Back to 'Street-side-games'

Over the last 2 days, I've been trying desperately to sit in front of my system and get some work done. I'm not unwell or busy meeting people or even reading my long-awaiting novel; I'm running in-and-out of our home trying to keep 'P' with-mom and then without. Who 'P'? The little white pup who recently increased the member count in our family. So here's how these last 2 days have been -

It started at 2:30am, Monday morning. Yes, 2:30 AM! Somewhere in neverland a tiny sound of someone weeping. And then it got louder. And louder! Followed by the dodgy feeling of leaving neverland and the stubborn registration of my actual surrounding! That was no weeping, that was wailing.

P had fallen into an opening of a drain (Tch! Those drains, they always cross your path, don't they?) It took us 15 minutes to get him out. All that while his mother kept nudging at my dad's leg as if to say, "I tried! Please help!" Such a sight it was to see her lick P all over once he was out!

Three hours of erratic sleep and P's wailing again. From then to now, I've been trying to get him to his mum to feed him and bring him back home so he gets used to Munnu, us and his new home.

All that running up-and-down the street brought back memories of 'Hide-n-Seek', 'Gilli-danda', 'Lagory' & 'Phugadi'! Remember the pigtails and pinafores? What fun!

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A bridge across forever

What the bridge symbolizes we conveniently overlook and get caught up in such and such meaningless arguments! If Lord Ram were to walk this land today, I wonder how many tongues he'd ask to be chopped off? Or would he at all?

At times like these, would you agree the following SO needs to happen? I do!

(October 4th 2007) Update:

I just recieved this in my email. Another among Sudi's priceless inputs!

A BRIDGE TOO FAR

Lord Rama surveyed the Ram Setu and said "Hanuman, how diligently and strenuously you and your vanara sena had built this bridge several centuries back. It is remarkable that it has withstood the ravages of the climatic and geographical changes over centuries. It is indeed an amazing feat especially considering the fact that a bridge at Hyderabad built by Gammon using latest technology collapsed the other day even before they could stick the posters on its pillars."

Hanuman with all humility spoke "Jai Sri Ram, it is all because of your grace. We just scribbled your name on the bricks and threw them in the sea and they held. No steel from TISCO or cement from Ambuja or ACC was ever used. But Lord, why rake up the old issue now."

Ram spoke "Well, Hanuman some people down there want to demolish the bridge and construct a canal. The contract involves lot of money and lot of money will be made. They will make money on demolition and make more money on construction."

Hanuman humbly bowed down and said "Why not we go down and present our case"

Ram said "Times have changed since we were down there. They will ask us to submit age proof and we don't have either a birth certificate or school leaving certificate. We traveled mainly on foot and sometimes in bullock carts and so we don't have a driving license either. As far as the address proof is concerned the fact that I was born at Ayodhya is itself under litigation for over half a century, If I go in a traditional attire with bow and arrow, the ordinary folks may recognize me but Arjun Singh may take me to be some tribal and, at the most, offer a seat at IIT under the reserved category. Also, a God cannot walk in dressed in a three-piece suit and announce his arrival. It would make even the devotees suspicious. So it is dilemma so to say."

Hanuman: "I can vouch for you by saying that I personally built the bridge."

Ram: "My dear, Anjani putra, it will not work. They will ask you to produce the lay-out plan, the project details, including financial outlay and how the project cost was met and the completion certificate. Nothing is accepted without documentary evidence in India. You may cough but unless a doctor certifies it, you have no cough. A pensioner may present himself personally but the authorities do not take it as proof. He has to produce a life-certificate to prove that he is alive. It is that complicated."

Hanuman: "Lord, I can't understand these historians. Over the years you have given darshan once every hundred years to saints like Surdas, Tulsidas, Saint Thyagaraja, Jayadeva, Bhadrachala Ramdas and even Sant Tukaram and still they disbelieve your existence and say Ramayana is a myth.The only option, I see, is to re-enact Ramayana on earth and set the government records straight once for all."

