after the hiatus

Years since i wrote anything to add to this blog. Today i feel like reviewing some things as i celebrate a birthday this week. And i feel wonderful and enjoy this aging graciously bit. After a few decades and half of living i have learnt many a thing. The one really important thing i have learnt is who i have become. And learning more by doing what i do. Won’t change that for anything in the world. This time the learning between the last birthday and the present one goes like

 i love travelling. i go with my friends. And sometimes i go by myself. 

 And i love splurging not just on myself but on friends too! 

 Good hair days make my day and bad hair days ruin the day for me. 

 i wake up early morning now. Like 7am early. And i get to go back to sleep when i choose to. 

 I am going to engage a therapist to listen to me once a week. So what if have to pay, i will still be still be listened to with no comments criticism and opinions! it's great to pay someone to listen to you talk about yourself. 

 Fantasy is great fun and brings in more happiness than reality. Fantas(y)tic life six days a week and one day reality check! 

Fashions, style statements, and clothing trends i am into all that. Everything has to change and what IS the fun in permanence. 

 For most of us life does not always turn out the way we want it to be, but i sure am happy that it has not turned out the way i DO NOT want it to be. I really would not ever know how to deal with that. Besides not knowing what the future holds is the most exciting part of living! The surprise, the awe, the mystery all of it! 

 Like Alfred Tennyson said men may come and men may go but i go on forever. I guess that is true. When i look back on life and i have at least 2 friends that i can all upon who will drop everything to be with me when things go wrong (i do believe i have more than two), i have made it. 

 SONO ARRIVATO BAMBINO!!!

to rom with love

Rommu wild flea curled in her room
looking above at the cloud of doom.
She shook her head a sign she quit
and cried, "Mommy, I am terrible and cant make it!

"I can not decide upon the words,
This writing sure is 'for the nerds.'"
"Ramya," said her mother quickly,
"think in your head and think clearly."

"Don’t mess or argue with me
but utilize the time that you have free.
Remove the furrows from your brows and smile
put down your thoughts and they’ll take you a mile!”

Write them down and while you are at it
play around and let your thoughts flit
switch them when you think they don’t fit
and that’s the way things are writ."

Ramya tried and soon found out,
what poetry is all about.
she started with thoughts as she let it fly
and her poems made sense by and by

Soon Ramya’s poems were completely done,
she read it to her friends, the tales she had spun
her friends laughed and offered her treats,
and cried "Our Rom will be the next John Keats!"

And Ramya learnt the lesson right from the heart
that getting started is the hardest part
just plunge in and put the words on the paper
The sword is good but the pen is mightier!

MUMBAI SIEGE

An old lady underneath a tree
smiled as she beckoned me.
the air had been dry through the night
the ground already heated by the by morning light.

”help me lass” the words she ground
"A sip of water will do me good.
I’ve walked the night without a slipper
A little water for the wee pain in my ticker."

I looked at her tired eyes and wrinkles
her feet calloused with a thousand brambles
“I am so much luckier than the rest.
They've all been shot while I am left with a pain in my chest."

the hotels and street they have captured to hold.
mankind as hostage and my entire household.
we tried to remain calm and not show a flicker
but the night exploded and this wee pain in my ticker."

I screamed for help but the only things I found
Was blood on the earth and bodies on the ground.
I wanted to fight and tried my best,
But had to sit down with this small pain in my chest."

"Thank you lass’ were her words to me
she smiled as she leaned back against the tree
"at my age it is not easy to digest
that I could be defeated by a small pain in my chest."

"my children know their mom so strong and grown,
would they believe I was too weak to stand alone?
will my mother have imagined, as she held me to her breast,
That I’d lose a fight because of this pain in my chest?"

is the day ending already she said wincing at the sun.
the day is fading when I had thought it had just begun.
”I have to move on now and warn the rest ”
saying she died from that small pain in her breast.

the rest is a blur, I think I wept
and put my arms around her as she slept
holding her close our wounds were merged
The huge one in my heart against the wee one in her chest.

a point to ponder????

A zebra went up to the zookeeper and said, "Am I a white zebra with black stripes or a black zebra with white stripes." The zookeeper looks at the zebra with a puzzling look and says, "I don’t know why don’t you go ask God." The zebra then went to ask God who said "You are what you are, young zebra." So the zebra went back to the zookeper who asks the zebra what God had said. The zebra replied, "God said ’you are what you are."
The zookeeper then said, "Well then you must be a white zebra with black stripes because if you were a black zebra with whites stripes, God would have said, "You is what you is."

a parable

THIS IS GOOD

A king in Africa had a close friend he grew up with. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.

Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!" To which the king replied, "No, this is NOT good!" and had his friend sent to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took them to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb.

