The world ..... my Oyster

The cool breeze and the warm feeling of the mild sun beating down do provide an awesome contrast to the place which is inhabited by some of the 'coldest' people you will ever find.

The attitude of some of the people around make you wonder if there is anything called humanity. The reports you read everyday of the world around you makes you really wonder, 'What is it with these people'.

For instance last week a person who met with an accident succumbed at the accident spot to his death and the people around just watched it as though it was a soap opera. What is it with these people.

As i ponder over these thoughts ....... the bus I am traavelling veers away from its normal course. I can see some commotion on the road ahead. Apparently , it looks like another accident. A Sumo has crashed head- on to a bus. As I was preparing for the worse .... there is apparently no casuaty though. To an extent relieved i go back to my thoughts.

The person next to me suddenly wants to start a conversation with me . I can sense some sort of disappointment in his face. I enquire about it and he says shamelessly, " I thought there will atleast be one casualty, I guess the accident is not that serious after all ". Incredulous.

I remember a poster I hung in my room .... " The world ......my oyster, with my sword I shall open" . What an irony !!!

Excuse me !

The weather ............... well there are just no words to describe it. The terrace looked ever so inviting and was just browsing through the month's edition of Readers's Digest . A section on Life's like that ....... ( An excerpt)

" My wife suferred from Brain tumor. She was admitted to the hospital to undergo a surgery. I preferred to stay back at the hospital looking after her. After the operation went on smoothly , i stayed back with her for two days. At the end of it I decided to go home for a change. As I got up to leave , I kissed my wife on her cheek. In her sleep she mumbles ...... 'Not today dear .... I have a headache' ".

Laughing out Loud .......... I can see an aircraft descending down and the cool breeze ...... ah ..... its great to be in this city.

Innocence ??!

My nephew ........ all of 7 years old. He is visiting Bangalore for the first time. Evening showers, gardens , weather, shopping for his toys, innumerable numeber of chocolates, 7 flavours of Ice Creams, KFC, Coffe Day .......the city amazed him. This guys seemed to have the energy to do another round of all this even at 10 in the evening. His excitement was contagious.

An excerpt from a conversation I had with him ......


Me : Hai !! So enjoyed today?

Him : ............................... ( Looks like I asked a Rhetorical Question!!)

Me : So .. which grade are you?

Him : Completed 1 grade now ..... I ll go to 3 ,5,7,9,11.

Me : U forgot to mention 2, 4,6 ......

Him :( A look of disdain) Dont U know I hate even numbers???!!

Me : ??!!! Okie .... So whats Ur plan after that?

Him : Well I want to study MBBS and then become a Collector .

Me : Nope ....... studying for MBBS is fine, Collector ??!!

Him : Collectors get a computer for themselves and they can keep playing games on that!

Me : ( The Future of India Looks bright .. I think ) Oh I see and then ......

Him : (As though I asked him a dumb question) Well since I am a Doctor and also a Collector
what is left is just my 'marriage' and then its time for me to see my retirement and
Grand Children.

Me : ??!??!??!?!

Him : Thats my ambition, a simple life . Okie ....... Good Night!

Me : Yeah ....... Good Night!

Change is Constant.

Friends ...... well they are an extension of yourself. The association you have basically describes what you are .

One amogst them was this one too. Lets call that person XYZ. Well I guess we were pretty close friends that I stored the name in my mobile as X . That was enough. What was the point in having XYZ for a person whom you know very well ? Anyway we were suppossed to be friends.

The electronic communication has its disadvantages. Some changes are irreversible. Well XYZ was kind of cranky to send an electronic message which left a bad aftertaste. Sigh ...... my reply was equally curt . Anyways things have never been the same after that.

The transformation was almost instantaneous. A friend had become an aquaintance overnight. I nfact i recieved a wish for my birthday from XYZ , it appeared as X in my mobile and I kept wondering who it were........

Change is the only parameter that is Constant.

Contrast .....

Sunday's are for relaxation. The French open clash was scheduled towards the evening, anyway I thought the match was gonna be one sided after the phenomenal perfomance by Nadal (Actually It was'nt one sided ! ) . I was zapping through the channels and fine tuning some , when my cousin enquired what CONTRAST was.

I explained that it was ' The difference in brightness between the light and dark areas of a picture'. Ah ........ that was in context of me zapping the channels.

Saturday evening was awesome fun. It was a get together of school mates and the occassion was my birthday treat. The treat was at Leela Palace sports bar and then we move to Bombay Post for Dinner and Corner house to finish of the celebration.

On sunday evening , near Cafe Coffee Day , 100 feet road as I reversed my bike , there was this urchin , clad in minimal amounts of clothing. He approaches me and asks in a meek voice ,

" Brother , I am hungry from last three days ".

Me ......................................................................

" My Grandama want's Rs 30 if she has to cook for us"

Me .......................................................................

" So please give me some money"

Me "U look healthy, why are you begging".

( I never encourage begging in any form by giveing them the cash)

" Brother , I cant be employed till I am 15 years old"

Me ..................................................................( I am ashamed I even asked him that question)

I gathered my face and kick started my bike and sped away. I would have travelled like a 100 metres , my thoughts were still on the kid. I turned back. I thought I could help this kid by buying him food instead of cash. I went back in search of him. I searched for sometime. He wasnt around.

The meaning of CONTRAST became far more evident to me.

Sense and Sensitivity.

Eccentric timelines, hectic workloads and a host of associated factors are pushing people to the brink of extreme stress .

Amidst such chaos, does it actually make 'sense' to be 'sensitive' to others around you? It just dosent make sense at all to stay sensitive to others when they are being insensitive to you. As though the 'ordeal' (aka Work) what you go through is not enough, you have to muster a lot of patience to be nice to somone who is driving you cranky with his/her insensitiveness.

Hmm......