Townlog.com
Making sense of the world.
Beyond Blindness
Sep 3rd
I lay frightfully awake past midnight, gripped by a sudden fear of the possibility of going blind. What
had brought on this fear? I don’t know. Maybe an imagination on overdrive, or the awareness of growing age and deteriorating health. The fear was very real and not nice. It took me to the edge of darkness. I could not see myself coping with blindness. So how did those who had actually lost their sight manage? I remembered seeing blind men with sticks boarding Mumbai local trains. I thought of Helen Keller. Yet, the suffocating fear took time to recede.
Two days later I came across Kanchan’s story.
Blind at Eight
Kanchan woke up and rubbed her eyes. She could hear familiar morning sounds, but could see nothing. As she turned her head around, she saw only darkness. She felt her father’s arms around her as he asked, “Did you dream?”
A Life of Purpose
Sep 2nd
Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, reflects on his own crisis of purpose in the wake of his book’s wild success. He explains his belief that God’s intention is for each of us to use our talents and influence to do good.
How Not to Become a Web Bakra!
Sep 1st
© Timur Anikin | Dreamstime.com
Homes and offices across the subcontinent are increasingly populated by people afflicted by the S1N1 virus, also called the social networking virus. As usual, there are multiple strains, including resistant ones. Some are harmless and even quite useful, while others can expose you to a choice range of destructive possibilities.
The infected victims can be found sitting wide-eyed and naive in front of computer screens, hyperventilating over their favorite sites, some of which have critical security issues. The excitement could be over who is having coffee and where, to who is going out with whom and when. Pretty innocent stuff really. Except for the presence of another group of netizens, who get even more wide-eyed and hyperventilated, licking their chops and rubbing their palms in gleeful anticipation of catching another bakra.
No? Don’t want to become a bakra? Then check out the following two links to become safer on the net.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/personal-computer-security-using-uncommon-sense/13878?tag=nl.e550
http://www.zdnet.com/news/spam-scheme-spreading-via-facebook-chat/461066?tag=nl.e550
The Suit
Sep 1st
I always feel important wearing a suit at the airport. No matter how ugly looking the person wearing the suit, the suit always manages to force a smile from people at the airport. Now these smiles that I speak of are not the fake plastic ken and Barbie smiles that you get all the time these are ‘your money makes my world twirl’ kind of smiles. No matter what happens I always wear a suit when traveling. The trouble of wearing a terry wool suit and incessant heat wave that is associated with it is far outweighed by the benefits that these 3 meters of cloth bring with them.
It’s almost as if the suit says look at me I mean business, it’s a feeling that only those who are self obsessed with power can truly relish. Short men have been known to be power hungry; I claim to be no different. Last Night I had my Sunday best on, a black pin striped suit that makes me look oh so good, takes of the weight from the right places and makes me look a little fairer that I actually am, all the makings if a legend. I have traveled with this suit for years now and it has never failed me.
I was at the Bangalore International Airport a god forsaken, middle of nowhere, state of the art facility that takes too long to get to. I did the rounds, smiled at the boarding pass lady asked for the aisle seat in the front of the plane. It looked like it was going to be a good night, things were moving smoothly and it felt right.
A lot can happen over chewing gum..
Aug 31st
I took a bus from Bangalore city to the Ashram, which is like a half an hour ride towards the outskirts. All the seats but one were occupied, the one right next to the driver, there was a man sitting there. I went and sat next to him. The bus started to crawl, and i mean literally, alas! one of the signature bus rides of India, and as a cherry on top, the man sitting next to me reeked of booze, and not the mild smell of vodka, or a deep smell of whisky, but the smell of rotten organs due to heavy intake of pure ‘desi’ all through the day and night and whatever lies between these. He reeked booze through his nostrils, through his ears, through the pores of his skin, even his aura stunk of booze. ‘Oh my God’ I thought, ‘what have I done to go through this nasal, leading to mental trauma?’ I tried to slide the window open, but it wouldn’t, ‘its a conspiracy’ i thought, I put on my earphones and switched on some music on my phone to distract myself, but as the name says ‘earphones’, it just blocked my ears, my nostrils were still exposed to this intense smell of highly infectious local liquid that reeked through this man’s existence. ‘Am I going to die?’ ‘will I lose my consciousness?’ ‘will I go into a limbo?’ these crazy thoughts surrounded my mind and were seeping in and I almost went into a blur.