The tribe, superstitious as they were, never ate anyone that was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way. As he returned home, the king was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend.

He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right" he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell his friend all that had just happened. "And I am so very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad of me to have done this."

"No," his friend replied, "this is good!"

"What do you mean, 'This is good?!'" How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year."

"If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you."

all the jamuns
sitting on the pavement
the leaves strewn about evicted from their home

a beaming smile
on the bald tree
standing straight having shed all that weighed it down

ROBI TAGORE

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

When the gentle breeze grazes my cheek
Whispering as it passes, into my ear

The music it plays on the leaves around me
Like the raindrops when it touches the ground.

Cellos and violins with their strings pulled gently
A vivid music that brings tears to my eye

Through the sounds of silence that I can hear
Whispers of a sound oh so familiar

The soothing tenor that calms my heart in every way
Your voice still lingers even though you have gone away.

monty again!

“Oh Lord please don't burn us don't kill or toast your flock Don't put us on the barbecue or simmer us in stock, Don't bake or baste or boil us or stir-fry us in a wok”

yet another line from monty python

God: Every time I try to talk to someone it's "sorry this" and "forgive me that" and "I'm not worthy"...

the cuckoo speaks to wordsworth

O noble poet! I have read
twice through your eulogy.
you mean some other bird instead..
you surely cant mean me???

such fine thoughts it must be confessed
are shared by so few others
you ought to hear the views expressed
by my dear foster brothers

(maybe some day when you are free
we could sit together for tea
hear the views expressed by my family and see
if you still opine the same about me???)

and oh puh-lease omit this "fairy" rot
i'm flesh and blood right through
or i shall wonder if you are not
a little cuckoo too!

the owl speaks to gray

who, who has dared to treat us owls so ill?
(with us, of course, it's whoo to use two whos)
to whomsover it was, i take my quill
to twit him for his quite erroneous view!

doubtless some elegiac poet gray
too witless and too wooden in the head
to understand a whit of what we say
has misconstrued my twilight serenade

no i do not complain, i am not a grouse
(i give two hoots when i am blue)
you heard me call my love to share a mouse
for that's our owlish way - to whit to woo!

the cuckoo by ogden nash

Cuckoos lead Bohemian lives,
They fail as husbands and as wives,
Therefore they cynically disparage
Everybody else's marriage

quote from fawlty towers

German: Will you stop talking about the war!
Basil: Me? You started it!
German: We did not start it.
Basil: Yes you did, you invaded Poland!

monty python

# THE LIFE OF BRIAN

EL : Spare a talent for an old ex-leper, sir.
B : Did you say -- ex-leper?
EL : That's right, sir. (he salutes) ... sixteen years behind the bell, and proud of it, thank you sir.
B : What happened?
EL : I was cured, sir.
B : Cured?
EL : Yes sir, a bloody miracle, sir. Bless you.
B : Who cured you?
EL : Jesus did. I was hopping along, when suddenly he comes and cures me. One minute I'm a leper with a trade, next moment me livelihood's gone. Not so much as a by your leave. Look. I'm not saying that being a leper was a bowl of cherries. But it was a living. I mean, you try waving muscular suntanned limbs in people's faces demanding compassion. It's a bloody disaster.
M : You could go and get yourself a decent job, couldn't you?
EL : Look, sir, my family has been in begging six generations. I'm not about to become a goat-herd, just because some long-haired conjuror starts mucking about.

monty python quotes

NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.

fav monty python quote

STAN: I want to be a woman. From now on, I want you all to call me 'Loretta'.
REG: What?!
LORETTA: It's my right as a man.
JUDITH: Well, why do you want to be Loretta, Stan?
LORETTA: I want to have babies.
REG: You want to have babies?!
LORETTA: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.
REG: But... you can't have babies.
LORETTA: Don't you oppress me.
REG: I'm not oppressing you, Stan. You haven't got a womb! Where's the foetus going to gestate?! You going to keep it in a box?!”

pumpkin soup

halloween has just gone by and all of you must be left with a lot of pumpkins! here is a lovely soup to warm the cockles of your heart this winter!

1 pumpkin
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp paprika
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup of butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup fresh cream
4 cups of reserved liquid
4 or 5 veggie bouillon cubes, according to taste
salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop the pumpkin into cubes, place in a soup kettle, add enough salted water to just cover. Boil until tender. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cubes and place in a mixing bowl for now. Carefully measure out 4 cups of the liquid and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in the soup kettle, then saute the chopped onion and garlic until tender, about five minutes.

3. Add the reserved liquid, cooked pumpkin, paprika, bouillon cubes, and rosemary to the kettle and bring to a boil, stirring continually. Once the soup begins to boil, turn down the heat to low and cook for another 15 minutes.

