Real Life

Sipping a glass of juice

by

Today early afternoon, after lunch I walked to the juice shop. She, the beggar, was standing near to me asking for money.

Her age may be around 70 or more. Dirty linen and weird grey hairs, black skinny hands and dirty nails and a big round grey bag hanging behind her.

I tried to pay no attention to her as they do keep roaming in the busy market. She again asked for bheekh, and the shopkeeper in Kannada said something to her. The only word I could I understood was juice. I thought the shopkeeper is telling her to stay away from the juice shop. But she did not moved away but she was not looking towards me for coins.

Few coins do not matter for me as much that may matter for her. But still not to encourage the number of more beggars, I did not gave her.

I had ordered for a glass of mausambi juice.To pass off the time, I was looking at the juice making process inside the shop trying to avoid ( in fact I can’t ever ) her . I was the only customer at the shop at that time. Normally for one glass of juice, two mausambi are used. I saw him the juice-maker putting four mausambi’s in the juicer.

Juice was prepared within a minute – not one glass but two glasses ! One glass for me and other for the beggar lady. I picked up the glass and looked towards her. The beggar lady was counting coins in her dirty thin palms. Keeping many coins in her left hand, she was counting the coins in her right hand. I thought, she is ounting the coins to pay for her glass of juice. Coins of Rs. 1, Rs. 2 and Rs. 5 and occassional 50 Paise.

She still didn’t picked her glass by the time I had finished mine. She was re-counting the coins, as if she had done some mistake.

Seeing her counting ‘so many’ coins for a glass of juice, I could not keep myself with ‘no-no principle’ to beggars. Taking out my purse, I said to the shopkeeper that I will pay for her juice too, please don’t take her handful of coins.

The shopkeeper said “no” and in broken Hindi he continued ” She gives coins us as ‘change’ and we exchange her with the currency notes.” I understood the barter system as well understood the need of coins by the shopkeeper. As a thanking gesture, shopkeeper gave her glass of juice too.

I had a mixed feeling for not given her coins, as well for the thanks giving gesture of shopkeeper with a glass of juice. After paying I came out of the shop seeing her.

From a distance I saw, she was holding the big glass of juice with her two hands, and sipping the juice (the nectar) slowly.

Children’s Day Special

by

Today is Children’s day – the birthday of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. The day is celebrated as children’s day because he used to love children’s very much and hence the children used to call him “Chacha” ( Uncle) . So he became popularly known as ” Chacha Nehru”. Though international children’s day is 20th Nov. but in India, as a mark of birthday of “Chacha Nehru” we do celebrate it on 14 Nov. each year. I would like to mention that “Chacha Nehru was born on 14th Nov. 1989 1889 and died on May 27, 1964.

The above picture may look like as another snap. But I wish to say something about it. Few months back, in front of my house, where lower middle class people stays, I saw the kids playing “Teacher – Student ” . Their parents may be working in some factories or as house maids but the kids are really smart. The time was around 10 am in morning. Like every weekend their play was again “teacher-student” that day too. I have seen that, coming back from school, they do their homeworks first !

No one forces them to do so with sticks. At the same time, no one is needed to keep them away from video-games or TV screens. They are playing and enjoying “teacher-student” game on weekends. At the left door one little girl is sketching and other kid is seeing them. The little girl knows the school saraswati vandana complete. “नमस्ते सरस्वती देवी….. ” She sings that while playing. On the right door, a girl is reading the lessons of some story book loudly and others are listening to her. The Teacher madam sometimes lovingly scolds the students too.

Now a days, one family is not there now, so the teacher madam is not there to lead the play. Though I couldn’t understand their Kannada, but I can understand the language of budding childhood, which show the infinite prospects in them. It was a visual treat to my eyes. Happy Children’s Day !!

For your eyes only – 3

by

As I reached Dumdum airport, at check out point, seeing the very long queue of prepaid taxi counter and the need to catch the connecting train, I preferred to take a shared taxi outside the airport. Though the taxi passed through the M.G. Road famous Saari shops, due to time constraint and shared passenger with me, I could not do shopping this time for family members.

Anyway I reached Howrah station well before time, that was decorated elaborately on occasion of Durga Puja, so looked great the adjoining Howrah bridge. Get the glimpse of the huge mural at Howrah station, which depicts the cultural and social scenario of West Bengal very well. Snapped at night, the mural photos are not so clear, but you can get the essence.

