The Witch of a Woman !!

The other day, an interesting and amusing incident happened on my way to office. An old woman got into the bus. Now, you may wonder whats so interesting about an old woman getting into the bus. Wait Wait!!

Let me first start with describing the woman. She must be sixtyish, with salt and pepper hair. She was around 4.5 feet tall, and was hunched over (carrying the weight of the world???), had a pointed face and a huge mole on her face.

Of course, you may think its wrong to comment on anybody's physical appearance. But, I wouldn't have commented on her witch-like appearance had her behavior and attitude been pleasant.

She let out a banshee wail the moment she got into the crowded bus. She lamented that she was feeling giddy and nauseous and needed to sit. People asked her to sit on the floor of the bus until the giddiness went away. She did sit down but immediately started wailing that the young women (translated as 'we' sitting on the seats) are heartless and do not give way for old people. One gentleman sitting in the conductor's seat offered to get up so that the old woman could sit. But the lady refused to sit there saying that the conductor will shoo her off (a mosquito???) ..

By this time, the people in the bus were tired of her and what little sympathy was there for her earlier vanished.

When the old woman realized that people weren't paying any attention to her, she turned aggressive. She demanded that the lady sitting next to me in the bus get up and allow her to sit. When her demand fell to deaf ears, she pulled that lady's arm and demanded she get up immediately. When that did not work, she got up and almost sat on the lady forcing her to get up.

All of us were disgusted by this little performance in the bus. The old lady immediately tried to strike up a conversation with me (Poor me ... booo hoooo!!!) in the bus. I promptly and steadfastly looked the other way.

OOohhhh !!! Some people !!!!!!!

Helmets - Boon or Bane !!

I got the idea for this entry a little while ago when I was driving home riding my 2 wheeler and wearing a helmet.

Recently, the TamilNadu Government passed a rule making it compulsary for 2 wheeler motorists to wear a helmet while driving. From then on, most 2 wheeler motorists (oh yes.. there are people who don't want to follow the rule too) are seen zipping on their bikes with their skulls protected with the helmet. There are even signs on the road that says 'Helmet or Hell-Met' ..

Though the helmet is useful, I feel it is cumbersome. My helmet feels like a tonne of bricks on my head. And if that is not enough, my nose or my head will pick up that precious time to itch, when Im driving with this bother on my head.

Another thing, I love to smell the trees when Im passing a woody lane (hard to find in Chennai). With the helmet and its visor on, I cant smell a thing.

But every situation has its pros and cons. The helmet has its positives too. For one, it keeps away the smell of smoke and dust. Whoo ... Chennai has become really polluted now. Smoke, petrol and diesel fumes.. Yuck .. One reason why I have given up driving.

Also, this smoke and gas fumes mess up my hair .. After a small trip in my bike, my hair will smell like it has been washed with petrol. Uggh !!! :(

Another advantage of the helmet -- It saves the trouble of having to keep your head covered when the hot sun beats down or the rain showers down ..

So I guess I ll have to live on with it. Concentrate on the benefits and try to forget the cons. :)

I have a better idea .. Get a car and forget 2 wheeler driving .. Lets see how that works out. :)

A Memorable Trip !!! - Day 2

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful .. sounds cliched, doesnt it? :-) .. But it was a beautiful day. I had a long night and slept like a log. So, I was up by 6 am. The house was already abuzz with activity. As soon as the bride finished her morning ablutions, I went into the bathroom, bathed and got ready.

Then the make up lady came and began to dress up my friend. I watched the whole process. It was nice to see my friend getting all decked up. Later, I was asked to go downstairs and have my breakfast, which was aapam and vegetable stew. My friend's relatives sure are considerate. They made vegetable stew keepin in mind the fact that I am a vegetarian. :-)

After breakfast, I went back to my friend's room to watch her being dressed and adorned with jewels. It was nice to see my friend as a bride. I was actually amazed at the transformation. My simple friend, who never wore any ornament was suddenly adorned from head to toe in gold.

After she got dressed up, relatives started pouring into the room to have a look at the bride. The eyes of her parents misted with happiness to see their daughter enter the threshhold of matrimony. After a brief photo session, all of proceeded downstairs for a prayer before proceeding to the marriage hall.

The prayer was interesting and an elaborate one. It lasted for close to 15 minutes. The bride was made to sit in the chair and she was flanked on both sides by her father and mother. All the relatives gathered in the hall and participated in the prayer. Noone recited the prayer aloud except the bride's father.

After the prayer, we pushed off to the marriage hall in large cars. The marriage was a unique and something like I have never seen before. The hall was a large one with a stange upfront. All the women sat in the back rows while the men sat in the front rows. The bride sat in the back rows with us. A table and few chairs had been set up on the stage. Slowly, the bride's father, the groom, immediate relatives of the bride, and the high priests from the mosque occupied the chairs. The Holy Quran was opened and verses were read from it. The marriage was over in ten minutes, and the bride never once proceeded to the stage. All the while she sat back with us.

