My Trysts With Life

 Mumbai, 27th December 2020: I was out for my morning routine (this one started in December, so looks like it will not go the New Year resolution way and will continue). While I trudged alone, lost in my thoughts, I saw an elderly gentleman slowly walking as well. The common area where I go in the morning is usually covered with a few people from society, who exchange morning pleasantries and go about their respective routines. The elderly gentleman was a regular, usually walking for about half an hour and then talking to anyone he could catch hold of, explaining the benefits of walking, food, or whatnot.  A lot of the walkers/joggers usually avoided him (I’ll be honest, including me), concerned about the time and their routines. One of the guys used to speed up when he saw the gentleman approaching, while others used to pretend to be lost in their Bluetooth audios, or busy checking their smartwatches. Left alone, the elderly gentlemen used to sit and gaze at the others. T...

This is the concluding part of the Rishyashringa trilogy. Kindly scroll down for the first two parts.  The next morning, Rishyashringa completed his duties- cleaned his father’s place of worship, watered the plants, and fed the cattle. He prepared his father’s favorite dishes and made the special “kheer”, which his father loved. Chores completed, Rishyashringa then left for Anga- his mind clear about what to do. He was enamored with “Shanta”, the female “deity” who had come into his life and Rishyashringa was ready to fight the world to be with her. He reached Anga in the evening to a grand welcome. King Romapada welcomed him with both arms, declaring him as the “savior” of the kingdom. He was showered with gold ornaments, exotic jewelry, and best of clothing from across the world, but his eyes were searching for that one prize- his Shanta. After looking around for some time, his eyes fell on her- the same juxtaposition of beauty and serenity as before, but this time, looking at hi...

The last rays of the sun were shimmering on the lake- the twinkling of the water creating a grand display of nature’s magic. In any other place, this time of the day is accompanied by the chirping of birds, returning home after a hectic day. However, the forest was astonishingly silent- as if someone had deliberately turned the volume down. Birds were flying, hurriedly, heads down, as if under the watch of an admiral.  Vibhandak was completing his daily ritual. After 2 hours of meditation, 108 chants of the Mahamrityunjaya mantra (a verse from the Rig Veda, addressing “the Three-eyed One” ), and glaring at the clouds (the land of Indra) for as long as his eyes could go on, without blinking. Ritual completed, Vibhandak walked briskly to the only thing that gave him happiness- the innocent “deer horned” Rishyasringa, his son. Blissfully aware of any distractions since birth, Rishyasringa was gradually surpassing even Vibhandak in terms of ascetic powers. He knew that Rishyasringa w...

The world is aware of the great Indian epics-Ramayana and Mahabharata. The stories have umpteen examples on how to go about living life, Dharma (loosely law and order), Tyag (sacrifice), and above all, Karma (actions). I happened to stumble around a slightly lesser-known story from the same era- the message from which has become very important now, is that of Rishyasringa, and code set by his father, Vibhandak. Rishi Vibhandak was a sage of Kashyap lineage, who, in search of self-realization started doing penance and meditation from a very early age. His unending penance gradually brought him superhuman powers, much to the chagrin of the Lord Indra (king of heavens). Fearing Vibhandak can usurp heaven with his powers, Indra sent Urvashi to distract Vibhadak and end his meditation. Urvashi was able to break Vibhandak’s meditation by chanting Vedic mantras- and asked Vibhandak for bearing a son with her, threatening to commit suicide otherwise. Vibhandak, not wanting to be the cause of d...

One of the best characters ever in a sitcom (I dare the world to contradict me), is Chandler Bing, from FRIENDS.   FRIENDS was a very successful show in the 1990s and has managed to stay relevant even today, with fans like me who can lip sync dialogues from all episodes. Chandler M. Bing (all fans out there, comment with the middle name), like his name, stands out from the gang due to funny one-liners, quirky anecdotes, and above all, a razor-sharp tongue dipped in sarcasm which he lashes to all and sundry. Some of his lines have become embedded in our lives (“I am not good with advice, may I interest you in a sarcastic comment? or “Hi, I am Chandler, I make jokes when I am uncomfortable.”  Chandler’s conduct is a result of many emotional events in life (cross-dressing father, divorced parents, constant rejections), he thus developed sarcasm as a defense mechanism. Place him in an uncomfortable situation and his first response will be either a joke, a completely unexp...

