Penance that Yashoda took

My wife would wake-up early in the morning, not bothering to wake me up, she would hurry to the kitchen…..she had started on her daily chores. I sneaked by and watched her expression-less face as she was wiping off the damp plates from dishwasher and putting it in order. Upon seeing me she smiled from the corner of her lips and begged me to make a coffee for her.

She had lot of things to do. Every step she took, she would either stamp on a toy or crayon or some other thing which was not supposed to be lying there. She then slowly said, as if thinking very hard, ‘You are spoiling him. Can you not ask him to keep the toys in its place? See! his toys are inside the fridge too.’ As we were talking, we heard the small steps coming towards us. Yes! It was him. He was standing near me raising both his hands towards me and eyes-half closed. He knew it was not the right time to go to Mom. Smiling, I picked him forgetting about the coffee she wanted me to make. Trying to wake him up was my favorite thing to do. More I try to wake him up, more he would hug me hard and I loved it. By this time, my wife had heated the milk for him and put in the sipper cup, putting him in her lap…. cajoling him to drink the milk …..asking him to look at the imaginary deer that just ran away, the pigeon that was waiting to be fed, the bug that would sting if he did not drink and etc., but he did not want the milk, he wanted juice. Finally, leaving him and the cup with me, she proceeded for her next activity, murmuring ‘juice in the morning…gone after you’.

As the day progressed, my son’s demands increased….now, he did not want juice either, would chew the toothbrush instead of brushing, at breakfast, he did not want dosa, but idli, he wanted cheese only to put it down and play, he wanted boiled egg but not the yolk, at lunch, he wanted spoon to eat, then a fork and then glass of water so that he could put the rice in it and play, finally wanted cookies instead of rice….he was tireless and my wife was tired dancing to his ever changing tunes. He wanted to play in the sprinkler, draw in the wall using the crayons, tear the papers, sit close to the TV, jump from sofa…. ‘She would say, you will have to eat rice to get the cookies, you will have sit in your chair to watch TV else, no cartoon’. The word ‘no cartoon’ would break his heart and wail at the top of his voice as if he had lost his precious something. ‘Miss Melting heart’ would have no other option but switch the TV on again. At the end of the day when it was time for bed, he would not go to his mom at all… he would keep running away and she would have to beg and plead again… ‘kanna… onu va daa….ketti pidikyatte ’(darling, come once to me, let me hug you). All her pleading would be of no use. She would turn to me and tell…. ‘What have I done to get a son like this?’ Seeing his mother in tears, he would rush and hug her. And to answer her question, I would say – ‘The same thing(penance) that Yashoda did’.

Narrow Escape

My wife hung up the phone and stared at me with attacking looks. I wondered how a person who was laughing and smiling over the phone till now can so frown at a blink of an eye. She was talking to her relative who were planning to visit us for the weekend. She: You have to clean the house, look how dirty it is! I can not do everything by myself at this time.

Assuming that it might be just those hormonal changes I tried to pacify her.

Me: Don’t worry! I shall take care of everything. You do not have to even get up from your place. I will manage. You be there like a queen. Ok? Just tell me and I will do everything.

She: Who will cook? Who will arrange things? You will not do anything, I know…. Just sweet talk. That is what you are good at. You fooled me and I married to you because of that. They are coming tomorrow evening at 7:30 flight. Better come early as you will have lot of work before we go to pick them up.

Me: Don’t worry….”Mein hu na” (I am here) I will be here by 5:30, we will sit and chat and have coffee till 6 and then by 6:30 we will head to the airport! Ok?

She: Ok. First fold the clothes that I have kept in the bed. I just took them out from laundry.

Me: That is easy… you close your eyes and relax and by the time you open it will be done.

I had just started sorting the dress by then she yelled.

She: Can you pour some Lysol in the toilet, let it soak while you fold?

She: Listen, while the toilet bowl is soaking, why don’t you clean the bath tub…. You are already inside, isn’t it?

Me: Man! How do you do all these yourself? I have just started and my back has started aching. Can you make me a coffee? I shall do it after the coffee.

She: Can you buy some of the grocery stuff? Here is the list. Can you take him too… he will not allow me to do to anything, please take him too.

Me: Taking care of him is too much for me. I can’t.

She: Aahhaa…. You have not even appreciated me once for taking care of him all day. I take him everywhere I go and I don’t complain. You can not do it for even one day.

Me: Who said I can not take care of him? I can take care of him through out my life… but you should go to your mother’s home.

She: I know you are waiting for that… don’t think I will let you enjoy.

