A True Story!

I heard this story from a very good friend. A true one!

This boy was smart and handsome, Just ten years old. From one of the poorest and deepest pockets of the Indian subcontinent. That day he was playing with his friends as usual. Plucking mangoes. Nay, stealing them; Stolen mangoes had always been sweet. In a fit of excitement, he tried plucking the biggest one on the most difficult part of the tree. He slipped and he fell down; On the way down his hand hit a electrical wire and though thankfully nothing happened, his hand had a big cut. The poor parents took him to the nearest government hospital. The government hospital, as usual did not have any doctors and the nurses there took some money and just applied dressing. They dressed the hand every time the parents took him and took money for every visit. I need not explain.Corruption, of course! Sadly, for the boy, the bribe money paid did not work out well. The hand became septic and it started to spread to other parts. The parents could not spend any more money and so took him to the pujari's (The traditional Indian doctors). They applied some oil and from then on the hand became worse. The parents tried every trick in the book, but the boy was not getting better. The entire hand has become septic and they knew he is going to die soon. They were in fact waiting for him to die. They can't spend any more. They didn't have anything more to sell!

They soon found out one small NGO(hospital) is working in that forest there. The doctor in that hospital decided to amputate the hand with whatever little instruments he had. After the amputation is done, miraculously the guy survived; And is happily living life.

This small story made me thinking(As usual!). Where are the government doctors? Why is there very little instruments to help the doctor? Why can't some one just catch those nurses and punish them? Why can't somebody do something about all these?

Questions, questions, questions! Living in the poshest area of Delhi, It is very easy to ask questions! But,

We all want Bagath Singh's to be born, not in our house! Don't we? 

Easter memories!!!

Well, to be honest i am not guy who will sit in one corner and drool over memories. Yay, they are good. I mean, the memories, are good. It helps you to look back; Still i cannot lie on my back and look at the empty sky and say, "Wow! those days!!!". I ve seen my friend do that, and tried counting the stars only to find out that it is easier to sleep in that position, than to say "I once lived like a king";

Yet, after all those unsuccessful attempts i decided i will do that again; Reading books the entire day make you do crazier things!

So, I started with the Easter service; My very strict dad wakes us up by 2:00 am to go to church by 4:00 am. I am yet to understand the logic behind that, still, he says it is for the woman who take a long time to get ready.I guess, it was easier for him to fight us than his wife! Then my clean mother insist us taking bath. Taking bath? At 2:30? This is insane, my brain will shout; Yet, we did that as obedient kids. Okie! we at least went inside the bathroom. Just about to enter the bathroom, we can hear dad say for the 100th time, "The car will leave in 5 mins"; I always hoped car leaves us behind, it never happened that way. After the hustle and bustle we usually were the first to enter church, whichever church we went to. Dad will switch on the key board, and we will start looking for the best place to sleep, usually behind the keyboard. One thing dad has allowed us to do is to sleep there; Actually before even realizing, he will be fast asleep.

The church on Easter day will be full! Christians have this habit of coming to church on special days. Probably God tells them some thing special on those days. Who knows, God could have even wanted them to show off their new dress and Jewels to their neighbors. A packed church, fully decorated in Jasmine, with newly dressed people and a fully functional PC system is the last thing one should give a pastor at 4:00 am; Especially with Christ having Just risen, he will go on and on and on! So somebody in the congregation has to have a look at the clock, somebody has to walk out, to finally make him realize that our bodies are actually tuned to sleep during this time! And after an hour of sermons and another hour and half of other things it is the final song! The pastor announces " We will finish with the closing hymn", "Christ Arose, halleluiah"! If Christ had not got up till that song, I am pretty sure he will, when HE hears us sing that song; HE would have even said, "Please", that is not the tune; Who cares? After singing in 7 different tunes in a single song, Just to see those bright faces; Christ is risen, and the service is over;

Now that the service is over, it is time to wish everybody a happy easter; " Happppppyyyyy Easter" !!! repeated to 750 families who had just woken up, of course takes a hell lot of time! Then, of course there will always be the "holy holy" people to whom you should say "The message was just wonderful"; I was really touched! Indeed, i was; My dad touched me to wake me up as soon as the message got over;

So after the big hungama, back home on a easter day is the best! Mom always make sure she is at her cooking best on special days and add to that a game of cricket and a loooong sleep without dad's intervention (remember? we woke up at 2:30) calls from lot of friends and families, Easter day was truly special!

