Perpetually Perplexed

If it is raining cats and dogs, where does that leave the cows? I am not being too lame(that is what son says whenever I try to make a joke) . I really saw them. 4 of them. Standing on the road and not knowing where to go. It was one of these rainy late afternoons of Bangalore. And in the middle of the road, stood 4 cows. Not walking and obviously not grazing. Our roads may be potholed but there is no grass on them. Were they standing there to enjoy the cool shower? Did not look like it. They were looking quite glum. Or were they thinking, it is no use. We can not reach home before the rain stops.( They do not live in our street, you see). So let us wait here for the rain to stop. And they had not much to fear, as our area is does not have much traffic. But traffic is not a big worry for these animals. A few months back, in Ring road, chord road signal, stood a cow.  It just stood there. Was it too shocked and forgot the traffic rules. We don't know. The traffic policeman soft...

He broke with his wife. After fighting wife steps into the car, speeds up, skids and meets an accident. She dies. He is feeling so guilty. Feels he killed her. But now he is not in hospital, nor he is in his house. He is lying below a tree, and keeps hearing the word Attention again and again. Then he remembers, he is in this island, and his yatch was capsized, and when he was trying to escape he was surrounded by snakes. And when he remembers he again starts shivering violently. This is how the book "Island " by Aldous Huxley begins. But the book explains many principles of Budhism and zen if I remember correctly. Some of the methods given in the book work as good as or may be even better in calming or healing our minds. But don't worry. I will spare you people and won't write my version of the story as I read further. This time I do not intend to take ages to complete the book. But I am helpless infront the strong allure of   idiot box.

I was listening to this hindi song. Why and how these songs are so beautiful, melodius and meaningful? Teri Aankhon Ke Sivaa Duniyaa Men Rakkhaa Kyaa Hai Ye Uthen Subah Chale, Ye Jhuken Shaam Dhale Meraa Jinaa Meraa Maranaa Inhin Palakon Ke Tale What else is there in this universe except for your eyes When they rise, it will be dawn, when they fall, it will be dusk My life and my death are these eyes. (I am unable to traslate last line ) When you listen to this song, you are so moved, you want to cry. If you want to listen to the song - name of th film is Chirag and singer is Mohd. Rafi. Please listen, it is heavenly. Let me atleast give the complete lyrics Teri aankhon ke siva duniya me rakha kya hai-2 Ye uthe subaha chaley, ye jhukhe shaam dhale, Mera jeena mera marna inhi palkonke thaley, Teri aankhon ke siva duniya me rakha kya hai Palkonke galiyon me chehre bahaaron ke hasthe hue Hai mere khabonke kya kya nagar in mein basthey hue ooo Palkonke galiyon me chehre b...

This phrase in Sanskrit means, a person will do all wrong things when his time(?) is not right. But I kept thinking about it. (yeah, I do think sometimes ...) A man is walking. First person he meets tell him he is walking properly. Second one tells him he does not know how to walk at all. Third person he comes across says to his neighbour people like these walking on the roads cause accidents. And the fourth person and so on.. The poor fellow walking by himself will really start feeling something must be really wrong with his walking. He is not sure how to walk by now. He will try to change his walking style and see there is still no positive feedback. He tries some other style still with no results. He will start tripping. And finally he falls down and does not want to get up. We have been attacking our politicians in a similar manner. I am not saying that they are innocent. But we are talking as if they are most evil creatures on earth and they are the cause of each and every bad...

When you want to write a blog - atleast a good blog you need a target. As in bali ka bakra. Why am I searching all over the world for a blog subject when mai hoon ha. Today with my reference, I can tell you why it is not so bad to be a stay at home mom. I have been on and off jobs many times may be because I did not take jobs too seriously. You don't take anything seriously said mom. And always I felt the other side is greener which may not be true. Let us start with what happens in the morning. In the morning now I can get up late at 7. But of course I have to get up 4.45, wake up son, feed him and send him to tution and school. After that I can again sleep and wake up at 7. When I was working woman , I used to prepare breakfast, prepare lunch boxes, serve hot dosas and tea and then get ready and run. Now I prepare breakfast, prepare lunch boxes, serve hot dosas and tea and period. No more work. Even the preparation of breakfast is not so tedious because of the anticipation of...

I who am a huge fan of Hindi film songs especially old songs, can not bring this into practice? har fikar ko dhuyen me udata chala gaya (I blew away every worry with smoke) -- -- Jo Mil Gaya Usi Ko Muqaddar Samajh Liya (What ever I got I accepted as destiny) Jo Kho Gaya Maein Usko Bhulata Chala Gaya (I leave behind things I did not get and forget them) This is from a famous song "Main zindagi ke saath nibhata chala gaya" from Hum Dono. So what I should do with fikars is blow them away ( as I do not smoke - eat them away) and I should accept what I get as destiny.