Ten minutes the bus had covered, it seemed like a lifetime full of broken promises of roses, daffodils and lavender. I wanted to ask him what he had for breakfast, but i thought that wouldn’t change the present that stunk, so, the good cultured me, dug into my bag and took out a pack of Wrigley’s spearmint gum, and offered two sticks to him. He looked at me as if I was offering him poison, i nodded my head like you do when you’re offering something to a small kid. He again gave me that look with his booze drenched eyes, but stretched his hand and took the gum from me, opened it somehow, looked at it and put it in his mouth. I popped two in my mouth too, to give him the notion that it wasn’t poison, and if it was, I would die with him, as if I wasn’t experiencing death anyways. I could see by the way he chewed that he never had chewing gum before in his entire life, I wish they would give chewing gums complimentary with ‘desi daaru’. So after chewing for some thirty seconds, he gave me a smile, his drunken eyes opened a bit more and he nodded his head in acceptance of the fresh flavor he had in his mouth for a change. He kept smiling as he chewed it, he seemed to love the taste and the elasticity of the gum, and he said something in Kannada. I told him i didn’t understand Kannada, so he said ‘bahut tasty’ and giggled again.
21st Century Breakdown
Aug 27th
A recent conversation with an old friend turned to people we’d known during our university days. These are the people who had fought hard and smart for the most coveted positions, for the well-paid, high-profile careers. They are now married, and expecting or attending to their offspring. The women especially are now more than happy to trade notes on teething problems rather than the latest BP crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. It made me think.
Do we really not have to be feminists anymore, because our grandmothers and mothers fought that war for us?
When visiting Italy a while ago, a classmate and close friend confided that although she was as qualified and more experienced than her husband, it would be unheard of for her to choose her work over staying at home and looking after the children. This, in a First World country where even the toilets are automated!
On Saturdays we’d stroll through the morning markets, people-watching. An oddity struck me again and again – over-30 women with babies, toddlers, or pregnant. Rarely did one see a young mother. In contrast, most parents with children under the age of five, in India, would be young grandparents or at least parents of teenagers! It seems that for women to juggle careers and home is becoming more of an impossibility, so many choose to finish their careers by their early-to-mid thirties, and then be wives and mothers. Again, an either-or scenario.
Bunty aur Bubly and the Kamun Velth
Aug 26th
© Xavier Marchant | Dreamstime.com
Bunty: “Why are these people making such a fuss over Kalmadi? The angrez plundered us for 100s of years. Kalmadi and company are simply getting some of it back. The Brits shouldn’t complain. After all, it’s common wealth. And it’s just a game. Why take it so seriously? Paisa banaya to kya hua. Sab party wale karten hain. No big deal.”
Bubly: “Yup! Maybe others are raising a hue and cry, especially the press wallahs, because Kalmadi is not sharing the common wealth with them. Kalmadi can now offer ‘The Art of Getting’ program. Imagine where India will be if everyone did it? Good bye poverty. Welcome prosperity. It will be the real garibi hatao. Amiron ko aur amir banao. Aamir Khan should make his next film on it.”
Bunty: “Better than globalization. And Rambabu can do a yoga shibir to de-stress all the distressed people in the Commonwealth committee. That’s how our people have been able to live merrily with all the filth, corruption, disparity and disease. Just take a deep breath, fold your hands, close your eyes, forget all you’ve seen, smelled, and heard. And there you are: instant nirvana. Kya cheez hai!”
Bubly: “It’s good if the games get postponed. It will give time for the men to catch up.”
Bunty: “They certainly have a lot of catching up to do. Just look at all the unfinished work!”
Bubly: “I mean catching up with the ladies yaar. Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, Pooja Dhanda, and look at all the corporate women breaking glass ceilings and macho hearts. The men have to catch up. From a mard heavy population of more than a billion, they’ve not been able to get together a football team for the World Cup. And look at our cricketers? They’ll look better in bangles and lipstick than in sports gear. Kum se kum Kalmadi is taking the country to new heights of name, I mean shame.”
Installing LOVE
Aug 22nd
What program are you running in your heart? Here is something I came across some time ago on the net. Don’t know who wrote it, but glad it got written. Enjoy!
