Off to my dad's house.

After the customary walk in the morning, we're off to Kottarakkara to attend an official function and to take stock of things at my dad's house. I'd taken the NH17 after what seemed to be a long time. The drive was pleasant and we'd reached our destination much before sunset.

Meeting up with people, review of earlier assignments and assessment of things to be done in the future will be the mainstay!

Nice seeing my kid sister who's back from Bangalore!

A couple of points.

Finally, the morning had arrived when I could pick up my Chevy from the service station. After a hurried breakfast, I'd an autorickshaw drop me at the spot from where I could board a private bus to cover the ten kilometers to my destination. Kindness begets kindness, so when I'd offered my seat to an elderly gentleman - badly shaking due to nicotine tremours - a college going kid offered me his seat. Damn sweet of him!

The stay at the servicing station was for an hour and I saw my Chevy being washed down, dried, rubbed and polished before the handing over. As I went about the list of defects that I'd wanted them to liquidate, guys might have considered me to be a real fussy guy - but, what the hell one's entitled to ensure that one gets the best bang for the buck! In that department, Manikandan, the technical advisor and Prasobh, the service advisor had done a meticulous job.

Driving back, hence, was pure ecstasy. My Chevy was blemish less for a change! God, one did wait for the situation for a fairly long time!! Tomorrow, we're off to Kottarakkara to attend an official function and the whole family is gonna conglomerate with my younger sister being down from Bangalore on vacation. There are quite a few things that I hope to achieve during the trip.

           *                                                       *                                                             *
The afternoon siesta had to be shelved. Mom had to be taken to the Eye specialist, who sees patients twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in our immediate neighbourhood. Mom has been complaining of a diminishing sight on her right eye combined with an egress of tears when she concentrates on the television or while reading. She was driven to the clinic, though the distance was a mere 50 mts, because she finds it difficult to walk even such short distances, at a stretch.

The pre-checks had confirmed that there wasn't any need to change her glasses. The doctor has, however, said that she has a thin, white film over her right eye and has referred my mom to another doctor for laser treatment - she's had the cataract surgery performed on both her eyes in a reputed hospital, at Kochi, in May '11 - and she has called her for a review, subsequently. My mom's a bit unhappy because she'd expected her difficulty to be solved with a few medicines like drops, ointment and the works as she's not particularly inclined for a surgery - however, minor it's gonna be!

But what was a real spoiler was that I'd worn my footwear into the clinic while the entire lot, including the doctor, had removed them outside the entrance. I was in the wrong because frankly, I wasn't aware of the rule but I also know from my Academy days, that, 'Ignorance of orders is no excuse'! It's when we're within the safe confines of my house and my sister had pointed out the faux pas did I feel very guilty and ashamed for violating an existing rule. Why didn't the sisters in attendance correct me?

Bad!


Tailpiece.

My sister, Rema and Achu had arrived by lunch time to join us for the trip tomorrow. I've been going through the interview that my nephew had recently attended in a fair amount of detail. He seems to have enjoyed it thoroughly and calls it a worthwhile experience!
                 

A flash shutdown.

Thrissur district woke up to a shutdown because of a 'hartal' called by a group called the Hindu Aikyavedi that had the blessings of the local BJP unit!

So, a Monday that was supposed to be packed with activity turned out to be a damp squib. Vehicles did not ply on the roads fearing retribution from some misguided youth or even miscreants that take advantage of such situations. Most of the shops were shuttered except for the ones within the inner circle of the Guruvayur temple and therefore, commerce was non existent. And what was it all for?

A misunderstanding over the taking out of a procession by a church as part of its festivities. Was there a mischief in deliberately bringing about a mismatch of ideas over the issue? One will never know till the reasons are identified and analysed which is gonna take its own time. Imagine the terrible consequences to the general public who must have scheduled a lot of activities for the day to helplessly watch the initiative being wrested from their hands and opportunity being frittered away due to an ill timed, wrong decision.

On a personal level, the servicing agency had called up to say that they weren't working and that I would have to collect my car tomorrow. However, the boys had come to clean up the overhead filter of the water tank and clear up the garden that were tied up a few days back. When queried, they said that they couldn't stay away from getting their daily earnings just because of someone's stupid directive to strike work! I'd complimented them for their bold decision because I was aware that they're taking a tremendous risk of being labelled as 'turncoats' and subjected to all kinds of retaliatory tactics by the perpetrators of the strike if they're to come to know about their venture.