After the wedding, the party gathered downstairs for the wedding feast. There were separate sections for vegetarians and non vegetarians. I sat in the vegetarian section and ate the traditional sadhya - the Kerala feast. Later, I hung about the wedding hall with my friend's cousins and indulged myself in my favourite pasttime - people watching. :)

After some time, I looked around for the groom's parents and his family. To my surprise, I was told that according to tradition, noone from the boy's family will attend the wedding. I found it a little odd and amusing.

Anyways, the bride and groom soon left for the groom's house and I returned home with my friend's parents. I bathed and got ready for my train later in the evening.

My friend's father dropped me at Alwaye station and waited till I boarded my train and bid him goodbye. Very nice people.

I had a great trip .. and returned with loveley memories !! :)

A Memorable Trip !! - Day 1

Last weekend I was at Kerala. The main objective behind travelling to 'God's own Country' was to attend the wedding of a good friend of mine. So, I packed my bags and was ready to leave on Friday. I boarded the Alleppey Express at 9 pm, and thence began one of my most memorable trips.

I was travelling alone, and so took extra care of my baggage and tickets. But journey was a little tedious as I had a very noisy family as my co-passengers. Also, as soon as the train crossed Tamil Nadu border, my mobile lost its signal. There was absolutely no connectivity in Kerala. This upset me a bit as I was worried that my friend's parents may be trying to contact me. Also, I was not sure whether to get down at Ernakulam Town (my destination) or at the previous station Edappally (as instructed by my friend). But, I decided to keep my cool and enjoy the beautiful landscape of Kerala as the train hurtled through the State. I kept a watch out for Alwaye as that was the station preceding Edappally.

The train was running late. I got down at Edappally station at 10.30 am. The station was deserted as Edappally is a small town. I walked down the length of the platform and enquired about a phone booth so that I could call my friend's parents. The people directed me to a telephone booth at the other end of the platform. With a deep sigh, I started walking down the platform when people called me. I turned back to see my friend's mother and brother rushing towards me. I was very happy to see them.

The scenery outside Edappally was breath taking .. I could not find an inch of space without a fresh green tree or bush .. The 5 minute journey to their house was also pleasant.

I was warmly received at their place. My friend was overjoyed to see me, and showed off her mehendi on her hands. She introduced me to her cousins, after which I went for my bath. After bath, I was called down for breakfast. Since they were Muslims, I decided to respect them, and so wore my dupatta Muslim style and did not keep a Bindi. They were also considerate to my feelings and respected the fact that I am a vegetarian. We had Idlis and Sambar for breakfast.

The day went on swiftly and my friend's cousins engaged me in lively chat, especially after they learned that I can speak Malayalam. :-)
A purely vegetarian lunch was sent for me upstairs as the other people in the house were eating meat downstairs. My friend was nice enough to eat a vegetarian lunch to give me company.

Towards evening, we got ready for the reception. More and more people started streaming into the house for the reception. I too got ready and went down with my friend's cousins. The highlight of the evening was the appearance of Malayalam actor Mammooty. He is an uncle to my friend and had been invited to the reception party. It was nice to see a super star in person. I was thrilled beyond words. But the actor stayed only for 5 minutes.

The reception party was great but also exhausting. For dinner, there were a number of meat preparations, and so I could not eat anything. I ended up eating only ghee rice, which was very tasty.
Two of my friend's cousins, Kunju and Malu, became attached with me. At night, before I slept, Malu even drew a mehendi design on my palm, and the two stuck to me calling me Chechi, which means 'elder sister' in Malayalam. All of this affection and warmth felt too good.

That night, exhaustion and happiness lulled me into a deep sleep.

Homeless and Astray ! ! !

This is about a cute pup that I found near my house last week.

On Tuesday morning, as I was rushing to the bus stand, I heard a very tiny squeal. In my hurry to reach the bus stand before the bus arrived, I moved on. At the bus stand, the bus had not yet come and I had to wait.

The squeal came again and I turned to locate the source of the sound, and I was surprised at what I saw. A very tiny white puppy ( hardly 2 weeks old) was huddled on the outer steps of a house. The steps were also painted white and the puppy was hardly indistinguishable from the step.

As I watched, it ran down with its small baby-like steps and toddled on to the road. Fear gripped me as I saw it right in the middle of the road. Before I could do anything, a car came on. Thankfully nothing happened to the pup because the pup was in between the 4 wheels of the care as the car moved on.

Then a gang a boys came walking along, and seeing the pup, they carried it and placed it in the bushes in the far side of the road, away from the rushing traffic.

I contemplated carrying the pup to Blue Cross, but by the time I could decide, my bus came and I did not want to go late to office.

The whole day I was ridden with guilt, as to why did I not help out that poor pup. I was terrified that it would come under the wheels of a car. I just pray to God that it has found a better home or has reunited with its mommy dog.

Oh How cruel can this Beast get !!

There is no animal in this world more cruel and brutal than Man. Man is perhaps the only beast ever alive to kill for pleasure. All other animals kill for food. You can very well walk past a well-fed lion and it will not as much lay a paw on you (unless of course, you seem a threat to it).

I am very much disturbed by a video I chanced upon today. The video was about how the poor furry animals are tortured to death just to take their furry skins off their backs. Is that the craze for furs, that you kill a helpless animal and take that right fully belongs to it?

