The Stare !

As I was sitting alone in temple the other day, a gentleman came and sat next to me. I don’t know him. He does not know me. 

To open a conversation he looked at his old umbrella and smiled at me. I also looked at his umbrella which was old enough to survive another two heavy rains max in this monsoon season.  

But before he could start conversation an old man joined us. He was too old to walk but somehow managed to come and sit next to us.  Luckily he was known to this umbrella carrying man.  

He started explaining to the old man  :

“ Look at my umbrella. The other day I went to an acquaintance’s house. Who happened to be an umbrella repairer.  He stared at my umbrella. I told him, my umbrella was fine. He was not ready to listen. He stared at my umbrella more vigorously. He told me it did not fold properly because some knots had become loose. He inspected and told me 4 knots to be retied. Per knot he charged 5 rupees, since he was known to me he could do it for 4 rupees per knot. I agreed to it and got it done. You see how people’s stare generates free income for them”.

Then it was time for the umbrella carrying man to go off as someone called him to join him for walk, so he got up. Then he made his final announcement.

“I want to use this old umbrella as much I can, though I get free new umbrellas every now and then when I attend 13^th day function of a deceased person, you know I am member of priest’s family.”

Then he had a good stare at the old man before walking away!

Displays that vanished

It is good news for people in Bangalore – I shifted from there. Not so good news for people in Kochi – that is where I live now!

As such when one relocates, one needs to keep in mind the new weather, food habits, dress code, stray dogs and equally dangerous mosquitoes – there are many other such things. One among them is your neighbor.

The very next day after I moved in I decided to open the back door and get the sight of Sun for enhancing the Vitamin D in my body. I might need stronger teeth and bones to survive. May be it is too early in the day as I moved towards  western part of the globe, or may be the nearby buildings were blocking the sun -  I did not find any sun or his rays. But I did find something on my back gate. Though it is around 30 feet away from my back door, the display was quite visible. It was clothes spread nicely on my gate for drying!

As such I was somewhat fine seeing that display early in the morning. But I could not stand listening to all sorts of “unkind” words from my wife – that too about the stupid underwear of my neighbor!!!

As I was entering through the back gate the very next day I heard something, which I thought would solve all my problems. “Why are you putting those clothes on other’s gate ?” It was a young guy to his old mom. I felt for a moment that I am not alone. There are like minded people like me in this world who are sensitive to others needs and issues. Then came his next statement “ That too you put only my clothes, if you want you can put your own clothes !!” I pretended as if I didn’t know their language and entered came reply from mom “ I will not remove them now. If you want, you do it yourself!!!”

Before confronting with them and losing rapport with a good neighbor, I decided to analyse the reason why they are behaving like this. It is not that the (under)garments guys have advertised that if you dry them in metal surface the body parts that cover them will be in good condition – no I don’t remember seeing such ads. Not that they get a pleasure by displaying such artifacts on our gate. I came to know from the previous tenant of the house that this habit was normal and nothing new.

I came to the conclusion that probably they see me as an outsider. They are trying to give me a strong message that they would not change their habits a bit by my sheer modern outlook and presence !! They would continue to live as they have been.

I decided to become friendly with the old couiple. Started talking to them about anything else but clothes ! I enquired about the bundle of joy – their little grand daughter. In fact there were two bundles of joy – twins – fully capable of making similar cries at odd hours of the day without knowing who is making which cry ! That worked, my sympathies and empathies to them worked. They feel now I am one of them. They have a broad smile on their faces whenever I see them. More importantly I am able to see the Sun with no obstructions and no burden to my gate. Much  more importantly my wife became quiet on that front !!! 

I avoided a big risk of becoming life time enemy of them and also avoided the risk of seeing those unwanted clothes in every other opportunity they would get to display to us !!

This does not mean that one can adapt softer methods always. Kill mercilessly those bloody mosquitoes.   Stay away or chase away those troublesome stray dogs. Switch on air conditioner when needed, if the weather is unbearable, harmful and too hot and sultry – do not worry too much about the huge electricity bill – you can pay it through credit card these days!!!

And beware of especially that neighbor who barges into your house and becomes a threat to your peace of mind. I don’t have to tell you which side of his body you need to kick and throw him out of the house. Still my suggestion is try both sides simultaneously for a permanent solution !!!

Have a great weekend ahead , have lots of fun! Enjoy life !!!

Side effects of laughter

Laughter is the best medicine, they say. I also say. A good hearty laugh can give you a good heart. It can make some unknown, complex muzzles and bones move when you laugh, which is otherwise not possible. So, laugh well when you get the next immediate opportunity.

I heard of one incident and witnessed another one which made me laugh in the recent past. Sharing those so that you also develop a good, healthy heart!

First one, the one I heard with a bit of my own exaggeration!

These days Yoga is the mantra for anything and everything to lead a healthy life. So our Aunty also decided to go and attend a yoga class. To reduce her weight to some extent. As such she has to starve for 100 days continuously and to lift 100Kgs of weight in the morning and also in the evening for her to come any way near permissible BMI. She decided to try Yoga as there was a class being organized in the neighborhood, as she could not let go her favorite food items.

She had one challenge though. She always wears sari indoor and outdoor. And she never believed in wearing anything else but sari. But, somebody told her that doing Yoga exercises wearing a sari would be tough. That person advised her to wear a chooridar.  She unwillingly managed to get one stitched and got into it on the first day of the class.

Yoga class just began. She raised her hands to do the pranam. Unfortunately, due to her lack of experience in wearing a chooridar, the bottom part came down as the string that tied it was too loose. Fortunately, her adviser was well experienced in these matters, she had advised her to wear something more decent underneath the pants.

This whole episode had been watched by a young lady just behind, who already wears zero size dress and is aiming for a “sub-zero” figure. And she did see something before the aunt could bring her hands down from pranam position and lift things up. And the “to-be-sub-zero” size lady could not stop laughing. Anyways it was a good opportunity to laugh and she did not want to miss it. Her laugh was a bit louder, aunt turned back and gave the young lady her mouthful. The words which were not present in any text book, for that matter the young lady was hearing them for the first time in her life. So, yes her heart got a temporary shake but she went back home with a much heavier heart.

The second incident I witnessed a few days back. 

Again, another aunt and another young lady. It looks like this aunt-young lady combination always generates laughter. If I come across another similar incident like this, I am sure I will be eligible to publish a study report to prove this point!

They were on the railway platform to catch the train. They reached one hour prior to arrival of the train which was already running late by another hour. And aunt was extremely happy to see that they reached the station much ahead of time. 

Finally the train arrived. Aunt single-mindedly pursued her goal of reaching to her seat and occupying it. But her daughter was smarter.  She found the door of the adjacent compartment comparatively less crowded and she jumped into it with so much of ease. Aunt also decided to follow suit.

As this was happening, I was watching another lady trying with all humility to enter the compartment. She was a foreign national and must be from one of the western countries. Every time she tried to get in, somebody or other would push her and she would politely give way. Finally she found some space to squeeze in. That is the time our highly goal-oriented aunt arrived at the scene  and pushed the foreign lady with such force that she was thrown away by at least a metre. The foreign lady laughed loudly yelling “Oh man”. I knew she meant something else when she spoke those kind words. I gestured her saying this is our way of things, and one needs to always push to get your things done! I don’t think she understood what I meant, she had to laugh for a few more occasions before finally she managed to get in!

So, opportunities to laugh are plenty. Do make good use of them. But do it judiciously.  Control the intensity of laugh based on each circumstance. There would always be those loose strings around and there would always be people who try to push you out. Of course laughing in those occasions is also good for your heart, but yes, that small organ can wait.