Tailpiece.

Due to a slight drizzle in the wee hours of the morning, the day was unbearably sultry and hot to add to the misery brought about by the strike. What a waste of a day?

A few more queries.

As the election juggernaut rolls into its final phases, there's a lot of heat and pyrotechnics being generated every day by the utterances of wayward politicians and my queries flow from them. I wonder as to how some of those narrow minded politicians can serve us as impartial parliamentarians and bring about legislative efforts towards the benefit of the people at large. Sample a few and it doesn't require much common sense to realise that many of them do not even have the wherewithal to think rationally. Probably, they form the rabble rousers of the political parties for perpetuating all sorts of gimmickry, within the confines of the parliament where they enjoy immunity, when the chips are down!

And mind you, not a single political party is free from this malaise. Money power has played out at the hustings and muscle power dictates subsequently. Let's see a few of those faces of notoriety:-

   (a) Giriraj Singh.

         When he made those outrageous remarks against the Muslims, why didn't Modi who was at the dais
         stop him from making that hate speech? Though his subsequent statement asked the party men to
         refrain from such narrow minded thoughts, the damage was done. Does it mean that he - the prime
         ministerial candidate - is bound by restrictions? Wouldn't it affect his subsequent performance? Can
         he, then provide good governance which has been his constant refrain?

   (b) Farooq Abdulla.

        He's had a unique place in Indian politics simply by virtue of the family that he comes from which was
        close to the first family, since Nehru's days. Since he's currently a minister in the union cabinet, his
        call for those who vote for Modi to drown themselves in the ocean, were uncalled for. Does it mean
        that he, till now as a minister, been only for those who supported him and his cronies, the fact that he's
        not an administrative wonder, not withstanding!

   (c) Priyanka's barbs and Modi's counters.

        While the mud slinging on each other has gone on to shriller decibels, the actual problems of bad
         governance or a complete paralysis of governance, corruption, dilution of constitutional institutions,
         an inadequacy of foreign policy initiatives and other important problem areas have been tucked
         away. Wonder whom it benefits and why?

   (d) Manmohan Singh's angst.

        Why does he've to be apologetic about his half-brother becoming a BJP member? One cannot
        dictate the political preferences of one's family members. There are many political families that have
        their members spread across evenly between the treasury benches and the opposition so that they
        enjoy the best of both - a shameless situation and the singular reason for many of the corrupt guys
        evading the law, for years. Why hasn't anyone of the Congress come to defend its PM, on the issue,
        while there was a chorus to defend Rahul vs Varun?

Strange! My queries seem to be simply multiplying when I see the hypocrisy at play in our political system.


Tailpiece.

We've travelled through a month of the summer with the accompaniment of the din of politics. The 16th of May seems to be at a tantalising distance now. Let it usher in a welcome change in attitudes and the way we play politics from now on.    

Was I being harsh?

I'm back to the narration about the roadwork in front of my house. Mistakes have been rectified as the all pervading slush, that made vehicular movements virtually impossible yesterday, has been layered with another round of rock flakes and the accompanying powder, with minimal amount of water. The road roller was run over the surface in the aftermath and it now appears to be a neat work.

As the operations were winding down, Satish, one of the boys of the team had asked my permission to wash himself down at the garden tap in my courtyard. He was the communicator on behalf of the others who're labourers from Tamilnadu. We'd kept a steady stream of fresh water running for them - both at room temperature and chilled - throughout the day so that they could take some respite from the heat and in the process, I'd got to be friendly with the young man.

I'd agreed to his request with a rider, in that, he should use up the water in the container beside the tap and to avoid using the running water. Running water had the tendency of getting over utilised - a tremendous loss in the present circumstances when the water level in the well was being watched with a lot of trepidation! The moment I'd uttered those words, the smiling visage of Satish - that I'd got accustomed through the day - seemed to change and did I see a look of betrayal instead? I could imagine his anguish on hearing me:-

  (a) we'd been working all day long for his benefit and the guy doesn't even have the decency to provide
        water for cleaning up. So what if a little water gets wasted in the process?
  (b) only running water can effectively remove the dirt off my body and why doesn't this guy understand
        this basic tenet?

