Making Mockery of Death

 

First phase of Covid pandemic in India (Y2020) will be remembered for mass migration and huge trouble and atrocities for the poor population. It was a pathetic phase for the ‘labor class’, who lost their jobs, did not get public transportation to return to their native places, had to become beggars to get food and were hated for merely being ‘visible’. A lot will be forgotten out of convenience, but the hell India went through can’t be denied. On the contrary, the second phase/wave (Y2021) saw mass deaths of middle and upper class young people where money could not save them; rich people begging for “Oxygen beds” at hospitals, and young people dying sudden deaths, as if in a random manner. If there was an apocalyptic moment in Generation X/Y India, that was it. Everyone saw with one’s eyes that death was a possibility and it was real. Although only in a few months after the second wave passed, life returned to normalcy, as if nothing happened. Only, if you come across a few social media accounts of dead/disappeared people, you get to stop and reflect, before moving on. I would recall two such cases.

First, there was a guy whose first name was Rahul. He was an assistant movie director, a bright young handsome Gujarati guy in his 30s, lived in South Delhi; was married too. I came across his profile only when people were using his name as a ‘Hashtag’ to pay their condolences. Scrolling through few of his last posts, it was understood that first he had Covid with breathing difficulties and he wrote many social media posts asking any politician or authority to give him any Oxygen bed in a hospital. He wrote few posts in Hindi, expressing frustration, including cuss words which perhaps were because it was totally “cool” to use those. In the end he got a hospital bed with Oxygen but by that time he was not improving at all. In a couple of days at hospital, his situation became worse. He wrote a post in the morning that “I could have survived if I got a hospital bed earlier”. And then he died by evening. It was shocking, cruel and totally inhuman. Out of his last few social media posts, several had cuss words. I guess he won’t have spoken like that if he really knew he was going to die. Perhaps he thought he would recover and survive.

The second person was a girl I came across in news only today. After she died, Anand Mahindra who is always on social media had written, “your death won’t go in vein”. She was again a bright young girl like the earlier guy. Initially she was not getting a bed in hospital too and when she was admitted to a hospital, her doctor wrote a social media post appreciating her strength and zeal for life and also posted a video where she was seen waving and dancing while listening to music and sitting in her hospital bed with her Oxygen mask on. It was pathetic. What kind of a doctor (she was a lady doctor, so perhaps tried to make a good feminist story out of her female patient) would do that to her patient? The social media post was expected to get people’s prayers for her life. And then there was a reply to that post from the lady patient’s husband or some family member, writing that after 3 hours post this social media post/video, her condition deteriorated fast, and she died. Once again news portals shared the same video and picture where the girl is singing, dancing in her hospital bed, with a title that the brave girl is dead. I don’t know what benefit the patient or her doctor got by posting that video few hours before her death. It was almost making mockery of death and of medical profession too!

Why is it necessary to share social media post till our last breath? Making a social media post for help to get a hospital bed is still ok, though lot of people won’t even do that, but to share video from death bed and trying to become famous that way, seeking blessings (as if those really work), are all so wasteful. Perhaps if the girl survived, this episode won’t be seen in the wrong light but now that she died (last year this time in May month), it looks all so bad. No matter what, she should have been resting and not dancing, and her doctor should be busy thinking about her patients rather than making videos of dying patients and posting on the social media. Such things make social media appear as a dark evil place which is not good for noble people.

Hope everyone moves on and social media users are more sensible about the kind of impact their posts and videos create on their audiences’ minds. Death is supposed to have some dignity and a personal event and making mockery out of it by posting stuff on social media from those last moments is wrong.

- Rahul

Movie: Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is a Winner!

 

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is return of the classic Bollywood magic. It is entertaining and a laughter riot. At the same time, the horror is realistic and really frightening. The combination of comedy and horror has become magical.

Kartik Aaryan has given a champion’s performance. His comedy, comic timing, dialogues, expressions, acting and dance performances, all are superb. Tabu, whom I am not a great fan of as such, has also given a very powerful performance. She is really scary as a ghost and at the same time, some of the scenes have become memorable because of her perfect acting. Sanjay Mishra has created another magic with his performance along with many other characters who make the movie so enjoyable. 

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is also a family entertainer. There is not much violence or objectionable content and that is like the icing on the cake.