Call Centre Rep (CS Rep): Yes, ma’am, how can I help you?
Customer: I want to install love. Can you guide me?
CS Rep: Yes ma’am. Are you ready to proceed?
Customer: Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready to install now. What do I do first?
CS Rep: The first step is to open your HEART. Have you located your HEART ma’am?
Customer: Yes I have, but there are other programs running right now. Is it okay to install while they are running?
CS Rep: What programs are running ma’am?
Customer: Let’s see. I have PAST-HURT.EXE, LOW-ESTEEM.EXE, GRUDGE.EXE, and RESENTMENT.COM running right now.
CS Rep: No problem. LOVE will gradually erase PAST-HURT.EXE from your operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory, but it will no longer disrupt other programs. LOVE will eventually overwrite LOW-ESTEEM.EXE with a module of its own called HIGH-ESTEEM.EXE. However, you have to completely remove GRUDGE.EXE and RESENTMENT.COM. Those programs prevent LOVE from being properly installed. Can you remove those ma’am?
Customer: Can you tell me how?
Throwaway Babies
Aug 16th
© Marek Kosmal | Dreamstime.com
The morning sun stared down at the rotting heap of garbage, one among millions across the land. A giant rat nibbled at some food, keeping a wary eye on three dogs busy cracking bones nearby. Two hungry crows pecked away at the contents of a bulging polythene bag.
A man in a white dhoti walked by, freshly bathed. He glanced at the heap, and his eyes opened wide. Did he see right? He turned and looked again. There was no mistaking it. A tiny hand stuck out of the filthy mass. And then it was gone, as his steps quickened towards the temple in the distance. The child must have been born at a most inauspicious, star-crossed moment.
A morning walker came along, Nike shoes striding forward. He pinched his nose, looking distastefully at the putrid collection. When would India change? Memories of last week’s trip to the US came back to mind. Then he stopped, shocked. A little infant lay curled up in the garbage. Must be dead. He recalled reading about abandoned babies. A glance at his chronometer told him to keep moving. Not much he could do. Like the garbage heaps, this was another thing about India that will take time to change, if ever. Too bad. And the walker walked on.
The bai stopped and stared. She knew of newborn females thrown away, just like that. Newly arrived, but unwelcome and unwanted. And so, mercilessly dispatched. She remembered a neighbor telling her of someone she knew who had adopted such a baby. One of the dogs was dangerously close to the filth covered infant. Shooing them away, she hurried off to her work of cooking and cleaning. She didn’t want to be late or lose the job. But she hurriedly made a call from the public phone in the corner shop further on.
By the time Babu and his wife arrived on the scene, the dogs were sniffing at the infant. Parking his bike, he shouted away the dogs. He scooped up the infant in his hands. The baby was alive, barely. His wife took the little body and wrapped it in a clean sheet she had brought. Then they sped away.
On India’s 64th Independence Day, the abandoned baby crossed her 22nd month of life. A cute and healthy child, no one looking at her would guess her tragic beginnings. For her foster parents she is one of their own. Anugrah they call her. And as they watch her play with their other children, they offer a silent thanksgiving for the gift of life, and the gift of love.
Lake Kolleru
Apr 23rd
Visit Kolleru Lake if you have an opportunity. Considered as the largest freshwater lake in India, it lies between the Krishna and Godavari rivers in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is connected to the two rivers by over 68 drains and channels. The lake provides a natural habitat for an estimated 20 million resident and migratory birds, including the Grey or Spot-billed Pelican. Egrets, Grey Herons, Painted Storks and Black-headed Ibises flock in thousands to this beautiful wetland.
The lake attracts huge numbers of migratory birds from northern Asia and Eastern Europe between October and March. Resident birdlife includes Grey pelicans, Asian Open-billed Storks (Anastomus oscitans), Painted Storks (Mycteria leucocephala),Glossy Ibises, White Ibises, Teals, Pintails, Shovellers. The migratory birds include Red-Crested Pochards, Blackwinged Stilts, Avocets, Common Red shanks, Wigeons, Gadwalls and Cormorants, Garganys, Herons, Flamingos, among others.
SOURCES: www.wwfindia.org / en.wikipedia.org