menonsmusings20

BAABAAAA . . .  Such a small and cuddly human,  yet so strong!  Baba, you were so tender  and so, so soothing.  I miss you terribly.  Wherever you are. You were there when we needed.  You just gave and asked for nothing.  Now you are gone,  I feel a part of me has gone too. In my youth I was horrible,  yet you accepted me,  when others were critical, You gave me hope! What have I given you?  Nothing!  I couldn't even come to your death bed  and cremation. How I try to solace myself, saying you are so understanding;  and will not hold grudge. But I feel guilty and helpless  and angry at myself,  for losing such a precious person  from my life . . .  forever . . .  Wound may heal, memories may fade,  I don't know. But the world without you will be  So much morbid and loveless. That I know.

  Black like a brute It lies there mute When it talks in style It flashes bright smile It sings what they like It stops when they dislike It’s cared, it’s abused It’s shoved, it’s refused They call it an idiot box Around it the life baulks It predicts unpredictable weather And the future price of leather Some own more than one Yet some have none Wading infinite family moods And spectra of routes Say all at home The teli removes a vacuum The ladies like the soaps The males dismiss ‘em as dopes They love the losing sports Despite tons of ads it promotes The kids like the toons The old think it is a boon The young now dismiss it a doom! The small screen will definitely run. Or would it, perhaps it won't. Oh! descended the world of IT From Abacus to do some calculus It forged the way we work It destroyed a whole industry Of papers, files and file cabinets! It enlightened us, it enslaved us! It spewed out prints and glossies With such ...

Wake up Rohan, wake up; today you’ve a test! He eats up Calculus and Calorimeter in good jest, Chews on mundane axioms one, two unto five And belches theorems of geometry dead and alive. Rohan moves to school in nonstop research and reveries, Of his tutors with monstrous knowledge from mortuaries. Oh! Does his face turn turtle or purple? Of course not gentle As he taps, the electronic face spews out data that startle! He ponders o’er not so green a “Green Revolution”! He is rushed to the Pink City o’er the deep blue Ocean He learns of blue litmus that turn rancid with acid And suffers lessons on Yellow Fever and how things go placid ‘Rohaan’ calls the French Madam and goes on to grill On this and that and history of *Courville She checks her watch set on patterns o’ Conjugation And, yells to the class to take her petite translation The great India history is a funny story The boiling point of Hydrogen below Zero degree! Geography turns so dreary with...

He kept to the shadows And walked across the meadows Head bent, belly spent Down the barn past the taunting primrose.   They say he’s a blackguard And that, all must be on guard! In the valley and the gully For he’s sure to slice us without regard!   It seems, he took the life In fishy circumstances, of his wife She’d pleaded ‘n’ even conceded In the end nothing got her off the strife.   ‘He’s crazed,’ they wail ‘Can’t be trusted’; ‘He should be in jail,’ None dare argue on this issue, They brand him ‘no good’ and there’s none to bail.   My neighbour says it isn’t fair For the man couldn’t hurt a hare ‘It’s a frame up they’d set up’ Now he’s hunted ‘n’ his kin is in despair.   They promptly sit on judgement On others’ pathetic predicament ‘A sacrilege!’ they cry and ‘the man has to pay!’ And then walk off for a nefarious commitment.   In the dark, silhouette foreplay The phantoms grin malicious a...

Science and modern life are irretrievably interlinked. Today’s world is unthinkable minus science and technology. As we have stepped into the twenty first century, all our functions, our work procedures, our scope of entertainment- even our very existence are all highly influenced by modern science and technology. As we celebrate this year’s scientific day, let us examine the modern life and the progress we made thanks to science and technology. Ostensibly, science has been instrumental in the quantum leap in our development and has played pivotal role in giving us a comfortable life. If human creativity is one side of the coin responsible for what we are today, science has rendered a catalyst for change. The synergy has given our creativity a momentous spurt. As we gaze into the TV viewing a myriad of entertainment soaps or we surf on the internet getting a kaleidoscope of visual experience or we travel in a jet half way over the world we thank our scientists for making o...

Today we are proudly masquerading as free Indian, but we wouldn’t have got our freedom without the highly principled freedom fighters under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi sacrificing their lives for a lofty goal. The Mahatma was a person who lived, persevered and died holding his principles high. Every year the whole nation remembers this great son of India. We feel proud to inherit his legacy. We do remember our Harshad Mehthas and shudder and cringe inwardly at the very thought that he was one of us. He did gain his momentous glory, but did it last? As we stand on the threshold of 21 st century, our priorities have become ‘high living and low thinking’. Our success is measured in our possessions, bank balances and the amount of dowry ‘Social Bigwigs’ pay. Successive compromises and incursion of western ideology have given a crushing blow to the Indian life style paved on integrity, instead we are seriously thinking of flouting principles and justif...