By the time I came back from grocery, it was time to do rest of the activity – feeding child, cleaning and arranging, discarding old mails etc. etc.

After two hours when on bed.

She: O! my God! You did not fold the clothes.

Me: Its 11 now… I will do it first thing in the morning. Even before you wake up! You will wake-up to see the clothes all folded and clean… you will wonder if you are at our place or in a hotel…. It will be so nice.

Me: Look…. I have kept the alarm at 5:30.

She: Ok ok… don’t show all that… let me see what you will do and what I will see when I wake up.

Unfortunately the alarm did not work and I was just able to make it to work on time.

She woke up at 8:30 and did not notice the clothes were not folded.

10:30AM, she calls me up.

She: Somebody spoiled all clothes that you had folded in the morning.

Me: The alarm did not work. I think he changed the timing or something. But don’t worry…. I will come back and fold… you don’t touch it… don’t even go near it… it is my work and I will do it. I don’t like anybody doing my work. You know I was raised to be independent. So, don’t even think about the clothes anymore. Ok! You do your work. I will do mine. I will come home early just to fold the clothes and don’t give me tea or coffee until I do it. Ok! Deal?

She: If I keep waiting, it will remain there itself. I don’t trust you. You don’t realize how much work I am doing here. I gave you only one small work and you did not do it. The Lysol in the toilet is still there and it looks like a stain now since you did not clean it.

Me: O! my God. I forgot about the Lysol. Why didn’t you remind me? I hate blue liquids… it stains instead of cleaning. When I was a bachelor, I put the Regal Blue drops to my white shirt and it became blue… since then I hate the blue liquids. I hate blue Listerine mouth wash too…

She: I don’t want to talk to you anymore. Bye.

Evening, I was caught in some problem at work and then got stuck in the traffic and reached home only at 7 and had enough time to pick my wife and kid to the airport. At the airport, we could see her relatives walking out as we were entering. Seeing them coming, I walked slowly trying to tell them using my body language that we were here long before. Anyways, I and my wife avoided any direct talk amongst us all through the journey. When I reached home, I ran to the bed room to check the clothes and it was not there. She had folded them neatly and arranged in the shelf. Next I checked the toilet, which too was clean. I thanked God that everything was in order. Just then my wife came by…. and said, “I have not forgotten the clothes…. Wait until they go and I will show you!”, pointing her finger skyward.

Me: (Smiling…. ) ha ha… but you will forget it by the time they go…..!!!!!!

She: Smiling… you are good for only this – sweet talk.

Ways to Sabarimala

Should women go to Sabarimala? No! They should not if the rule says so. Who made the rules? Whoever made the rules, if the rule says so, they should not go. Should you take the 41 day penance, celibacy before you go to Sabrimala? I do not have time to do that, nor does my life style permit me to do it. Can I still go to the temple? Can non-Brahmins perform puja? Can we start wearing shoes inside temple, my shoes are clean? Can we have women performing puja in Guruvayur temple?

God is a belief. God is present for people who believe and is not present for those who do not. Religion has nothing to do with God. Religion is just a way of life and Worship is personal. Rules are based on beliefs. Belief being relative, rules are also relative. Personally, What is important is the respect for others beliefs meaning obeying common rules as long as it does not hurt you so bad that it can not be ignored. If it does not bother your day to day activities, the rule should be followed. If the rule discriminates, then it should be changed. Not allowing women to the temple, some may argue is sexual discrimination. Discrimination is when a person is not allowed to find a way of living or acquiring something. When a woman is asked not to visit a temple, no one is holding her from her livelihood, but only asking her to change the way of worship. When the husband takes the penance while going to Sabarimala, the wife too takes the same penance indirectly. The same devotion and bhakti that is present in the husband is shared with his wife too. The prayers that the husband chants are also recited mentally by the wife. Then, why should the wife take the pain of walking barefoot with the offerings in the head, bathing in the open rivers, using common public laboratories, when the husband is doing this for her?

Religion, God, beliefs can all be questioned. Anything based on faith does not have answers.

Pallakkad to Cochin

It was late afternoon when we were getting ready to head out to Cochi - my achi veedu. It was like a four drive from Pallakkad to Cochi all the way in NH-47. I was sure that the four hour drive would be really long and tiring especially since it was the day of my wedding. After our wedding at Guruvayur early morning we went to my house at Pallakkad as per our custom and then from Pallakkad back to the girls house for first-night, that too as per custom. If things were at my hand, I would have skipped all the travel and stayed in Guruvayur itself, but customs…..