The current header image is of a labourer aged around 25, reading a religious book with apt attention in a train compartment. He is returning to his home.


Howrah Station


Howrah Bridge


Mural at Howrah Station (Left Part)


Mural at Howrah Station (Middle Part)


Mural at Howrah Station (Right Part)
From Durga Puja 2007

For your eyes only – 2

by

When I checked in the airport, I was quite early but still relatively late. Reason was, I left for airport straight from office. I requested for the window side seat, but I got only the middle seat. Actually I wished to see sunset from window side. Anyway there was no choice left other than to sit in the middle of two persons.

Most of the time, I have found serious high flying co-travelers sitting nearby devoid of our common train and bus conversations. But this time there was a lady at window side, who was equally or more interested in the clouds than I was and on aisle side sitting a man, who was really friendly.

On the window side, when we did missed some of the bright white cotton clouds , I took out camera for the next possible shots. The lady helped to snap the pictures. I was on the right row. On the left row, some other ladies captured the colors of clouds during sunset . I do wish they too could see the pictures. Later on, when there was dark outside, to pass the time, the lady nearby was trying origami with tissue papers.

Life is a small journey with much smaller distances. These are the people, who know how to remain on ground, even while traveling high. In fact they make the journeys memorable. Here are some of the captured moments. (Click on the image for the bigger image)

Clouds at 35,000 Feet
Clouds at 35,000 feet

Colors of Clouds (Sunset)
Colors of Clouds (Sunset) – 1

Colors of Clouds (Sunset)
Colors of Clouds (Sunset) – 2

Origamy with tissue papers
Origamy with tissue papers (Boat, Fan, Lotus, Aeroplane and one tissue left with no idea 🙂

For your eyes only – 1

by

This time my trip to home was all sudden but a good one. And I captured the moments. The shutter opened in Flight itself and I continued snapping across our lush green fields, for my eyes and yours. There are glimples of Durga Puja and Kids too. Hope to post them soon ( how soon? ).

The header image is of flower sewli, that blooms on the arrival of Puja season. The snap is taken around 4 am in morning outside our boundary wall. Below are the two kids of Didi. Lucky and Mridu looking at auto timed blinking of camera and waiting for snapped.

Lucky Mridu

Wish to say, I had snapped such scenes on my last home trip too through my 35 mm film camera. After washing the negatives, I had planned to take all to home this time. But on the day of departure, somewhere I missed the packet, which contained all the negatives and positives of my last trip ! I felt SORRY as the photos captured some of the precious moments. But thanks God, I missed them here but they did not lost. Thanks to my hurried trip :).

Managing Personal and Professional fronts

by

Personal commitments and professional commitments – both are equally important for any individual. We may want to excel in both the world, and manage both equally. And at the end, we do find it’s really difficult to manage the real chaos of situations.

As the Puja seasons arrived this year, personal responsibilities were around and on the other hand, mid term appraisals are there, I felt again hanging in between.

Personal commitments:
In personal arena, there are social responsibilities – made up of hundreds people around, who make us social(lizable) individual. Be it birth of individual, marriage or death or any thing important to life; family, relatives and society are the integral part of the same. They remain around to laugh, cry, criticize and praise.

It’s the circle that makes us grow, that keeps us enclosed and that keeps eyes wide open across the walls. Walking along this circle encircled around is a big challenge. But I do guess, when one maintains the individual integrity, the things gets easier.

Professional commitments:
Same situations do apply, while growing in the professional society, which is more demanding in terms of professional output and require high emotional quotient. The place, where emotions should take a backseat and demands a professional attitude (out of emotional zeal) on the priority.

Around 8 years back, I had bought a book, The IBM Way, by Buck Rodgers from a second hand road side vendor. (The brand new looking international best seller was very cheap as it had corners damaged by rat. But after flipping through the pages, I bought it, as I have equal respect for the second hand books as the new books. (But zero tolerance for pirated ones) ) Anyway the book consists very good lessons of marketing management and individual’s commitment towards the profession, detailed by Rodgers approach to manage both the worlds.

Now when both the worlds are demanding and commitments are there – and one asks sacrifice / compromise from the other. What to decide? A difficult situation, when none but only self instinct helps. There are instances of Mahatma Gandhi as well as Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, when both failed at times on personal front and repented afterwards.

