Saturday, 7 March 2015

That parting smile

A policeman in uniform with his wife sitting behind him rode through the crowed bus stand and stopped in front of a packed bus. As the wife climbed into the bus he went to the flower shop and returned with a bundle of sweet smelling stringed jasmine and gave it to her.. A sweet contrast to the stereotype rough and tough policeman we see around us.Not only that one day, this was a daily routine.

Having to pass through the bus stand everyday on my way to work provides many revelations. Husbands dropping their wives for work or sometimes vice-verse. Couples nodding to each other as they get off the vehicle, smiling or waving.

Observing couples on two wheelers is good entertainment. Sometimes one is serious and the other smiling. There are those who cannot smile even when they mean to.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   free digital photos.net
When we see a lone differently abled person, we tend to wonder about their future. A permanent job for such people is their present security and comfort. As time goes by the sight of a broad minded and accepting partner is  comforting. Most special people land up with one.

But not all days are sunny so we sometimes have funny expressions that say, "I'm angry with you but we're hooked. So..."

One impression that will most probably stay in my mind is that of the driver of our bus whose house was en route his regular duty route. As he slowed down near his house his young wife would come out hurrying with a round tiffin box in her hand. I would keep guessing what was inside but the fullness of her smile conveyed the fullness of her giving.


 free digital photos.net

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Starting Problem.

"Hello Ma'm, I've read the whole book but I can't make out head or tail of anything. Looks like I'll have to come over and get some basic ideas from you," I said over the phone fixing an appointment for the next day with my guide and teacher. An appointment I dreaded because my guide wasn't too happy guiding a cross major.

                                                                                                                    free digital photos.net


With just 3 weeks for the exam I was at a loss at understanding the complications of literature as I was  more familiar with the facts and figures of science and scientific thinking and didn't have much patience with abstract theories or ideas. With the afternoon at my disposal, I decided to give it a second reading, a trial so as to be of least burden to my guide as she had a regular college routine to follow. I was an extra candidate she was guiding out of obligation to a friend and colleague.

The book in discussion was a thin one, some 80 pages or so. "Now com'on," I said to myself. "Just imagine this were an Agatha Christie or a Gardener's book. Would 80 pages be a burden?" ... And she's going to explain whatever you don't understand anyway, so what's the problem.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               free digital photos.net


 And with that I sped through the pages again. Some names and some theories each one was proposing. A's theory made sense if he were referring to B's theory who in turn was referring to C's theory.And what was C saying?  More or less like the substitution equations we had done at Maths. Maths? My guide would have a fit if I were to mention that word.
Yet the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to fit in.The next day before starting my class I asked my guide whether my understanding of what I guessed was right.

"Sure! she said. "That means you've got the main point... Only yesterday you sounded so lost. So I was wondering from where to start..."


That's how we started together, each complementing the other's work. I was working on a new topic. So I collected all the information which was useful to her. Our starting problems were over.
                                                                           free digital photos.net

Sunday, 18 January 2015

With a will to win


                                                                   Free digital photos.net


Layer upon layer

Of fruitlessness
Growing in my heart
In my mind
Makes my spirit heavy
My soul sag. 


I begin to expect
Only others to be happy
Others to have fun
Like the Himalayas
Of old
Covered with snow
Waiting for the sun

  Free digital photos.net

To warm up and
Give to others 
Gifts of water
And life
I look up to the sun
With closed eyes 
Expecting
And yet  not expecting
Brighter days to come.


But I am a living being 
With a will 
Of my own
I will stretch out my limbs
And fight it out
With wisdom and patience
Till victory is won.

  Free digital photos.net 





Sunday, 11 January 2015

An unusual bond still remembered

My article which appeared in The Hindu's  OPEN PAGE today.(Page 11) dated 11-01-2015




"Meow" a  voice soft as air would call me sharp at five thirty every morning. No, I'm not referring to the voice alarm of my cell. I'm referring to a live cat who used to call at my window in the cold misty mornings at Kotagiri, a hill station on the Nilgiris somewhat near to the windy peak, Dhodabetta.