We were accompanied by my brother and his wife and then my wife's aunt. It was my brother's wedding the previous day. We had rented a Toyota Qualis, a minivan. The driver was given special instructions to turn off the AC when the bride or the groom were not present and turn it on only when they were there and in our presence he turned it on full blast and I was sort of shivering.

They wanted us to sit together and so we occupied the seat next to the driver and her aunt-uncle occupied the second row seats and my brother and sister-in-law sat at the last row. They were not considered as newly-wed (atleast by me) not only since they got married earlier to me but also since they were engaged for like 6 months. We did not have an engagement or a formal 'penu-kannal'. All we did before marriage was chat and occasional phone calls and that too lasted only for couple of months. The seat next to the driver was really congested and only one more person other than the driver could sit comfortably. We were sandwiched between the driver and door. My new wife complained (yes! Already, within hours!!) that she was sitting too close to the driver and suggested that I scoot a bit....but I had no where to go... so I held out my arms around her shoulder and pulled her towards me..... that was the first intentional physical contact I had with her. Every pot-hole and whenever the driver applied the brakes, was an opportunity for me to hold her close to my heart and whenever that happened our emotions would rise and fall like the waves in the ocean. She would occasionally look at me as if looking out the window and I too did the same. I had to look over my shoulder to see if her cheriamma (aunt) or my brother were looking or noticing anything odd. They were immersed in their conversation, at least I thought so. After around a couple of hours drive, her cheriamma noticed my occasional 'over-the-shoulder' looks and enquired if we wanted to comeback and if it was tight there. I was feeling uncomfortable that I had to hold my wife like this.... So, I told my wife that if she felt tired, she could keep her head over my shoulder and sleep and as I wanted to hear, she asked me what if she fell on the driver, and I told her that I would hold her to make sure she does not fall. That settled my embarrassment.... now I could hold her tight to my chest. But how long could I just hold her, I too decided to sleep and I acted as if I was disinterested and started looking outside and slowly closed my eyes and then I laid my chin to her head, like the proverbial cat that drank the milk closing it eyes hoping nobody notices. I do not know how or when we reached Cochin or anything..... all I was doing was holding her soft hands and occasionally pressing her fingers and she too did the same.... she would act disturbed and snuggle and come closer.

When we reached her house, we opened our eyes to the bright lights and a night sky decorated with stars hanging like jasmine flowers. The river filled with our emotions and boat filled with stories of our love stopped flowing. A journey I did not want, ended up with wishing for more. Do I have to wait for a life time to take this journey again?

Does Vegetarian food make you lazy?

I do not think eating non-vegetarian food will make you fat and obese and bring all the disease that the doctors tell. In fact, I think, eating non-vegetarian food will make you active, attractive and also add to your personality.

Look at the carnivores animals, they are so active and energetic and sharp. If a human is very sharp, they are compared to with eagles, if a human is fast, he is compared to a tiger or lion or cheetah. Now, look at the herbivores, like Elephant, Cow etc… they are huge and lazy. They do not even move until they are in danger. When a human is lazy, they are often compared to buffaloes. None of the good qualities are ever attributed to Vegetarian animals.

According to the books, what we eat decides our physical well being as well as our mental makeup. So, my theory is that eating vegetarian food is detrimental to ones health. It may make you lazy. Where as eating non-vegetarian food will make you active, smart, respected etc.

On second thoughts, the Vegetarian animals are huge and lazy because, they do not have to hunt for their food; what they eat rarely moves. They just have to stand and eat. When they are full they sit in some corner digest it and when hungry get up again and do the same thing. But, for the Carnivores animals, they have to hunt and fight for their food, they have to be always looking…. that might be what makes them active, sharp etc….

So, does food really determine the nature of a person? Or is it the nature of work that you to do determine the nature of the person? Is it really necessary to divide food into Vegetarian and non-vegetarian since there is no purpose or effect on humans other than the source of it? It makes more sense to me (as per the Hindu books) where the food is divided into three types: (1) Sattvic (pure) food: one which increases longevity, purity, strength, health, happiness and taste and which is juicy, oily, and durable in nature. (2) Rajasic (hot) food: one which is bitter, sour, salty, hot and spicy, burning and which gives unhappiness, sorrow and disease and (3) Tamasic (intoxicating) food: one which is stored and devoid of any juices, dried, foul smelling, decomposed, left over and indigestible.

Do Animals believe in God?

