Perspectives

Those days my roommate J and I had regular routines of washing clothes in the laundry, mostly on weekends. During weekends however, the usage was at its peak and we often had a hard time looking for empty washers/dryers. That day we kept our clothes in the washers and went out for shopping and completely forgot all about it. Later in the evening when our bulbs lit, we rushed to the laundry only to find our clothes in none of the washers! Our first reaction was shock but we soon realized that the probability of someone stealing wet washed clothes from a laundry seemed bleak (plus this wasn't India). So, we went ahead and checked the dryers and lo! Our clothes were all dried up. Someone had moved our clothes from the washers to the dryers! We dint like the idea of that at all. What freaky crappy folks! Impatient people! We swore and came back scowling and growling!

A few weeks later...

We had to travel to Smoky mountains the next day and had a huge pile of clothes to wash. Luckily it wasn't still twilight and we had enough time. Off we went carrying our hampers and quarters and detergent and softener. And lo! All washers were in use! But wait ... the last one looked done. There were clothes inside but they were washed. So, someone had forgotten to do the second round into the dryers. What followed was a moment of silence followed by some "dharam sankat". And then with silent agreement, without exchanging a word or a glance, we quickly moved those clothes from the washer to the dryer. Then went ahead with our chores in a matter of factly way.

We never talked about it.

Tiger not found

And in the jungle, the mighty jungle, you want to see the tiger.

I remember my trip to Corbett National Park a couple of years ago. All I wanted to do there was catch a glimpse of the tiger – the royal, majestic king of the jungle, the gentleman with stripes, the lead protagonist of many stories and the beauty of our emblem. I even carried the book "The tiger is a gentleman" and educated all my friends around how they were such wonderful creatures. Every moment spent, every second passed without the tiger was like a withered wasted moment. We did elephant safari at daybreak, foot safari in the afternoon and jeep safari in the evening. But no tiger rose to the occasion. Towards the end of the trip, I even settled for the glimpse of a wild elephant. I wanted to see at least something that was "wild". What would I tell others about my Corbett trip? What did I see in Corbett National Park?

So did I get to see an elephant (I mean other than the one on the elephant safari)? Well long story short, elephant grass I did see; also with due respect, some wild hens, roosters and a few deer. In due course of time, our perspectives totally changed from worshiping the tiger as the one and only to utter reverence for the ordinary. In the process of seeking retribution for the utter rudeness on part of the tiger our eyes opened up to everything. Now the beauty of small run of the mill things started coming to our notice. We began to love all- from the unkempt elephant grass, the familiar grasshoppers, the narrow streams of water, the pine trees, the friendly sparrows, the black-eyed grunting toads to the unsophisticated crickets, the not so picture perfect swans and the un-feathered peacocks. And the safari elephant with its cute trunk and mushy sweet gentle non-complaining self became my personal favorite. It was interesting to watch its calm gigantic self bowing respectfully to the mahaavat, jumping around with dried tree branches, playing the scare-you-away game with flies and cats and catching a doze of peaceful sleep in between its elephant safari duties.

Once back home, we made up some stories.

Teaday

The sunlight is bright and warm outside. It's rays twine through the branches of the maple tree in front of the house and then slowly peep through my window. I am reminded of the childhood fairy tales of walking through the woods, with sunlight peeping through the trees with a little stream running close by. I feel too tempted to pull out a charpai (the Hindi of "Cot") and sleep in the sun, which is not possible both due to lack of "charpai" as well as "sleepiness" (slept like a log last night.. in fact, I think I am becoming a log).

'just had my tea and am on a high! Tea does that to me- it brings that happy-to-do-anything smile to my face, ecstasy to my life. Tea is enchanting, fulfilling and nirvanic, tea is healing and heavenly; simply, tea is the zing thing! . For those who haven't been introduced to the "tradition of tea", you are missing something!

Stains on the beautiful day

It happened all of a sudden when I was walking from our dining table to the kitchen after a sumptuous lunch... that one moment of carelessness.... until then it was a picture perfect day .... rising early morning , watching sunrise (read "was awake during sunrise") ... some lazy netsurfing, nice refreshing morning tea, a short and sweet morning walk... beautiful old music in the background ... praying to God and lighting incense sticks ... feeling good about Dussehra.... some cooking, some cleaning, some washing .... nice brunch of home-made fresh and yummy "Poories and Chhole"!! and then everything changed :-(...

I dint know when that bottle of tamarind chutney fell off my hands and splashed everything over - onto the carpet, the wall and the ceiling! (Can you believe the ceiling part? I still can't...)

Vijaydashmi

It’s good morning for me at 2:15am. Had a hard day yesterday, gave the worst exam of my life and slept like a log in the evening. Thank God yesterday is over.
Today it is VijayDashmi (Dussehra) in India. It is a festival that celebrates the victory of Lord Rama (the good) over Ravana (the evil). The festivities last for ten days and Ramlila - an enactment of the life of Rama is played in every nook and corner of towns and cities. Its really beautiful and vibrant there at this time. I think I am missing not being in India.