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

About Scams and Scamsters

Watched a documentary on Gerald Cotten and it did seem that sometimes real life stories are more interesting than fiction. You can read about it here: 

What really happened to Gerald Cotten? Netflix’s new true crime documentary, Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King, looks at the millionaire’s mysterious death | South China Morning Post (scmp.com)

Attached to above article, I found below one about another scandal. Tells how we are all living in the midst of frauds. 

What happened to Sarma Melngailis from Netflix’s Bad Vegan? The former raw vegan restaurateur from Pure Food and Wine is keeping under the radar, but will she open another eatery again? | South China Morning Post (scmp.com)

Reminds me of another fraud story I read a few months back, about Anna Delvy

Who is Anna Delvey? The true story of fake socialite portrayed in Netflix’s Inventing Anna (yahoo.com)

Talking about scams and scamsters, recently a businessman tried to dupe me of a large sum of money. I was not foolish but I was not cautious too and now I am going to the court to sue him. I have thought about how I could be duped because I know that we should not easily trust people, and I have come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, I did not value money over human trust. I had a suspicion about what if the person does not return the money as promised, but I still went ahead with the transaction because somewhere I did not "value" money that much. I have tried to tell me that it is a weakness and I need to get over it. But, at the same time despite all our precautions, scamsters do scam us with their nice words and all once in a while.  

Of Crying and Cry-Babies

 

While passing through the neighborhood, I came across a small child who was with his mother and he was crying. The mother and the kid were sitting on the staircase in the shadow of their house. It looked like the kid’s "crying session" going on for some time. It reminded me of my childhood, about kids crying in general and one of the articles I had read recently about why kids cry a lot.

I think kids just start crying when they do not feel like. They are not bothered about how they look or appear in others’ eyes if they cry. Crying is an expression for them. After a while, they also use it as a tool or a weapon, to force adults into agreeing with their demands. But perhaps small kids and babies just cry when they do not feel well about anything, without applying any thought. When we are grownup, we have several other ways to express ourselves and we look at crying essentially as a sign of weakness and lack of control, and hence it is the last option if we have to exercise it. Most of adult crying is also babylike; except that it does not last long. And expect those con-artists or actors who can cry at will.

I think I was not a 'cry-baby' in my childhood; and I don’t remember myself crying  a lot when I was small. But I do have memories when I used to be very angry in childhood. When I was angry, I would stop eating. Then mother would have to try too hard, telling me stories and tricking into making me eat. But I won’t open my mouth to eat. And if forcefully fed, I would just not swallow the food but would keep it stuffed inside my mouth. My cheeks would get stretched and pained, keeping the food stuffed in my mouth for too long. I think all kids do such stuff.

World is certainly a better place since adults do not usually cry. Otherwise imagine the chaos we shall have each day. At the same time, we can envy the kids ability to cry as an act in itself, since it would take a bit of self confidence to be able to cry, not bothered about what others would think about us. In that sense, crying can be a healthy thing in kids who are growing up.

- Rahul

Some Quotes

 

Things. You can acknowledge their presence in your home. You can even express your gratitude to them for being with you during tough times. But you can't get attached to them. I remember I had a friend in college who would talk to his things. For instance, his fav earphones stopped working. He got a new pair. He simply said to his old earphones that you were of great service. Thank you for being with me for a long time through thick and thin. May you rest in peace. Then he carefully discarded them in the trash can and moved on to open the new pack. If only life was this simple.

---

Twitter is more like my silent friend, which simply tells me jokes, scary stories, news, gossips, etc. I read it, sometimes process it, and try to forget my existence.

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All you can do at this point is try to fulfill your duties as much as you can.

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You are worrying to much about the future. We don't know what's gonna happen in the next 5 years. You have thought about 20 years.

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With time people change

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I love pizza and MONEY is needed to buy it.

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I believe that the minute someone insults you, JUST leave. I mean jahan respect nahi wahan you can't expect a decent relationship to grow and prosper.

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I can dissect a person just by having a conversation for like 5-10 minutes.

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He is the kind who thinks that only lazy people go through depression. But don't you think even a strong independent person needs a support system?

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If the concept of escapism exists, then it holds value to it. Nothing is useless in this universe. Everything has its meaning.

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This is your chance to shine!! Try practicing patience during such small moments. This is how you learn to remain calm and patient during difficult times.

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- Unknown

New Patriotic Songs

Janani (From "RRR") Song Online - Janani (From "RRR") mp3 song download | Wynk

Jann Gann Mann (From "Satyameva Jayate 2") Song Online - Jann Gann Mann (From "Satyameva Jayate 2") mp3 song download | Wynk

JaiHind Ki Senaa Song Online - JaiHind Ki Senaa mp3 song download | Wynk

A heartbreaking little pup story

 

I was traveling in a car and while approaching a secluded intersection, we noticed a small puppy. It was a totally black little pup, chubby and jumping around a totally white dog which should not be its mother. The dog and the pup went towards left side. When we also took left turn, we noticed that the dog and the pup were going towards something and seeing it broke our heart.

