Thursday, July 31, 2008

Forest Love


All the features make forests beautiful;
The lush green bushes and the succinct shoots;
The Luxuriant cover and the Dexterous leaves;
The diverse vegetation with its racy animals;
The meandering streams and the ornamental ponds;
The peeping sun and the veiling clouds;
The soothing moon and the whispering stars;
The source of life and the sign of fertility;
Let all this and more live to see you die,
For the generations to come shall forget,
How monstrous you were!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Awareness Ads

I recieved an interesting forward from one of my beloved friend, Yaseer Arafat Mohamed Sultan Haroon Bathusha alias Batcha- thinking.......??? This is the name of just one person and not many people.

The forward consisted of a collection of ads creating awareness on some of the social maladies haunting us. Though they speak for themselves, I have added my thoughts for each of the picture. Feel free to share your thoughts either as a comment or as a tag post in your blog.

Chewing tobacco causes mouth cancer






An impotent mind;
Knows how to start easily;
Knows not how to stop................










Drive Safely




An arrogant mind;
knows its thrshold well;
Knows not how to limit.........










Most child abuse is committed by the person a child trusts






A wicked mind;
Knows how to exploit everything;
Doesn't care even it's a bud.











Save Girl Child





An ignorant mind;
Knows only to reject its half;
Knows not, the precious is lost.












The next time you waste food, think!







A greedy mind
Knows to amass and waste;
Knows not how to share.













Children learn fast. Don't fight at home





A stupid mind;
Knows how to disrespect;
Knows not, it is suicidal.










Adopt. You never know who you'll bring home






A noble mind;
Knows to embrace all;
Knows not, how to refuse.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Bathroom Reading

It all started when I acquired the never-touch-a-book-but-for-exams attitude during the senior school days, when everything else except for studies mattered much. Who would anyway want to be bothered by text books, when more important and interesting enterprises like inter-house competitions, seniority politics, outings, escapade to the latest movie, newly published novels etc are always in the pipe-line. Text books were considered as one of those pernicious things that deserved to be punished by leaving them to rot and collect enough dust till the desk becomes a sanctuary for book mites. A week before the examination is when these books will find a way-out, the most hated ones illegibly perforated by the mites owing to the neglected stay in the abyssal corners of the desk, while the favored ones as fresh as when it was printed owing to the ample breathing space they enjoyed in the upper deck of the desk.

With just one week available to read through the favored and hated subjects with equal diligence, every second was valued, including the few minutes at the lavatory. These are the days when the books will be glued to us, be it lavatory or mess or assembly hall or roll-call or in the squad. Every possible routine like games, P.T, NCC and any activity that comes in the way of studies will be bunked to ensure we make the best use of this critical week. Sometimes, I used to wonder, why we should suffer during these exam days when we don’t really care about the exams. After one such attempt, I realized that we can play all the pranks only if we clear the exams by some means. The golden rule is "The more you exert in this period, the more space you have for yourself after the exams, of course, till the next I exam." This cycle never changes. At instances, when a book turns out to be greek and latin, we would decide on an impromptu attempt, funny enough to have Saki find his way into the history paper or renaissance replacing mutation in the biology paper. I’m digressing too much. L.et's find our way back to the subject

Like I mentioned before, the text books always accompanied us to the lavatory during these days. After the exams, this practice continued and the text books were replaced by Reader’s Digest, the only subscription we were allowed. The point is, like every habit formation should have a logical start, the bathroom reading or more precisely, lavatorial reading as a habit started during the exam prep marathon. This behaviour was never considered as anti-social in the dorms and irrespective of the seniority level every one were for it. A practice that has passed on from generations to generations as a legacy.

In spite of the wide acceptance, once when I came out of the bathroom carrying a book, I was caught red-handed by the duty master known for his moral preaching.

He bawled “ Were you sh***ing or reading?
I said “ Sir, I was doing both?” and I kept mum.
He was staring for a moment, of course with his mouth wide open and said, “ In the future, you will only be fit for book keeping in a public toilet” and dismissed me.

This didn’t bother me much, as this morality has already blessed most of us to become many things like nomad, cow boy, wine maker, snake charmer, eater of the dead, street vendor and what not.

The practice continued even after I left the school and even at home. When it came to renovating the house, I instructed the carpenter to fix a book rack in one of the bathrooms and he was confused. Yes. It is highly important to ensure good lighting, closet with a comfortable seating, floor-to-wall white tiling to ensure hygiene, airflow and ventilation even when you are not one.