He and his friends did use up the water from the container to clean themselves up despite their initial reservations.


Tailpiece.

Looking back at the episode, Satish's look continued to haunt me. Wasn't I being unnecessarily harsh? So what if a bit of water had gone waste? Heavens would not have fallen down. And something, deep within, says that I could have been more magnanimous!

Apologies, Satish for my churlishness, miserliness and selfishness. 

Charlie Mike's here!

He's been threatening all the while that he'd make it here and since it's been going on for the last so many years, I'd taken it as another desire of his which he's been constantly shelving because of the pressures at his home. Well, today he finally did make it, by about a half past 8 in the evening, after attending a wedding in the family at Kochi and he was accompanied by his family.

His two sons have grown up to strapping young men, both having overcome medical problems of a prolonged nature. His elder son, an engineer and all of 28 yrs has not been able to cosy up to a work of his liking and that aspect has taken a toll of his persona, making him unsure about life. He has, however, begun to thaw and should be doing well within a matter of time, now that the ghosts of his past have been exorcised! The younger son has been doing well and has picked up a good job in the national capital around the end of last year.

But I've seen the actual person that Charlie Mike actually is. Always full of energy, ever bubbling with enthusiasm, he used to keep the people around him in splits with his spontaneous wit and he has a wonderful timing at that! And above all, he possesses the wonderful quality of taking himself lightly. We're, incidentally, classmates in school but not that friendly as each of us moved with our own circle of friends, then. It was after joining the navy that we got to be good friends and many events were scripted by the two of us - providing mirthful laughter to our course mates - during those initial training days!

And a few years into our professional life, we'd gone our ways due to the requirements of service and a little while later we'd lost touch with each other. In his life there were a few mishaps which made him withdraw into a shell always nurturing a hope that I'd seek him in due course - as per his candid admission, later. And the biggest casualty, during that period, was his positive orientation.

Over the last few years of our reconnect, he's slowly come out of his enforced gloom and has started smiling more frequently as of old. I'd like to believe that I'd a miniscule part to play in this transformation of his. And so, his presence with family at my place was a time for catching up from where we'd left last.

In the process, we'd lost the track of time. I found that my mom was watching us intently throughout the evening. A wonderful day, indeed.


Tailpiece.

The flow of guests to 'The Quarterdeck' has been picking up steadily of late. Hope it continues so that the monotony is broken once in a while!  

Boxed up!

As I'd said yesterday, the road in front of my house was being resurfaced with granite flakes and soft mud. Today was the second and the final day for the work to be completed. The working team had come by 8, in the morning and they had gone about their work in right earnest to spread the material evenly on the existing strip.

The road roller had come after the lunch hour accompanied by the water bowser and they went about their turns without much ado. But by the end of their efforts, the entire road had got so slushy that any movement, on foot, needed superhuman efforts to walk through the muck that was ankle deep. What had happened was that their estimates had gone horribly wrong viz.:-

      (a) the entire amount of water brought in by the bowser was emptied onto the mud filled road. It had
           come at a price and there was no question of sending back the unused water, so it seemed!
      (b) the oppressive heat would dry up the wetness - despite the excess - without delay.

In fact, the contractor sensing my unease, had come to assure me that things would get squared up within no time and that the offensive looking slush would get sorted out on its own. While delivering this piece of conversation he, himself, looked pathetic with the rolled up sleeves of his trousers and his footwear in his hands badly caked with an overdose of dirt! His demeanour further convinced me that my unease was not misplaced!!
           
A few of the vendors, who provided services to our houses, beat a hasty retreat without venturing on their intended work, despite their good intentions. My evening walk was given a convenient go by as I didn't want to be a carrier of dirt into my house! We're truly boxed up!!

Was the strengthening of the road a bad idea, after all? Or was it the overindulgence on the water, by the road laying team, that had brought about the mess?


Tailpiece.

After reviewing the situation, the contractor has suggested that a couple of truckloads of rock sand could be spread and the road roller administered on the surface to retrieve the situation. And the cost, an additional
Rs.10 grand for no fault of ours!