Lord smiled "It isn't that easy today. Ravan is apprehensive that he may look like a saint in front of Karunanidhi. I also spoke to his mama Mareecha, who appeared as a golden deer to tempt Sita maiyya when I was in the forest and he said that he won't take a chance of stepping on earth as long as Salman Khan is around."

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Please share your home

Before I get into my everyday posts, I'd like to make a sincere request to all those who might chance upon this site and are willing to share their homes with a stray dog. If not, please spread word among your friends who might be interested in caring for a little one.

A fortnight ago, a dog on our street gave birth to 3 wonderful pups. Today, I was able to play with them for a while and used this opportunity to take a few snaps.

All three with Mommy

Female 1

Female 2

Male 1 (If mom and munnu agree, might keep this one)

Last week my brother managed to click a few, while keeping a safe distance. This was when they were only a week old -

Please find it in your heart to help these little ones. You can also find more strays for adoption here.

(September 24th 2007) Update:
Mom & Dad SO love this little one. We've decided to keep him and are waiting for someone to welcome the other 2 into their homes. We haven't named him as yet, so suggestions are welcome.

(September 29th 2007) Update:
The little brown female has just found herself a home!! Hopefully it's a warm and cozy place and I must say, lucky people :)!

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More 'Sudi-Gyaan'

Why should I feel bad?!...

I lost one who never loved me. She lost the one who really loved and cared for her.

Thanks Sudi!

Never cry for any one who makes you cry

There was this guy, who was in love with a girl. She wasn't the most beautiful and gorgeous, but to him, she was everything. He used to dream about her, dream about spending the rest of his life with her. His friends once said to him, "Why do you dream so much about her, when you don't even know if she loves you? Tell her how you feel and get to know if she likes you or not."

He proposed; she rejected. His friends thought he would take to alcohol or drugs and ruin his life. To their surprise, he was not depressed. When they asked him about it he replied, "Why should I feel bad? I lost one who never loved me & she lost the one who really loved and cared for her."

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When pictures speak...

Another among Anita's beautiful photography. The words mean as much. Hope you don't mind my posting it here Anita. Thanks for sharing.

“I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams”

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Yay...'Read More!' works

For a REALLY long time (even with blogs that have been deleted for good) I've been trying to get this hack to work. Thanks to Ramani, this is a wish come true!

A teeny-weeny bug - Older posts still seem to have the 'Read More!' link for all posts. He still needs to figure that one out.

What the heck, he got so far! Three cheers, I say!

(September 20th 2007) Update:

Every old post that doesn't need a 'Read More!' Link will now have a photo uploaded within the link. I'll try and fill them with snaps I take myself :).

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What is it you are looking for?

Here's something Sudi had to share -

"Life never leaves you empty. It always replaces everything you lost.
If it asks you to put something down, it’s 'coz it wants you to pick up something greater."

A beautiful thought.

October 1st 2007:

From mom's precious garden

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WOW!!

I just can't stop saying Wow!

Luck to Nathan & Nicole!

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Unadulterated gimmick

Having read John Grogan's 'Marley & Me' and reminiscing everything about our lab - 'Buddy', I've been keenly observing our mutt - 'Munnu' (Yes, very INDIAN!) Loads of differences, few similarities too, but the one thing that most amazes me about any dog - Labs, German Shepherds, Mutts or Pomeranians - is their sincerity towards sharing quality time with you.

Munnu enjoys his rest time during the day (And that's saying the least!). No matter who knocks the gate or calls out to you, he keeps his eyes firmly shut during daytime. It's like he's saying - "I work night shifts only, woman. You've got your eyes and ears to yourself during daylight; might as well put them to use." So we don't see him barking at strangers at our doorstep if -

1. We aren't at home to see him do that (obviously!)
2. We are at home and it's not beyond 6pm

That's his schedule and he's stringent about it - 6pm to 9am.

