Dew

It is important to change things, pattern, order, mood, routine, clothes, food… Monotone can hit us in a very, very subtle way. Multiple subtle hits can cause a ridge of damage to our lives and the surrounding lives. If you have  been in the same place for a long time worn the same/similar colored clothes have met the same people for years now have kept things exactly at the same place every single day over the last few years been to the same places regularly been following the same TV programme been doing the same exercise in the same order for the same number of minutes every day been eating the same items in your breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner times been sleeping and waking up on time, no matter how busy the rest of the household/community is on an occasion been reading the same author been walking/riding/driving on the same road to and from somewhere then you are on the way to what I call  ‘ Monotone distress’ Always , everyone cannot get a c...

I am new here today. The family is excited to run the Mixer for the first time. I am the eldest of the three jars. I am taller, my blades are broader but not as sharp and I can hold about 1.5 litres of stuff. I have a handle and a lid and South Indian households typically use me to make vegetable soups, batters of various  kinds for their dosa and many spice blends for their half a dozen varieties of sambhar. I am sparkling clean and have this squeaky shine on me today. I am generally very happy and designed to be useful. Here, the lady opens the lid and puts in about a kilo of some pulse mix in. Closes the lid as quickly and turns the mixer knob to full speed. My blades do the job of the grind and before I can even begin to understand what was the spice mix I just spent time grinding, she puts a spoon inside and ruffles the mix a bit. Another churn and I guess she is happy that the mix came out to her expectation. There seems to be a contented look on her face....

On this Earth, for most human beings, comes unannounced and as a complete surprise!! Human beings have many priorities at the many pedestals they stand upon, in the various stages of their lives. In the pedestal of childhood, the most important stage is to make new friends and the highest priority besides cakes and chocolates is to play outdoor games. In the pedestal of adolescence, the most important stage is to leave home to go to University for most people, and the highest priority is to enjoy everything. In the pedestal of early adulthood, the most important stage is to achieve in education and the highest priority is to be independent. In the pedestal of adulthood, the most important stage is to find a life partner and the highest priority is to live a happy marriage. In the pedestal of middle-age, the most important stage is to keep the family happy and the highest priority is to find our own happiness despite the odds facing us. In the pedestal...

Every person is a gift of God! Every person has the power to Grow! I was caught in a whirlwind of surprise when I picked up a call from a friend who has significantly contributed to my career - innings 2. It was lovely to feel and hear the wish from him, as I complete my first year at work. Over the last year, I have many people to thank for helping me see this day at work. Maids, Cooks, Caretakers, School Principals, School Teachers, Family,Friends, Co-workers, Auto drivers, Grocers, Doctors, Home nursing services and above all my parents, sister, a friend and my manager at work, who made it happen so I could see this date!! Thinking back… How many times I fell almost in despair! How many times I have given up! How many times I have lost my cool! How many nights I have thought this through! How many people were nice to me! How many people bent their rules for me! How many people gave their time for me! How many people tried to understand me! ...

Enjoy Life! What could it be really?? On a casual yet, planned conversation yesterday with a friend of mine, he mentioned: "Somewhere along the way, we have forgotten to enjoy life". The ‘we’ referred to most people in the Indian sub-continent. I could not agree more. An hour ago, in the Monday morning traffic, window-seated in a bus, I was listening to a very famous Tamil poet’s song: Chinnanchiru Kileye sung by a voice that practically can stop me on my tracks: Unnikrishnan. Oh! it was divine - the whole experience! I watched the fresh green leaves of the Gulmohar trees lined up on the road, sway in a perfect choreography to the tune. [I enjoy Bharatanatyam, the South-Indian classical dance, so much that I start mentally choreographing some really good musicals as I listen to songs. I did not chance to perform in twenty plus years now, still, the love of Bharatanatyam has not faded one bit in my being.] The experience was all the more engagingly enjoyable and ...

All of us are built to be positive. We do not need someone to make us feel positive.  Going by electrical polarity, current flows from positive terminal to negative terminal. Electrons flow from negative to positive. Just run a search to know more, if you want to convince yourself of your lessons from high-school science classes. Recall Math lessons? Plus x Minus = Minus. We are inherently positive people.  By the Creator’s design, we have a certain mental energy level, which in different theories of Times and Geographies, have been manifested as aura, strength, shakti, positivity and many more of beautiful verbiage in spiritual diction. All of these refer to the inherent drive to live life positively with a purpose ( which we may or may not know ) that each one of us being born in this world will eventually and definitely meet.  This may be why are able to attract Negatives (Our thoughts, words or deeds may be negatively influenced by something that...

