Slices of my daily life

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 lo...

I got this as a forward...the source is mentioned as National Geographic. A female leopard hunts a pregnant female baboon. While the leopard is dragging the dead baboon, she notices a day-old baboon baby... Leopard leaves the hunted mother and starts taking care of the newborn baboon. When I shared it with my colleagues, one colleague RP remarked, "As some humans are turning into animals day by day in our society, somebody needed to compensate !"

I have observed that, at some point of time or the other, in any in-depth discussion, particularly regarding a decision, already made or to be made, the issue of heart versus head comes into focus. It is as if they are two things opposed to each other, an either-or option, mutually exclusive. I too have my moments of ‘what I must do’ versus what I want to do’…in other words head versus heart. It is a difficult to handle dichotomy. I have wondered why the head and heart are always pitched against each other. Why can’t they complement each other…participate equally in a decision, for example ? This morning I was just flicking through channels and on one I saw a small part of a scene that set me thinking about this. This 5 year old little girl and her mother are walking back from school. The mother’s sandal’s thumb-strap gives way. But she continues walking since there is no other option. Mother is limping now and Daughter is watching her and imitating the mother. After a while Mother rem...

There must be about a million quotes that describe, some with great precision, what friends are and what friendships are. When I read them, I identify with most of them and think about the ones that I don’t identify with. But none manage to touch the core of my heart. My heart ‘knows’ only when it experiences. I have always been super-sensitive towards and about my friends and friendships. It is only of late that I have become totally secure. I do not know how and when the realisation came from within that, true friends and friendships are beyond any small upheavals that may happen in our individual or collective lives. I believe this realisation came as I became clearer in my mind that my involvement in my friends and my friendships is unshakeable, no matter what; And also with the realisation that like everything else, relationships and people change and thus if some friends or friendships don’t last, they no longer are. It is alright. However, for certain friends or friendships, the...

It was bright and sunny. Hot, in fact. Suddenly the skies became dark. An army of galloping horses of dark clouds had invaded the skies. Everything took on a grey hue…the trees, the houses, the river, the people. A cool breeze began to blow. The kind that blows into your face, pushing back your hair and makes you wish you could fill your wings with it and take off into the sky. The kind that makes you pine for something unknown…pulls you towards something indescribable. The kind that makes you forget everything…even yourself. Slowly the wind gathered strength. It cornered the clouds, surrounded them from all directions and began to push them. The confused clouds ran helter-skelter. They collided with each other. They were startled to hear deafening thunder…their eyes blinded by lightning. A huge tear drop escaped from the eye and fell to the ground. Then another and yet another…till their hearts poured out all the grief. Just as suddenly as it had begun, it all ended. Tear-drops now gl...

I have observed that different people react differently to others being dependent on them. Some feel powerful. They consciously or sub-consciously use it as a tool to gain importance. They like people being dependent on them so that they can hold them to ransom and display their importance from time to time. Some feel superior. They feel proud, sometimes downright vain, as they translate others’ dependence on them as their superior capability. Some feel bound. They feel completely and irrevocably responsible. Since others are dependent on them, they can never delegate / share / pass on this responsibility, even for a single instance. Some feel grateful, servile, in fact. Their sense of worth is redeemed by others being dependent on them, in being needed. All of the above seem extreme responses to me. They seem to lack in balance. To recognise the dependence as being in specific areas, for specific reasons or durations and to respect the dependence for exactly what it is, nothing more a...