Slices of my daily life

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...

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 ...