Except, if for some reason, you decide to bask yourself in the sun say, you'd find him promptly following stead. Like today, I was taking a break from my laptop and sat 3 feet from where he usually slumps. I was only thinking to myself, 'Should I disturb him?', when he most-reluctantly got onto his fours and practically 'sleep-walked' to where I was sitting.

If you ignore Munnu when he's by your side, he reminds you of his presence by harmlessly pawing at you. However, in his state of forced insomnia, he did what he could do best, put all his weight on me and go 'Grrrrr...' - which really means, 'Are you blind lady?! I need some petting here, so get busy!'

But the part one should notice is, HE got up from his uncontrollable sleep state just to come sit next to me! What would you call that? 'Unscathed' affection maybe?

(September 20th 2007) Update:

Munnu during broad daylight

P.S: That's a garden swing my folks purchased at an exhibition for Rs. 8000/-. We got to enjoy it for a week before Munnu claimed it to be his. (See the small opening he made for his tail!)

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Not my business

Let's start with a 2-line history tour - We are were a land of villages, towns, kingdoms and provinces. It's been 60* years since these have been replaced by cities on our maps, 20* since the IT revolution changed the economic standards in most of these cities (atleast for the middle and upper classes) and 5* since every fourth* man in the IT industry knows what life is like outside this country of ours.

Having said that, let's consider what we've managed to learn from our travels - Young politicians? Only over the last year. Equal importance to all forms of education (and not just engineering & medicine)? Yeah, a little maybe. Reduced inflation? Nope. More importance to the backbone of our country? (What's that you ask!?! - Agriculture you dummie!!) Nope. Reduced corruption levels on all fronts? No, No. And the most basic necessities of them all - Cleanliness? A DEFINITE No!

Hard to believe, if every fourth* man in the IT industry really does know what living outside this country is like, he most deifnitely knows their cleanliness standards! Why then, don't we follow any around here?! Will having an extra brown bag in our car for trash make us look stupid? Would keeping the wrappers of a toffee our children just ate, in our jacket pocket, ruin our prestige? Would politely asking a person to clean up after him, make us look like aliens? Would teaching our children to walk those ten extra steps to dump trash into a bin and follow the same, make us less dignified?

Yes, the govt. needs to put up more bins. Yes, they need to employ more workers to clean streets and roads. Yes, there has to be a more scheduled garbage pick-up system. Yes to all that! But how long can they keep increasing these strengths, how long can they keep cleaning up after you, how long can they keep adding to the already existing bins, if all of us just want to complain and only do our bit in adding to the mess around?

Every single day a new generation is born. Every single day this new generation learns from us. Every single day they follow what we imbibe in them. Is it not our mistake then, that we are not able to teach them even the basic idea of 'Community Cleanliness'? Isn't it our fault that we are teaching them ways to handle cleanliness around us with a stern "That's not my business" attitude?!

Agreed. All things don't change overnight. So let's start today by making our little bit count. Let's make our surroundings a cleaner, healthier place. And let's not forget the key word - OUR, not his or hers or theirs, but ours. Afterall, every drop in the ocean counts!

(*A guesstimate.)

(September 12th) Update: Front page news in ToI -

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQkcvMjAwNy8wOS8xMiNBcjAwMTAz&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

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Apologies

For a good 2 days I've been patting my back for having come up with the name 'Guts, Grace & Gusto'. Today I wanted to make sure it came up on google. So I typed-in my query and guess what?!... The name's already registered by this group! (Scroll down to the bottom of the page)

So I'm thinking - 'Every time I come up with a good idea, someone's already nailed it! And what I almost discard as bad ones, always end up doing the trick!' Do I want to be penalized for a blog-header?! Ofcourse not! So barely 3 days old, we decide to gracefully move on to a different version - that is to say, from Guts to Grit. Same G's. Well... almost same!

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Fasting

Here's Wikipedia's explanation for the word - "... act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both ...". Do you see the hard part in this act?! "Willingly"(?)!!