Life has twists and turns and scores of surprises and shocks in store. For a person to have started a career in Hospitality services and ended up as an Admin. Manager in an Engineering Company is merely by chance may be a tall claim, but that is the truth. People like me will always be carried by the tides of twists and turns and face a lot of shocks. On the other hand, those with a scheme in front an ambition to fulfill will move in a single stream with a definite goal and destination.   But, what the hell!! Both get on with their lives with a moderate level of achievement. Well, that might depend on what you consider achievement. Even so, I feel my path is ok, because we don't need to be on guard and have any goals whatsoever. Also one doesn't have to be stuck to the same routine always. I for one enjoyed being a squeeky smart travel executive for the time I was employed thus. Then there was a longer stint as marketing / sales executive, which too gave me lots of thrill a...

A witty guy- my bro- In math, he was a pro! His pluck I did adore. His laugh was a roar! To Joke he said right-ho! To misery he said NO! He loved us all more! He was never slow- To wipe tears of woe!   I take a memory tour. I stood near the door. He lay on the floor! I was not sure how to go. He was pale, I saw! Was tragedy in store? Later I came to know- He was no more! He died in a snore! To us it was a blow!   My mom sounded hollow. Gone was her sweet fellow- She cried into the pillow. Dad was all mellow. No more did he bellow. Pain came as sharp arrow! In agony they did wallow.   Tears and time go- As his cancer did grow! Many a remedy did he swallow! Nothing could slow- It gored all the more! In pain, he swore! Our heart it tore! Our spirit it stole!   He is no more! We feel so low- The pain is slow! At times tears flow! Or feel our minds soar! Memories are in store! On our f...

Kuwait is green and beautiful! What an impossible dream! To a dreamer like me landed fresh and full of passion, it brought in a free flow of pheromones. It didn’t take me much time to discover the truth. Once I was called to a rich Kuwaiti Sheikh’s sprawling mansion and given the part time duty of tutoring his recalcitrant sons ever so elusive, lessons on English equally elusive. The recalcitrant duo was researching on wild mischief and had perfected the art of spitting in each other’s face, for one. They were in the process of compiling an international dictionary of swear and four-letter words. They would practice such words without inhibition on their close circle of friends, family and much to my chagrin even on their teachers! Why a teacher would wear a large panama hat indoors while teaching, may raise curiosity and eyebrows in some. The Arab siblings having parked on either side of me would often end up in a fight. After flinging back and forth a string of groovy words, they...

Yesterday I got an invite to a programme in my daughter's school. It was addressed to Mr. & Mrs KP. We had registered our daughter's name in the school rolls as Gayathri. K. P to avoid them having to call all those unpronounceable parts of her long name and embarrass the little one. The teacher's sense of humour  must have prompted her to address the invitation thus. This reminds of the episode of the Vellodis. Back in the 60s when my Grandpa was still alive, Mr. Vellodi was posted to the Finance Department of the Central Government as a Secretary. Delhi was a modern metropolis even then, but the Vellodis were village folks and continued the usual way addressing each other. In those days a wife never addressed her husband by his name. Instead he used to be referred to as "Nokku" meaning look here! Many people used to visit the Vellodi couple. One among them was a man from Punjab and on such visits Mrs. Vellodi used to nudge her husband and say "Nokk...

Death is the second absolute truth. Yet, when it comes no one is prepared. Physical death precedes brain death. Brain death preceded memory death Memory brings alive the dead Death becomes a reality when history dawns. The dead are blessed. Those left behind grieve. In death a villain becomes a hero The dead are seldom disrespected. In death "He' or "She" becomes "It". In death all materials become worthless In death we part. In death we become whole.

Sometimes people think they are great and can run the world. I feel they are like the garden lizard trying to bloat its muscles to challenge the car tires that are about to crush it! As humans we have enormous vanity which make us close our eyes to reality. Consequently we break our heart, scream our head off and push our chest out in false prestige. We have very limited ability compared to the nature. One small heave or sneeze can destroy millions, yet we say we are trying to save nature! HA HA!

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Poor Pedestrians! Kerala during the rainy season is a tribute to nature. Even so, nature is not something that hangs out as poignant as a pedestrian’s predicament here. The economic boom comes at a cost. Indeed the cost the pedestrians pay for it is dear. They seem to have lost their right to walk! With the roads getting congested and pending litigations preventing widening of roads, the pedestrians’ track has become more redundant than ever. Wherever widening is done it is at the cost of foot path which disappear altogether. Also, perpetual coagulation on roads forces the motorists to use every lane to reach the destination a couple of minutes earlier. Lack of maintenance and unabated torrential rains have reduced the road space by half. This too puts a pressure on the pedestrian’s path. While these are unavoidable there are others that could be avoided. Automobile drivers use roads as some kind of racing track. Particularly the red town buses rocket down the lane or what is left of t...

