That old “long-notebook”….

Most of us who have written a few things during school or college days, have had that favorite old note book or note pad where we wrote regularly or irregularly….

I have one of those preserved too. It’s the typical long notebook printed by some odd local publisher and titled the book with some typical Indian name like “Kamal Books”, “Vikas long note”, “Saraswati Pustak” or something equally non-attractive (at least to me). Mine doesn’t have a front cover.

But to my happiness, I remember my notebook without the front cover ever since… the first page interestingly is full of the different styles of “signing my name off”! This was a regular hobby with me and my Dad used to be pretty intrigued too. My dad has the most unusual signature I have seen for a simple minded Engineer. So there’s this page with signatures all-over, some with English & Hindi alphabets mixed up to give the whole thing a different look, that happens to be the face of my fav writing pad.

The last page almost mirrors the first one, while the difference is in the directions of the scribbled signatures.

But the essence, obviously is between the two.

It holds some of my fav old poems and articles, I wrote years back. There’s something with nostalgia that makes you feel sentimental. So I keep going back to that note-book and read from it. I haven’t wanted to change or copy stuff from there onto a newer better and beautiful note-book. Something just stops me (It’s become like an artifact for me ).

The other reason of the fondness, probably, is that it belongs to my college time. The era of romanticism, youthful energy and also some solitude. All three of these attributes reflect in all that I wrote at that time – new ventures, homesickness, My Mother, my gang of ‘yet-to-be-engineers’, my crushes, my dreams as a young man, times of dilemma, time itself, solitude and sorrow….

So it’s a mixed bag of some most cherishable times of my life.

Another fact that adds to this is that I spent more than a year in a small village in Assam, exposing myself to a totally different world. Some of the most remembered people (young n old), some of the most lonely nights, some days of bizarre travelling….

All in all, my fav long-book is a drop of rain that takes me back to the Sea, where it came from.

Defying Nature

I spent the morning watching "Animal Planet", that 'of-course' was while washing clothes. But this was one of the most memorable documentaries i ever watched. The title said "The heart of a Lioness".

This lioness, a loner by chance, (somehow) caught a baby Oryx (an antelope cousin), but mystifyingly it did not strangle the baby oryx by its neck, as is expected by a lioness in the wild. Strangely she picked up the baby in its jaws, like it wud've picked up a cub, and took it with her. What was even more strange was the baby oryx nibbling on the lioness's ear, later.

Lions hunt once every 3-4 days and usually 4 days is pretty long for a lion to not have eaten anything. But this lioness spent 17 days with the oryx, never allowing it to wander out of her sight, saving it from other predators. It was an amazing pair of mother-baby (pseudo), while both belonged to such opposite species.... the predator & prey.

The lioness and the ory both kept growing weak each day due to hunger, but did not get seperated. Finally, a male lion got to the baby oryx and ended the rare relation, while the weak lioness could not even dare to confront the lion. (Cruel Males huh!).

The whole documentary is shot wunderfully, with such a touching story.... a rare display of a relationship no one could have thought of. The lioness, anyways was documented to have adopted 4 more oryx cubs... while none of the relations survived more than a week....

Exemplary legend.
The lioness could have been a true ambassador for adoption programmes across the globe!!

The Pursuit of happiness. (7th April, 2007)

This is an old piece of writing that I wrote while flying the South African Airlines to Jo’berg.

Please excuse me for abstract thoughts, because honestly, under the action of a good movie, solitude & good quality booze, I tend to get a little philosophical (or so my friends said).

“Pursuit”… of Happiness! It sounded like a never-ending journey to fulfillment & satisfaction. And it felt like we are all a part of the same journey.

Then my bubble memory burst another one, and so emerged my B-school tag line “Journey is the reward”. (btw, I am truly the perfect example of Bubble memory phenomenon). The connecting link between the movie title and this tag line happens to be “journey” or the “pursuit”. Now this journey needs to be understood, admired and loved, for it to manifest itself in the form of a reward. Else the whole thing just seems like some hopeless consolation after an unsuccessful attempt.

But how does one understand and enjoy the pursuit while still aiming at and working for higher goals.

It sound more like a contradiction whence I believed it should boil down to some kind of an analogy.

I am back to a confused state with lots of mixed up ideas and unanswered questions. I really don’t understand why so many theories collide and contradict each other. I write slower than I think, and maybe everyone does!! The rate of flow of thoughts is much faster than my capability of putting it on paper.

