Dragon Boat Racing

The profile picture now shows my son and his dragon-boat racing team in Melbourne, on one of the banks of the Yarra river.Which one is he? Well,he is the only Indian in the group.
For sheer rhythmic exercise,there is nothing to beat the thrill of dragon-boat racing.
When my husband and I had gone to Melbourne this year,Ashish took us to meet his friends on the team. They were in the boat, and had already finished a couple of rounds when we reached the bank.We were asked whether we wanted to have a go at it.My husband was a little hesitant, since neither of us knows swimming,but I was game. If I was going to die, I told myself, I couldn't have conjured a better way.We were asked to put down our signatures on a piece of paper, which contained the signatures of all the team-members. Ashish helpfully informed us that we were, in effect, signing our lives away. Such a delight, that boy, always an epitome of sweetness and light!!!!!!!!
It was eight in the evening,bitterly cold, almost pitch black,except for pin-points of light around the jetty-and a cluster of stars watching us with cold balefulness.After some time, we got the rhythm and rowed almost as well as the rest of the team;at least, that was my fond hope.There was no useless conversation,no wasted effort;there was no need of either.Save for the splash of the oars, and a sudden rousing cheer and a snatch of song from the 65year young Gordon,there was peace and tranquility.sometimes, one of the gulls wheeling overhead would give an indignant squawk and pretend to dive-bomb us. It was like meditation, effortless,heart-felt,epiphanous.
Afterwords, we helped to pull up the boat,(or at least, tried to) to the hangar, shook hands with everyone,promised to come again, and left.
I don't think I shall ever forget that night.
And the thought that stays with me, even now is, how far all of us go, to look for peace and joy: and how accessible they really are....if only we know where to look.

To a very young friend, who is very unhappy

I have chosen these colours, because your name means the sky, and this is one of the colours of the sky.
Sometimes in life, child, so many unhappy things happen that you wonder why all of them came specifically into your life.You wonder what you did wrong and how you deserved all this, when every one else seem to lead such happy,carefree lives. Some part of you feels envious about their supposed good fortune, and another part feels bitter. You are also wondering why you have to make so many heart-wrenching choices, when others your age are never asked to do so.
Its like this,child.
Into every life, a little rain must fall. It can't always be sunshine. When God looks at you and your life, He has given you a little package of sunshine and rain,laughter and tears,moonbeams and dark clouds. Sometimes, you get all the bad parts all at once and then they are exhausted, and then you can begin to smile again. Sometimes, most of the happy moments come together and the unhappy times come later.Every one is given a fair share of both. It just happens at different times in each life.
I am sorry you are unhappy and if there was anything I could do, other than listening to you, I would have willingly done it. Indeed, I would.
One thing you can do, is, sit down every night and write a small list of three things that you have in your life, that you are thankful to God for.
Even if you were to live a hundred years, you would never run out of things to be thankful for.
Whenever you are unhappy and undecided, and wish to talk, call;and I shall be there.
Reach out. I shall take your hand.
Give your mother a hug from me.
Lots and lots of love to both of you.
Hang in there.
Life is still beautiful

Universal Studios

Universal studios.The lady,the lynx and the Latino.
I love alliterations!I should have said the jackal,but lynx sounds better,dont you think.Not that the lynx is going to be happy........
Entertainment is big business here.
And one that pays well.
You can hear the money rustling all the way to the bank: no one is unhappy because every one is getting their money's worth.
Say cheese!!The next act is about to start.

God Bless Teenagers

I read a very heartening feature on Indian teenagers in today's Times,which states that they are not as brash as previously believed.
Said I not so?
People ask me why I teach in Junior College rather than Degree College, almost as though teaching in the latter is an affirmation of superior ability and qualification(s).I am also asked, more as a topic of conversation than anything else,why I don't do my Ph D.As though that will set me in a superior bracket!They mean it as a compliment to my (ahem!)perceived abilities.
The answer to the former question is,I  like teaching kids just out of school.They have been in the same school for ten years of their life, and then they enter college. It is like a revelation;a new world;an epiphany.The sheer sense of "freedom",as they perceive it,unnerves them and it takes them several days,sometimes months, to get back a sense of equilibrium.Protected and cocooned for years, the gates are suddenly thrown open and the world beckons.
I watch them change and evolve and I stand in the background and clap, when they find their feet: and cry, when they flounder. I tell them- because that is what they want to hear more than anything else- that if they want some one to talk to, I am there.
I love teenagers because they still have dreams in their eyes.
They have not become blase and cynical, in spite of their best efforts to appear so.
They still believe that the world is a good place.
They know that there are people who love them.
They realise that the world is still full of colour.
They don't under estimate the value of a smile or the trauma of a frown.
That is why I love them.
That is why I teach them.
That is why I care.
Because they care.
God bless teenagers!