Its a long route to freedom.. a winding steep and high When u walk in along with the wind on your face And cover the earth with the songs you sing The miles fly by... I suddenly recalled this verse from somewhere. Should be school verses.  Coming to think of it, the lyrics are so freshening up and rejuvenating for the mind. Aren’t they? Yes, Freedom feels quite freshening. Undoubtedly.  I read somewhere, 'Enjoy Freedom Responsibly’. Beautifully said. It's easy to lose track of responsibility and commitment, when the freedom is ingrained so much in our minds, that it borders on the thin line of control wall with indifference and carelessness on the other side. Freedom is going out. Responsible freedom is to be aware of the surroundings too. Freedom is dressing up comfortably or dressing up to feel good. Responsible freedom is to dress up for the occasion/event/place. Freedom is doing whatever feels good. Responsible freedom is to evaluate if it may hu...

A place that makes you realize that : Health is the true Wealth. True Love is beyond what we all think it is. So many people are at times needed to support the survival of a person. Money cannot buy Life. Rich or Poor, the Maker's choice of organs and their mechanisms do not vary. Patience and Wait is everything in Life. One day, Ego will come crashing down if you need help with your personal care. In the wheels of Time, if we live to grow old, we will become weak and sober down before we knock out, off the party of Life! Forgiveness is the best way to good health. Anger is just plain Madness if seen through the lens of health. No one is spared from the punishments, the worst one being suffering on the deathbed. The only company for an ailing old person is his faith in the Omnipresent. All the world's a Stage! and William Shakespeare said it Right! Much more realizations, every waking minute in a hospital...  Long story cut short, it is one place to v...

A recent English movie had stirred up my head about the concept of love... Not that I am the first person questioning this big word LOVE, but it still is okay to rant about it... What is love really?? Love as I think,  is everywhere, every relationship we share is based on Love. Dad-Mom, Brother-Sister, Men and women friends, Spouse, Relatives, Neighbours, Teachers, Colleagues, Acquaintances, God - All of them get into one of the circles of love around us. It is more like a concentric circle where the self, sits in the center and is surrounded by circles of people and their love energy. To everyone in the circles, based on the protocol of the relationship we give and take love in various forms/extent. That goes to say that Love between a pet and you is not same as the love between you and your son. However, the joy that the love causes only varies by degrees. Joy there is. :) Love there is!!! What I am not saying is, of course, the pain, the hurt, the disappoint...

Permanent is one word in English Dictionary that probably needs a revision. The Pink Frock, The Sapphire stash, The athlete win, The mindless chatter, The aimless walk, The sinful cream cake, The perfect figure, The J-i-T laughter, The phenomenal performances, The Jittery and Jinxed firsts, The rainbow at dawn, The five-branched palm tree, The ROFL moments, The sweet sixteen, The crazy reading fits, The laurels, The quarrels, The gossips, The small pain and big gains, The childhood Innocence, The God-send moments and people.. All stay as thoughts!!!! Nothing is permanent physically, but we can keep it all stored in our memory as long as we are sane and our brain cells agree to!!

Happy Women's Day!!! screamed my friend on top of her voice. Not sure, if I woke up to her cheerful and confident voice or the inner voice of joy that is inherent in college-going girls celebrating just about any special day!  And this day, 17 years ago ( Yes, that's quite a long time ago ), we had decided to wear pink and celebrate the day with sweets and savories in class!!. We were super proud to be a woman, wrote wishes for each other, received wishes from all the men friends ( Yes, like if they wished they got the sweets!!!) and generally had a really good time with heads high. Our enthusiasm was so contagious that the Ladies hostel warden had relaxed the Hostel In-time that evening. That meant, we can come in at 8:00 P.M!!!! Two hours extension was a huge bonus and an icing on the already super cool day!!! The Little girl suffers in the hands of the psychic man who abused her and burnt her to charcoal dust! Women disrobed in public! Teen boys ill-treating their...

I was trying to tell the Ramayana's nut shell version to my daughter. The attention span is ten min and then its the next story. So as i was doing a marathon run with my story she stopped me at one point. Amma " you say Sita Devi gave her hair clip to hanuman as identity card ... so what will she do to clip her hair? " For those of you who are trying to understand where hair clip and identity card comes in vaalmiki ramayana, its the sundara gaantam. Sita Devi gives her choodamani to hanuman to be given to Rama. Choodamani as explained to my daughter was hair clip. I didn't think what Sita devi would do to tie up her hair if she gave away her clip. Did you?

Life is governed by unseen rules that we do not know who makes. Most I guess are carried over from the past, most have changed for convenience in the later years and rest of the lot are new. But rules are there, whether you like it or not. Wonder if many are followed because of the universal laws: - My neighbor does it, so I must. - It happened to them and so I better follow this. It would be a blessing to know why we are doing what we are doing in life.. this way, the unseen rules can be validated better.

