STOMACH ACHE

I

I am a philosophical freak. All my life I philosophize, acting so uppity. I always think I am a cut above the rest, with my so called  intellectualism and never miss an opportunity to give free gyan [ advice]. 

Last Saturday, at 3 PM my stomach started hurting very badly. For the first time in my life I had experienced such bad pain. The reason could have been canned mushroom soup. First I took an anti spasmodic, followed by drugs which reduce acidity and prevent vomiting. Slight relief came but the pain persisted, through Sunday. I topped the medicine list with antibiotics and the pain is still subsiding little by little. 

While I write this, I am still in discomfort, and from the morning I must have at least told my plight to 5 colleagues. 

When a real problem sets in, it makes all our other imaginary ones simply fade into insignificance. Problems like love not returned, talent not recognized, ego and emotional issues, are nothing before a real stomach ache.

When we crib and complain about all the inconsequential stuff it actually means we are in our comfort zone.

Moral - Do not complain about life - Life can really make you cry out loud by giving you real problems. Be happy while you still can be.

CAKE WITHIN THE ICING

The thulasi [ basil ] is  a revered plant in Vaishnava Sampradaya. It shot into popularity, thanks to Rukmini, Lord Krishna’s consort. The story goes like this.

Lord Krishna had two main wives. Bhama and Rukmini. They had to share Krishna. Bhama being possessive, did not like this. Sage Narada gave her an idea. It was to give Krishna’s weight in gold, purchase him and become the total owner of her husband. 

So Krishna was made to sit in one of the scales of a balance, and Bhama put all her gold and silver on the other. Krishna’s  scale did not even stir from the ground.

Bhama panicked as all her wealth was in the scale and she had nothing more to offer.

She sought Rukmini’s assistance. Rukmini asked Bhama to remove all the wealth from the scale and in the now empty space  simply put a single thulasi leaf.

And Lo! Krishna’s scale went up to match the level of the other scale which had but just   a single leaf of Thulasi.

That is how the Thulasi became famous. Sadly Rukmini did not.  People generally have a tendency to imbibe the action and not the intention. Because, anything subtle is generally beyond the comprehension.

Had Rukmini not put anything on the scale, the Lord would have still graced her. For the God does not value your presentation, but your intentions. When intentions are honorable, the result will be positive.

We cannot give God anything, for everything there is, is God’s. But we still make offerings, of many materials. It is like, taking money from Dad’s pocket to get him a present. And such things are not necessary.

We in our ignorance make a mockery of all things, not even sparing our creator. Only if  we could see the cake through the icing.    

GROWING UP

We were three children, in our family. I was the last and I had two elder sisters. Though we did help our parents, by going to the shop for getting things, or to the  ration for getting rice ,wheat and sugar, we hardly did any work in the house.

My mother did all the work, through out the day. On Sundays she had to cook something specials for us, which meant more work for her.

Those days, there was no fridge, gas, grinder, washing machine, mixer or TV. All work was manual. Then, there were the unannounced relatives, whose duration of stay  was at least a month. This was the lot of women those days.

My mother was taken for granted. She did all the work, but as we grew, we started washing our own clothes.

But for all women who are lone figures in the kitchen, there would be the unexpressed longing, “ will not a day come when someone else at least will partake a share of the daily grind? “

The feeling should have been in my mother, but it did not find expression, till that particular day.

It was my summer holiday. I was lazing in the house, doing nothing but hanging around with friends and became an expert in wasting time.

My sister’s  wedding was around the corner and mother had gone out to make some purchases. She returned home at 3 PM drained by the very humid and warm day. She dumped the shopping bags on the table and sat tiredly on the sofa in the hall.

I do not know why I did that. But I went into the kitchen and made tea for the two of  us. While she was sitting in the hall with her eyes closed, I put her hot cup of tea on the table and said, “ Mamma have it. “

My mother’s filled with tears, and she said, “finally  it has occurred to someone that I am also a human being. “

She thanked me, drank the tea with relish, and she said this was one gesture she would always remember.

Parents will give only clues. They might not be explicit. As children we have to catch the clues and pitch into more responsibilities.

Do not take parents for granted. As they grow older, we have to grow up.  

NATURAL TALENT

My sister-in law’s son was very talkative and active when he was young. Added to this was the innocence, which is possible only when you are young. When ever I called the  land-line, he ran to lift the receiver, insisted on talking to me  and refused to give the call to his parents. Mostly it was amusing, but in an urgent situation it was irritating. To overcome this issue, in case the matter to be communicated was urgent, I always used to announce myself as a POLICE from the police station. Then he immediately gave the receiver to his parents.