Thought for the day;Walt Whitman

One of Walt Whitman's poems. He speaks about why he prefers animals to human beings.
                                                  Animals
I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained;
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition;
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
Not one is dissatisfied-not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago;
Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth.
                                                           From 'Song of Myself'

All the reasons of and for, unhappiness,envy,jealousy,anger,hatred,angst,put together in one compact observation. Succinct. Concise.Comprehensive.
And they say poets don't understand ground realities!

eternallyhopeful: A Birthday,tan tan taraaa!

eternallyhopeful: A Birthday,tan tan taraaa!: "Its my kid sister's birthday today and boy! am I PROUD of her!She is some hi fi doctor in the Ford Hospital in Michigan, USA and everyone lo..."

Barrrrrrrrrrrrisssssssssta Blasssssssssstttt!

This is a sure-fire cure for depression of most kinds, including the self-inflicted kinds, even traumatic ones like falling in love with a creep, a worm or a crocodile,either the common, or the garden variety.
Take yourself off to the nearest Barrista, preferably alone,if you can; and order one of their Barrista Blasts.
It is a sinful concoction of rich,dark coffee,light,frothy milk,thick, piped cream in a couple of layers,beaten to smooth perfection, topped with a drizzle of chocolate shavings. It comes with one of those long, right-angled straws and a long-handled spoon.
Don't fall on it as soon as you get it.
Take a minute to wipe your mind clean of all thought, and I mean, all thought.
Then,look at the tall glass. Watch how the colours of the milk and the coffee blend with each other.
Take the long-handled spoon.Hold it at the very end, the tip.Now, very gently,dip it into the top most layer.
Gently,gently.
Scoop up a flake of the cream,with a hint of the chocolate.Put it on your tongue and let the flavours combine on your tongue.Savour it. You have all the time in the world.As it is, at the moment, when the world is treating you so badly, and you are depressed, you can avoid the world for sometime, can't you?
Then, dip the spoon right into the glass..and twirl it.Watch the coffee and the cream dart, panic-stricken, into corners, trying to escape.Scoop it up, then. A bit of the milk,a bit of the coffee,a bit of the cream and a bit of the chocolate.Close your eyes.Shut down all other senses.Except taste.
Ambrosia!
It always,always works for me.I have spent so many ecstatic moments here, that the moment I see the sign that says 'Barrista', I feel my mood begin to shift.
Long live Barrista! long live the Blast!
In fact, when my book, Fresh Cilantro, Stubble-Wrapped, gets published, finally, I think I shall dedicate it, at least partly, to the Barrista at Inorbit Mall,Malad.

My kid sister and her family!

This is my sister, the doctor, whose birthday it is today.

I did it! YaaaaaaaaaY!

I actually did something right on the computer!
I am so thrilled I think I shall turn a couple of cart wheels and return in a minute.Hold on..........
Okay, now that that is over, I can settle down to some serious compu-converations.It is the Diwali break and we have decided to paint the house and between falling over all the assorted furniture and brooding over my fate at having to spend my vacation at home instead of going to Inorbit and watching every movie, life has become fraught with adventure and emotion.
I am also wondering I have made the right choice about the shade and colour of the paint.There are two choices open to me in case it becomes a disaster: either claim that the colour had nothing to do with me, or that the rest of the family have no appreciation of the subtle shade that I have chosen,or of fine living----both of which I can carry off with ease.

Life , laughter and listening

7th November was a lucky day. I met some one I could gel with. We had been asked to judge a competition called Classmate Ideas for India Challenge, conducted by Krayon and ITC India Ltd. to celebrate the centenary of the latter's existence. I had accepted because I liked teenagers in any size and shape and I was resigned to the fact that the other judge (or judges)  were just another necessary evil and in any case, all I would have to do was spend half a day with them, no more.
Things seemed slated for disaster when I was informed at 8 O' clock that the car which was to pick me up at 8.30am , had reached at 8; and I still had to bathe and dress. I rushed around maniacally and managed to bathe and dress( sari, sindoor,eyeliner, the works)in 17 minutes and before my headlong flight down the stairs, I even managed to snatch up a few chocolates for Ms. Sudha Ganapathy and one big slab of it for my charming student, Preeti Shenoy.
What a pleasant surprise it was to meet Sudha!
I found, for one thing, that we had a lot of things in common.
Books and movies,travelling and literature.We disliked small obnoxious, indisciplined kids.We liked Coventry Cathedral. The same wicked thoughts seemed to occur to us, simultaneously and we soon descended to writing mean comments about some of the things happening around us,in the little note-pad given to us to note down our views about the programme,.and swallowing our giggles and keeping a straight face, so that no one watching us was any the wiser.
We had a blast.
I am glad I met her.
Here's to Sudha.
Cheers!