Waste - A Mark of Progress

"Waste is the highest virtue one can achieve in advanced capitalist society" - 'Dance, Dance, Dance' by Haruki Murakami. My second book by this author, he had me there as I read these lines.

And he goes on to say how he contributes to this waste by writing articles that take up reams of paper. It resonated with my thoughts.

We write, and we use paper and we cut trees.

We write, and we use our computers and use energy.

The need to speak, to be heard, to share and exchange ideas - a deep-rooted desire that does not go with time. The more we age, the more we have something to say... whether there is anyone to listen or not...


And this waste is just one kind of waste. What to talk of accumulation and display of wealth and material goods? Can anything change so long as our pursuit is measured by external standards? 

Presidential Candidate

FB shows up for what we are - jobless people with too many opinions to share.

I keep getting prompted - Kalam or Patil... And I feel sorry - for Kalam. Why do we hate him so much? So much so that we want him to be head of a completely corrupt, incorrigible state! That he should suffer the agonies of watching wrongs being ignored, rights being overshadowed, and sit back unable to do anything as the mere titular head of state?

What we need - why should I be left behind in expressing my worthless views - is a person who is a prince among thieves, is as brazen as the ruling party(s) in corruption, and can escape any accusations with silence or by turning against the accuser. Is drawn into court cases, but continues to hold office - we need stability, you see. Of course, there are no unturned stones left in corruption - every aspect of our public life seems to be mired in some scam or the other.

Now I know what we need. The man who can be so ingenuous that he can create a scam where none exists!  But maybe, too many candidates for that too?

Then, we would get the man we deserve. And then, maybe, just maybe, people like me will be forced to get out of our armchairs, stop merely observing, commenting and lamenting and do something constructive - bring about a revolution.

Power of Hands

My uncles and cousins would wake up and immediately look at their hands, saying a quick morning prayer.

And then, when in college, I read a novel. Magnificent Obsession. It was part of our course, and a pathetic love story was interwoven with a highly spiritual concept of giving in the fashion of left hand not knowing what the right is giving. The doctor who follows this principal finds that the more he gives and 'meditates' the better his surgeries turn out to be. It inspired me to focus my energies internally - without the element of giving, of course - and the first place I felt a strange sensation was my palms.

Then, after marriage I was introduced to reiki. It is all about channelising the universal energy through the hands, and yes, I can feel something like electricity pass through my palms when I do sit down and close my hands.

Of course, I had been told several times that keeping the palms on the eyes are very good during headaches, and I find that to be true too.

It looks like there are some truths that are common across cultures and situations. Though the manner in which it comes to us is different, the underlying faith is the same.

For, in the end, isn't that what any self-respecting human being believes? That their success and failures is in their hands? The man who can roll up his shirt and get his hands dirty will never go without a shirt?

One Earth: How Green Was My Valley

One Earth: How Green Was My Valley: There were trees and bushes; deer and snakes; mongoose and squirrels; woodpeckers and kingfishers. Today, there is only cement and mort...

High and Dry

Is this an indication of things to come? Chennai is short on petrol and diesel for the last two days. Had to push my bike home, though luckily it sputtered out only in the street corner and not some five kilometers away.

Walked in the sun for an appointment today, and was wondering at how the roads are still filled with private vehicles! Obviously some of the others were smarter and filled their petrol/diesel tanks to the full when the going was good while I was trying to still squeeze the best from reserve.

But as I walked down, I did wonder if we can take our vehicles for granted any more... and our gensets and invertors. The sun and the wind are with us to stay. Imagine the cars being discovered some several centuries from now in the parking spaces, buried under the earth's crust and research being done on what it could have been used for! Maybe a paper with an ad for a car will fly up and they will look and wonder and be amazed at how advanced we had been. Whereas, they would be languishing under the trees, near water sources that would have sprung up afresh and walk long distances, travelling only if needed.

Then they would say, "If they could, so can we," and the quest for the wonder machines would begin afresh and they would develop and advance and cut down trees and clear up spaces and make things that will make them rich and they will cut more trees to make more products so that they can spend those riches...

They will also become developed one day, and find an equivalent of black gold... and history will repeat itself.

In the Clouds

Fly as high as you can dare
But on ground you have to land
Dream as only you can
Feet on earth firmly you plant

Reality on the ground
To anchor us through ups and downs
Floating is a pleasure but brief
Time will steal it away, the thief

Like day and night they come and go
Sorrow and joy, two sides of a coin
Head in air, feet on land
To live in joy, and remain strong.

The Competition

"Hey Sruthi! Check this out. There is an inter-college dance competition coming up. Solo! Shall we go?" Radhika asked her friend.

"Oh no, you know I hate these events... Leave me out," Sruthi replied.

Radhika pouted. "Come on, I so want to go... but don't want to go alone."

"I will come with you, cheer you..." Sruthi assured her.

Radhika thought but shook her head. "No! Come on, you also dance... it doesn't matter if we win or lose, right? Just for fun, okay?"

"I am not in form, Radhu... You know I haven't danced in a while," Sruthi demurred.

"Let's practice together, like in school days. Please, please, please, pretty please! Don't say no..." Radhika pouted prettily. Sruthi laughed at her friend and turned away without comment. "Won't you do this for your friend!" Radhika demanded, making Sruthi feel guilty. "Okay, okay..." she conceded reluctantly.

They started practicing and Sruthi was so glad of that! It had been easy to forget the joy of dancing in coping with studies. But listening to the music and flowing with it was a different experience altogether. She felt so refreshed! She hugged Radhika. "You are right, winning or losing isn't important. It is fun!" The two friends grinned in joy.

Before going on stage Sruthi said a small prayer, took a minute to calm herself. Radhika was next. She did a thumbs up. Sruthi nodded and took centre stage. As the music came on, she was lost to the world, dancing just for the joy of it as the steps flowed smoothly and gracefully.

She finished her piece and waited back stage to watch Radhika, praying her friend would do just as well. Radhika was a bundle of energy and she stunned the audience with her performance. Sruthi hugged her friend and exclaimed, "You were fantastic!"

When the results were announced, the two friends waited with bated breath. The second and third prizes went to some others. Apprehension gripped them when out of the blue, the judges announced, "And the first prize goes to Sruthi!"

Stunned the two friends stared at each other. The news hit Sruthi slowly but surely and she squealed suddenly, hugging Radhika. She ran on stage, ecstatic, to take her cash prize. "We loved your calm and sure performance. This is not to say that the others were any less, but you worked magic," the senior judge said.

Sruthi ran back to her friend, who had tears in her eyes. Sruthi felt deflated. She had been selfish!

Friends commiserated. Sruthi rose up to her defense. "Radhika is a fantastic performer. That day wasn't her day, but that doesn't take anything away from her!"

When Sruthi snapped at another close friend a couple of days later, Radhika stood up angrily. "Stop showing off so much! You don't have to keep rubbing in the fact that you got the prize instead of me! If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even have participated! And now, the gall of it. 'Not her day...'" Radhika said grimacing angrily. "What kind of a friend you are, cheating on me, trying to prove your superiority! Stop being so patronising!"

She stormed away, leaving Sruthi stunned and speechless.