There was another small totally black puppy which was lying on the road with blood splashed over its head. And a third small black pup was sitting near it, prodding it to wake up. Now whole picture became clear. The three little black pups should be playing on the roadside when one of them got hit by some vehicle or object and died. While one pup tried to make it alive again by prodding, the other pup noticed a white adult dog nearby and went to bring it there for help.

In a glimpse, I could notice that the little pup which was dead looked as if it was just sleeping and someone had splashed red color over its head. Since it was not crushed, which is usually the scene when dogs meet road accidents. I realized that I had never seen a dog’s blood before and only now I got to know that it was also red.

We had passed by and while I was struggling to stop tears flooding my eyes, I was also angry at this world for creating such a brutality. At such episodes, we can only take note that life is so fragile. May the little puppy be safe in its next life and always live happily.

- Rahul Tiwary

Yearly Updates and Other Stuff in Life

It is a new year again. For a few years, I used to post a kind of ‘yearly updates’ on new year eve, as it gave me a sense of satisfaction as well as pride, that I achieved a few things during the year. Of course, I would share only what is ok to share in front of extended friends and some strangers. Then, around mid-life crisis stage, two years back, I realized that life was in a status quo and I did not really have much updates. I skipped it for a year and then next year, I did not even feel like reviewing the year in my mind. Perhaps the best years of life were over and now it was a slumber. Small achievements did not feel like achievements and some changes like job change or location sounded like a hassle when thought came to consider those as updates.

I think each phase of life has good and bad things and the current phase we are going through feels like worst. Then, a few years would pass and when we look back, those years would feel like very good times, or at least much better than the “new current”. This is why life is called a mirage (mrig-marichika in Sanskrit/Hindi). There is nothing that we are discovering about life, our ancient Rishis had experienced all, pondered overall, and had given a verdict on all things we call life. If we think about this, we get to again question why we are wasting time on earth anyway.

Coming back to yearly updates, I think the year passing by was one of the worst on health front. I remember I had fallen sick only once seriously before in life immediately after marriage, but when I think about that phase, now I do not remember any pain or suffering. I was young and at least my spirit was not broken by then. Year 2021, perhaps because it is too recent as of now, fills me with anger. Why was I to fall sick and why should I take so long to recover? I know that with age, recoveries take longer time and we can feel hard time getting accustomed to aging. But the worst part is when we do not feel that we are changing, from the inside we are still the same, but things are indeed changing, I guess. This is why, immortality is one of the greatest themes of ancient Hindu scriptures. Personally, I do not want to be immortal; and for some time I am mentally ready to go anytime; but that is because of my life experiences and I do not recommend this defeatist attitude to anyone else. We were born to life and fight, not to give up.

I am happy that year 2021 is over and by its end, I was fully recovered too. Now I am like I was at the beginning of 2021 and one year seems to have just vanished with no accomplishments for the count.

I do not want to have a wish-list for the new year 2022, except that I would definitely like it to bring no more troubles or surprises for me and I want time to just forget that I am alive, if it can help. All I wanted from life was to have an ordinary happy life with my family but now I suspect life has some plans to make my life appear like a tragic novel full of twists and turns, which I simply detest. Sometimes it feels being a rabbit in a jungle may be better than this mess called life. Nature has given us a heart, a mind and a conscience, all so that we can suffer better. In next life, I would rather like to be a pebble at the bottom of a river, because I think even that is better than what humans have created in the name of our life on earth.

With hope of some mercy and kindness accidently coming my way, if God allows it in a better mood.

- Rahul 

83: Good Movie But a Missed Opportunity

 

I read in news that the movie 83 was not doing good in terms of revenues as audiences were not flocking to the theatres. Hence, I took the risk and booked ticket for next day and watched it in a theater. This was my first movie in a theater since last year’s pandemic. Like most boys born in 1980s, I had grownup being a Kapil Dev fan and for the first time a movie about him was made, so I wanted it to do it well commercially too. And I am a big Ranveer Singh fan, so there were two compelling reasons to take the risk.