Recently I have been reading books on Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and other great philosophers who have written based on their knowledge of Vedas. Swami Vivekananda says that if you have to understand the world, you need to generalize. That is true. If you look into how a living body is made, we all have the same structure. We have a wrist, so do dogs, cows, cats, elephants, lions and reptiles and birds. Then we have the elbow, same is true for the above animals, then the shoulder…. Same for the animals mentioned. Of course, we do not have tails… but understand I am just generalizing. Two eyes, two legs, similar nose, ears etc. etc.

There are differences too… those differences are only on the shape, design, degree of use etc… but not concept. Conceptually, animals and humans are same, except that it does not deceive or cheat or lie.

Now, to my main concern, do the animals too believe in God? Do they pray? When not reading on Swami Vivekananda or Gandhi, I watch Animal Planet. According to studies, animals have feelings, affection and almost all emotions that we people have. I was shocked when I saw the movie – ‘March of the Penguins’ (I know, they did not show this on Animal Planet). But, if they have similar emotions, do they also believe in God? Most of us pray (generalization) for some selfish purpose be it loving spouse, healthy child, safe living, comforts etc. I am sure animals too want them. Animals too protect their children, expect safe living etc. and so won’t they have to ask that from somebody? As I child, I used to throw stones at dogs and they would run to the house where they feel safe and hide until the danger (me and my friends) walks away. So, when the dog hides, will it not pray so that we do not find it or hurt it? Do they understand the concept of God? Do they not understand the concept of God? It seems animals can see more than what humans can see. Do you think they would have already seen God? Is it true that the dog howls when it sees ‘Yama dharma raja’? Can it see them? Or does it know that there is no God and that is the reason it does not pray?

Confusion

I am confused.....I do not know the equivalent word for 'Confusion' in Hindi? Nor do I know the equivalent word for it in Malayalam or Tamil. Called my dad and asked he too could not think of any word exactly equivalent... then asked my Telgu friends if they knew the telgu word... they too did not know... asked some tamil friends, they too did not know.

Recollected those Hindi dialogues where Amitabh says 'Mere dictionary mein nahin hein' . My mentality says that if I do not know/understand something thing, then it does not exist. So, may be there is not word called 'confusion' in any Indian language at all.... or is it that people are slowly forgetting their mother-tongue??? I was talking to my friend earlier on how we no longer say 'I Love you' in our mother-tongue. Same with 'I hate you'. Using such lines in our mother-tongue will make us feel out of place - 'Where are you from? What language are you talking? Is that pure Malayalam? Are you being poetic? '

I am really confused!!!

What should Google do next?

My list of things that Google should do:

1) Google should start a 'Tax preparation software' to compete with H&R Block and the likes.
Features: Should be able to tell what others are doing to save on their taxes.
2) Google Credit Card - should be able to pay bills too.
Features: Should report the amount paid as Sales Tax and help in computing deductible while filing taxes. Should display the store where the same product is being sold at a lesser rate thereby enabling shopper to do a price match immediately.
3) Google Browser - kill IE and Mozilla.
Features: Can think of anything that IE and Mozilla do not have.
4) Google Gas station - kill Exxon
Features: Lowest rate.
5) Google Mart - kill Walmart
Features: Can't think of any right now
6) Google Car - Kill Honda and Toyota
Features: I shall come up with the list when I have some more time.

Headline opinions!!!

I was late to work today …. I stayed back to listen to the Headline news. Then, I got into an argument with my colleague on some trivial issue. We were discussing about something we read on the Newspaper. We discussed and argued and spent a good amount of time over the topic. We do this very often. It is sometimes on ‘How the Tamil Nadu government can allow non-brahmins to perform pujas in temples’, sometimes it is the war in Iraq, sometimes it is the dropping of Ganguly from the team… reservation issue, poverty in India, religion, on how to bring-up children, on how doctors publish contradictory reports etc… the list is not small and we always have something to discuss.

It is good to have some meaningful discussions especially politics, the things we can not discuss with our spouse at home. The wrong thing here is that most of the discussions are based upon the headline news that we read and listen half-heartedly.

I wonder how many of the discussions we have are based on thorough research and not just reading some ‘masala’ website. I remember discussing with my friend on an incident that happened few years back, when a SC/ST girl from Kerala committed suicide for not being able to continue her studies. There was a mini-bandh in Kerala and the buses and other properties were destroyed. I too was upset on the girl’s death and we argued on how wrong things are. My opinion was based on after reading one newspaper. When I read different newspapers, I got more details and a different version of the event. Now, whom do I trust? I read few more newspapers and after spent some time every day to read the story about this subject and finally I came to the conclusion that the whole incident was unwarranted. The girl died for completely different reason than as first reported. How many people would have resorted to violence by reading/hearing the first report? Who is to blame? Is it not our fault to jump to conclusions based on reading just the headline and not reading the whole story?

