Touching...

The microcosm of existence that we have got accustomed to prevents any infiltration from events, people, and issues outside our domain of immediate concern. However, there still are certain things that touch you in a way different from others, perhaps this too because it puts your very survival under some sort of risk. Floods, earthquakes, famine and starvation, and in effect anything that adds to the misery of the human populace in general strikes an emotional chord somewhere. It probably does nothing more than that due to the high unpredictability associated with these events. We typically feel that since we do not have control over such an event happening, we are somehow less susceptible to being in the midst of something like this.

The reason why a Bhuj earthquake or a Tamil Nadu tsunami was just another newspaper front page for most of us was because it would have been a little far fetched to imagine that the same could happen to us sitting in Delhi or Mumbai the very next day. However, what is not so distant is what has been happening over the last few months in the name of religion and ethnicity. With things coming to such a pass that every Muslim colony, every bearded face, and every long kurta is being viewed with suspicion, it is difficult, nay impossible to stay aloof and not have an opinion or at least, a view.

Every weekend spent in a mall, a cinema, even an inconsequential market seems to be another weekend of survival. It is no longer the tsunami that can play havoc only with coastal towns, it is no longer the earthquake that can hit only geologically unstable areas, it is no longer the famine and floods that have been known to affect certain geographies of the country, it is something much more sinister and something much closer. It can happen to any city in the country, any day (even tomorrow or for that matter, an hour later) at any place (in the city center or for that matter, next to your home/office affecting you and your loved ones).

Real lives have been lost, hopes shattered and dreams brought to a cruel full stop in the face of these so called crude bombs that have plagued the metropolitan landscape of our country. Whether it is a Bangalore, a Delhi, or even a relatively less strategic Jaipur, the method behind this madness is very scary, to say the least. This method begets the question that what, if anything, has given rise to minds so focused on acts so shameful and denigrating, from the point of view of any religion that practices good over evil.

If you ask this question to the fundamentalist, the only answer you can expect to get is that the minority Muslim community never belonged. But what, pray, is the reason for this, you ask, and you remain unanswered because no one is bothered to go that deep. It is not that deep, either, if you come to look at it. It is the insecurity that has given rise to some people, whether belonging to the Muslim community or to any other downtrodden section of the society (the naxalites, the Tamil tigers, the ULFA, etc), to take up arms and do unto others what they do not want to be done unto them.

What makes them blow little children to pieces is, however unexplainable it may seem, the insecurity that their voices are not going to be heard, the insecurity that their families are not safe, the insecurity that they will be treated differently, the insecurity that they will always be biased against, the insecurity that has grown because of the general lack of means, education, and of course, by the fundamentalist politics that goes on in the name of reviving the mainstream.

Till the time such insecurity remains, till the time the light of welfare and more importantly, education reaches the darkest corners of each and every community, we can not hope to come out of this. Till the time such happens, all we can do is pray to the Almighty to soothe the hurt and those who have hurt and hopefully, there will be light. Even after we do see light, however, there may be a different problem, the problem of plenty leading to US style shootouts but hopefully, they would be more dispersed, subject to restrictions that our culture imposes on us, and most importantly, these once in a blue moon kind of events will probably shake the entire mechanism of Government and get handled in the course of maintenance of general law and order.

Robbed!!!

It was something that you have heard about so many times, laughed at each time you heard it, and cracked the usual joke about the foolishness of people involved in every such case. The difference was that this time, the joke was on me and by the time it got over, I was feeling like a complete stupid ass.

It was while I was getting back from office on Saturday. As the watch showed five thirty and I sat on the passenger seat of my car, admiring the pleasant evening and for a change, letting the cool strong breeze blow in through the rolled down windows, there was no indication of what was to follow. As we waited at the Mahim signal, waiting to get on to Western Express Highway, I was pretty relaxed, listening to the music playing on the car radio and thinking of the people I would meet at the party this evening at Ravi's new house. The seat belt was on, legs stretched, fingers playing with the cuff links, phone lying on the dashboard...

