Slices of my daily life

While laughing at poor DJ’s plight while reading this , I suddenly recalled this incident and laughed even more. Once upon a time (= a couple of years ago), yours truly was going to Lakshmi Road and got caught in such a horrible traffic jam on Karve Road that even the proverbial ant wouldn’t be able to overtake the vehicles that were practically kissing each other. Yours truly (hereafter referred to as YT), surprisingly, was not at all affected and continued progressing with the traffic at a snail’s pace. About half way towards Deccan Gymkhana, one Mr. Scooter behind YT started sounding his horn. YT first decided to ignore it thinking that eventually Mr. Scooter (hereafter referred to as Mr. S), would realise that it was impossible for YT to make space and allow him to overtake. However, this was not to be. Mr. S continued honking like crazy and eventually managed to get YT all irritated. YT, sarcastically, gestured for Mr. S to overtake from wherever he could. Neither did Mr. S overta...

I have been mulling over this question for some time now. Much value is placed on being successful. I have mentally played out different arguments, followed a number of lines of thought and have arrived at some observations. Success is measured differently by different people. It acquires different meanings in different scenarios, different circumstances and different contexts. One applies certain parameters, and then makes some allowances or some disallowances and proceeds to measure the success of a human being or an endeavour. The result varies as per the parameters. Success is also relative to a stated or implied goal, if one has been predefined. Success of two human beings or endeavours, in my opinion, is not one hundred percent comparable, even if the measurement parameters and the allowances and disallowances are identical, since circumstances are never identical. I had once read a verse about success and it had appealed to me a lot. Unfortunately I do not know the source. I quo...

I recently read a book called “ The Tears of the Desert ” by Dr. Halima Bashir. It is about the civil war in Darfur, Sudan. Last year I read a book about civil war in Sierra Leone called “ A long way gone ” by Ishmael Beah. I have also read about war-time diaries of youth . From Israel… Palestine… Kashmir… Azerbaijan... Armenia... Bosnia-Herzegovina... Northern Ireland... Rwanda... Cyprus... East Timor... Côte d'Ivoire... Kosovo... to absolutely anywhere in the world…all we hear these days in conflict based on religion, ethnicity, caste, etc. etc. It is horrifying to even read about the atrocities committed by humans against humans…I daren’t imagine what the people who live and die through the horror have to face ! As far as my limited knowledge and observation goes, animals are driven by only three instincts…fear, hunger and reproduction. Man considers himself superior to animals since he is supposed to possess superior intellect, superior emotional capacity, a quality called huma...

Two days ago, while in office, I received a call from R, the costume designer of KK that she needed my measurements for dungarees. I was on a tight schedule. I had a lot of work at office and then I had another rehearsal to attend. I couldn’t possibly take half an hour out to go to her place. So we decided that we would meet in a shopping mall that is on the way from office to the rehearsal and she could take measurements in the washroom of this mall (wait…wait…don’t react just yet…there’s more to come) and I could quickly be off on my way. But as I left office, I realised that my bike had a puncture and a colleague was offering me a lift but he would be taking another route. So I called up R and asked her if she could pick me up on that route. Coincidentally there’s a small shopping complex on the alternate route. She agreed to pick me up outside this one. She was yet to arrive when I reached there. She was a little late and I started getting restless. It occurred to me that it would ...

We have, on the time line, reached approximately the mid-point of the rehearsals of the new play Kashmir Kashmir. This ride has been nothing short of a roller-coaster ride. I am constantly learning something new. I am physically very tired always and perpetually sleep-deprived. Mentally, I violently fluctuate between excitement, happiness, satisfaction (when I learn something, when I get something right, when I know something beforehand and can help others) and anger towards self, feeling ashamed, frustration, depression (when I discover one more thing that I can’t do yet / don’t know, when I can’t get something right, when I find myself short of preparation time due to my job) Language and speech have always been my forte. I grasp it quickly and I’m good at it. And in this play I have to speak grammatically incorrect English and pronounce it badly as well ! Learning to do that has been a task :-) I learnt the basic step of Salsa. I have learnt some Tibetan phrases. I’ve learnt a coupl...

I have always felt that I pack a lot of ‘me’s in one day. The kind of diverse things happening in one day of mine sometimes boggles my mind. In one instant I am doing really crazy stuff like having a broomstick fight with my co-actors while rehearsing for a play and in another I am sitting in a meeting at office, a picture of seriousness, discussing changes in ISO procedures; in another, I am playing with my 6 month old nephew, singing all songs animatedly and talking baby-talk, and in yet another I am making “shev” like an expert even though it is the first time I’m making it; and then I’m teaching French phrases to a friend very patiently like an ideal teacher I would have loved to have. I feel as if I am made up of a thousand pieces of fabric that are individually very different from each other in texture, colour, design but together make for a very colourful quilt :)

Anything can happen in this world. I have always believed in this. And it does. Perhaps it does because I believe it does. It was early on Saturday morning. It was drizzling. I was going to the rehearsal of KK. As I was driving up the lane, S, M and O were driving down. They motioned me to follow them. We went to the next lane to a joint that sells delicious hot vegetable patties. We parked our vehicles, O on the same side and S and I on the opposite side of the road. We went in, quickly ate and came out in about 10 minutes. As we walked out I saw that there were about 6 to 8 cows of varying sizes standing very close to my motorcycle. There was no way I was going near them…I’m mortally scared of cows (long story…some other time!). So I gave my keys to S and told him to bring my bike to this side. He started walking across and suddenly stopped in his tracks and started laughing hysterically. I called out to him, “What’s the matter ?” He was laughing so hard, he could only gesticulate a...