A collage of thoughts....

There are too many things happening and hence, my thoughts are a wandering. Therefore, I'm going in for a hotch-potch today and here I go.....


(a) The silent hero.

There are very many heroes in society, leading normal lives but contribute immensely to the society through their lofty deeds making us wonder as to what makes them extraordinary. The values they'd have picked up from their homes, in the course of their upbringing must be the greatest contributor, as I reckon. Now take the example of the hangman who'd put the noose around Ajmal Kasab's neck and had carried out the execution. He refused his remuneration of Rs.5,000/- for the task saying that he'd carried out the duty for his country and for the unfortunate ones who'd lost their lives in the 26/11 carnage!

My salute to the gentleman, he's become my hero!!


(b) Shallow knowledge.

I've a modest opinion of my awareness of things and am of the opinion that I've much to learn. My biggest problem is that I've the propensity to resort to taking short cuts for results! To cite an example, this morning my kid sister had called up to get the synonym for 'a publicity hungry person'. The answer seemed to be on the tip of my tongue but had refused to come out despite my best(?) efforts. And what did I resort to then?

Called up my classmate, Padmasenan(at Kochi), a journalist and friend,Theresa(currently at Calcutta in connection with her son's wedding) and yet another friend, Chaitanya(at Delhi) to get the answer! Please observe the sheer spread, the distances covered(albeit by way of speech passing through telephone cables) and the extent of the inquiry in search of a quick fix solution with no damn effort on the part of your's truly!


(c) A great evening.

Yesoma and Vijayan had invited us to spend the evening at their place at Thuravoor. I was initially hesitant to accept the invite because their house was about 30 kms from where I live and getting out of the bottleneck of the traffic prevalent at the peak hours of the evening was a daunting task. But I'd finally come round to going there. And thank god I did because it was a simply wonderful evening.

Vijayan's parents' presence was the highlight of the evening as they met and showed their genuine glee at having us there. And for the occasion I'd decided to give a temporary break to my Sabarimala vows to partake freshly tapped toddy(I can be tempted by small things, eh?)  and boy, the spread on the dinner table consisted of a wide range of down-to-earth Malayalee cuisine!

We made friends with the entire family and the interaction with each of them was truly interesting and illuminating. As minutes melted into hours and the time to bid farewell had come about, I wished for a second that the evening could continue. Thanks once again to the genial and caring hosts for the time well spent - it showed that you care!!

Where love has gone sour.....

It was disgusting to read about the Brazilian football goalkeeper, Bruno Fernandez who's landed himself in ignominy thanks to his brutal bent of mind. A one time hero to his countrymen, he's hated and despised by the very same people who wish that he's punished for the dastardly crime that he'd committed two years ago.

He and his goons, had murdered Elisa - a model with whom he'd sired a child but was doubtful as to  whether the child was his - cut her body into pieces and fed them to the dogs after violating her! The case comes up for hearing in the Brazilian top court shortly.

My take.

I've spoken about this subject earlier but would like to reiterate my thoughts yet again. Love is a beautiful thing and when one's in love, one's confident of achieving anything and everything while having the object of one's love by one's side. There're positive vibes all around. And it's this state of bliss that's rudely shattered when the same love goes sour. To the extent feasible one tries to cling on to the relationship based on the finer feelings, thoughts and small incidents that added sparkle during its vibrancy.

If the relationship cannot be retrieved, there's no point in forcing it to stay as a healthy bond has to come by naturally and with ease. The mutual feelings must come from within and communication is vital.

And once the decision to disengage has been arrived at, a healthy distance must be maintained and each other's privacy is to be respected as the strain of coming out of a relationship takes an unimaginable toll on the affected parties - and make no mistake, the scars can be equally intense for both the parties involved, they don't have a gender bias!


Tailpiece.

