Sunday, August 29, 2010

What logic is this?

One of my students, a stock broker, told me about his journey by bus to Madurai. A passenger in the bus had wanted the bus to stop at a small town where it was not scheduled to. The conductor informed the passenger that the bus would stop only at madurai. An hour or so into the journey, the passenger, (let's call him Murugan, coz I hate being vague) Murugan called the conductor of the bus and handed him his cell phone saying that the state minister for transport K.N.Nehru was on line and wished to speak to him. This was bolt from the blue for the conductor. It seemed the minister was really on the phone and the conductor told him that he too was an office bearer of the ruling party at the district level and then the minister asked him to adjust with Murugan and do what he wanted.The bus then made a detour and left the highway and stopped at the town. Now several questions arise in the logical part of my brain.

1.Why should the minister even attend the call of such a person?
2. Even if he did attend it  accidentally, why should he give importance to a local rowdy?
3.Has he no other pressing duties and commitment rather than personally solve this minor, silly, insane problem?
4. Is rowdyism moving on to a level that such public display of bullying is permitted and even authorized?
5.Was there no one among the public who was not enraged and who questioned the unwarranted delay caused by this drama?
6.Why would a powerful person such as Murugan travel by public transport? If the minister was at his beck and call, he should be able to travel by car.
Help me answer these questions, plz

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Not so logical or magical either....

Fast mofussil buses with smart accessories remind me of dads on their way to work;
Overcrowded city buses of pregnant women,
Rushing lorries of strangers,
Cars which speed by with windows closed of  rich relatives,
Brightly painted school buses of teachers,
Auto rickshaws of noisy neighbours,
Motorbikes of youth, cycles of children
In the journey called life, people adopt their own style and their own mode of transport
As for me, am a pedestrian who enjoys walking in the rain, my head covered by a shawl
walking my way through the slush, getting wet, walking and watching, walking and watching

Friday, August 20, 2010

Two score and two years ago!

Two score and two years ago I started the process of living. I grew up for ten years and then I started to watch and learn, lessons right and wrong, for the next ten years. During this period I was a judgmental adolescent who rejected everyone.Then for the next ten years and some I had a wonderful time,joyful days,hours, months, weeks; years bringing up my kids and continuing to study.The last decade I became a by product of the boom period in India which started in 2001; a full fledged professional.
What am I going to do the next forty years? Just work for a living? Search for worthy people/causes to adopt? Master mind the rejuvenation of the Indian subcontinent? Write?

Friday, August 13, 2010

The twisted logic of a cranky dumbo!

A school drop out has joined us as an office boy. He loves to grab people's attention by staring hard at us and by asking irritating questions. One busy day........

Shiva:Ma'am! Is sir fond of eating drumsticks?
Raji: You think you can bug me with such questions!
Shiva: NOOOOOOOOO Madam! I want to knooooooooow (He thinks he's funny drawling away)
Raji: Hence forth, every time you ask me a question, I will charge you Rs.10.
Shiva: Why Maaaaaaaaa'aaaam?
Raji: All right, I keep tab from this question onwards. When I give you your salary, I will take Rs.10 for myself. It's official now.

That shut him up. But he couldn't reform right away. He now owes me 70 bucks.But he has his own way of taking revenge on me. Today I chanced to go to the locked up first floor at six in the evening and was shocked to find all the lights and fans switched on.He enjoys watching people yell at him. Out of school and still not out of it. n am not going to yell at him! let him figure that out!

Monday, August 2, 2010

on vegetarianism!

I generally keep silent on this topic as debates keep crackling into raging fires among the very small minority of vegetarians and the so called non vegetarians.

I give the second group this epithet because unlike caucasians, mongoloids and negroes, Indians who eat meat, consume it only as a side dish on sundays whereby it forms a very small part of their diet. So much so that after a lunch where they consume some small pieces of mutton and a few pieces of chicken along with huge quantities of spicy rice, they don't take dinner. They fuss about the heaviness of Sunday lunch and avoid snacking on Mondays too. A vegetarian and an outsider to these habits, like me, compares them to foreigners who eat a whole fish or slabs of meat on their plate along with a sprinkling of vegetables and comes to the conclusion that most Indians are vegetarians who also eat meat occassionally.

People make fun of what is strange to them. Indian meat eaters often mock at vegetarians because it is done for religious reasons and goes with the status that attaches itself to people from the upper castes. But a lot of people from non meat eating groups have started eating meat and a lot of nonvegetarians have stopped eating meat for health reasons. so it is time to stop looking at these groups and rigid and generalize.
Personally the decision not to eat meat or feed our children meat was discussed at home and my husband and I decided not to do so as it would hurt the religious sentiments of the older members of my family.Once the decision was taken it was convenient to stick to it. I don't have a revulsion for meat; neither do I feel attracted to it. I guess this is the case of most vegetarians; they have simply decided not to eat meat and in the same spirit they should also resolve not to worry about people who comment.
Ofcourse we should discriminate among the commentators.
For instance, some of the foreigners who talk to me about it are totally astounded and say they would die without meat. One of them asked me if I was not tempted to try meat and asked me why I should not try to eat it. These were genuine reactions and deserved genuine answers.Or they might be objective scholars like bala who wonder why not? why evernot? Or they may just have no one else to mock at, at that point in time. Or worse, they may have been wanting to mock at you for something or the other and this topic seems to rile you particularly! If we analyse people who comment about our choices, we too can react or ignore with due consideration to the other party.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

how life tastes to me sometimes

Depression tastes like bitter gourd;
happiness like syrup;
problems like the unexpected chilli you bite in to sometimes;
entertainment like soda;
satisfaction like a cup of ice cool water;
boring work like hot water
sadness like tepid tea when your nose is blocked;
confidence like piping hot coffee;
friendliness like rosepetals and coriander;

okay! pitch inwith your flavours!