Curious neighbor syndrome!

Today the old geographic limits and boundaries have dissolved into nothingness - thanks to the internet that has reduced the whole world to a village. So people find nothing wrong in showing prurient interest in their neighbor Shashi's life. Since last night, we have yet again been subjected to the media circus, and all of us have been glued to the telly, and/or the computer - following the developing story! 

Taking one's life is not an easy decision and the poor woman must have gone through hell before she decided to end her life. Let us not sit in the comfort of our living room and judge her! Also dammit, don't put her life on show for the world to gape at, and gossip about. 

And also - about her family - these are people who have lost their loved one under very tragic circumstances - let them grieve in peace! Back off everyone, please!

Society for me?

Today it was brought home to me that all those who live in ‘civil’ society must subdue their individuality and unquestioningly abide by the rules that society imposes upon its individual components.

Being an intelligent, educated and thinking person, I had actually forgotten about big daddy. Silly me – I had believed that I was beyond the proverbial laxman rekha. I have made my own independent decisions about life and career. I have not leaned on my near and dear ones, except perhaps in my growing up years.

I philosophize … and internalize my discussions with myself. I discuss only vital stuff with close family and a few close friends – only when they actively seek discussion. I do not preach to other people, and keep myself far from preachers. I have lived my own life, made my own mistakes. Nothing better than learning from one’s own mistakes, I say. My blunders have taught me lessons that have made me move onwards confidently.

I fail to understand people who read popular books about the lives of successful people – with the hope that they would absorb from their experiences and live their own lives in a better way. I think religion, saints, gurus, management/ self help/ self improvement books, and what have you are crutches, that debilitate people and hold them back.

This thinking individual human does not need a restrictive society. Not what it gives me, nor what it forbids me to do. Bah!

Cacophony...

I am sitting in front of my Lenovo IdeaCentre, trying to assemble my thoughts into some kind of order as I try my hand at writing a blog after facing a major writing block that has lasted for years. Not a simple task - particularly as my ears are assailed - actually near deafened, by a cacophony of  horns and revving engines of all kinds of vehicles - buses, autos, trucks, motor bikes, et al. Living this close to a railway station and, by extension, a bus depot and an autorickshaw stand, it is really tough to think at times. I try hard still, in my bid to find a topic worth penning.

My thoughts take me back to my school days when this was a quiet, residential colony made up mostly of bungalows, with narrow lanes lined by hedges of mehndi, where we would play under the cooling shade provided by big gulmohar, chinch and jambhool trees. We would wake to the calls and trills of assorted song birds nesting in the trees in our front and back yard. At 7 am, my friend Sandhya would call out to me from our gate, and we would head for school. In the afternoons and evenings, we would hear the sing song advertisement calls of miscellaneous vendors - buddhi ka baal, kaapoos wala, dabba baatliwala, kalhai wala, kulfi wala - to name just a few. Not to forget the Sunday visits of the alm seeking keeper of the Nandi Bayl going 'gubu gubu' on the big drum, and the rather scary whiplash sounds made by the kadak lakshmi.

Alas, so many old style sounds (and vocations) gone forever or on the way out, and have been replaced by NOISY technology and sound pollution of the new millennium!

And life goes on...

As I head for home today, surrounded on all sides by thousands of cars all held up in a series of traffic jams, deafened by cacophonous horns, quite out of the blue a thought occurs to my stressed out brain ... what if I die today? Would all the life time of memories and learning that I've stored with such care in my consciousness be lost forever in the ether that constitutes our universe.... and, if so, of what purpose was my life?

Last thoughts of this tired soul

As I lie in bed waiting for blessed sleep to take over, I can't stop my tired brain from reflecting about the day! A day just like any other... yet unique in so many ways. Nature, I am truly blessed to experience your beauty. .... the tender dawn with its wispy clouds pierced gently by the awakening sun's rays. .. giving the sky a pinkish hue! And an evening sun totally shrouded in thick grey clouds of the advancing monsoon, split by sharp cracks of lightning... and ably supported by thunderous sound fx!

Nature, tussi great ho!

Thoughts about JAPAN

The utter devastation, wrought by the sheer scale and enormity of the twin natural calamities that have struck Japan, has stunned me. My eyes have literally been glued to the TV screen this past weekend. Nature, usually beautiful and enthralling and therefore much admired, presented itself this time in full fury, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. Akin to the after effects of lord Shiva's tandav or goddess Kali's rudravatar!

Japan, a country that has time and again stood up tall and strong after being dealt blow after blow. A nation which today is recognized as a powerful, industrialized nation despite its geographic location in the far east and in the third world. Today its people are again on their virtual knees. Not only have they faced a monster earthquake followed closely by a huge tsunami, but they seem to be on the brink of a third upheaval (this one man made) - a series of nuclear disasters. I hope that the latter can be averted and, if they can't, that the damage is minimized.

My heart goes out to the countless people whose lives have been snuffed out so suddenly, whose bodies either lie buried under huge mounds of rubble or have been washed out into the vast Pacific ocean. All of humanity is with you now, my Japanese brethren, in your hour of need. May you face these tough times head on, and rise again like the phoenix that arose from its ashes!

Jay Ho, Nihon!