Good Food, Good Exercise, Good Meditation, and Good Life style converge in Good Health. Good Food is in simplest terms - Food that is not over-cooked, not over-greased, not over-spicy, and not old. Good Meditation means taking simple steps to improving focus of the otherwise usually scattered brain - Regular prayer routine, Regular Five minute hobby time, Regular stereo-typical work that doesn't require your mind's complete attention. When you do one of these or activity similar to these, your mind meditates on the work and not anything else and these activities are not done by force or do not have materialistic gains. Good Exercise is to just ensure you move every part of your body to activate the otherwise sleeping joints and muscles. You can choose to walk for twenty minutes or be a regular in a local gymnasium or dance class. Good Lifestyle  - Spend family time at home, Share work load at home, Have strict disciplines on prayer, morals, food, clothing and manners, ...

Its the most important question according to me today... My one plus little girl now knows that the white crescent on the blue-black sky is called the Moon. She still does not get that the round ball of white on the full-moon lit night sky is the same Moon that she knows about.. I went on to explain the Moon to myself leaving alone the science. What would I call it?? A bright dome of white light in the night sky??... Just a light close to the kind of white light in our living room?? In the City of Lights as I would like to call Muscat as, sometimes this white ball of light seems to fade in the background for my daughter's eyes as she watches out of the car window.. So these two explanations didn't seem okay to me. I finally decided on this: Moon is the light given by God for us to see in the darkness of the nights.  Not that she will follow this right away, but to think about it, in the olden days when transport didn't exist, people depended on the Moon to show ...

The first time I heard this was in my Chemistry Lab where I was learning to use a pipette for the Titration. I still remember wondering "why in the wide world should pipette be such a complicated equipment and will I ever get this teacher to say, " It up to the mark" when I measure the liquid?" Many times from then on, the phrase " Not exactly up to the mark" kept popping up. Over the years I understand that Nothing really is up to the mark, its just that we define what the mark is... Whether it is the way you do things or the way you feel about things, it is up to us to fix the mark. The more out of reach we keep the mark ( read as goals) the more we will have to listen ( or feel ) that phrase: Not exactly up to the mark!!! So lower your goals first, achieve them.. Reset the goals to the next higher point, achieve them.. and at the end of every achievement never forget to say : Yes it is up to the mark!!! Your inner sense of confidence will feel li...

I'll live tomorrow.. Which is what most of the world seems to be saying each day and this according to me is the Height of Procrastination. On the roads there are politicians conducting speeches about what must be done and what has not been done. In homes there are people arguing about what is not correct and what should be done. In schools the children are made to worry about what they might want to become in future, calling it nurturing their dreams and making them achieve it. In temples devotees pray for what they want, what they do not want and often are worried souls. In Ashrams and other spiritual healing centers the Gurus talk endlessly about : There is NOTHING in this worldly life and the confused common man endlessly tries to understand this seemingly small but actually a big truth. In Work places the employees always crib about their jobs and pay checks and achievements and how the job market is low for a shift. In business houses, there is always the argument...

Definitely not a section taken out from a primary school science book or a Chemistry text book. I realized last month and today how much I had taken WATER and its availability for granted. One fine morning when I opened the tap there was no water.. According to me, this was a simple problem.. In my mind I ran the various reasons ( of course, I am an engineer whose thinking is tuned to think of the probable reasons for a problem and I hate probability as a subject in Maths) for the probable water strike in my house - Could be the tank was empty - Could be the municipal water supply was cut - could be a billing issue - could be a power problem... When I finally got some sense of the real problem - THAT WE HAVE NOT A SINGLE DROP OF WATER in a household which includes the two of us, two old people and a new born - I reacted.. Phone has always been my best companion in India.. So I dialled a few numbers and finally got the Emergency Number for Water related issues. After all the automa...

I just received a phone call from a cousin of mine. We have not really spoken to each other in a long time, but when we started talking, time just flew. I realized it was late and we then chose to end the conversation. After the talk, I sat back relaxed and happy not because I had any information or any news or anything else significant, but then a complete free and joyous feeling of just having spoken about nothing in particular. I just realized that it is possible for long conversations without a particular serious issue or significant pre- planned discussion.  And to top all realizations related to conversations, is this: All it takes is two people who can speak on the phone for a continuous five minutes without getting bored or driving others to boredom. If you can engage someone on the phone for five minutes without getting bored with their talk, then you will surely be able to continue conversing with them for longer than that... Weather, studies, school, culture, traf...

This is something I never would have said or believed early last year... I do agree that silence teaches things, but also like to say that silence is never completely possible in this seemingly complicated and problematic world... This evening when I was on my regular walk on the pavement of my house, the house where I have spent all my childhood and girlhood days, I simply looked up for no reason when I thought about the ageing factor in me and my parents and the familiar neighbours whose young faces ( phases) I once knew.. True, the old phase, sadly, I never knew or realized until today's introspective evening. The house had been repainted last year and the blue exterior didnt fade in all the rain and storm that my town went through over the last whole year. But then, there were many memories that helped me spot alll that was missing in the once beautiful backyard. Could be due to the Tsunami, the Thane, or the many cyclones and monsoons over the years, when we lost most of...