In one of Saki's stories there is an incidence King (or is it prince) so and so when having lunch tells everyone " I am telling the truth. If what I have told you is a lie, the food I swallow now will choke me". And, sure enough the food choked him and he died. Saki is one of the great humour writers. So seven days from now, two very important men, in fact very very important men from namma karnataka are going to a temple to swear. To swear in front of the God that what they are telling the public is truth. Just like our king in Saki's story. I am waiting  for one or both of them to choke. ;-> I know you do too.

I was watching bits and pieces of film - Lord Mountbatten - Last viceroy of India (something like that). Few things which I felt were     Gandhiji's assasination is really tragic. But what is not tragic is the assasin is not a muslim. (as Mountbatten says in the film when asked is the assasin a hindu "it better be"). Otherwise there could have been more violence in the name of Gandhiji. And in a way it is a good thing that he did not die during one of his innumerable fasts. If he would have died, anger of the people and violence would have turned against British and their families. Mountbatten tries to put peace between Nehru and Patel at Gandhiji's funeral saying that was Gandhiji's last wish. Is it really true? Was he really so much concerned about India and Indians? Now did I feel like it then or after reading an article in Hindu how he and his family tried to paint him as hero? But if you think about it, we are not true inheritors of Gandhiji. We call a per...

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It is time to celebrate, people. There has been a sudden increase in my adsense income. How much is the increase, how much was it earlier, I can not reveal even to my invisible, may be non-existent readers. Suffice it to say that may be my maid earns better than that. By saying that I do not intend to hurt the feelings of less privileged people. I am just saying that my adsense income is not very good. And the jump is not due to this blog at all but due to my android blog Anyway I was ready to go to bank and encash my revenue. And you ask me why do I need money as I hardly step out of the house. I need money as in " the king was in his counting room , counting all his money". So I went to the link to see what are modus operandi for encashing my blog income. And here was the news. The threashold value for drawing that money is 100 us dollars. May be I should consult a lawyer and ask him how to make arrangement for my family to get that money. I am sure the income will not r...

I had written few days back about brahma kamala bud here Turns out the bud did not bloom out that evening nor the next. Yesterday I was passing by the window in between cooking, coding, fighting. (Why so many tasks - cooking because that is the time son asks amma I am hungry. fighting because that is the time husband reaches home and coding well that is an excuse work to do till the cooker whistles. ) Then there was this heavenly fragrance. I ran out to the garden. There was Brahma Kamala in its full glory. Too sad, I can not post its fragrance as well. Do you want to know the circus I performed to shoot it with my phone. No, you don't. But today morning the flower is all withered out. Tells us that life is but transient!! But good thing about this another flower is even though this too is transient, another flower blooms next day and next day and every day. The flower is jasmine. But unlike its fussy cousins, it has no specific flowering season. It flowers through out the ...

Our politicians are very much hurt by the current events. Every Tom, Dick and Harry is that is every Shyam, Ram and Bhim are ridiculing them, blaming them and even hurling shoes at them. They are all talking as if politicians are the roots of all evil. And if that were not enough, they are taking the government to ransom by threatening with satyagraha, fast and dharana. Deeply hurt by these happenings, our political brotherhood has decided to show that even constitutional members can do what others do. The elected peoples' representatives can also not only drive fast cars, but fast. They are not inferior to any Anna, Ram or Bheem. According to reliable sources, our pradhana mantri has decided that he will fast, fast and more fast until people stop calling him a his masters voice. And a certain chief minister has decided she will fast until Maran, chidambaram and in fact all friends and kith and kin of previous CM are removed from their posts and arrested. A particular member o...

Times of India's article says that in Bundelkhand there have been 510 suicides in the five months of 2011 in seven districts. Most of these are farmers who are unable to bear the burden of loans. We hear it year after year from all parts of the country. Are we bothered? Why should we be? The dead and yet to die are not our relatives. We will never be in their shoes. We are not at the mercy of monsoon or yield . We get our salaries the begining of the month always. Thank God for that.  Even the media are not concerned about them. They don't bring any TRP. The news,  the discussions all these things do not have any place for these farmers. Who would like to hear about heated arguments about farmers in some remote village? How does it matter that with every farmer dead, his family with aged parents and little children will lose their only support? How does it matter that the ones which somehow stay away from ropes and river beds, will work as coolies in cities? How does it matt...