That was in 1991  when I worked as a residential teacher at a private school. "Coming," I'd whisper and tiptoe to the front door to invite her in. And like long lost friends we'd chat and chat till my roommate  got up and yelled at me that it was time to get ready for school.

"What do you have to tell that 'ugly cat' so urgently so  early in the morning?"she'd wonder ...And how do you two use the same tone?... And how does her voice get softer in the mornings?"...
 And I'd wonder how my roommate woke up so early because both of us (the cat and I) were very careful not to disturb her.

"Don't feed that cat anything. It's a thief." The maids who ran the show there warned me on the first day of my joining. "If you do, we'll have to chase her away. You want to pet a cute cat? See this one. Pet her all you want." They said, showing me a black and orange fluffy beauty.  Many children ran and surrounded it and my cat friend was chased away.

Somehow my instinct made me search for the vagabond and so we met each day. Just a "Hi, How are you?" and she'd relate to me all her adventures of the day, it seemed. In order to let our relationship continue, I stuck to the rules of not feeding her. Soon every child on the campus got accustomed to seeing a grey cat following me on the small grass between the classrooms.

It nearly used to break my heart to find her waiting outside a single classroom for forty minutes. Just for the 2-minute chat we could have till we reached the main school building.Then she'd disappear into the bush till the evening.

One day she walked into my bathroom and strode across  busily, continuously, across and back.
"No, puss, No.You can't do that," I said, chasing her. From what I knew of my cats at home, she was searching for a place to deliver kittens. My roommate would simply not stand it.

 When I confided in another teacher friend, she wouldn't believe it. "I agree that you have some extraordinary understanding. But to say that this cat told you she's pregnant is pure rubbish. Look at her sides. Absolutely flat with both sides touching each other."

Within two weeks she delivered three kittens in a locked room, jumping in through the ventilator.
After they grew up and were given away, we continued our friendship as before.
But then the Principal found out she had fleas that could spread to the children. I didn't know how to curb that. The children also pleaded separately for me. Twice my friend was taken in the school bus and left in the wild and twice she came back. The third time she was left farther away and I never saw her after that.

Thirty years we've had cats at home: generation after generation. But those were pets. This memory is of my friend and  the pain that I didn't feed her even when she was pregnant."

Sunday, 28 December 2014

A poem dedicated to all my friends on the net



2014 has been for me

the key

to reverse history.

Introduced to  the net,facebook

made me look

from my narrow

dead ends

to horizons beyond...

Friends all over the earth

revolving around the same axis

of humanity

Loads of sharing, beauty and fun

News of selfishness and guns

Sharing  of sorrow

Giving hope for tomorrow

living each day to the full.




Photos : free digital photos.net

Sunday, 14 December 2014

My ultimate dream

                            We live each step of our lives following our dreams...


                                                                                               free digital photos.net

                                                 
                                                       
                                                     
                                                           A small plot of land      
                                                       A tree
                                                With branches wide and shady
                                                 And leaves that wave out to me.
                                              A hut

                                           With a computer
                                           A table and some chairs
                                        A cup of tea
                                      And provision of three meals a day
                                  Shelves of choice books
                              A cat and perhaps a dog;
                             For the joy
                           These'd bring.                                                             free digital photos.net
                     I hope, I dream and toil a lifetime.
                   
                      







                     

Tuesday, 9 December 2014

The Other Side

                                                                           free digital photos.net

I stride at a smart pace
Forward, about turn and back
regular, observant
On important duty:
supervising an exam.

'Click, click!' my ears detect a sound
of iron on stone
in the land adjacent.
My eyes steal a glance:
 workers bending
cloths tied on their heads
to cover their hair.

I quicken my stride
I'm paid for this
A post of envy:
I never thought I'd get.
I check the covers
if all's right
The faces, that nothing's amiss

The smell of fresh wet mud
fills my nostrils
Enters my lungs
A quick side glance reveals
Mynahs walking, heads bobbing
Searching for  insects, worms.
My spirit leaps
through the bars, over the wires
And joins them in the fields;


My eyes cover the grim classroom
In formals I go back home
Over concrete and cement
I climb the stairs
And stare at concrete
till my eyes drop.