Dew

A wardrobe full of white clothes - All of them kept sparkling white and neatly pressed! All clothes are clean, devoid of every last bit of dust or stain, folded neatly, and well in place to find them when you need! Clean hands, disinfected from all the bacteria, all day! Everything in the room is symmetrically arranged at all times of the day and rearranged every time a little change happens in the order. The Coffee should,taste this way, be served this way, at this time of the day and have this shade of brown! Everything should be in perfect order and consistency in keeping tidy is an absolute must! Now all these, at the outset are perfectly acceptable practises, habits and interests to have. Aren’t they?? What if I tell you, that these habits and many more like these become rulers of our psychic at times, deteriorating our quality of life, slowly and steadily in a big way!!! In short, they become Obsessions! Each of us may have one or more practises that we absolute...

I was working on Environmental Studies Homework with my six year old daughter. ( Oh yes, it is nice to study some things again with a little student friend as long as it is not Algebra and Geometry, I can confidently say! ) "My Family" was the first lesson. The text read: Tina is six years old. Her father is a doctor. Her mother is a teacher. She has a little brother. She likes to go for a walk with her grandparents. Tina has a pet dog. She loves to play with her dog. Her mother teaches her. Tina helps her father clean the living room on Sunday. The lesson had pictures illustrating the whole scene in the house so the children understand how Tina was related to each of the family members, their roles in her life and how others in the family connect with Tina. Beautifully done, I thought!... The next day, my son brings a book from his Kindergarten class. The Homework for the week was to match the capital letters and the corresponding small letters. The next page had ...

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 a conversation with a friend, I got to know that the Class 10 results are out and a common friend’s daughter was upset because she scored just a 95%. Apparently, she expected to top the class and missed it by 2%. Yes, 2% is lot in Indian schools. A hundred people may have scored over-and-above your score.  With three cheers to this obsessive compulsive disorder of worrying about scores ( I have once been there too!, I must confess.. in June 1996). I am writing the following list of thoughts that flash in my mind: Ask the value of a nanosecond to a Olympic runner. What matters is being the winner. The fact that someone ran faster in the race by 30 seconds, is a big ' Lost or Won’ , number!! Between 11:59 P.M and 12:01 A.M is just two minutes on the clock but two different dates, which means a lot when it comes to an admission in an extra-ordinary pre-school that admits kids born on or before 31st July, and your tiny tot was born on 12:01 A.M on 1st August!!! One...

On a casual conversation today, I mentioned to a friend: "It is like am watching a thriller movie, all scary, and the movie is starring me!!!” Coming to think of it, it's nice to imagine ourselves sitting alone in a movie theatre, munching popcorn or chips and watching our own situations being screened as a movie. I think it may be interesting in many ways: There is no prior review of the movie that you can read, as it is your life and running live. You are the only spectator. There is no need to get stressed, as it is just a movie and you are free to emote based on the story, and still be assured it is not happening in the ‘Now’. You can clearly see the responses and reactions of the actors in the story because you are sitting in the audience side and can understand what is working well and what does not. You can be your own critic. The movie will not fetch money, so in essence it is just done as an expressive artwork just for your eyes. The movie d...

There came an unusual blog request today where the sender apparently has forgotten the topic he was about to suggest for my post.  The mail said: I forgot the topic :) Here's my quick attempt at what I saw as an interesting topic: What you forget , can usually wait. To forget is a blessing, especially the thoughts of an unpleasant past. Forgetting an ‘Exchange of courtesy' and Forgetting ‘Respect' are not acceptable. When you forget something, it only means something else is taking up a lot of mind space at the moment. You must excavate it out, to remember the new priorities and good old memories. When we completely forget people, places, happenings, feelings, respect, courtesy, and self, it is called dementia.  It is important to forget the past unpleasantness to serve a better present and work for a greater future . Forgetfulness is the greatest plus point without which our mind cannot process life's road ahead. You won’t die of forgetfu...

It was a rainy evening and I needed a quick stop because I was not carrying an umbrella. I spotted a women’s garments store. It looked a quiet little outlet ( Really smart store ) that sold almost everything that a woman would need. I did have a few things to pick up too. So thought, while I wait for the rain to stop, might as well check out the shop's shelves. There was a young chap working at his counter with a calculator and a laptop. All around him were stuff that a lady would need. I was surprised a bit by the comfortable look he had on his face amidst what would be an alien set up to me if I were a man.  I quickly looked around for a lady sales clerk. I did not find anyone. I asked him if they had a lady to assist me with my queries on the things that I wanted to buy. He quickly said they did not have a lady on staff. I chose to walk out of the store. Albeit, conservative South Indian woman’s mentality that may have made me do that, I still wonder how stores emp...