All the best to a winning movie from Bollywood we are all proud of.

- Rahul

Maalik!

 

Last year, around Holi time at our village, once a group of kids were passing by while I walked. There were about 20 kids, all of age around 5-7, making merry and enjoying themselves while going somewhere. And then I heard something and looked back. I saw a small kid of around 4-5 who was looking up at me and then he said, “Maalik! Pranam!” I blessed him and moved on. While I moved on, I was surprised and touched by the kid’s gesture. There was so much love and respect in his voice that I felt a bit shy. I wondered who the kid was and why he saluted me that day. I came to home and asked my mother who said he must one son of one of the laborers who work in our fields and hence paid his respect when he saw me. I forgot the incident until yesterday.

Yesterday, I was walking in front of our house when the same kid came in. He was accompanying another kid of his own age (around 5-6). The kid from last year saw me and said, “Maalik!” I looked at him and when he saw that he caught my eye, he just smiled in a way which melted my heart. This time, he did not say “Pranam” or anything else, but he just smiled looking at me. Who was this baby Krishna?

I smiled back and did not say anything. Then I saw that he took his friend towards the open field besides our house where goats and cattle graze and he showed the area to him. At times many kids come to play in that field and perhaps he was showing the field to his friend as a playground. Then the two kids returned and while they were passing besides me, I saw that his friend was continuously starring at my face as if trying to remember my face. That was touching too.

Every time I remember the kid and his “Maalik!” resonates in my mind, my heart warms up and melts a bit.

- Rahul

The Primal Influencer

 

In our village, a laborer was doing something in front of the neighboring house. There was some amount of grains which he was cleaning and keeping in a bag. I noticed that somehow a little kid, most probably his son was ‘watching’ him do the work. He would stand and look at what his father was doing. Then, the man took the husk and went to some distance to throw it away and the boy also followed him, saw him throw it away and came back. Then again he watched his father do some more work, followed him when he went to throw some dust at some distance and came back. The way this little boy of 5-6 walked behind his father and just kept watching him, without either saying a word, looked curious.

I remembered that when my son had come last time at around 4 years of age, he would do the same to me. When I came back from office, he would start following me wherever I went in the house. When I went to the bathroom and washed my hands and feet, he would enter and declare that he also wanted his feet and hands to be washed.

This phenomenon basically tells about the way small kids, especially sons are influenced by their father. And it is a lovely thing.

Three Musketeers

 

In our village, a bitch (female dog) gave birth to at least three pups recently. Kids from the village started playing with the pups and the pups also responded with equal enthusiasm. A boy hid the pups below a ‘bedhi’ (cottage for grain storage) and they made it their home for a few days. Once in a while their mother used to visit and meet them. Once I saw her approaching and even before reaching there, she sensed that the pups were safe inside the bedhi and hence went for sleep. Some kids from the village saw that and came nearby. They called the pups from inside and brought them near her so that they could start drinking milk. The mother-dog did not feel intimidated by kids and allowed them to handle her pups. After a few days, one of the three pups vanished and only two pups (in the picture above) were seen playing around. Watching them play was fun. As part of their game, they would just fall back on ground, roll over the ground and of course push each other to force the other fell down. Similarities with human kids were startling. After a few more days, those also vanished. Then, one day I saw all three of them at a nearby field and all three pups were playing. Then the bitch tried to bring one of the pups back to the original place (below the bedhi) but once the pup came nearby and saw it (as you can see in above picture), he ran back. That was the last time any one of the three pups were seen. But I am sure they are safe and playing somewhere and their mother is feeding them since they are still so small. 

Lonely Life of a Baby Bull

 

In our village recently, I saw a funny scene. A boy was being chased by a calf. He was trying to outrun it and failing in the job, when the calf was stopped in its track by someone else who shouted at it. The calf backed off and started looking here and there. Then it made a sound “baaaaan” two times. After a while, it turned back and disappeared.

Later in the evening, the boy was seen chasing the same calf by beating it with a stick. Life had turned full circle in half a day!

Later, I got to know about the whole thing. The calf was a baby ‘bull’ and here is its life story.

