Queries

05 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by in My cars- my chariots, Random Musings, Social Causes

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1. The orange light. Press accelerator or press brake? The blinking orange is that alluring last-chance warning to escape the red. How many of us slow down on an orange light? Unless… see point 2…

2. Do you modify your decision according to presence of traffic personnel? I do. What seems right on an unpatrolled road suddenly seems forbidden otherwise. And forbidden fruit is so tempting!

3. Blood Alcohol test on the victim? Is it ever done? I know nobody in a sane mind would sacrifice life /limb  to end up as a road-accident -victim. But then, neither would any sane mind want to be an accident-maker. Think of suspended license, penalty , loss of face,  a lifetime of survivor guilt…

4. Why does the mobile-addicted cool dude sauntering across the road think his life is my duty?

5. Why does every group of women need to join hands and create a human chain , simply to cross a road?

6. Why is spitting on the road easier than just swallowing it,  for certain people?

Power of bloom vs gloom

02 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by in Spirituality

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He narrated a hilarious joke to an assembly. They broke into laughter, reveling in the novelty of it.

He repeated the joke after 5 minutes. They smiled indulgently.

He repeated the joke after 10 minutes. Their lips curved up, their eyebrows slashed down.

He repeated the joke after 15 minutes. There was impatient shuffle.

He repeated the joke after 20 minutes. There was stony silence.

He repeated the joke after 25 minutes. Frank irritation sliced through the air.

He sensed the unrest and smiled, “A happy incident has the power to bring a smile. It loses that power on repetition.

Then why? Why? Why does a slight/an insult/a misfortune/a reversal not lose its power to make you gloomy in spite of repeatedly dwelling on it?”

The art of driving in Mumbai- Part I

24 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by in My cars- my chariots, Random Musings, Social Causes, Spirituality

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OK, I admit it is a nightmare. It escalates blood pressure, boils blood, creates stomach ulcers, gives visions of bloody murder.

I am now trying to achieve Nirvana while driving. Here are my pointers.

1. Start early. Nothing like those extra 15 minutes to soothe fragile nerves.

2. Dont make it a competition between that I-have-a-deathwish taxidriver and the Why-the-hell-do-girls-drive testosterone bravados. In my early nervous stints at the wheel (and even now in unexplainable spurts of adrenaline), I do press on the accelerator.

If you cannot control the competitive urge, make it a different type of competition. I pat myself on the back and say “I won’’”, if I do not give in to that adrenaline surge, if I ease on the accelerator and allow the idiot to overtake.

Those 5 seconds honestly make no difference. Invariably, we end up side to side(or bumper-to-bumper) at the next red signal!

3. Listen to fabulous music. It is the magic elixir to shorten and sweeten any journey.

4. Anticipate the sadistic tendencies of truck and taxi drivers. They almost always turn left after giving a right indicator, take a U-turn if the parking lights are blinking and veer into your lane with no intention of acknowledging ur existence.

5. Remember, you always appreciate patience in the driver behind you; but never in the driver ahead of you.

6. Indicators are genuinely meant to replace horns (in daytime). So dont use them as synonyms.

7. Never admire another bigger, better, newer model. Just like you wont admire a younger, slimmer, prettier girl in the presence of ur current one.

Krishna, the miracle-Part II

17 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by in My Pets, Spirituality

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He did not survive. I did. I survived his death.

Little Krishna taught me a lot in his short sunshine existence.

1.No matter how much I tried to escape motherhood and its webs, being a pet-owner was a trap. I could not escape the tenderness, the protective clutch, the anxiety as the clock approached 5pm-seed- feed time, the flight of the mind in the midst of a busy day to envision his tottering delight at my arrival. Owning a pet is exactly like bearing a child.

2. How to stand your ground in the face of intimidation (from his own parents, no less).

3.How crystal clear animals are in their survival-of-fittest rules, as opposed to humans. Sultana did not protect her son, did not mollycoddle him.Would a human being be allowed to do the same, without facing censure and derision?

Ayn Rand says we are the only species who tries to numb and dumb children’s minds, try our best to evade their questions , try to smother their intellect. In effect, we try to dampen the mind, our strongest survival instinct that separates us from animals. Animals seem merciless, but their little ones become self-reliant much sooner than ours.

so is a human being a step-up or step-down the ladder of existence?