What makes me sad in this particular case of Bruno and Elisa are the following:-

       (a) Communication had broken down irretrievably between the two.
       (b) The crafty manner in which Elisa was lured to her gory end by promising wedlock and acceptance of
             the child's fatherhood.
       (c) How can someone be killed with whom you've had intimate moments?
       (d) The inherent bestiality and perversity  in violating her before killing her.
       (e) The insane rage that made him and his cronies to cut the lifeless body to pieces. I was under the
             impression that a sportsman like him could never possess such negative behaviour.
       (f) And lastly, imagine the plight of the child as it grows up against the backdrop of the ghastly story
            its birth had scripted.

PS.

A human being has no right to take away another's life, however unacceptable the other is.  

In perpetuity.

Got the unsettling news that my mom has had a fall this morning. The wounds are superficial, as I reckon, after my chat with her. Was there a hint of a lack of confidence in her ability to look after herself any more? She'd quickly negated my suggestion of coming and staying with us at Kochi, though.

The sequence of events that led to the mishap was some thing like what I'm gonna narrate. There was a workforce of five girls who're deployed, since 8 AM, to trim the grass and do up the hedges in the compound surrounding the house. My mom had gone to meet each one of them, provide a cup of tea that she'd prepared herself and have a chat in the bargain. This is familiar behaviour, in that, I've seen my father and before him, my grandfather interacting with the people who came working on our fields and catering to their needs, the harshness of the weather notwithstanding - the only difference being that the size of land that we have has dwindled drastically, as much of it has been sold as it was becoming unwieldy and getting labourers on time was becoming a task nigh impossible!

My mom had an umbrella over her head to beat the sun and that happened to be her undoing. On her return, after the interaction with the fifth girl, she'd tripped on an exposed root of a tree and went for a toss with the teapot, umbrella et all. I suppose since she was on a philanthropic beat, the fall did not incapacitate her even for a moment. Ammu, my niece, who was studying indoors rushed out to retrieve her grandmother and administered timely first aid. A retired compounder, who stays in the vicinity, was summoned and he administered a Tetanus shot. And most importantly, he's confirmed that there's no fracture!

At 76 years of age, my mom's been keeping good health and thankfully, doesn't have any medicines to take the only exception being a table spoonful of Bayer's tonic every morning, along with her breakfast! But ever since my dad's passing away she seems to have 'put on years' suddenly and I pull her leg saying that she walked like Shah Rukh Khan, the robot, in his movie 'Ra One'. And she just can't sit idle!!

God, pse take care of her and see that no harm befalls her. ( I'm sure He would because she plucks the flowers from the garden for her 'puja' in the mornings and lights the lamp, both in the morning and in the evening, chants her favourite set of prayers and reads a portion of the 'Mahabhagavatham' twice, everyday).


Tailpiece.

(a) I will be making a dash over the weekend to look her up and give a few books for her to read.
(b) Of late she's less enthusiastic to attend the telephone as she's become a bit hard of hearing! But her eyesight has been good after the cataract operation carried out on both the eyes last year at Kochi, with dad around!!
(c) And yes, her discomfort is a worrisome thought.

Meeting dad's friend.

Today, I'd the proud privilege of being the co-host of a 'lunch get together' for the veterans. And it gave me tremendous pleasure to meet many of the old stalwarts who'd played significant roles in my professional growth. It was my endeavour to meet as many people, as possible, to catch up from where we'd left last and to update contact numbers and addresses, in the process.

And in the course of the afternoon, I'd come across Lt(Retd) Job. Short statured and slightly built, he looked fit at 86. He says that his memory has been failing him,of late, but looking at me he could recollect my dad. He was shocked to hear about my dad's passing away and I'd to sheepishly admit that I'd forgotten to intimate him due to an oversight. I saw his eyes brimming with tears which he quickly wiped off with his handkerchief and narrated an incident that he and dad were privy to.

