A quick trip:
It’s a sunny afternoon, my brother and I arrive at Kakinada station, where we are greeted by our grandfather who rid us home and fed us lunch. An hour later, we realize that it is quite humid
but our grandfather has already has us diverted. By evening, my granny has arranged for a light dinner and all of us fled upstairs to relax in the open air. After few conversations, we slept tight and next day morning, I wake up to the hen crackling in the neighborhood and mild radio tunes played by him. My grandfather is seen going for a walk and returns home with some groceries. In the next few hours, he
is seen running errands and after a quick lunch, he would nap that is timed for exact number of minutes and then up again for a detailed reading and rama koti writing session. The couple sits in the front yard covered with coconut trees and immersed in intelligent conversations. The day passes by and ends again on the terrace.
This daily routine seems very common for many of us, but there are hidden moments that are otherwise called as Memories for me:
- He neither owned a bike nor a car, he rode us back home in a cycle.
- He engaged us with stories made of interesting avatars to help us gain worldly perspective.
- He plucked home grown vegetables for lunch and in fact makes an awesome fresh salad that he titled as Aurangabad chutney.
- In few summers, the house was deprived of power, but he would manage with hand fans and natural air. This was a main element in our evening terrace sessions that are accompanied by wonderful stories that embark hope and optimism as we slip into sleep.
- He never used a computer in his life, yet was super efficient and until his last breath, he remembered every birthday, anniversary, service dates, due dates and other important milestones of all his family members.
- He was financially smart and spent meager amounts for his living, only to give away his earnings to his children.
- He was a fantastic husband who struck a balance between life and wife :) Besides helping granny with her cooking and cleaning, his daily routine included praying, reading, writing diary, negotiating with tenants, writing letters, planning train reservations and many more. (A funny and daily sight was him shaking a Horlicks bottle filled with butter milk in order to draw butter :))
- Being a lifelong teacher, he enjoyed enlightening us with sessions on Grammar, Literature and Biology.
- He was a proud owner of a tiny black and white antennaeted television that worked occasionally and he would be all dressed up for the Sunday evening, to watch a regional movie aired on DD.
- He would enjoy watching the hustle of moving trains and passengers in a train station and in order to engage us - he would assign collecting variety of flora, which is later explained in our journey back home.
- He was excellent at socializing and ensures to network via hand written letters. One will be amazed at the actual social network he managed even after his retirement. (Upon his demise, a 65 year old student of grandpa had called my Mom after seeing his obituary in the news paper.) He truly knew what it takes to keep in touch with others. No telephones nor Facebook sites back then!
- Another beautiful habit is, he makes scrap books for everything which if referred later become a learning pass time. For example, he gathers pictures of different states and makes a book for us, so that we could flip the pages to learn the various states, languages, dance styles, food interests etc.
- An interesting post-reading discipline he follows is, to write a summary of what has been read in a day with date, page numbers and a gist of literature.
This write-up is a quick trivia to recall the good times spent with him and my eyes welled up as I walked down my memory lane, miss you taatagaru!
Persistence need not always be loud and can very well come across as soft yet bold. Its disappointing to see the human tendency to believe only the loudest and not the quiet. Why is dynamism often associated with the blabbering souls and not with the thinkers who passively and persistently deal with a situation ? Why is small talk often valued, when the occasional speech carries the whole weight? Why aren't people patient enough to look beyond the exterior walls which can have an empty vessel making noise or a full brimmed pot that stays stable? Why do people assume that talkers can think, but thinkers may not talk?
People skills do not mean talking alone, it requires an immense skill of listening too! In fact, the silent ones are often noted to have made the most compelling speeches ever, because they think and listen, before they talk. (to be contd)
After a quick virtual huddle with my team, I created a video that reflects the rise of women in different facets. Although, this may seem specific to the United States, I had a ray of hope sown inside for it to spread its fragrance..
Take a glimpse of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pZmpS62sLs
Image Credits: Google Images
The recent news about child marriage by Khap Panchayat has disturbed me in many ways, and I tried to visualize the plight of what a foetus might think about the growing atrocities against women in India. Here you go..
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| the journey.. |
Who says life distanced us?
Blessed am I for reliving through your memories
I see you whereever I go and think of you whenever I pause
....am i the effect and u the cause?
Your favorite music still rings in my mind
...how come your favorites turned mine?
Missing you is only making me think of you even more
....without you, why is life is such a bore?
Silence we shared than the words says
....we resonate
such lovely times...is it possible for us to recreate?