As the signal turned green, Sunil, my driver released the clutch and the car jerked forward slightly. All of a sudden, there was this noise from the rear at the driver's side as if some car had hit us from behind. As both I and Sunil instinctively turned around to look at what was the source of this noise, we could just see a youngish guy cursing aloud as if the car had gone over his foot. Smiling benignly on the regular Bombay traffic, it would have taken me hardly a couple of seconds to turn back and start looking ahead but these couple of seconds were good enough for the partner of this youngish guy to flick the phone, which if you remember was lying on the dashboard...yes, stupid me!

I discovered the loss almost instantly but not quick enough in the rush of vehicles trying to make the best of the just converted signal (what timing the rascals had!). Going to the traffic cop was no use as all he helped me with was pointing out the border of jurisdictions of Bandra and Mahim police stations. There was, of course, no point in going to the police station because the miscreants were beyond reach by now and the phone was switched off and the SIM discarded.

More than the phone's loss, it was the way in which I was made a fool of, which has been tormenting me. Had I been able to catch hold of those guys, even if they did not give the phone back, I would have loved to sock them one in the eye for the stupid idiot they made out of me. That was not to be, however, and stupid idiot I remain, but one with yet another lesson that will probably make me less of an idiot than I have previously been.

My next phone is going to be one of the least expensive ones that the market has to offer and which can give me the basic functionalities that I need. No more fancy stuff for me!

A long vacation

A vacation of almost three weeks in Kerala is almost invariably associated with the image of backwaters, hills and lakes, house boats languishing in still waters, as if for eternity, snake boats famous on account of the race standing still or breezing past in all their glory, the beaches that are more pristine and yet less commercial than what the most exotic ones can claim to be. My vacation, however, was of a different variety. I spent three weeks at Thodupuzha, a small but busy town situated about 60 kms from Cochin right at the foothills of the Idukki district's ranges. Amongst a few other things, Thodupuzha is known for some Ayurvedic hospitals and treatment clinics that use the herbs grown in Kerala's hills, mix them with the hundreds of kinds of oils they have gained expertise on, and treat the most chronic of ailments with such efficiency as is rarely seen in any other contemporary form of medicine.

Having heard about this form of therapy from a number of people and after my Mama had showed my nerve damage reports to one of the doctors at the Dhanwanthari Vaidyasala at Thodupuzha, I decided to give this a try. Taking the train to Cochin was a nice change from the short and sweet flights that I have got used to recently. The 27 hour journey was a great way to catch up with sleep, conversations with my sister (who accompanied me for a couple of days at the hospital before getting back to Mumbai and work), and of course with a lot of reading that I had been postponing for so long.

The treatment started on the first day itself, the 16th of August with some mild massages and pouring of warm oil on the affected area. The medicines were not really appealing to the taste buds but tolerable. What was not tolerable, however, was the food that I had to compulsorily eat because I was not allowed to go out of the campus of the Vaidyasala for the time of treatment and because there was no outside food that I could consume. The food was not even passable at times, with rice grains as big as peas, rice water served at dinner with salt and nothing else, puttu (a Kerala dish) served without any chutney, you almost choking on it unless passed down the throat with the help of some milk or water.

As days progressed, treatment became more complex and the masseur really gave it a go with some exotic oils, some strong massages, even some paste of cooked rice that felt really sticky and sick when applied over my entire body, and of course some increasingly sour medicines. Finally, when it was time to go, there was already some slight improvement in my condition with toes showing some movement in the affected foot. Of course, the problem is much more complex and slight twiddling of the toes is not going to be the end of my woes but at least it is a beginning. With the doctor so confident that it will take a maximum of 3 months for complete recovery, I am hopeful.

I have been advised as much rest as possible for about 2 weeks after treatment but with so much pending at work, I don't think that mental rest is an option but physically I can try my best to exercise my feet as little as possible.