Some times memories do help it seems! Especially when tomorrow (another Easter day), have to be spent with books!

Happy happy birthday!!!

Life has this habit of throwing some wonderful people at you every now and then! Some come and go;But few just cannot go away; Some learn from you; But very few teach; You hate some, but few you love; It happens! It just keeps happening every time. It happens when life is at its lowest ebb, or when the tide is high; You just cannot run away from that! People, people, people! They are what makes life interesting, after all.

Believe me, it is tough writing here about one such person; Especially if that person belong to that category of the few, who just cannot go away, the few who teach you and the few whom you love and even more difficult, if you had already promised them that you will write about them here, with an extension which says "Else will jump from the building";

Yes! I really did promise her,my periyappa ponnu (Big dad's daughter - English cannot do justice everywhere), that i will either write about her on her birthday or will jump from the building. I Know! Promises are meant to be broken; But not with her, she might even push me down from the building. She is one person who can pull your leg so much that suddenly you realize that you are already on four legs when you want to answer. A heartless female you would say! I agree not! One of the most sensible and most lovable characters that life has thrown at me.

I can flatter around here. It is very easy; I don't want to, neither will she want me to;

I hope our relationship just stays the way it is; Some relationships do end in "Just" memories; I would prefer fighting on four legs to "Just memories";

Love you akka; just for being what you are.......Happy happy birthday! God bless!

It is a false world!!!

Well, to be honest, Im not 100 percent honest here! You can't expect that in a blog. Even the world out there is a farce. Let me tell you why.

Yesterday, I took two friends(husband and wife) to Taj, rather they took me; So, we decided to have a guide to explain the majestic Taj. You give money after seeing performance sir! said our guide; what money you give i take. My friend knowing some Hindi and with the married man's strength (The women's stare!) negotiated and got it down to Rs. 200/-. So, our guide, who said, he is a spanish literature student, started his explanation of Taj! Akbar's son Shah Jahan had three wives. Wait a minute, i screamed. In full enthu, since i had just read history, i said Akbar's son is Jehangir. Yes sir, Akbar's son Jehangir's grandfather Babar's son's son sir Shah Jahan, said our spanish scholar. how do you like that? Tk Tk! I repeated the bare minimal hindi i knew and so we continued. Sir, this is the place where Shah jahan used to take picture's of Taj, showing us a tomb. My eye balls almost popped out! Pictures? boss, you mean those replicas of Taj which comes out on click of a button? Yes sir, no digital camera at that time sir. Old camera, 17th century no, our scholar replied! Abi bi museum mein hein sir (Even now it is in the museum, sir)! Wow, i said; This fellow is a genius, my mind said. For the next hour and half of stories on Taj mahal, the symbol of love, love for the third wife, (That man had so much love to give for two more wives and umpteen concubines). After heavy bleeding on both ears, and paying him off we decided we will make our move to the next place.

Brindavan, the place of Lord Krishna's home, they said. We were showed a temple, where the guide here said, "Even Dhirubai Ambani cannot show you the way to heaven sir, i will show you". So we were asked to sit in a place and one other man explained. "If you give 15,000 rs, your wish will come in one year sir, else you can give little lesser money also, we don't bother"! We don't bother? hello, i thought it is we who should bother! "So what are your plans sir? how much are you going to donate; tell your name and i will give reciept". My friend, the wife, pushed, her husband to tell his name (So wifeish), who, as usual said his name (Pondatti pechu thataathavan) and also said he don't have any money. That very moment that guy, closed those statues with a cloth and said keep going! I was almost cursing my friends inside then, when finally the time came to give money to this guide, he said, sir, i won't accept 20 rs. Mein guide nahin hein sir; I just showed you something even Ambani could not; 50 rs! Guide nahin hein? My friend looked irritated. So, if i give you 50 rs, you are the chief minister of the state? i could read his mind voice.