Reader’s Digest being a magazine with topics of varied flavors and contents of varied types like essays, short stories, jokes, cartoons, interviews with politics and gossips excluded has always been my choice for the bathroom reading. There are some criteria for a good bathroom book. Ideally the books has to be small and self-contained like, Collection of Short-stories, Poems, Anecdotes, Parables, Jokes and some magazine would make an ideal bathroom book. It should be like something you can read till the end in one-sitting, so that, you don’t need to carry the book outside. Big Volums, Serious ones, Political stuff and Gossips should be avoided.

It was tough when I visited a friend’s place where there were no books to carry. When I complained him about constipation due to the lack of a book, he gave a big smile and drew a Reader’s Digest buried under his mattress. I understood that it is forbidden practice in his house. However, this incident made me to think that, I am addicted to this silly indulgence. I decided to consult some friends before exploring the possibility of any psychological or physiological diagnosis. After a considerable survey, I was amazed to find that most carry a book; one guy carries his laptop; few carry their cell phones, some are hooked to their iPod or MP3 players and so on. It was proven beyond the fact that it is very common to be bathroom reader. Apart from saving a few significant minutes everyday, it sets the day in a good rhythm. Some habits accompany us till the grave and this is one such habit/

Happy Reading!

Warning: There is nothing wrong in being a bathroom reader, but never get indulged in the book and stay longer than needed in the bacthroom. You might end up carrying Hemorrhoids (Piles) all your life.

Images courtesy: Google

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Connections In-tact

The whole of May I was traveling and had it not been to the places I love, it would have been a tedious trip. Never stayed in a place for more than 2 days and the trip covered Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Pollachi, Palghat, Palani and Kodaikanal. So many times, I have traversed these places, but the pleasure of spending some time with the relatives, friends and their family has not diminished in anyway. It was yet another memorable trip, wishing the newly married, blessing the newly born, blessed by those awaiting death, congratulating those who have cleared their exams with flying colours, consoling those who have failed to pass through these stupid exams and most importantly fed heavily by whoever I visited. As for me, these trips fill me with love and happiness as a lamp is filled with light and warmth and is a way to cherish the past and be connected with it always. The past as majestic as the mountains, though irrelevant and obsolete, lets the present flow through it, unless we build a barrier to stagnate and stop it.

I had a view of the Coimbatore Junction from a roof-top and the all that I could see are the coarsely illuminated hoardings of all the telecom operators. A substantial evidence that, India has turned into a huge market for the mobile operators. It is no longer the city I have known and loved.


It was a very brief stay at Kodaikanal, only a couple of hours, during which time, I managed to visit Mark and Graces as I wanted wish Grace personally on her 100th birthday anniversary. I have written many posts on Mark Antrobus, because he has been and is being a great inspiration to me in certain aspects.

Outlook has published an article on Grace in its recent issue. I am sure you will enjoy reading this article - Amazing Grace

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Missing and Dreaming

Yet another pending tag. This time, from Meenu. She has done a wonderful tag and after going through it, I had my own doubts if I'll be able to do justice to the tag.

The tag was to write the 10 things I miss in my life right now , and the 10 things I want to achieve in 10 years !

I doubted because, this is the most easiest and the toughest tag I can ever do. The first part is easy. With in seconds we can list out the things we miss, not just 10, it can run to infinity. Mind always makes a deal with the greed and all that cannot be possessed forever adds up subconsciously to the list of things we miss. It is very easy to miss something too and hence to list it is almost effortless. Here is the list of 10 things I miss now and may be forever:)


1. My Dad

2. My Granny

3. First Love? May be all
the episodes of love :)

4. Everything about
Kodaikanal

5. Proximity with my friends and all those pranks, big and small

6. Days at
Amaravathi

7. The first year of my son - I was traveling most of the time

8. Frequent travels - backpack kind:)

9. Innocence

10. Aloneness



On the other hand, things I dream of doing in the next 10 years.....is the most toughest thing I could think of. To be frank, I don't really know. I am sure that the next 10 years will definitely add more things to the list of I will be missing. But, I couldn't predict all that now and set them as my objectives. Well, I'm not doing the last part of the tag:)

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

The Song Tag - Feel

It's been a long time:) Thought, I will do a long pending tag from Vishesh. Tag is always the easiest way to get into the grew after such a long gap. Fortunately, I have few more tags pending in the list.

I am supposed to “Think of the song that most inspires me to write, whether it gives you an idea for a story, script or just puts me into a better frame of mind AND/OR peek into the lyrics and find a verse that sums up the theme of whatever project I'm working on. If possible, post a video of the song to convey to readers the full context of the song and the mood it puts you into. Finally, send the assignment to five other writers to do as well.”

Music is a great source of inspiration and often I have set my mood as required by listening to the appropriate song or music. Music has always been a means to stop the mind from all the stupid thoughts. With music, my mind stops and can't really write on its implications or impact. I'm no longer there to dissect it :)

The is one of my favourite songs

Anyone interested can do this tag....