Rare Gems

The environment in which we dwell has a great impact on our mind and growth. I truly admire good people whose goodness gets rubbed on to us and strong people who inspire us to go that extra mile against all odds.

While growing up in Delhi, I knew one very pious and nice family of 4. Their house used to homely and there was a certain calm and sereneness in the atmosphere. Theirs was the only home where a cat and dog would drink water from the same bowl without fighting. I believe the goodness got rubbed on to the pets too. They used to have plants from various parts of India growing in their deck. Irrespective of the specific conditions a certain plant needs to grow, they all grew well in their home. Both Uncle and Aunt were well educated. They understood philosophy of life was to be good and spread goodness. Their quest for knowledge was phenomenal. They had a room to collect grocery "lifafas" (bag made of local newspapers) . According to Uncle these contained some very interesting tit bits and he would read them during his past time. The Aunt was very talented and she would promote art in all forms - pottery, local handicrafts, paintings from various parts of India. Those days, local artists would sometimes knock at the doors requesting people for buying their works. These artists were not well to do and needed money to support the family. If anyone knocked at their door and his works were good, the Aunt would buy most of the paintings and call all her friends/acquaintances to look at the art and buy if interested. She would even try to help them establish their own business or recommend them to local arts store.

We are now more tolerant to the various religions and castes India boasts off. As a child I have experienced some very bitter religious clashes in my neighborhood. In those days, this family adopted a kid who was Muslim and had become an orphan. The kid had come to their home for some food and they asked him to stay with them. His name was "Mahiyam". They taught him and sent him to school. He grew up into a fine young man. Their own sons were also very nice to him and I am sure this kid got the greatest gift from god - parents. After all, just giving birth does not qualify one to become good parent.It is giving a good life to a child that makes one a good parent.

Until Death Do Us Part... Is it so?

My colleague mentioned about the German politician who has proposed an "expiration date" of 7 years to marriage. Uhh?
http://inthekut.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/marriage-for-life-or-just-in-7-year-increments/

This information started to churn my mind. With time, the way of life and living has changed - for better or worse is an individual's perception. Few decades ago, a person would never tender a resignation letter unless caused by some adverse circumstances. People used to work for the same company till they retire and would be very loyal to the company. "Aapka namak khaya hai, sahib"(I earned my food because of you .. Not the exact translation). I remember in Japan, the son could get the position of his father in the same company. This was because both the employee and employer cared for each other's welfare.

Now times have changed. People switch jobs like they change clothes. With all the corporate games, loyalty has taken a back seat. More people have started working, more ideas are pouring in and the rules have changed. We have become more self oriented in figuring out what is best for us. These thoughts have definitely affected our personal relationships as well. Gone are the days when a love affair in a hindi movie was depicted by just exchange of eye glances. Movies always reflect the reality of life and we can see our lives are indeed changing. Everything now is a deal, the winner bags the best deal. We look for expiration date in all the stuff we buy. But should that be extended to marriage as well? Only time would tell...

A ship to sail ..... Friendship

I was working late last night when I got a scrap on my orkut from an old friend of mine. I surprised her by calling her up at midnight. It was a nice long refreshing talk revolving around old times, friendships, dreams, misunderstandings, human relations.

My collegue at work just commented how hard it is for him to keep up friends. He mentioned after sometime it becomes an "encroachment" and you need to keep "forcing" it inorder to maintain conversations.

I guess this is a typical example of "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and God knows what both are doing on Earth!"

Each friendship has to be nurtured, blossomed to save it from becoming stale. I guess the same goes for love too. But the way two people perceive it makes all the difference.

I remember
the old times together

I miss
the shared bliss

I yearn
our conversations

I do hear the phone
But on the otherside there is no one

I do want to call
But I know there is a wall

I think I value
our friendship more than you

As there is not a day
I do not think of you

But I do want to know
If you have let our friendship go

I wish you could say
Our friendship is here to stay.

A whole new world!

Humanity. A small word but makes a whole world of difference. Even though we are humans - homo sapiens, humanity does not seem to be our first nature. We were definitely born with it. Kids are in the purest human form. I guess as we grow, we understand the need to survive , to excel and to outgrow each other.

One day, I had to take my 6 month old baby to his pediatrcian checkup. My elder daughter , Aruna was then 3.5 yrs old. She accompanied me to the doc's visit. The doc checked his ears and in the process squashed it a bit. Droplets of blood fell on my hands. My hands froze seeing the blood from my little baby's ears. The doc assured that it would stop and asked me to call next day morning in case things worsen. As if things were not worse enough. Aruna looked little confused. She knew we go to doctor when we get hurt. This is the first time we went to the doctor and got hurt. I spoke to her calmly and softly that her baby brother would be fine and his ears would heal soon. Infact, I was re-assuring myself more than convincing her. I drove back home with the kids, feeling miserable. I could not figure out how my baby was feeling. He slept on the way back home. The only thing I wanted at that point was that his ears should be fine. When we reached back home, Aruna picked up the phone. She loves phones and I have a big challenge to keep her away from our home phone or my cellphone. But right now, I was too exhausted(more emotionally than physically) to fight her for not using the phone. She dialed some random no. and says "Hello, God Ganesha, please take the bo-bo away from my baby's ears!".

I stood there speechless.

"The fact that we have babies born everyday assures that God has not lost hope on earth"