I'll be honest, I've never liked the idea of fasting. No disrespect to all those who believe in this act. It's just something I find absurd. If I were asked to give away my share of food, drink, or both to a person who hasn't been able to feed himself for various reasons, I would gladly do so without a blink of an eye. But to abstain oneself for no good reason at all, just doesn't ring with me. If one is asked to do so by a physician say for health reasons, I'd accept that for a valid reason, if they were doing so to voluntarily watch their otherwise uncontrollable weight, that might make sense too. But to starve yourself in the name of prayer, just so your heart's desire is fulfilled... ?!! I find that more like torture to the Lord Himself! Like - "You gave me this body and I won't feed it until You give me what I need" - What?!!

In His place, I might have thought to myself, "Ha!... the hilarious things I find myself doing for them nincompoops!" But then again, that's just me!

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'Yem-ba-raa-zing' moments

Four months ago, I started out as an Independent Consultant. Whoa! To date, I keep thinking - 'I really did something different, didn't I?!' Good different, Bad different, I don't know. Might take a while before I can be positive on that. So obviously, 4 months ago, I wanted to be sure I'm not putting all eggs in one basket. Which means, I was still looking out for other jobs.

I hate interviews. Not 'coz they drill you with all those 'Is-she-the-next-stupid-being-we-need-to-train' questions, but 'coz I manage to appear dumb (read D. U. M. B) in almost all my answers. Doing 3 somersaults would probably make me look wiser! (Didn't I mention earlier?! I love exaggerrating!) So the moment I step into any office for an interview, the nervousness is bound to spill.

This occasion being no different. It was a weekend and they were conducting interviews by the truckloads. So the place is HUGE, the company even BIGGER and the number of people around was STAGGERING! In a humble corner of this magnificent hall, I filled out my form and waited my turn for being toasted. After about an hour or so, I heard someone call out, 'Prun-gee-aal'. Like someone just lit a fire below my seat, I shot-up and raced through the room and was guided into a channel of connected 'stalls'. I was asked to make myself comfortable in one of the two chairs that barely fit into this tiny 'opening-of-a-stall' along with an enormous table, while my escort fetched the person who'd swell controlling his laughter after listening to my prolific monologue!

After the initial exchange of formalities, he started with his set of 'so-she-really-thinks-she'll-last-here-eh-?' questions. Almost towards the end of his list, when he no longer wanted to hold his 'hee-haw' behind hands clasping his mouth, he said, "It eez really yem-ba-raa-zing to see such tyaa-lent go waste, you know. It eez actually yem-ba-raa-zing to know the present state of a-ver (our) ye-ducation sees-tem. How they can paa-si-baly be such ye (a) yem-ba-raaz-ment to themselves, I do not know?". With eyes popping out and my mouth half open, I could only manage, "Yes sir, it is quite em-baa-rassing.", following which his expression suddenly stiffened and with a, "Uh?!... umm... Yes... yes, yes, yem-ba-raa-zing", shooed me out of the pigeonhole!

On my way back home, the only thought I distinctly remember is, "Poof, that went off well! Right?!"

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Aroma & Stench

I've always found myself attracted to the 'aroma' the ink from a ball-point pen leaves behind. Infact, when I'm trying to concentrate on a conversation over a phone and I have a pen at my disposal, I can be found making weird shapes over paper - definitely scratching & scribbling. Only recently did I discover that half the reason for that is the smell from the ink! Weird huh?! Well, I've only started writing this blog. Wait till you see more 'weirdo' action.

Speaking of aromas ofcourse, last Saturday we were at this place for dinner. All five of us were starved and so the smell of all the wonderful dishes around us was definitely not helping! And then this family walks in. All smells, seasonings, spiciness suddenly lost out to an overpowering scent! My mom speaks first, "Do you smell that? Wonder why they'd mop the floors with lysol now?!"

What can I say?! Lysol smells good when it's on your floor; if it replaces your perfume(?)..., God be with thy neighbour!!

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Cheers to a fresh start!!

First - Yay!! This one's got title heads!

Second - Post frequency... unknown

Third - Let's Rock & Roll!! ...

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