Vanishing Home

He is creepy, crawly and scary. But doesn't he deserve a home still?

The deer from the garden of Eden in my backyard have been transferred to another safe place. The birds will find another home if these trees are cut off. Squirrels and mongoose - no one will mind if they frolic around in the gardens of residences. But what will this fellow do? Burrow deep till he thinks it is safe to come out, or be detected earlier and killed by the labourers? Will it be ever safe for him? Whenever he is sighted - whether in the metro office or in my complex - he is bound to be hunted and killed. A certain death awaits him.

But today, he majestically slid across the tree, baring his fangs at the birds objecting to his presence. An unpopular guy... To be cared for still from the preying man.

Warning Bells

Yesterday's newspaper said:

* Sale of two wheelers in rural areas coming down because of dropping purchasing power.
* Kingfisher plunging into deep sea, and not to catch a fish but to be caught in the net.
* Spicejet - problems

And the other usual stories about not enough medical care reaching people in the rural areas. Not enough schools, infrastructure...etc.

Met a leading academician who has made a name for his mentoring, and he talked of how short sighted government employees were, unable to see the value of rural ventures and making their life hell... Not many would want to get into that segment.
Met a social entrepreneur today who wonders if charity is dying in India.
A full page ad asks for contributions for an old people's home...

And then I see Audis and BMWs and Mercedes on the road.
I see monthly food bills from eating out that can feed entire families for months.
We do charity, no doubt. We do as much as we can... No guilt there.

But the disparity is wide - getting wider. Can the system withstand it? For how long?

If one card topples, it brings the entire pack down.

Any thoughts, anybody, how to stop the shake up?

Anubavangal: குசேலர் - சுதாமா

Anubavangal: குசேலர் - சுதாமா: சுதாமாவின் மனைவி அவலை கட்டிக்கொடுக்கிறாள் இந்த கதை கேட்டு/படித்து வளர்ந்திருக்கிறேன். ஒரு பிடி அவலைத்தின்ற ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணா, பதிலுக்கு தன் ...

Siblings

Sham stood at the entrance, in sparkling white pajama kurta, accepting condolences. He blinked as he saw his aunt come up with a stricken look. "How did it happen?" she asked quietly. He hugged her, his heart in his throat, excepting some women would tell her the details.

His wife Rani's voice surely enough drifted through the silent hall. "We were so stunned when we got the call from bhabhi! How could this have happened to Ram bhayya! He was so young...such young children! Sham was devastated! We have been planning to visit him for a long time. So tragic that we should come here and see him like this!"

A new round of lament started. Sham felt he had to escape the oppressive atmosphere.

**
Ranu hadn't been wrong. They had planned several times, he had wanted to plan several times... But it had not worked out somehow. He felt a dull anger at Rani as he remembered how every time she managed to find an excuse for not visiting him.

"Why do you always find a reason for avoiding Delhi!" he had even asked her once.

"Darling," Rani had responded. "Where is the question of avoiding them! But they have never visited us once, have they?"

"Is that a reason!"

"No dear," Rani had put her arms around him. "How silly of you! But maybe they don't like to have people over. Maybe they think they will inconvenience us! If they think so much about visiting you, his brother, shouldn't we respect that? And then," she had looked at him with that innocent look, "What will you gain by staying there for a day or two? We must visit them properly, you know!"

That had sounded so much more logical at the time. But now? Here he was, very much staying for the next 10 days. And what would he achieve? Could he talk to his brother?

But always, head had ruled over heart - the cost of travel, the inconvenience of dropping in, the fear of discomfiting them... how many doubts, how many excuses.

Could he blame Rani alone for his lethargy? Wasn't he to blame too for going with her logic and reasoning? Where was his brain when she gave excuses for avoiding visiting his brother!

The questions plagued him, but even if he found the answer, what of it now? He couldn't unwind time, could he?

**
As they boarded the flight back, Rani sighed, "Thank god we were able to spend the time there and you didn't have to get back in a hurry. You were wonderful, Sham, doing your duty for your brother's family. But I think, rather than calling the children to us and dislocating them, isn't it better that they stay put in Delhi? Bhabhi has her own people she will be more comfortable with. Send them money once in a while - when they need it, if they ask... You know, otherwise they may mistake us..."

She prattled on. Sham stared ahead, his heart and head busy with their own debate not very different from Rani's.

One Earth: The Power Problem

One Earth: The Power Problem: One of the recent jokes on the SMS that I love: as the mobile, the net and something else compete as to who is going to rule the world, elec...

Anubavangal: Chinthanaiyilla Manam

Anubavangal: Chinthanaiyilla Manam: அலைமோதும் மனதில் இன்று நிலவியது நிசப்தம் சுற்றும் முற்றிலும் பரவியது அமைதி இதைத்தானே தேடி அலைந்தது நெஞ்சம்? இன்று அது கிடைத்தும் ஏன் இப்பொழ...

Peeling the Layers - Meluha

I think no Indian story, especially those on historical/mythological characters, can ever have just one layer. The Immortals of Meluha is no different. A facebook conversation made me expect a fantasy in the Harry Potter category, where I imagined a character like Shiva would be using chants and "magic" to win over enemies.

The book, though, proved that I had been mislead. I had to read it in two days as I had to return the book. But it was not difficult to achieve the task. The book did not "grip" me like some others do. But it flowed easily. The reason I put grip within quotation marks is that in some places... hmmm... it was like that. And, the Sati of Amar Chitra Katha comics kept interrupting my thoughts. Daksha had a goat face in my mind, and somehow, his reaction to Shiva in this book is so diametrically opposite to what I had imagined, again thanks to ACK - that kept intruding too! And is Tarak, another Meluhan, Tarakasur? You know, our half-baked knowledge interfering and logic arguing parallely kind of a thing.

But I loved the way Amish creates an extraordinary character from ordinary events, and vests Shiva with the same dilemmas and doubts that any human being would have. What I loved about the book was, he makes a hero of a man who overcomes those doubts, but is never above them. He is guided from time to time. But for those who are familiar with the Indian thought, the guides will not fog the mind. Instead, the reader will find answers to their own doubts there. Which is why I felt the book was layered - on the one hand, there is the story one reads, that of Shiva, the man with a destiny. But on the other, there is second layer that talks to the reader directly.

In my own fumbling way, I had written a short story earlier called Perspective. What is right for one, may not be right for another. So there are no absolute truths... Kudos for presenting it so neatly. And, considering I am also in a dilemma, caught between  right and wrong, Shiva's dilemma and the realisation that the burden never goes away really made me pause and think. We can only hope to become stronger to bear our burdens. We can only hope to understand the other point of view. We can never be rid of them forever. All we can seek is the strength for it.

Wonder what part II has in store for me.