What would be a society where people’s opinions, views, thoughts and actions are based upon headline news that changes from time to time and from source to source, a society where people do not have enough time to think thoroughly about anything?

Where are those wrist watches

I no longer wear a wrist-watch. I also noticed that many men now-a-days do not wear one. Guess it’s the PDA and cell phones that have taken the place of the wrist watch.

I remember, my dad never forgetting to wear one. He would come back home to pick it up in case he forgot. He does the same now too. I guess he felt the way I feel when I forget my cell-phone – naked!

I do not even recollect when I bought a watch for myself. The last one I had was as a gift from my in-laws. This one had a silver strap and a golden dial – Titan. Real expensive! The one before that was ‘buy a perfume and get a watch free’ thing. The last time I bought one for somebody was one for my wife - Fossil – a pinkish brown with a pink tanned strap. She wore it for few days and finally got bored, I guess. I have not seen her wearing one for a long time… nor have I bothered to ask her.

I have not been following the features of the recent watches... but as I a child, I still remember the change from dial to electronic, from the winding ones to battery to solar, then there was the one with alarm beeps, then ones with radiums to see in the dark, then ones that are water-proof, then ones with shock absorbers, then the talking ones, the ones that measure your BP, heartbeat etc., and now that plays mp3.

I always wanted to buy a ‘Rolex’ for my dad, but now I feel a watch is not really worth. It does not have Internet, it does not have a camera, no ring-tones, it is not IPOD ready, no calendar, no weather information is available, no traffic reports, no compass or GPS …… would it be just not cool to have a watch with all the features… or do they call one with all the above features a ‘Cell phone’?

Designer Upma

I like to see my wife and baby sleep on a lazy weekend morning. She refuses to open her eyes. One of things I like to do on such a day is prepare some hot coffee and then keep the breakfast ready before they wakeup. I made this upma for her just to see the smile.

Though Upma is considered like a 'adopted child' of breakfast.... see her all dressed up like a dulhan .....

I like the spiced up Upma to any other breakfast esp. because it is easy to make... the preparation steps are easy and no leaving the flour overnight, no side-dishes required.... just put in your favourite vegetables.... though considered as 'beginner's receipe' or 'bachelor's menu'.... does not take the taste out of it.

Heart ful Fish keema

We had invited my wife's 'balyakala sakhi' for lunch the other day and she cooked some excellent food, something she had never done for me.

I had to do my bit.... though content is king, presentation is essential, so I added some design to the already tasty and delightful food. Made two hearts of the Fish Keema - one my wife and the other her firend and then put a smile to the bottom - my happiness.

Ghosts and music

Read the news that one of the Hindi song - Jhalak Diklaja is attracting ghosts and whoever sings it gets 'possessed'. Strange!!!!
I am getting tempted to listen to the songs and have so far consciously avoided it. I might listen to it later on in the day. Not sure if what is true in Gujrath is true here in US. Wondering if something happens to me.... where do I go? It also reminds me of the various movies made with such a concept - a lady in a white sari, long black untied hair... walking in a cloud of smoke and singing that haunted song.... and then a dog howling in the background and gush of wind slamming the window but the curtains slowing floating ......

Interesting news... that needs to be followed.... ;-)

More later.

Reservation Issue

It pains to see the educated back-bone of our country protesting in the streets for their 'birth right'. Yes! I feel 'Opportunity for the deserving' is one's birth-right. To add salt to the wounds, the SC has passed out a stern order. Most of the students who are protesting are from middle class whose parents would have sweated-out to provide them with the education their children deserve.
I really wish some 'high-profile' citizen comes forward and voice their opinion. By high-profile citizen, I do not mean a politician. Remember when there was a 'worm' in some chocolate, the company brought in Amithab Bachan in their advertisements; Coke/Pepsi brought in Film stars! Govinda came forward for Salmaan. Aamir for Narmada Project! Why is no one coming forward for the Reservation issue? I really wish atleast one high-profile person comes forward and speaks their mind. I was surprised to see Navjoth Sidhu voice his opinion.
There should be no reservation in 'Professional Fields'. Reservation can be in 'Back-office' operations and only to the economically backward citizens, if possible, reservation should be based only on 'Commitment'.

A story about six fingers....