They're in the Alibaug Customs Collectorate together in the late '70s and alongwith Mr. Warekar, the Superintendent, formed a close knit threesome. One day while they're out on work, they'd come across a four year old girl who'd almost come under the wheels of the vehicle that they're travelling in. My father was insistent that the child be adopted by them and though initially reluctant, they went by my dad's wishes because they knew that Nair saab could never go wrong as he'd attained a 'saintly hue' through his discourses on the Bhagvad Gita. The little one was given the best of everything and today, she's settled abroad with her family and doing well. It was another aspect of my dad that has come into focus and I really felt proud of him.


Tailpiece.

A well spent afternoon and I constantly felt the presence of my dad, all through. And I've been entrusted to inform their foster daughter of my dad's passing away.

Balasaheb Thackeray.

He's the original promoter of the 'son of the soil' ideology. That it caused incalculable suffering, mainly to the numerous south Indians at Bombay in search of work, in the late 60s and the early 70s is history. And the paradox about the whole thing was that he was funded by many south Indians - probably, it was their way of assuring their own survival despite being wealthy and doing well for themselves! Balasaheb and his men could bring the mightiest to their knees by their strong arm tactics.

As someone had articulated, the south Indian migrants had grabbed most of the job opportunities in Bombay and elsewhere. They'd sensed that their success would be in the hotel industry and consequently, many eating joints had sprung up, in quick succession, to satisfy the gastronomic needs of the factory/mill workers who're on the move continuously - from home to workplace and back, depending upon the shifts that they worked in! And for their eateries' inhouse support, the proprietors brought in their relations and good friends who're thrilled to find employment in the land of their dreams. With their earnings so accrued, many of them eventually decided to set up permanent homes close to their places of activity! Dadar, Matunga, Chembur are some of the early places, in Bombay, of migrant south Indian settlement.

That the local Maharashtrians were fast losing their jobs and relevance of sorts was observed by Balasaheb. Through novel methods, he advertised the need to rescue the 'marathi manoos' from his sad plight. The rest is history. He'd indeed brought about the resurgence of the 'sons of the soil' and in return they're ready to do anything for him. The consequential effect was that the trade unionism in Maharashtra, hitherto a communist monopoly, became his Shivsena's stronghold!

His strongpoint was that he never hankered for loaves of political office - eventhough any post was available for his asking - as he believed himself to be a trustee of the people's rights and hence, could not hold an office of profit! But he was the ultimate power behind the throne!! And as a politician, he was different from the rest of the pack, in that he took a stand - right or wrong! Probably, that sums up the reason for the huge number of followers and admirers that he has left behind.

A leader is supposed to take the entire society alongwith him, thereby accentuating the fact that he constantly works for each and everyone's betterment, where no division on the basis of caste, creed, religion or region has any relevance. From that point of view, Balasaheb's leadership will come under the scanner in the annals of history and it's for the historians to do their bit on that score.

But, for now RIP Mr. Thackeray.


Tailpiece.

(a) It's said that his surname is Thakare, which had undergone a metamorphosis during his growth in the political firmament as 'Thackeray'. Probably, it was his need to be different from the rest that showed, in the process!
(b) He sure must have been a worried man when his nephew upstaged him with his own version of the 'son of the soil' policy - more violent and vituperative against the thousands of poor migrant labourers from Bihar. Life, for him, had really come full circle!!
(c) I've seen people from all walks of life visiting him over the years. Was it out of reverence or was it out of fear, I wonder?

Hectic!

Today was a hectic one. My wits were tested after a long while.

A friend of mine was upset that I'd commented upon his mail rather 'harshly'. It all began when another friend of ours had wished us on 'veterans day' and our man tried to quote the dictionary and said that the word 'veteran' has a derogatory connotation! To my mind, the retort was misplaced and uncalled for in the context and I'd said so in my reply to which he'd taken umbrage to. I'd to mollify him and tell him that e-mails on the circuit were to be perused with an open mind and when one were to pen one's thoughts, care had to be taken not to offend the reader without in anyway, diluting the message that one wanted to convey. It really took quite a while - over the telephone - to make him understand my point of view and I'd done so to ensure that he didn't sulk and  stay away from interacting with us, on the circuit!