Now, about the movie. Having watched its promos and songs, I went into the theater expecting it to be a Kapil Dev ‘biopic’. But it turned out to be a historical drama only about World Cup Cricket 1983. It was difficult to digest this fact which we start noticing after spending some time through the movie. Whenever Ranveer Singh comes on the screen, he leaves in a few minutes and we are left wishing for his more screen-time. It happens again and again and till the movie ends. It feels like director Kabir Khan or the movie makers took sadistic pleasures in disappointing the fans of both Kapil Dev and Ranveer Singh. Ranveer Singh looked totally transformed physically. His physic, body language, speech, everything was totally changed for this movie. He did so much work to transform himself for this movie, but the movie does nothing to match the content with his intent.

The movie tried to give us a wholesome drama around the WC 1983. How our players were poor, struggling, not famous and how they did the “David kills Goliath” by defeating West Indies and winning the World Cup. Fine, but this could have been covered in last 60 minutes of the movie. Now, I can also understand that the movie tried to do justice with each of the 11 players who were in the WC team and this is really commendable. But, we did not go to the theater to know the story of each of those 11 players. We are fine with 50% of screen-time given to others, but remaining 50% should be about Kapil Dev. But it seemed as if the movie makers were really bent on giving a “fair chance” to each team member. And this killed the magic that this movie could have given to us by making the movie a bit more about Kapil Dev than about World Cup. I think other viewers would agree with me on this.

Apart from Ranveer Singh, Pankaj Tripathi as Manager, PR Man Singh, has done a great job. It was in fact Pankaj Tripathi who made us glued all through the movie and not Ranveer Singh. Then I really liked Tahir Raj Bhasin as Sunil Gavaskar; as he has done a really great job. Apart from Ranveer Singh, I felt only Tahir who tried to reflect some of the aura of the great Cricket star he was playing. Fourth place comes to Krishnamachari Srikkanth who has been given tremendous footage in the movie, for creating comic scenes. And Jatin Sarna as Yashpal Sharma was also very good. In fact I liked Yashpal Sharma after watching this movie, while earlier I did not know much about him.

Boman Irani as Farokh Engineer was an unnecessary character. Use of Indira Gandhi’s character and the way it was shown that she used Cricket as a trick for communal peace looked like a “cheap trick”. I wonder how the movie makers wasted screen time on such unnecessary characters. If they had given even 20 more minutes to Kapil Dev’s character, the movie won’t have to struggle at the box office to begin with and I won’t need to risk my life to support commercial cinema.

All said and done, I would categorize 83 as a “near-miss” and will expect some other movie maker to do true justice to Kapil Dev’s character. Use Ranveer Singh again, if possible. I remember earlier once movies about famous personalities like Bhagat Singh used to be made, 3-4 movie makers would compete with each other to make their movie on the same subject. But this time, no one else is seen and Kabir Khan was the sole flag-bearer who did well to disappoint Kapil Dev fans. I shall long to wait for a proper movie to be made on Kapil Dev.

Origins of Superstition

While arranging household items, I came across many old pictures of gods and a statue of Hanuman ji which was broken at one place but glued back in home. I had to immerse (visarjan) Diwali’s Lakshmi ji Ganesh ji idols too, so I thought about immersing the above old items in the river too. I knew that it was not auspicious to keep broken idols at home, so I found courage to identify and pack such items in a cartoon.

Now a day, government does not allow people to throw puja items directly in rivers, and we have to keep such things in trash bins kept near river-banks. Although we suspect that municipal workers must be finally dumping such items in God knows what places; but what options do we have? I naturally hesitated in immersing such religious items, convincing myself that there is no harm in keeping these in some corner at home. But I remembered that these are lying idle for many years, and “how long” do I plan to keep these? Until these become fossils? So, somehow I gathered courage and collected all such items in a cartoon and kept it in a bag, and planned to go to the river bank next morning to immerse those.

But, seems God had other plans. Next morning, it was raining. I thought I would go in the evening, but it kept raining whole day. I thought I would go next day, but even it was raining next whole day! After 2 days, the rains stopped, but the roads were wet and hence I decided not to go until weather is dry again. After a few weeks, once again I gathered courage and picked up the cartoon and went to the riverbank on foot (since it is only about 2 kilometers from home). To my surprise, there were no trash bins to be found! Municipality guys were cleaning and painting the whole area and hence they would have removed the trash bins made for puja items. I noticed that no one else had dumped any puja items anywhere. Disappointed, I returned home with everything I had taken with me to submerge.

After these two failed attempts to submerge religious items, a thought lingered in my mind that may be God does not want me to submerge those items. Any of those items, pictures or idols might have a spiritual power and it does not want to “leave” my home. I even felt ashamed of trying to get rid of those items.

Therefore, I have finally made up my mind and kept the cartoon with all these items somewhere near the home temple. I know it is ‘superstition’, and while I try to be rational and not superstitious most of the time, after two failed attempts, I do not have courage to take those out to submerge again. May God forgives me for trying to do something without His consent.

- Rahul Tiwary