I was born with six fingers in my right hand. My parents decided not to put it to the trash as somebody told them it is supposed to bring luck. I do not recollect how it looked when I was born. My earliest memory of my tiny sixth finger were those embarassing moments in the Biology class where the teacher would always take me as an example for that weird mutation caused congenital malformation or whatever they called it (hexadactyly). And if the teacher had forgotten about me, there were a bunch of guys to shout 'He has has it!!!'

Upset by these, I asked my parents to chop it off. They explained me how lucky I was to get the sixth finger. When I was very small, some 5 months old, a bunch of people kidnapped me for human sacrifice. They put me in a sack and took me in a cart and I was without food for 2 days. Then they put me in front of the idol and started chanting and finally when they were ready for the sacrifice, they noticed that I had six fingers and realized that I had been 'blessed by the gods' and they immediately took me back to my parents and apologised for what happened. They also gave lot of gold coins to my parents. Anyways, that was long back. The Biology classes would make me wish that it would have been better if they had indeed sacrificed me.

Time heals...well time also changed things. My sixth finger soon became attractive to most of the girls. I no longer had to hide them. Though the guys felt that it was the ugliest thing, the girls always wanted to touch it and shower with nice words. She would say - 'How cute?' and a butterfly would fly in my stomach. 'Can I touch it?' and another butterfly would fly in my stomach with that 'madhura sparsham'. Then she would hold my palm and feel the finger... and my stomach would be full of butterflies. 'Does it pain?' I would say... 'nooo go ahead hold it for some more time. Its all yours!'. 'Do you feel the touch?' (Ofcourse.... I can feel it!!!! ;-) ) 'Can you move just your this finger?' 'Do you cut your nails?' 'How do you cut your nails? Does it pain?' 'Can you hold anything with it?' This question was the best one as I would get the oppurtunity to touch them back. I would hold her palm and slowly touch (thotum-thodathiyum) with it and it would tickle her as if I was brushing her with a peacock feather and she would stretch her hand all the way and holding her ears to her shoulder, controlling herself and meanwhile spreading the 'prema-gandham', then, I would slowly pinch her arms and my mind,speech and deed would all be in three different directions, all lacking clarity. My god.... you should see her smile and laugh when I do that.....Man! I was indeed lucky.

It seems the Panda bears have six fingers too and they use it for eating, though I could do everything as usual, I have never used my finger for anything else. It is as smooth and soft like a baby's finger. Being soft it was prone to all injuries. Even the edges of a paper would tear and cut my finger and bleed profusely. It was sensitive too, I remember once when the teacher hit me with a cane and it hit my little finger and it pained terribly, it was like how it would have been if a 'pain gets an headache' - unbearable.

My extra finger does not trouble me except I sometimes have problem wearing gloves, or when I go to the bowling alley and I have to use my left hand. With a hope of getting into the Limca book of records, I would practice to write by keeping the pen inbetween my thumbs. Then I would sometimes keep pens inbetween every finger and I could keep five of them and then would paint using all of them at the same time. No luck on that yet!

By the by,recent studies indicate that the sixth finger is a dominant trait and it has a selective advantage and its time that more and more people will have six fingers in their hands. Who knows, tomorrow a five fingered person will be considered weird and taken as an example in their biology class. Looking forward for that day......

For you.... Ninaku vendi ....

Ninuku vendi.........
(For you.............)

Marzhayil kudayayi varam
(In the rain, will come as an umberella)
Vylil thanal aayi varam
(In the hot sun, will come as a shade)
Iruttil nirzal aayi varam
(In darkness, will come as your shadow)
Pularchayil manj aayi varam
(At dawn, will come as dew drops)
Pagalil suryan aayi varam
(In Morning, will come as sun-rays)
Rathriyil nilav aayi varam
(At night, will come as moon-light)
Katil manum aayi varam
(With the winds, will come as scent)
Povil nirum aayi varam
(In the flowers, will come as colour)
Theynil maduram aayi varam
(In honey, will come as swetness)
Nanikyumbol manas aayi varam
(In shyness, will come as heart)
Mansil snehum aayi varam
(In your heart, will come as love)
Urangabol nidra ayi varam
(At bed-time, will come as sleep)
Nidrayil swapnam aayi varam
(In sleep, will come as dream)
Unarumbol unarv aayi varam
(When waking-up, will come as freshness)
Unarvil ormaya aayi varam
(When awake, will come as thoughts)
Thanichu irkyumbol kutu aayi varam
(When alone, will come as companion)


Marikyombol....
(In death....)
marikyumbol... kude varam
(In death....will come with you)

Childth sense

I am proposing that a new word be introduced called 'Childth Sense'. What does it mean? The noun means: a power of waking up at the exact time when you are not supposed to and then ask for all the attention : a keen distruptive attitude.