Meanwhile, the review by the inspecting officer was on in full swing. I understand that he's quite satisfied with what he saw!

The evening saw me go through some real anxious moments when Lekha'd complained of severe stomach cramps. Almost the entire range of home remedies were tried thanks to directives from her help, over the telephone. Ginger - crushed with honey and wholesome, for chewing - garlic, a tot of brandy and finally, a few drops of 'pudin hara' covered the spectrum! Roy, the resident doctor, was cute enough to come down for a late night house call to endorse the actions taken till then. What actually bothered me was that she has stones in her gall bladder which have been 'asymptomatic' till now. Her doctors have maintained that nothing needed to be done till they begin to get difficult and bothersome. Have they got active? Probably, an ultrasound scan, in the next medical review, would be in order.

The cramps had finally subsided just before bed time. Phew!


Tailpiece.

Earlier, I was at the range watching my boys at firing. I too had tried my hand at it. And how did I fare? Er, let me put it that I would have loved to see more of my rounds on the target!! 

All in a day's work...

0600 h     Got up on the dot, went through my chores and was ready on time.
0850 h     Sebastian was clipping towards the office and we'd decided to take the route that
                circumvented the railway level crossing. After having dropped me, he was despatched
                to the Ernakulam Junction railway station to pick up the inspecting officer.
0935 h     A commuter comes seeking a reservation and one's able to oblige him. He returns
                thoroughly impressed and eternally grateful.
1000 h     Sebastian returns after dropping the guest at his designated place of stay. He's able
                to manage this feat because the roads are less crowded thanks to the striking auto
                rickshaws and taxis. Their strike is for an indefinite period as they are harking for higher
                rates of fares.
1030 h     Work is on at its usual pace. Guests' visit continues at its regular pace but today it seems
                that I've more than my normal share! The telephone needs constant attention.
1110 h     Queries from people regarding the 'Jan Vigyan Jatha' - as to where it was as of date, its
                charter and achievements thus far. Thankfully, the updates had reached me on time.
1205 h     Books, documents gone through - for the last time - prior to their inspection.
1300 h     Off for lunch. Following people of the residential association come with their problems that
                needed sorting out:-
                      (a) Santosh, the milkman, is facing difficulties in converting coupons to money. He's seeking
                           support for his bakery. He was advised as to how he needed to go about doing things
                           as his procedures weren't rightly prioritised.
                      (b) The garbage collector needs a loan of Rs. 20 grand for getting a water connection to his
                            house. The requirement seems genuine but he's just finished paying up an earlier loan.
                            Must see the in house rules on the issue before giving a final decision.
1430 h     Back at the office with much of my afternoon siesta knocked off!
1515 h     Activities for tomorrow tied up, down to the last minute. My car's insurance renewed as the  
                salesman had taken prior appointment.
1745 h     A little bit of football with the kids, soon after my return. I happen to be their Santa Claus!
1830 h     Off for my customary walk.
2030 h     Dropped Jojy and Saly at the Ernakulam Town railway station as they're to board the night
                train to Madras and there were no autorickshaws or taxis, thanks to the strike.
2130 h     A quiet dinner and watched a few favourite programmes on the television. Snatches of  
                conversation with Lekha, in between, got me updated with her activities of the day.
2300 h     At my laptop punching these thoughts. My sisters call up to catch up with me and my activities.
                Had to give my younger sister certain suggestions in connection with her work. The other sister
                wanted to know as to whether I'd be visiting Palakkad this coming weekend and I'd to concede
                sheepishly that it was yet to be decided as things were fluid. Tried to catch up on some reading
                but sleep was beckoning and so, gave it up after about 15 minutes.


Tailpiece.

A mundane life with equally mundane activities! But I was kept busy all the time. Are my priorities right, I wonder?