4. Remove the soup from the heat, and bring to room temperature. Once it has cooled sufficiently, puree.

5. Return the cooled puree to the kettle, stirring in one cup of cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in refrigerator until thoroughly chilled.

This soup can also be served hot by returning it to the kettle and reheating. Care should be taken to stir constantly and avoid bringing it to a boil.

for my friend

the tear that i shed today
the one that i let fall
my friend you caught it
held it
and shared it
touched it
and felt it
then
suddenly
it wasn't
there
at all!

some day

the foreign and Indian media shouting about the racism and sparking violent reactions by screaming vitriolic comments about religion. The basic problem with our people is that we are always a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian first. We are also a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian last. In between we are sometimes a Tamil, a Bengali, a Malayali, a Punjabi or a Gujarati. And our actually being an Indian is very sporadic and far between. We have elevated religion to the level of God. I am sure no God would have wanted this. religion should not be used to fight wars, they were meant for peace.

One man commits a blunder 52 years ago and a Muslim nation was born. It was before Pakistan was born that India was secular. Everybody lived in peace and wanted the foreigner out. There was no such thing as a 'minority community' as you say. We were all Indians then. Today we are not Indians, none of us are. We are not even Hindus Muslims or Christians. We are Brahmans, dalits, chamars, scheduled castes etc. Hundreds of women are debased, abused, and treated badly, including Muslims.

Why is it an outrage only when nuns are raped? Why does the rape of 83-year old woman merit a page 5 news and the rape of a dalit woman is a screaming front-page whopper? Why is the rape of a community by some politically motivated terrorist, international news but the rape of a nation by some power hungry politicians' not even merit a mention or is even noticed?

If you are a Christian, you are a Christian. You are not a community. You are allowed to pray to whatever god you choose and live whatever life you wish to lead. When did you become a community? Religion is something we are all allowed, practising as a faith and it reaffirms our peace and helps us discover what we are within us. Why take it to grouping people, organising morchas, and turning it into a communal affair? This means someone out there with political interests, usually vested, is turning your religion as his ticket to moolah, and pitting you against thousands of others who until then were sitting at home and following their religion and were friends with you. You two fight and he walks away with praises, accolades, and even money and power. You have lost your home, your money, and your friends and in return, you have his sympathy and are international news. Is this really worth it?

US bombs Afghanistan, the entire world hails her as a messiah fighting terrorism. Only the Muslim nations call it jihad. Everything is being coloured and why is this not being a called a Muslim-Christian war? Or the Kurd struggle? Or in Israel and Palestine? Why do these battles not have a religious flavour? Why just what happens in India? Be it in Kashmir or in Gujarat? In Tamil Nadu or in Punjab or in mumbai?

We fight religious wars, other nations for their rights and liberties. Take the wretched drama of the happenings in Gujarat. or more recently in Mumbai. The entire squalid tale is of religions, with its crudities played out in the dark, confused by lies and compassion and ignorance, manipulated by self seekers in safety – of international cowardice of bureaucratic bumbledom, neighbourly opportunism and above all the irresponsible pretensions of the journalistic tribe! I am not saying what is happening is right. But why the hell are we not taking cudgels and shoving these guys to the prisons, instead of letting it be as a Hindu Muslim war or a terrorist strike? Will the Christians, Jains, Buddhists, dalits and everybody else be just by standees who will watch and say oh that is cruel, look what the Hindu tolerance has come to? Why, are they not Indians first and is it not their moral responsibility to help fight this war?

Why are they not an Indian first in this instance, and a Christian or a Sikh or a Parsi later? Why do they hide in the safety of their religion with a nothing to do with me attitude? When a man kills another, or rapes another human being, it is a question of human lives. Not whether the dead man is a Hindu or a Christian or a Muslim. But when the dead man is portrayed as a Christian or a Muslim, suddenly there is hue and cry, the whole episode gets torn out of proportion and then the "minority community" feels threatened. We may not move into nothingness with all this genocide, but we will become something only when we give God His place, and religion, its.

Only when we make our country our pride and our country deigns to choose us as its citizens. Only when see each other as fellow human beings and not as a fellow Christian or a fellow Hindu. They say little droplets make an ocean. Come let us try to be Indian first, and practise being one.

Leave our religion for the comfort of our homes and the sanctity of our hearts. Let no man sway you when he talks about atrocities towards a particular community. Look at it as atrocity towards a fellow human being and raise your hands for justice with all people. Someday, we may become all this I dream about, but for now, I am happy that I, for one, am able to think and dream so. There will be many in the years to come, and one day we will rise as a nation, a truly great nation and the world will stand in awe of us.