Let me explain with couple of examples.
Example 1: You are a lady and you have just completed your 100th lullaby and have fallen into deep sleep after feeding your baby upto the nose. As soon as your heart beat settles to the normal rythm, your sweety wakes up and cries at the top of the voice. The ability of the baby to identify this time is called the 'Childth Sense'

One more example.
Example 2: Its your wedding anniversary and you are planning to have a dinner together with your spouse at your home. The food is all ready, you smile and wait for appreciation from your hubby. He tastes it and smiles even wider and you are happy and you take the food to eat. The time at which your hand is about to reach your mouth will be the exact time when your baby wakes up and cries and brings the roof down.
(PS: Example 2 is relevant to only desi's who want to keep thier children with them always and not send to a day-care center).

Ok! One more example to make my bid stonger:
Example 3: You are in the bed with your spouse. You touch your spouse's hand, the fingers turns into a painting brush and run over from your partners forehead ..... ! Let me cut rest of the description and come to the point... you are ready to make love. You are ready...you have made sure that you have taken the precautions.... ready, set and gone.... your child wakes up and cries.....

The ability of a child's senses to identify and wake up at the instances where the child needs to be in deep sleep is called the 'Childth Sense'.

Pi ke Pat : A leaf out of my Calcutta days

I love Calcutta. The people are very nice and friendly. They are very accommodating. They treat you like God when you visit them. Feed you with the best sweets. Prepare some exotic dishes. Wow! The kindness of the Bengalis are unlimited.

I used to visit the road-side tea stall. These tea stalls were so differnet from the ones in Kerala or Madras. Only the boiling milk vessel indicated that it was a tea-stall, no shelter, no benches, no newspapers..... What I liked in the tea-stall is the cup in which they give tea. It was made up of clay. Almost everybody preferred drinking in the mud cup. The taste of the tea in mud-cup was so very different from drinking from a glass cup. You should drink it to understand. My good friend Abijith-da took me to the tea-stall and ordered for dui chai (two tea's) and told me it is called 'pi ke pat'. 'Pi ke pat' means, 'drink and throw(bang)'. You basically drink the tea and throw the cup hard so that it breaks . I laughed when I heard how they coined that word. Later I was addicted to it.

Then I started to have rasagollas in the earthen cup. Then had 'misthi doi' (sweet yoghurt). Man! that was lovely. Every thing that came in this mud cup had an extra taste. Its was like have a south-indian meal in a plantain leaf.
One day, we went to have 'Pani puri', and they loved to call it 'puchka' mmm. Me being new to Calcutta, did not know how to eat it. So the puchka walla gave me a leaf, nicely folded like a funnel head. Then he took the puri stuffed with masala, dipped it in the special water and then placed it in my leaf. I took the puri, drank the water and threw away the puri. And Abijith-da was jumping with laughter.... telling, this is not pi-ke-pat. You eat the puri too along with the water and finally when you are done, you throw away the leaf.

Wish I could go back to Calcutta and eat all those things again, those egg-rolls, those samosas (singada), those jilaybees, those milk sweets... those paan... thoose mudi (rice flakes with ground-nut, onion and chili and lemon), wish I could see the pandals during pujas, the decorated idols, the beautiful women, the friendly men, the jovial attitude, their intellectual thoughts and talks. mmmm!! Indeed a City of Joy. Man!!! Am I missing that life or what?

Happiness to me....

Happiness to me comes from small things.....
... seeing my baby sleep
... seeing him cry after waking up and stretching his hands to pick him up
... seeing my wife sleep hugging my baby
... sleeping with my baby in my arms
... seeing my wife not willing to wake up on a weekend morning
... changing my baby's daipers
... making coffee for my wife on a lazy weekend
... making break-fast and keeping it ready before my wife wakes up
... planting a kiss on my wife's cheek when my baby is not looking
... my wife holding my hands when her parents are around
... my wife calling my name instead of her mother's name when in pain
... carrying the bag of grocery while my wife walks besides me holding our baby
... reaching the door of my house and waiting to see the smile in my baby's face

............. many more such small things are the ones that keep my heart ticking......

Hummer Off Road Test Drive.