As we do grow and do learn to walk along the so called more mature groups, managing both the worlds seems challenging. I do personally guess that, the satisfaction and stronger will power due to commitments in personal front makes the professional challenges easier.

Song For The Star

by

The song, dance and emotions,
Is a part of the universal motion.

The song of the soothing rain,Star
Pours after thundering clouds’ pain.

The song born after, the sleep –
The luckiest one – but really deep.

The bird’s perching and flying,
Away from nest, leaving feathers lying.

She lives within stars and blinks for a while,.
She says us – Even in dark, stars forever smile.

Respecting someone’s anger

by

I have heard about respecting friendship, love, elders, poor, sick and all the stuff. “Respecting anger” – a term though practiced many a times but in abstract words understood it for the first time during a farewell party.

In my recent home visit, I was enough lucky to be on the farewell party of my previous boss Mr. SPU , that was govt office. I have heard him speaking well in other officers’ farewell speech with good literary essence. On the day of his own farewell, he could not encapsulate the literary essence, being emotional that time. In plain words he acclaimed all his staffs, and praised the way they worked for the organization. The work in Finance dept. and specially in the state of Bihar, needs person like him for a better work environment.

Long ago, when I gifted him “The monk who.. “, right he was, when he told he is my like elder brother. He is a poet, editor and with a refined hobby of gardening.

Coming back to his farewell speech, his words were like.. “My staff have been cooperative. ….. at the times , I chided or even scolded them, as I could not hold my temper for the mistakes and process. And at the times, I had thought – loosing temper will affect the employee’s moral and repented myself. And I really felt sorry for that, I should not have lost that. But later on I found that as like my other words, they respected my anger well. And truly speaking, I am obliged to their respect. I have no words… “

Though I had never given him a chance of a slightest complaint, as in his words, when I resigned the job – “I was underemployed at the office” ! But about him, he is a emotional persona in fact. And at the same time, a perfectly balanced bureaucrat .

On Emotional Quotient meter, many of us fall in this category. And about respecting anger, the truth prevails, be it employer’s anger, or parents’ anger, friends’ anger or anger of a tired shopkeeper. To a very extent, we can bear it, as most of the time there is a valid reason behind a individual’s anger. Respecting a valid anger pays back – its the truth.

Headache…

by

Generally, I don’t have anything like headache or anything like it. But like few days back, today it again started despite a good night’s sleep.

I did called my Ma, sister, close friends.Picking up phone, Ma guessed out and told to put some mustard-oil drops in the nostrils, that may help my seasonal sinus problem. I tried, it helped me. But still something was there inside to recreate the headache. I called up some of my friends – with whom I felt easy at some or the other point of time.

Some phones ended with busy tone, some friends could not talk as they were busy in sunday afternoon and a few phones switched off. I kept calling – I needed to talk with someone – anyone, otherwise 1200 watts of music system and ready to play hundreds of sound-tracks was also not helping me out at all. I switched the music system off. Staying alone can be sometimes really difficult. And the shape of difficulty is dimensionless. Men don’t cry,but when inner turbulance turns out nothing but just unbearble, sensitive men too do cry. May that help me out. But I tried to abstain – because I am a man !

I called my old buddy – my friend cum brother – Kartickda. About him, I will write in more – that how one last bencher turn out as NET qualified professor. We talked about nice times. A lot of things. Co-incidentally the time I called him, he was also alone at the house.

The old buddies were talked about. How the things moved in past 4 years, were talked about. As I asked about Sudip, one short-heighted friend of him, with whom I have a group snap too. Katickda could not answer promptly – though he is more sensibly stable than me. He told me – Sudip is no more. I could not believe, as I was expecting something like his marriage and kids. First thing came to my mind was the snap, where I was standing near to him. He further explained – how in front of his eyes, Sudip left forever.His pancreas had some problem and it got complicated and Sudip, the Station Master could never see the green flag.

Though he complained, what made me ask about him but he must be pleased to know, how do I still recall his friends so well. Actually asking about him, his pains of loosing a friend get refreshed. We talked for few minutes more – and talked on how other things moved in life.

I got entangled into the thoughts of those many places of staying, so many acquiantances and so many relations weak and strong. What good thing did we carry forward ? – The love, we did shared once upon a time – somehow or other.

I got the answer of the question that revolved around my head to create the headache. To many people it may become again a headache. But today it became my medicine. I do carry ‘something abstract’ – beyond myself being a selfish creature. My headache seems mitigating…