My Little Granny   She was small and myopic, but a great lady. In my family the women folk had guts of steel. And my granny had tons of it! She lost her husband early and her only son, our silver tongued ‘Humko Mama’, died of a horrible accident in the prime of his youth leaving behind a young widow and two bonny children!  Those did falter her steps, but she didn’t indulge in the misery, instead she immersed herself in work and more work. I remember her as a cherubic, buxom and witty lady always ready with a smile and chirpy laugh. She would tell us crazy stories and help us in our studies with equal passion. Mind you, she was a professor at the reputed Banares Hindu University! Yet she was so down to earth and such a jolly good person that all of us loved her. She was the one who named me ‘Samudra Guptan’ after an illustrious warrior king who invaded dozens of kingdoms and brought them under his rule.  Don’t be under the impression that I was a warrior of any sort. Fa...

RAIN  It rains and rains and rains In the valleys and the plains  On the road it spills o’er drains  And snakes up the tarred lanes  It makes puddles of strong tea,  which grows into a big sea!  The frogs gather for the party  There they orgy in abandoned frenzy  Its little droplets march up to wind  Like smart regiments soldiers they sprint  In crazy gale they wrap nature in chintz  They tickle and play on the tamarinds  Cloudy by day and starless at night  The sky mourns draped in dark hide  Of her dear darling- the short-lived spring  All in its glory smiling and giving   Nonetheless, drizzles come tingling  Cloudbursts then come gushing  Sometimes hail go clamoring  Uninvited, the storms descend menacing  It sprouts the seeds and plants go all green  On farmers’ beaten face a smile is seen  Once or twice it turns a violent sheen  It stays for a while and leaves th...

In the Twilight   She didn’t say a word!  But all of it he heard. In the dark their eyes flamed!  All alone in a crowd.  Her hair, he did brush with,  His hand all gnarled and veined;  She did heave a sigh of anguish,  As if she had lost the skill to wish.   They sat huddled in the twilight,  Huddled in the dusk of their life!  A pair of wizened mortals living,  The fleeting images of the past.  Gone were the days of their blossoming,  Gone were the excitements of living,  Gone was the confidence from winning, Their spirited wars and coveted glories.  They started young toiling with soil and tears, A hut they had and it grew with passing years.  Amina, Rafeeq and little Abu were born,  And came the harvests rich and strong.  Happy were those days of honest sweat,  In a Hindu neighborhood they got respect!  Nature’s bounty, with all they did share, and got cheerful welcome and lots of...

Fait Acompli   He was good looking, suave and bad and was the most important link in the Sri Lankan Felix syndicate, which ran several clean front organizations. But money came for the syndicate from several other unclean hidden agencies. One of them dealt with girl trade. JS was the lynch man for that operation which spread its tentacle to a good dozen countries. JS traveled extensively. His passport identified him as a Sri Lankan male, 28 years old 6 ft 2 inches tall and 60 kilos heavy. Neat! That part was true, but the rest of the information in his passports (he had several) were fictitious.  Angela was in late teens studying in Stella Maris, a reputed all women’s college in Chennai, when she met JS in a lending library. Then such libraries were popular. She fell flat for him. He was charming, talked with a sexy accent and had those dreamy blue eyes that ensnared girls in his trap with such succession that it even surprised him.  He was the bastard of a Swedish diplom...

My Wedding - a Funny Affair  My wedding was a funny affair. It happened in a crowded hall. My bride and I sat on the raised stage under a lovely flower canopy. It was a short ceremony. Rings were put by the betrothed on each other’s right hand. A gold chain was hooked around my bride neck and a pair of thick Jasmine-Chrysanthemum garland was exchanged amid much fanfare and shouting and flash bulbs.  It was while having the prodigious feast that I started scratching my neck. By the time I had reached the middle of the feast, I had to discontinue the eating business and get on earnestly with the scratching business. My bride sitting beside me was bemused by my new- found passion. Couple of well-decked good looking teenagers sitting in the opposite row had started giggling.  Now I was scratching away quite unashamedly! It’s allergy! My uncle, who was a medical practitioner, seemed to understand the reason behind my not so acceptable behaviour. He quickly got me to a private...

Kerala is a Fever Country!  They call, it the "God’s own country"!  One hundred percent literacy!  Yet, they make our land so filthy,  They pinch us and become wealthy! We are the victims of democracy!  Fever! Fever burning bright!  Chikun!  Dengue!  What a blight! ‘Course it’s all a terrible sight!  Fever! Fever burning bright!  Take our kids and give us fright!  Browning’s Tiger, don’t burn bright  They have lost their kin and might  Few is left to their sorry plight,  Sulking in what’s left of the jungle.  Project Tiger- isn’t it a bungle?  Press is screaming yellow jello  “Yellow, yellow dirty fellow”  The paper’s leaders bellow  “Don’t be too good, dirty fellow”  Mob won’t eat your marshmallow!  Did you hear of the Paper Bond Story,  Of the Patriot taking smelly bribery,  They swear: it’s a bond; we’re so sorry  They swear: return the booty, but it’s so silly...