Random thoughts

Year: 2009 - Place: Toronto, Canada - Job: Business Entrepreneur. Very vague labels for a 44 year old Indian who back home would have had many other identity markers like caste and family history. True, Deepak's fore-fathers traced their ancestry way back to the 15th century. He had heard numerous stories from his mother and grand mother about the various estates and princes who had ruled them and had engrained a sense of belongingness through these stories. But these were just stories like any other story. The reality was completely different. He saw his father work for bread and butter; his mother not only managed the household but also worked to manage the finances and give the children a comfortable and good life. Inspired by his parents and grandparents, Deepak worked hard and sincerely to graduate with a degree in Management from one of the top colleges in India. He worked in various firms and after several years of experiences started a firm of his own. Luckily things worked...

He strolled for minutes ..nah it seemed hours..before he could hear the cries from the operation theater and the nurse came out to inform him that he had been blessed with a daughter. At that moment gushed in feelings of various kinds: love, pride, protection and so on. he was a father now. There was someone who would call him 'papa' or 'dad'. No one knows how time passed and the little bundle of joy started growing and reacting to his voice and kisses. Though men claim to be macho and strong but like women they too have a profound weakness. Women love the dark mane on their head but the men love the shorter version on their faces. Our new dad started thinking whether his lovely mustache of which he is as fond as Poirot was of his, was hurting his child and then knocked this thought on the doors of his mind: to keep it or not to keep it. A Hamlet-like dilemma gripped him and he spent nights wondering what should be done. One fine day he decided that the mustache wou...

Plans must have been made by now or may be in the final stages for the 31st of December, 2010 to say good bye to the year 2010 and welcome 2011. These plans would be ranging from bonfire dinners to hotel hopping and enjoying musical bands at clubs to a quiet dinner at home with family and watching programmes of various channels on the idiot box. Till a decade back a change in the years did not mean a celebration on a grand scale in Patna as it means now. None of the hotels lag behind in offering excitement and entertainment! Obviously one needs to cough up money for this excitement and entertainment. But we forget that there are people to whom the dates don't matter. it's all the same..2010 or 2011...the daily routine has to be followed, money has to be earned, children have to be fed! The change in years is just a marker of the passage of time; everything else remains the same. while I may fall in the danger of sounding pessimistic, I realise that the group I am referring to i...

From the morning of 'Mahalya' the atmosphere takes a sudden turn. It seems so pure and divine that words can not express it and the best part of it in small towns and cities is the chanting on loud speakers by the priests. This is the beginning of Navratra which also signals a beginning of festivities which continue till Holi. Navratra is not only associated with prayers to God Durga but also with good food. On the one hand, one can find people on a fast for the 9 days when they eat 'satvik' food: fruits, halwa of kutuk flour, makhana kheer. On the other hand are the mortals who love navratra for the 'prasad' and the good food. In houses where priests come to perform puja, the kids wait excitedly for the gentleman to finish his puja so that they can get the 'prasad' which can be anything ranging from illaichidana to fruits or sweets. The actual feelings start sinking in by the 6th day when the idols are nearly ready and the roads are blocked for vehicul...

This comes straight from the heart to acknowledge the man who was an inspiration for my grandmother and my family. The man is Dr. R.K. Sinha the well-known Professor of English. My grandmother, his younger sister was so influenced by him that she wanted her daughters to study English literature and become teachers of English. Not only was she successful in her endeavor, she rubbed this onto me and I grew up in the shadow of a living legend: a man possessing great knowledge, a man who was sought for his academic skills by one and all. After my graduation, I was taken to meet the great man and I must say I was awe-struck. For a person in his 70s, his mind was sharp and the shine in his eyes was mesmerizing. What struck me the most was the books lying on the bed reflecting the intensity of his reading. Born in a small town Munger, Blessed by the almighty with brains, He traveled across the seas, To create new highs and fulfill dreams. Armed with degrees from Patna University, He sought th...

A nice, bright, sunny Sunday morning.... I couldn't wish for anything better than that when I have to wash the week's collection of dirty clothes and wish to dry them in the sun. I had a nice cup of tea with the morning paper and there came the unexpected visitor happily knocking at the door reminding me of the Porter scene in 'Macbeth'. One look at the visitor and I knew that the day is ruined. No other reason but the fact that this visitor would bring in two more and the day would be gone making and serving tea and washing the cups and the pan. And this process wouldn't end even after the departure of the visitor. The visitors may leave physically but there presence will be felt by one and all. And if you are still wondering who these visitors are here's the answer. The first one to enter was cold with a bout of sneezing and when I sneeze the whole house rocks! This was followed by headache and fever and the cups of tea kept flowing. And this is the most ir...

Thank God that in India we have some sanity in form of the judiciary. Census 2001 categorizes housewives, prostitutes and other women who are not working in the organized sector as 'unproductive'. I wonder at the greatness of such minds! Haven't they seen the amount of work their mothers or grand mothers do in the house. Who would offer service 24X7 365 days (add one more for the leap year) without taking a pittance? Right from morning till late in the night, the women in the house see to it that all the residents' needs are fulfilled without thinking of their own troubles. I am a working woman and I openly say that I am more callous than my grand mother who was a non-working woman; my work does not allow me to give my family the same kind of time and attention that my grand mother devoted to her family. I live in a nuclear family and get irritated if things do not happen the way I want them to. My mother and grand mother lived in joint families and worked to keep all h...