife to the throat of a goat, while the next in line was standing close by.

Is this how my plate was filled then !!!

Scientifically speaking and aesthetically feeling humans like us need to open ourselves to such sights, to realize the depth of understandings about our fellow earthlings,than fill ourselves with any thing that is available as food to gulp.

If we who have read and felt the truth of things don’t see the fallacy of this.Who will?

I once debated this with a religious child, and said your religion advocates “love” what about love for animals, he said “ domestic animals don’t come in that category,our scriptures say they are made for us to consume”.

The mind can be filled with any amount of reading material to prove the falseness of meat for our system,but the body and habitual linking has to be dechained.

I like to thank here, all the folks who have made that happen to me,to those who keep me sticking to it .

Rangoli-artistic creation of a homemaker on the floor

Many a house hold wakes up in the morning,to the swooshing sound of the lady using a broom made from the reeds of a coconut palm leaf,to sweep the front porch of the home.she then waters the area enough to make it just damp,then makes an artistic design of a rangoli for the day.

Earlier rice powder was used to make the rangoli designs,now things have changed to using mineral powders of stone and bricks.

In some festival seasons,the women folks take pains to do patterns richly woven, with dots and ziz zag patters,at other times they use colored powders, to enrich the designs they have made.

Recently we had a chance to see a few patterns when a competition was conducted for a few streets on an auspicious Ekadesi day in which many households took part .

There was one designer who used flowery petals and lighted lamps for the evening competition and won the hearts and the prizes.

This is a simple doing which exposes the artistic talent of a village damsel.

Fighting with the Fever to loose a Battle with the Disease

The first thing that gets a parent rushing to a doctor is when a child is having a fever,or an adult to a chemist for an anti pyretic tablet.

The state of anxiety one is at those times prevents us from thinking, that a fever is a body’s way of fighting an infection,or boosting itself to gear up its resources to stand strong against an invasion or internal problem.

In the rurals,a decoction of herbs and coriander seeds and ginger is made and filtered and shared among the house hold with pickles to salivate.

The sick one is offered porridge or allowed to fast and advised to rest among the shade of a tree,most problems go away.

With the advent of paracetamol most such situations are a thing of the past, and modern investigations to find the cause of the fever is in the affront.

Why do we boil drinking water,to destroy germs right? Why does the body raise its temperature, to destroy invading things,ok simple understanding, and Its ways are multi-targeted.

Imagine a state of battle and the army is all geared up and some one starts a bugle call another rushes up and things move quickly, in olden days even conch shells were used to get the warriors warmed up for action.

This is what happens inside a body, a state of war, now imagine what would happen if we dampened it with an anti pyretic, easy the body gets cooled and we face the consequences, lots of medicines and more investigations and names and may be even vaccines for later preventions.

One would say that if we leave the fever the person can go in for fits,well we always seem to think of the worst things to happen, when we can wait and see if we can manage the fever with more fluids, more aeration,more cotton clothes, for exchange of heat.

One would still think paracetamol is easiest…..and a visit to the doctor and investigations a routine procedure, to prevent the glare of the ones at home and the scolding of the neighbours, but of course all are not rebellious, and one cant play with fever.

Language - a means of Communication, or an Art of Expression

I remember days when I have told folks,that language is only a means of commumication

and we do not have to make a big issue of it ,if one uses it well or not,as long as we can

Communicate.

Well not any more.

One day we were off to Salem where our kid has an essay competition on a topic,

“ How to keep our world as wonderfull as it is”

We found the textile institute where it was to be conducted and loafted around.After we had got him into the auditorium to write,we were idling around the garden,when we hit upon a game of ‘DUMB CHARADES”.

We sat under the shade of a tree and picked up names from Prince Charles to cinema titles leading on to more complicated things and expressions of affection and routine activities.

I certainly think that this game sure brings out more depth to expressions, that makes words so superficial and shallow in writing and speaking.This suddenly brings to life the use of arms and eyes and other means of gestures to communicate ,which would not have been used for this at all.

Through this sign language game I have come to realize that languages can also be an art of expressing oneself and not just a means of communication.