Go back a few years and recall the famous Dr. J.Asthana’ s laughter therapy to control anger (for the uninitiated, Dr. Asthana was a character in the movie Munnabhai MBBS). A simple Google search returns top 25 ways of controlling anger- talking a walk, count down, stop talking being the top used ones.  Anger is a natural response to perceived threats. Life is not always rainbows and unicorns; there will always be instances where you feel angry. Numerous examples from day to day life can lead to anger- something trivial as the maid not coming, general disagreements on what to wear, what to watch, what to eat, etc, and serious topics like behavior, thought process, etc. Now we all know (or is) that person, who is a known “Hulk”- loses control very easily and starts shouting/vents out her/his anger vehemently. Why is it that a few people can still control their voice, cuss words, and volume when though they might be boiling inside, while some just lose it even on the slightest thin...

Lucknow: “She married into a hospital!” he summarized with an ironic voice. The conversation then moved to our usual discussion on dashboards, numbers, and other topics on the meeting agenda. It was one of our online office meetings, with colleagues now connecting from different locations- the new normal way of working. At the start of the meeting, a little small talk led to one of the colleagues describing his family- a story of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, a heart condition, and dialysis, affecting most the members of his family. While we were discussing how COVID was affecting the world in general, he was used to this style of living because that had been the story his entire life. He claimed that he can do this all daily and with a smile solely because of his wife- who was his strength, his pillar, his everything. Let’s take a minute and look at the lady being described above- married into a family of people who need constant care, continuous supervision, and accepting all ...

Somewhere in the clouds, en-route Mumbai to Lucknow: I was staring at that guy- snugly sitting without his face shield on, while the lady next to him was eyeing him nervously. A similar scenario was playing out four rows ahead of us; a middle-aged lady was comfortably sleeping in the middle chair, without her mask on, with no regard to the people besides her. On the other side were me and wifey- one bottle of sanitizer already over, hands washed about thrice since entering the airport and face shield on throughout. I know, we can be a bit paranoid about things, but in my defense, it is my life and I am not bothered by the infamous “chaar log” of our society. So with our defense mechanism in place, we continued our trip, culminating in reaching home, taking a bath, sanitizing entire baggage, and staying away from the family for the next two-three days. The scene in Lucknow was another story in itself- people sitting and happily chatting away, without the masks, the usual chai...

Scenario 1: Mobile phone in one hand, a random movie playing in the background, the other hand busy breaking the chapatti into pieces.   Scenario 2: Virtual meeting going on, a different (and completely unrelated) Excel or PPT open, with you doing the occasional “hmmm”, or the more professional “yes I agree” every 10 minutes or so. These two and many more such scenarios are part of our daily lives. Through the years we have (tried to)  developed  this special power called as “Multi-Tasking”. The advent of mobile phones, easier internet, and the ever-increasing distance between people (it was there in pre-COVID times!) has made us all  become  expert multi-taskers. Or so we feel. Even with billions of neurons and an unfathomable neural network, the brain can not multi-task. Essentially, the brain “switches” tasks- our brain chooses which information to process. For example, while talking on the phone and working on the computer at the same...

Back to writing and thinking after a very long gap. Thoughts are welcome! I saw a very long post on LinkedIn, where one of my mutual connections had written (with minute details) of how “HE” was playing the second fiddle to his working wife while working from home. According to his post, the guy was doing the dishes and (will you believe it) preparing the meals as well! He felt proud and happy that he is shouldering the responsibility and through detailed pictures, Whatsapp status messages, and LinkedIn- was trying to “motivate” others to do the same. One basic question comes to my mind- your family, your home- why is it that you feel “proud” of doing your work? I feel the answer is simple- the so-called millennials are yet to overcome the “patriarchal” setup, where the “Man” remains alpha. He is, therefore, “helping” out the lady in “her” work- and thus feels a need to publish this to the world. The “Man” is still the breadwinner of the family (irrespective of how much the lady ...