How I wish time rolls back?
...can we freeze the times not to de-track?
Hardly is there a moment without your thought
...unable to untangle or am i simply love-caught?
Fact of the file: The concept of queues has evolved to reinforce discipline in an unruly group. Agreed! However, sublimaly it also indicates us to respect the preceding person , who planned to arrive ahead of us and must have adjusted his or her schedules inorder to be on time at a certain place, which cannot be encroached by elbowing your own way in a crowd. This ability to conveniently grab other person's planned time cannot be deemed as smart and its sheer cheating. No matter how many propogate the idea of being street smart is better than being sincere. I stongly endorse the latter, as it induces a degree of satisfaction for being who you are and not hijacking somone else's time. Thus, it makes us a holistically better person instead of a surface levelled get-the-job done attitude. By this, i do not mean to undermine the outcomes of smart, for being that witty and spontaneously active person will only augment the sincere ground you would have set and ease your job in further activities. It is sad to see the state of affairs in many public locations, where a person attempting to queue up remains alone, often trumped by the hyped smart genre. A recent incident at the Hyderabad airport instigated me to write this post, when a decently educated and civilized looking woman overtook me in the check-in queue just like that, coz I was held up for less than 30 seconds while scurrying my bag for the ticket. When I reminded her about the existence of a queue system, she sounds apologetically naive and reasons that "I thought you stood here just like that". Yes, she is right - I come all the way from the other end of the city to stand in an airport check-in queue just like that. Now, the strangest part is she continuing to be the same and managing to get away before me with the same attitude and not a single trace of guilt even after being told. Thats cool you see! Folks! wake up - its a passe to grab your neighbour's planned time and you are only an illegal entry into the disciplined environment and might even be knocked out.
Here's a list of things I keep experiencing and hearing quite often. I leave the interpretation to my readers, as they are very subjective/
You are a sinner if you have not .....
- pulled all-nighters for essays
- felt serendipitous moments of intellectual jolts
- found the clicking argument of your thesis in sleep or during strage moments of a day (including the biological process of mal extraction :P)
- realized that coffee is your best friend for brainstorming
- drawn into the pull of deep thinking, while talking something else
- been blamed for going into a shell for an awakening and flying out wild after you satisfy yourself
- been awake anytime before 1 am and wake up at 2 am to jot down a new idea
- felt a strong desire to loose track of time and be lost in a space of thoughts
- craved to get critiqued to elicit and squeeze the grey matter firmly
- experienced to stay up late in library, in a hope to find yet one more journal to strengthen your reseach paper
- self-doubted yourself for an non-stimulated thoughtful action
well...social life had its own share
- seen plays at Oxford playhouse
- made it to BOPs
- dined in atleast 3 different colleges per term
- heard the famous Oxford Union debates
- met even a single celebrity or genious student
- punted across Isis
- visited London impulsively
- gone for a run aimlessly to exercise that mind
.....more later
From Rushdie to Recent lawsuit on FB/Google - Censorship reigns failing the nation in its freedom of expression!
I chanced to watch a play - The Heart of Robinhood by David Farr, as seen at the Royal Shakespeare Theater in StratfordUponAvon. Agreed that, this is not a play by William himself, but this was less to none. The story is about the princess who stole the heart of Robinhood and how she manages to win his love. I saw the play in a more comical light, with brilliant performances by every actor.
The story line premises in a forest (for our very Robin) and a castle where the princess lived. So, the set designers crafted the stage in a super-smart way that it serves dual purpose. For the first time, I have seen the set to play such a major role often offering surprises and swallowing a few unneeded characters. It supported the swings, the ropes, a small water pool, burrows, confession boxes, royal pedestals and everything else required for story. This was complemented by the light and sound effects too.
An impressive ingredient of the play was the human made-up animals, where artists with music instrumental skills played amazingly well, disguising themselves as a dog, a swan and a wild bear. In order to justify the sounds of the animals, they played musical instruments that barked, roared and quaked convincing the audience in a musical way.
The humorous lines were right in proportion and made me wait for the comedians to reappear, for their witty silly lines certainly made the audiences cheer together. Also, other emotions of Anger, frustration, Smugness, Love, Desire, Concern were expressed very diligently and I was intrigued on how the ENTIRE cast marveled at all of them.
The 2.5 hour long play was weaved neatly, allowing a good coherence between the scenes. I hardly found any loose hanging threads and more than anything, the play's brilliance has drawn me into its power of drama.
A great show to look for and worth its pricey ticket for a student :P