Not just furs, but even Silk is a product of brutal animal torture. In a small research I did about silk, I discovered that silk cocoons are dropped in boiling water with the pupa still in it. The pupae are killed in such a way because if they are allowed to come out, then it would make a hole in the silk thread.

Sad the way this beast called man takes undue advantage of poor animals. Often all it is done in the name of Custom. Indian custom values silk a lot as much as the Westerners value fur. Many a time, the voices that are raised against these brutality are throttled and subdued.

I am sure I ll have no say against not wearing silk for my wedding. Again .. Custom !!

But there is something I can do. All my other clothes are cotton, or synthetic material. By refusing silk, I am contributing my part in preventing cruelty to animals. I hope many others do so too.

Fear the Lord????

"The Lord pitieth them that fear Him"

- This quotation from the Bible on the display board of a prayer hall caught my eye as I was passing it the other day. Since, I do not have in-depth knowldege of the Bible, I do not know the real meaning of this quotation.

But, it hit me as strange that we should fear God. For me, God is someone l love rather than fear. God is like a parent who loves and cherishes me, His daughter.

How can you be happy if your fear your Father? You must not fear Him, but fear making Him unhappy. God is unhappy when we sin or go wrong.

We have also heard many parents threatening their children with fear of God. "Sonna pechu kekalenna Saami kannu kutthidum" (If you don't listen to me, God will pluck your eyes out)

Grotesque! Why would God do that to a baby??

So, I do not fear God. I fear making Him unhappy. Thats why I try to be a good person.

Then He shall be happy to have me with Him when I transcend over to His world.

Love God. Dont fear Him!

An enchanting Love Story

Seeing the title of this entry, DO NOT assume that I am going to narrate the love story of a man and a woman.

This is the love story of two cats.

The other morning, as I was relaxing with a cup of coffee, I heard fierce mewing outside. I thought two cats were fighting and went to the balcony to have a look.

What I saw was both amusing and very sweet. Two cats were flirting with each other. :-)

Both cats were white with a splash of golden brown on their white coats. The female was thin and graceful. The male was fat and had a bushy tail. Both felines were sitting atop the closed well in our compound.

The female was sitting and was giving out coquettish sounds. The male was striding up and down at a distance from the female and watching her intensely.

After sometime, the female got up and walked away. Perhaps she hoped the male would follow her, but the ass pretended ignorance and began chewing through grass.

The female then came back and rubbed herself against the wall. When she saw that she finally had the male's attention, she strode away, her tail swishing and hump moving sexily. :-)

This time the male followed her, and watched her lustily.

Unfortunately, I was getting late for work and had to get ready. I am sure that by this time, they would have united in love, and pretty soon the female would be giving birth to a lovely litter of sweet kitties.

Wating for their arrival. :-)

The Temples of Marriage

We covered two temples in the evening - Thirumanancheri and Thirumangalakudi. It is believed that if unmarried men and women offer their prayers at this Temple, they would get married soon. So, my parents had taken a very innocent "me" to the temples to pray for my early marriage.

I swear I had no idea this was why we were visiting these Temples. :-)

Our first stop was Thirumanancheri. As in other cases, the route was scenic and lovely.

At Thirumanancheri, we had to park the car a long way off from the Temple owing to traffic congestion. We walked the rest of the way to Temple. A self-proclaimed local guide pointed to us the route to the Temple. While we walked, we had no idea that this guy was trailing us. When we reached the temple, we stopped at a flower shop to get pooja items. We then realized that Mr. Self Proclaimed Guide owned a flower shop there too. He picked up a fight with the shopowner of the shop and said that we are his customers as he brought us here. Weirdo!

Inside the Temple, there was a pooja done for all the prospective brides and grooms. We had to sit in a long queue with a garland around my neck while the pooja was being performed.

After the pooja, we were given instructions on how to worship the Lord till we get married. :-)

Thirumanancheri over, we proceeded to Thirumangalakudi. This Temple was not crowded as the earlier one. It was vast and empty. A peace pervaded the atmosphere inside the Temple. We performed our pooja and came out of the Temple.

The sojourn over, we the tired but happy lot proceeded back to Mayavaram.

A short rest !!

After a long route from Thirunallar to Mayavaram, we very totally tired out. Also, our stomachs were full of prasad and Orange juice. So, we were not really in a mood to eat anything. Still, we went to a hotel that way very crowded even at 3 pm.

After a small wait, we managed to get a table. I ordered parota and subji, which appeared almost immediately. We cruised through our food and finished it off with a steaming cup of hot coffee.

Suddenly there was a commotion at the hotel. The huge crowd at the hotel got into the nerves of the manager. He lost his patience and started screaming at one of the customers.

We finished our food and quietly went out of the hotel.

Our room in the lodge was a welcome retreat for us. I washed my feet and plopped on the bed. I was bushed. But, I was not to sleep, because we had to leave at 4 pm.

My uncle came into the room that I shared with my mother, and kept us laughing with amusing anecdotes. That was fun, as it drove my sleep away.

At 4, we got ready again and proceeded to a second round of ceaseless travel.