Last weekend I took the Hummer Off-Road test drive. It was Priya's dream to own a Hummer. She would always say 'Can we buy a Hummer instead of a house?'. Anyways, had seen advertisement and clippings of the Hummer and was interested, but was not sure. The thought that would come to my mind was: 'When we are never going to buy this why should I test drive?' After I saw the invitation, I called the dealer to schedule an appointment for the test drive. I was still not sure if I would go for the event. In the invitation they had mentioned that there would be no sales pitch or pressure, which was one more reason for me going for the event. The most important reason for going was Priya. I wanted to take the drive and tell her how it was. I then scheduled the test drive for 2pm Saturday.
I showed up late and the Customer service was more than happy to fit me into the next slot which was at 4pm. I had over 1 hour to browse through the show room. I first started looking at the H1. Those are the ones that the Military folks use, I guess. They were huge and ugly. There was not enough room at the driver's seat. The door was too close to the seats. I had to move to my side before I closed the door. The controls inside were nicely arranged, all of them facing the driver. The seats were not so comfortable. It was the same with the passenger side seat too, not so comfortable and too close to the door. Looked like they had too much stuff fit between the two seats. Next was H2. That too was huge but looked better than H1. The seats were comfortable and bucket shaped. The door was not as close. I did not have to bang the door to close it too. Nice leg space etc. Then, I looked at the H3. H3 falls into the category of SUV's. This is smaller than the other two, still big, but was too good. Everything inside was nice and hard. H3 was different from other SUV's like the 4runner and other cars. Those were more of luxury and this looked like a performance car. It had the ‘Rough and Tough’ look.

There were around 20 Hummers (H2 and H3's) lined up for the test drive. We were grouped so that one vehicle would have two couples. The vehicle I got was numbered as V-15 and was accompanied by another heavy-weight couple. The man (Bob) would have weighed 400 pounds easily and I suspected that the vehicle would get grounded. Anyways, I was too excited and quickly found the vehicle and took on to the driver's seat, Buckled-up, started and waited. When Bob got into the vehicle, it did not even move. Wow! I was impressed; I was expecting it would flip-over. It was time for the test drive and each vehicle had a two-way radio and the instructors were instructing.... 'Go slow and steady'. They were worried because in a whole around $600K were at stake, any damage would be expensive for all. I was getting excited and wanted the vehicles ahead of me to move quickly so that I could start. All were taking their sweet time. The vehicles ahead of me started to move slowly and my turn came. The Instructor, Sean, pointed me to take a left and wait. I slowly moved front, took a left turn and .......... could not see a damn thing after that. It was a steep fall from there and I could not see where I was going to. I wanted to ask Sean if I could get down and see where I was heading too. Man! it was like a free fall for me... not knowing where you are going. He waved his hand prompting me to come forward.... and I took little baby steps... one at a time, at the brake and acceleration. As we were slowly and smoothly going down, I could see the grass and gravel in the ground. Next was uphill. The uphill was equally steep... I pushed the gas pedal and we were now looking at the sky. (We had our sun-roof open). I could hear things fall from the lady's hand bag, who was sitting tight lipped at the back. As I reached the top ... it was the same thing... do not know where I was heading to as I could not see anything beyond me other than the clear blue sky. After those two difficult slopes, it was the rocks. I would have never driven over the rocks if it were my own vehicle. The rocks looked dangerous. Then, there was this sharp and tilted curve. As I took the turn, I felt like I was driving a bike in the 'death well', remember 'Gemini Circus' where the guy goes round and round inside the well, it was more or less like that, except that I had to do it just once and I was not in a bike. Here, too, I was worried that the Vehicle would flip-over. I was more worried thinking what would have happened if Bob fell over me- Yes the seat belt worked and he remained there and the car did not flip-over. The next track was mud-track. There was a swamp and we had to go downhill and then uphill. I was sure, it would slide all the way down and then we would then not able to go up after that. Sean instructed us to change the gear setting to 4Up. We were driving 4down till then. Man! the car just took us all the way down and then up as if there was not mud or swamp there. It was now time to switch drivers and I did not want to give it away. Bob drove the second half of the track and I got to sit at the passenger seat. It was as exciting to just sit and watch. Bob was more experienced than me. He was like a pro. He would intentionally go over logs; he would drive in-between the swamp and laugh when the car slid. The whole trip was like a trip to Six-flags.

Yes! Now, I too want to buy this Hummer. It is expensive but affordable. They say it 'drinks' fuel, but, it is as bad as Toyota 4runner or Nissan Xtra. I guess, I should start saving some money for my next HumV - H3. (And Priya is going to say ‘Yes’ to me atleast this time, for a change!!!)