I did not know this concept of "mane devaru" until we shifted to a town called Haliyal. We had a friend pillu. Of course he was very short and used to be always in our house and used to call mom jayavra taayi (jaya's mother). Once he told my uncle that their god is Mangesh and asked  uncle who is his god. Uncle replied our god is kudresh. (manga in kannada is monkey and kudre is horse ) .      But even funnier things were happening in Haliyal. During ramadan times our friends used to tell that such and such person was sick. So he had prayed and got better. So he will be carrying - hold your breath - alla devaru on his head in this festival. So this person would surely carry the god during ramadan procession. And some others both Hindus and Muslims would walk on burning coal during this time . I don't think they would have never thought they were doing something for communal harmony. And the furniture price was economical there. So our grand mother who ha...

I belong to old school. Do not call my husband honey, darling, and not even his name. I just call him riiiiiii (something like suniye in hindi - respectful calling mostly reserved for husbands). In the early days of our marriage, I the ulta modern self asked him can I call him by his name. He flatly said no. So I am stuck with riii. Let me tell you something in my in-laws house I was expected to call almost everybody with plural. Husband, his parents, his elder brothers, his elder sisters, his dog. No not his dog. In fact there was no dog, thank god for that. I was expected to like any other daughter in law in an orthodox family. But I reserved my plural to only husband and his parents. Now both his parents are no more. So husband has the exclusive luxury of getting respect from me. Once there is child in family, name calling(??) is much easier. "putta, ask appa(dad in kannada) whether he wants tea?" "Putta, where is appa going now?" and so on. But it is always p...

This plant is called Brahmakamala in Kannada. Very paapada plant. Does not ask for any care. You just throw it in soil and it will be quietly growing there. One funny thing about this plant is it does not have a stem. Like cactus, leaves beget leaves and even the flowers grow on the edge of leaves. You can see the bud of the plant. Today there are around 6 buds of brahmakamala. But most of the times, you can not see the flowers as they bloom in the night. So I should remind myself to go and look at the flower today. The scent of flower is heavenly. Many a times we need not browse away our precious time for inspiration (to hang on to a thread at least). You can find the inspiration right in your garden. This rose plant was sulking in a corner without any flowers, with hardly any leaves for many days. Its complaint was no sunlight. But one fine day it decided enough is enough, it started growing tall to grab all the sunlight it needs. Now who can shadow its beauty?  Y...

With difficulty I am restraining myself from writing yet again bad political observation.  Am reading a translated book by Chineses author Wang Anyi - Lapse of Time. The stories are really good. There was something I found sad. In china's proletarian cultural revolution from 1966 to 1976, urban youth were forced to work in rural areas, to farming villages to learn from farmers. In one of the stories, the younger brother goes to village so that not so strong elder brother can be with the family. Once he comes back, he finds that he should marry a girl with a house as the existing house is too small for one more family. He is finding too hard to adjust to the new job, old but changed Shanghai and to his family members. Who can give him back all the years he lost in the village?    All are equal and all must be equal. But does that mean all can do the same type of work?  If you ask university professor to work in farm or factory, he may somehow do it. But that will ...

Yesterday I was watching NDTV program about Greenathon. (People get bored of graft also. and fasting also. yawn.....) Well, Cyrus was doing his best to make the program interesting. But most of the times, unless you observe the T shirts they are wearing you could not make out they are talking about greenathon. Anyway. I also have some ideas to contribute to make our planet greener and hence better for our children. 1. All the supermarkets should stop giving plastic grocery bags. Period. If the customers do not have a bag to carry items, they must be asked to buy a cloth bag. 2.  It was really nice seeing villages being given solar lamps. Similarly solar cookers like parvati cooker can be manufactured in a commercial way and sold in villages with a subsidy. That will save precious firewood. And villagers will be more than willing to use solar cookers because of the scarcity of firewood. 3. The garbage collection must be done every day and properly in the cities. The collectors sh...

First of all let me thank you for providing a blog topic. Anything for a good TRP   blog traffic, right? Now you are worried that unelected people are seeking too much power. Are you referring to Anna Hazare? The saint like person who lives in village and has been fighting for the upliftment of people all his life. Why does he want power? He wants to buy a ultra posh bunglow ? Or he wants to stash crores of rupees in swiss bank? Tell me  . Are these the reasons he is seeking power? It was really nice watching Madhu Kishwar giving fitting replies to your statements and your reaction to that. If another panelist in your show Arun, feels that Bhushans are corrupt, so they can not draft the bill, whom does he want to suggest instead. Mr Kalmadi? And you had another reservation. How can we give power to unelected people who are not accountable. Let me ask you a question. You feel that elected representatives are accountable. So according to you, Mr Maran is accountable. Mr. Kalm...