There was a death in one of our relatives’ families and as part of the custom, a milk giving cow and a calf were given away to Pandit ji. The Pandit lived in nearby village, so the cow and its calf were taken there. But the calf was ‘male’, which means it was of not much use to anyone. Since the bull was given away, no one could keep it or convert it into an ox. So, after a month when the ‘baby bull’ was big enough to survive by wandering, he would have been abandoned and set free to roam. Or may be the bull was supposed to be left wild as part of the custom. Now, somehow after being sent away from there, the baby bull had traced its path and come back to its old home in our neighborhood! Since this family had given it away, it could not keep it or feed it. So, the baby bull became an uninvited guest and no one’s liability.

The baby bull kept living on the land outside its original house. There were 3-4 other cows in the house who were fed and being taken care of regularly. The baby bull tried to go near them. Those cows didn’t resist; perhaps they remembered it from a month ago while it also lived here. I never saw those cows resisting or getting scared when the baby bull went near them. So, every once in a while, when the baby bull felt like, it would sneak into the cowshed and eat whatever green grass and other stuff the cows were eating. But its real enemies were the men and boys who were employed to take care of cows. They would chase the baby bull away whenever they saw it. And the baby bull would go away, make a full circle of the house and come back right where it started. It was an endless game which is going on even now.

On several evenings, I saw the baby bull walking away towards the fields and vanishing. And when it was morning, it would come back to the house. Its skin and fur which was originally so shining white, became spotted with soil here and there. Its body language was also confused though steady. The baby bull did not know its place in this world, and it was painful to watch.

One morning, the baby bull rose and went away from the house towards the fields, and then made sound “baaaaan” two-three times while looking towards the house. Then it went towards the fields and disappeared. I wondered if the baby bull had finally given up and left forever. But it came back again just after a few hours!

Although all stray bulls live a lonely life, I had a closer look at this baby bull’s lonely life only now. No one cares about it, no one feeds it, the other cows also do not interact with it, and the small boys from the village start beating it with sticks whenever they see it. On a few occasions, the baby bull attacked and dragged a few people, but so far it has not caused any real damage to anyone. I wonder how long will the baby bull live here. Certainly, it won’t be allowed to live here forever. May be, they are waiting for it to grow up more and then chase it away. Where will it go after here? Wherever it goes, will that place be better or worse than here? Will anyone really care about it in its current life?

On these thoughts, I shall leave this story open. May the baby bull get to live here for a little longer before it goes away. And may it enjoy a healthy and safe life and does not attack anyone else too. That is all I can wish.

-  Rahul

Leela Naidu on Hinduism

 

Recently, I came to know about late Leela Naidu, a former ‘Miss India’ (1954), actress and socialite. She was the daughter of Dr. Pattipati Ramaiah Naidu, a well-known nuclear physicist of his time and Dr. Marthe Mange Naidu, who was of Swiss-French origin. Leela Naidu grew up in Europe, went to an elite school in Geneva, Switzerland, and later returned to India.

I happened to read some magazine articles written immediately after her death, which focused more on her marital history (she had got married and divorced twice) and on her last years during which she suffered from alcohol addition, health issues and lived a reclusive life in Mumbai. This is natural because the readers are in that somber mood after learning about a famous person’s death and writers and journalists try to feed to his curiosity by talking more about the “last years”. I think this is a huge injustice to the deceased. When we look at a person like Leela Naidu’s whole life in totality, we would find them as winners. But if we focus on multiple divorces, drinking problem, and pitiful death in the end, we lose perspective and are deceived. Therefore, by making this argument, I am trying to dispel all the negativity that was fed into my mind by those journalists and writers who wrote sober obituaries of a splendid person like late Leela Naidu. I can say that after knowing about her life and times, I felt empathy and respect for her.

I also came across a book which was written by Leela Naidu co-authoring Jerry Pinto, titled ‘Leela: A Patchwork Life’. It is interesting to read a portion where she recalls her earliest memories and thoughts on religion. Here is a page where she describes what she thought about Hinduism and how Western people misjudged it.

Leela Naidu on Hinduism:

After reading this, we can only agree with her and feel proud that she had the courage to argue with her instructor at the Catholic school in Geneva and she came out in flying colors! How can some people from other religions brush off symbolisms in Hinduism by taking those literally and then praise their own religions’ similar practices as things of great value?

I hope you enjoyed reading above page from her book. You can find the book here.

- Rahul Tiwary