One afternoon, when he got tired of playing, he came running to me, his vest very wet, dripping sweat and asked for something. I could not understand what he wanted from me, and I told him, “Can you repeat it for me?” He did and I still could not catch what he was trying to say.

When I asked him to repeat it once again, he became irritated, and filled his little lungs with air and was about to shout his request. I told him, “do not get angry, and shout. Until you explain it in a way I understand I will not be able to comprehend what you are trying to tell me.”

I was surprised by the change my statement made on him. The air went off his lungs, the pitch lowered itself, when he set himself in an explaining mode.

He told “ I want satchpens. “ Then  seeing my perplexed expression, he further went on to explain, “those things people use to draw on paper.”

Oh! it dawned on me that he wanted sketch pens and paper. I gave those to him and the next half hour was silent, except for the whirring of the afternoon fan, as he scribbled colorful lines on the paper.

He had finished drawing. He looked at me with pride and asked, “ How is it?” 

I could not make out what he had drawn. I asked him “ what is it?”

He said “ How do I know, You are elder to me, You tell me.” So now the responsibility explaining modern art was mine. I do not remember the explanation I gave, but he was convinced and smiled, showing all of his caries teeth.

I gathered the budding artist on my lap and kissed his sweaty face. He too planted a kiss on my cheek and ran away for one more game with children of his age group.

Now, he is studying for bio-med in the USA. He has now become silent and mature. But he was still able to explain what bio-med is, to me, in a way, I could understand. Natural talent, will always be there.    

LANGUAGE NO BAR

I had studied in a convent, where the medium of instruction was English. English was my favorite subject, and I applied myself at learning it well. I used to read a lot of Novels by different Authors, and tried to use catchy phrases from these books in my routine conversations.

I seized each opportunity to improve my communication skills, in English. Though my Mother tongue was Tamil, I did not have it as my language in school. My love for English grew to such an extent that I considered all other languages less. So it was natural that all my friends were English speaking.

In fact one of my neighbors had commented that I was arrogant and condescending towards the speakers of other languages.

It was 1977. I had finished my graduation in economics and had joined a Biscuit Company as a representative. My posting was at Salem, which was a district dominated by Tamilians. There all were fluent in tamil, it being the mother tongue and very few could speak other languages.

It was my first day at work. I was taken around to some of the leading outlets by the distributor sales person.

My first outlet was Ajantha bakery. I was warmly received by the  owner and his sons, all of whom smelt of  a mixture of sweat and  freshly baked bread. With affection, they enquired about my past, and gave me a large portion of mouth watering cake and a cool milk shake, all the while speaking in courteous tamil.

It was the beginning of many such episodes of affection, from all the outlets across the different parts of the district. Warmth, genuineness, affection were in plenty with the tamil speaking lot.

Two years rolled by and slowly I spoke more in tamil than in English. Each day I discovered that the language we speak is of no importance, compared to the love and affection that speaks from the heart. When the heart speaks it communicates - It does not need a language. Love transcends all barriers.

Language is a means to communicate. That is all. It does not matter which language you choose.

marvel

Sometimes, the greatest marvels are revealed to us in day to day incidents, from sources which you least expect.Like take for instance, the other day, I had had my lunch, at about 1.30 in the afternoon.Then as usual went out for the post- lunch smoke. The Potti kadai was near my office.I got a cigarette, payed 10Rs. to the shopkeeper. He gave me the change of 5Rs. As I turned to go, a beggar stood there, smiling at me with an extended palm. I gave him the change of 5Rs. He smiled his thanks at me. It was a warm sultry day. I sat in a nearby shaded place, lit my cigarette, inhaled deep, enjoying each puff. From the shaded shelter I saw the beggar purchase 5 kadalai muttai, and eat them.
Then another smoker came to the shop to get his cigarette, and the beggar extended his palm to the latest prospect. He got another 5 Rs.from him. The beggar purchased 5  more kadalai muttai with that cash, and while eating them came to the same shaded spot where I was.
Then as though he had known me for years, he extended his palm with 2  kadalai muttai, and said with a strange confidence," take it."
I was surprised, amazed and taken aback. The generosity of sharing spontaneously was demonstrated by someone who had so little to give. His palms were dirty but his generous soul shone through his loving eyes.
I felt small, before this natural gesture.
I refused to take the sweets, as he needed it more than me, but not before my eyes became moist. One comes across marvels everyday. It is evident for those who are blessed.