I seem to have an unusually high number of funny telephone-encounters ! In fact, long ago, I had written a post on telephone manners. What happened a short while ago is yet another incident in the growing list :)
My cell phone rang. I saw a cousin's name flash on it. We haven't spoken for ages. In fact we usually meet and chat only at family functions...the usual reason being busy schedules etc. So, I received the call and very cheerily said, "Bol S!"
There was this heavy silence for about 10 seconds...during which a thousand thoughts came to my mind...ranging from...is there any sad news and did I sound too cheery for that...to...perhaps she's called to invite me to some function.
The 10-second silence seemed a wee bit too long and I heard myself say uncomfortably, "Kay ga ?" ("What's up ?)
Then she said, "Oh wow ! Its you ! For a second I wondered why my bai's daughter is sounding like this !"
To this, I could only burst into loud fits of laughter much to the surprise of my colleagues :)
The Japan earthquake and tsunami managed to bring tears to my eyes. It is terrible to see the amount of damage …to humans, to property, to the landscape…to lives…and it will take ages to restore some sense of normalcy. Life as they knew it before this disaster is lost forever for all the affected people…those who are still alive. :( Call me weird or naïve or stupid or un-informed or anything, but I really believe that we humans have managed to bring things to such a level where Nature has to act to restore the balance. How else does one explain the rise in the frequency of natural disasters and the increased intensity of the damage they cause each time they occur ? The uncontrolled population increase over the centuries itself has been responsible in robbing the Earth of its natural resources. Add to it the greed of humans…we can’t take just as much as we need…we have to take more and hoard. We don’t think of preservation, of regeneration or of repaying what was taken. We cross the ...
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