My Madras musings.

I was away at Madras on work. It was hectic as usual and I only wish that I'd time in hand to meet up with more people. I thought of sharing three interesting episodes that came my way during my short stay out there and here I go.

(a) Incommunicado.
My 'saarthi', on arrival, was a youngster named Palani and his attitude towards life in general can make the most sober amongst us end up with high blood pressure. To my utter surprise when I'd tried to contact him on arrival, he was driving around the vicinity of the airport to avoid paying parking charges! He was fluent in Tamil and I don't understand a wee bit of it, so communication between us was through sign language. Palani's driving skills are amazing and these are my observations:-
(i) His faith in his own machine is beyond doubt as he drives with a gay abandon.
(ii) His faith in the ability of the other drivers and their machines is touching.
(iii) He finds space in the deluge of traffic with ease and weaves his car in and out of traffic, as though he owns the thoroughfare!
(iv) His cell phone is an inseperable part of his personality as he's continuously answering calls that came by and they seemed to be never ending!

We've established a rapport through sign language and he's promised to be my 'saarthi' during my subsequent visits too, in the times to come.

(b) A chance reunion.
As I was checking in at the hotel, there was this guy who seemed to be giving me a thorough scrutiny and initially, since I wasn't expecting to bump into anyone that I knew, I didn't give him any attention when the gentleman called out my name. It was then that I realised that it was Ashok, my coursemate from the Academy. I remember him to be short and compact, quite agile and fit and being good at PT. Thanks to the ravages of time and the good things of life, he sports an unwieldy paunch but retains his exuberance and warmth! The long time gap that we'd traversed, not having communicated with each other after leaving the Academy, melted over the evening as we caught up from where we'd left with the promise that we'd make amends from now on. Consequently, we jotted down each other's contact numbers and addresses, as we parted.

(c) Out of the chain?
One of my colleagues from Bangalore dabbles in astrology and is occasionally prone to gazing the crystal ball. He makes it a point to spend time with me and I've this feeling that he's fond of me! He's told me this time that this is my last life in this world.

The Hindu philosophy talks about the soul taking many lives and many forms as it traverses through life in this world and once it attains purity - in the strictest sense of the term - gets liberated from the chain of birth and rebirth to become one with the universal soul or God! And this is what my friend says that my soul's achieved!! Without getting into the merits or demerits of the observation and taking it to be true, I've the following observations/doubts:-

(a) I'm a guy with my warts and my moles.
(b) I've always been under the impression that one's to lead a saintly life to attain purity while I've been leading a very ordinary life, deeply caught up with the fallibilities of life.
(c) I don't have an indication - or is it supposed to be there at all? - of having reached the end.
(d) Will it change my perceptions from now on? Never, I shall be the same.