After a loooong jouney and non stop non sense in a farce world, i have to accept that i still had a great day! My friends Devi and Udhaya ( Always in that order! ) made my day;  It sure is a false world! what the hell? There still are beautiful people who make the world a nice place for ordinary mortals like me.

It is gonna be alright;

"It is going to be alright Sam"; She pinged. Stop! Don't pounce on me. She is my cousin. So no other news from my side yet!

It was one of those days when you want to jump from the well and realize the wells are small. I am sure most of us have gone through days like that, when nothing really works, when you are really depressed, when life looks extremely complicated, when the future looks bleak, and the present even bleaker, when you get up from bed thinking why the clock can't be a bit slow and cursing earth for rotating so fast. It was one of those days!

I got up thinking, God another 15 hours to go to bed again? Then this message came. "It is going to be alright sam"; Ya, it is going to alright people! This too shall pass; There will be failures, disappointments, depressions, dejections; They do come, but, guess what? It will be attached with the Grace and the strength to go through them; There might be people wonderful people(Like my cousin) who will pull you through, or life will find its own ways to pull you through.

There is a brighter sunrise, as always, the next day; This too shall pass! 

Life without women!

                                 So, Imagine a day without women! No, No, they can't come even in your dreams; No dreams about the beautiful girl next door, or about Aishwarya Rai, not even about the happy times spent together with mom and sister (I doubt, even otherwise they have a place in dreams). Instead dream about the day you went out with a friend (I mean, the boy friend); Screeecccch! Even dreams don't take off properly.....Lying on the bed restlessly,  suddenly realized that a big black figure waking you up! Oops! that was dad with the coffee mug. Not the usual, "Get up, Chellam" sound; rather, a rough, "Get up or...." sound. Cursing God for creating Men with such a bad voice, got ready for office, of course without breakfast! Boss, did you forget? No women! that means no breakfast! Take the bike and hit the road full of cranky men; Keeping your head straight (What the hell! no women anyway), rush to the office cubilce. All four around you were men, and so is your manager, his manager, and his manager.....God!!!! Not even a 'hi' and you know what? nobody even talks. Where is the subject to talk about? So the computers curse you for handling them so badly and showing off your anger on them. Finally an SMS! Huh, an excited look turned dissapointment as the sms was from 'Rohit'; What! he does not have any job? scolding him, made you realize that the entire concept of SMS is a waste. After a ridiculously stupid day, driving through the surprisingly empty Ranganathan street with not even bill boards to look at; the first person you meet back home is your grandfather, asking you how the day went.

Ha, life without women, what a waste? I salute all of you, women; And shamelessly agree that life without you is unthinkable; You make our life livable; We are, because of what you are. Period.

Happy womens day!
                                               

Elections? who cares!

Elections in the country's biggest state was the news the entire day. So, there was Behenji, the so called saviour of the dalits (Didnt want to use the name here, but they didn't give me an alternative), with the big elephant museum as her biggest achievement(Mind you, elephant is an endangered animal) is the ruling party leader. The  leader of one major community is there in the opposition fighting Behenji; Then there are the two big parties, the national parties they are called, the Congress riding piggy bank on the latest avatar of Gandhi, and the BJP with 6 Prime ministerial candidates (No! im not kidding, they have 6 PM candidates).

The shameless Indian media, that is what it does best, being shameless, has portrayed this elections as the make or break for this country; Make or break? Now, what does that mean? Does it mean, our counrty will collapse if some 'X' or 'Y' gets to the power, or does it atleast mean, India will be the super power ruling the world, if some 'X' or 'Y' come back to power.

Sorry, i could hear you say, come to the matter my boy! what do you want to say?

I just want to say, I don't care; neither do 90% of the people of this country. We don't care if they build statues for elephants or for cows; We don't care if all 6 PM's rule together or the self proclaimed mascot of the youth rule us.

We don't care because, nothing is going to change; Not a single damn thing. The lives of the people who beg, the quality of education, the daylight robbery, the roads, the rails, the houses of the poor, and no other thing which my eyes had flinched at is going to change. This is democracy mate! It is not supposed to change anything; is it?

Who cares?