Walloping Laundry and Gossipy Bath at a Siddar Temple

There are some rare places in a village where all are treated equal and one such place is a public well .

Situated 3 kms from my place is a siddar temple at the foot hills of a mountain range of hillocks, many go there for doing their laundry and bath, at times of the day to suit their convenience.

Some reach it with a joy of walking,others bicyle and still others by public bus,or a two wheeler, many wells are there and the water is at 5 to 8 feet,(at all seasons of the year).we use buckets to draw up the water.

Many of us still use the traditional lentil powder for the bath and shikakai powder when we have the cold pressed oil bath.(things are changing with the shampoo sachets)

U can let your imaginations wander,with seeing one fully in a coat of oil dripping,sitting lazily in the sun brushing ones teeth with a neem twig and letting the sun rays do its work of much scientific changes which we know not, to keep our bones and teeth strong and healthy.

Village gossip is our way of sharing day to day activities and local trends.walloping our laundry is our way of loosening our family tensions and business angers on stones of granite.

We work to keep our well and its area clean by white washing and brushing to keep away the moss, on such days we share a break fast at a local paniyaram shop, with our well mates who range from 25 to 75yrs .

The medicinal qualities and etheral cleancing properties of the place and water are noticed by those who specialize in their fields.

For us it is a simple hour of bathing for the body and cleaning of the mind and spirit, for the soul

A Person of Beauty is a Mystery Forever

A beauty is always a mystery or is it the mystery that makes them beautiful?

What ever the inference, women are both and they make our lives wonderful and adventurous.

We are getting to know that they are great planners in finance, wonders in creating arts,dances and decorations, courageous fighters and compassionate nurses and sleuths Scotland Yard will be proud to have.

What ever they are, they are a beauty and their mystery is unfathomable for our wired manly mind,which gets to go on a fuse when explored.

May we find ways to love and live with them and make this worldly life existential.

Medical Investigations to Investigating Medicines

The trend these days is to have medical investigations done,if one is healthy or diseased.

The modern gadgets help in demystifying the status of our bodies, and to diagnose a problem,or rule out a concern.

Thanks to them the work of the health care workers has been eased and its trend a large flourishing industry.

With the net connections now into the homes,our personal investigations into available systems of medicines and know-how’s have come to a state, where the patient knows equally well about the trouble as the expert.

The shift is also where ones are beginning to question and seek different systems of

medicines.which could offer less injury and more benefits and long time care at reasonable costs.

The investigators are searching to understand principles of nature with honesty and seek trusty healers,to get well the natural way and to stay healthy.

Humiliation at Check points 'A Necessary Evil'

Modern air travel has ushered in an evil practice of check ups of the paranoid quality,which can have no limits.

We who are in the rural areas have heard of smuggling in precious metals or may be an occasional addictive chemical in trunks.but not blasters to maim and kill.

To be patted and x rayed sounds a humiliation of the worst kind,when the ones who could be up to mischief are allowed to travel with no passports or escorted with high styled executives, dressed in smart suits to bring on more rules and safety precautions.

How would the children take it?

I don’t know how the ones who travel so often take this humiliation, when we cant even tolerate an accidental brush of a stranger into our space and body.

Is this what is called as “giving up of freedom and privacy for security”

Ta-ta to the Old and Ushering in the New

We are in a street of about 10 families, and a few friends who have dubbed Ourselves, as green garden street folks.

It all started at about 9 pm on the ultimate day of the year, extra tube lights were added and serial bulbs were garlanded on croton shrubs in the street.

A table was laid and fresh steamed idlis and chutney sambar and poori masal served in the garden street, Mamis and grannies and aunties and kids pooled in their resources and made a memorable dinner.the kids danced, and the women folk had games to move their hearts and bodies.

Jokes where shared and laughter was in the air.

We talked in Japanese and German for gibberish lingo to curse and yell at invisible enemies and lessen the burden of pent up anger.

Nearing 12 midnight, a cake was cut and shared and lighted candles were planted in the garden.

It was a rare few hours of togetherness and bonding to say TA- TA to 2009 and welcoming in 2010.