Ok, so most of us want to buy-out happiness. And whether it is possible or not, it sure is dream-able…. But is it possible to be happy if one does not “achieve” whatever one has set out to. One does try ones’ best. But if you don’t achieve, there lies an emptiness, a void, that keeps disturbing your peaceful equilibrium like a small soft soap bubble. Positive thinking, acceptance of facts, trying again and faith might take you to success, but until then there ain’t no respite.

Nothing seems to conquer “experience”. True realization comes only out of true experience. Rest are all theories, opinions or ideas. Without implementing them you never know which one’s true and which needs revision.

So does the Pursuit continue…. And Ever Shall.

*PS: This whole thing has nothing to do with the movie itself :). Whilst Will Smith & his kid were undoubtedly admirable and the direction of the movie was truly respectable.

The Proximity Concept

“The physical proximity of people has a positive impact on their acceptance and liking of each other; and it keeps a relation live; unless there’s a particular force acting such that they repel each other”
Blame it on the “out of sight out of mind” syndrome or “decreased communication” or any other such stuff, the fact remains that people who are far away need loads of efforts to stay connected, and the fact that these efforts are put in are proof that they wish to be closer.

There’s something about being physically close (and I don’t mean “touching”). That’s how we get good or bad vibes. We never get vibes about somebody who’s far away.

One good explanation is about communication. People who are closer and meet often, happen to discuss a lot of issues concerning their lives and receive feedback, appreciation, guidance from their counterparts; that’s how the relation keeps getting refreshed. People who stay far communicate only via phone calls and written messages. These forms of communication only cater to the brain, and not to the senses, they lack the combination of visual, auditory and other signals that accompany a real face to face conversation. And no one can deny the difference of a handshake, a pat on the back, a tap on the head…. A naughty poke of the finger, a warm hug, a peck on the cheek etc etc. What long-distance communication also lacks is display of body-language (although sight includes “body-language”, but it does need special mention). We as humans relate and respond to body language consciously as well as un-consciously.

The question that arises is that our relations with our parents and siblings are ever-alive and stand the test of distance, in contrast to this theory. But then, probably, these are relations that have been cemented over so many years, importantly the formative years. But if we still scrutinize them further we do find that after a certain point, even these relations thrive on the proximity. That’s why we keep going back to our ancestral homes, to our parents and siblings; to keep in touch, to keep strengthening the bond through physical proximity.

And similarly, People living abroad who meet their kith n kin after long years do not feel the kind of warmth they expect and the relations seem to have gone weak.

People getting involved in their immediate physical surroundings, routines local friends and relations tend to feel closer to them because of the proximity concept.

Enough for my thinking machine…. Rest is for each of us to decipher!

Ma-food

Explanations for the term "Ma-food":
In general: Mom's food; Food cooked by Mom. Special connotation attached to the term "Ma-food" that points to a certain special liking for some very very delicious food that one is in habit of having, since very young.

I just read Phoenixritu's blog and happenned to think about this particular craving of Mom's food that everyone (read especially son) has. For those of you who might want to refer to the blog: http://www.phoenixritu.com/2009/09/16/but-i-am-going-away-ma/
Let me also include my own list of my fav Ma-food:
1. Plain rice with Tomato Chutney
2. Choley Puri with Green Chilly Pickle
3. Sarson ka saag - makki ki roti
4.Burmese form of Chowmein (Auno Khauswey)
5. North Indian style of Chowmein with ghee-mirch
6. Aaloo/Gobhi ke parathey - aam/gochi-gajar ka achaar
7. Besan ke laddoooo

and this list just continues......
and i am sure we all have a similar loong list...

So most of us are in love eternally with Ma-food... but this legacy unwinds itself unto the boys once they leave home for studies and gets even more interesting once they get married. There's something very naughty about teasin the wives on the taste of food not matching upto "Ma-food". And somewhere the wives also wish to catch up to "the level"....

This unfortunately never happens in the mortal world, just 'coz the sons are the judges... and they never want to miss out on the fun. The Mom's naturally feel happy and satisfied knowing all this, and their love continues to be showered on the blessed sons :).

On a recent trip back home, me n Tj (My wife) landed home at around 1 am in the night and had not had our dinner except a few sandwiches. So i had called up Mom and asked her to make my fav Rice & Tomato Chutney... and it was great to dive into it at 1 am. Both Mom and Tj happenned to enjoy the fact.... (Tj's got so used to me and my "Ma-food" gimmicks... ).

Dedicated to all ye Mom's, Sons and DILs.