They say christmas is a time of giving and sharing. But there are some people for whom it is christmas time all the year round.They give without thinking and it is a privelege to know them, meet them or just to be sharing the same planet at the same time as them.Anu teaches in a college in Delhi. The degree class she teaches has R.K.Narayan in their syllabus and anu was totally shocked when she found out that none of her 45 students had seen the television serial "malgudi days". She decided to fill this great vacuum in their experience by buying...

Last week the traffic police suddenly became active in Bangalore and were stopping passing vehicles for licence and other checks .I was stopped too and after checking my licence the young officer whispered to me "ma'm,please wear seat belts or i would have to fine you 300 rupees next time" and he was smiling. I thanked him and immediately strapped the seat belt on and proceeded on my way. Now this is one of the priveleges that you get with age - people believe that a forty five year old woman is not out on the road to speed and kill while it is...

Hear this : last month they have launched a new service designed to send emails out to your loved (or loathed) ones after you die www.mylastemail.com is a service where you can leave "love messages, words of appreciation and encouragement" to those they care about after their demise. Three-year membership of the service costs $9.99. and i always thought once we were dead, we became part of the universal forces and stopped feeling love, hatred and the whole lot!! it seems i was mistaken, as often.....it seems most people want to leave these even...

MY friend Pankaz landed in the U.S.A for his new job at the Univ of South Carolina and this was one of his first experiences there:“We were eating in a cafe, 5 of us, one each from Japan, Hungary, Czech, Sweden and I, at 2-30 daytime. Here comes a hefty black guys and starts talking, half of which I dont understand. He says, "i don’t have a gun, no education, I am poor, I want to ask a question...." etc. He is extremely dirty, long-bearded, has unkempt hair and most probably is mentally disturbed. Then, I look at him and turn my face, because...

I have been observing a particular trend in the well read, bright young people that I come into contact with. It is a mixture of large doses of cynicism combined with idealism.What disturbs me is that their idealism is not fired by optimism to change what they perceive as wrong but a defeatist and negative approach to Life. They don’t believe that they can actually make a difference at an individual level while still being a part of the system. (Oh, that would be "belonging" a definite 'nono')They believe that the solution lies in completely destroying...

“ Going home?” asked the lady sitting next to me in the lounge at Colombo airport.Thinking of familiar smells and sounds and sights, the warmth of my own bed I said “yes” with a smile. The word home always evokes images of comfort, warmth, familiarity and welcome in my mind.Then I asked her “ What about you?” and she replied “ I don’t know where home is!”She is a Palestinian lady who shifted to Jordan when trouble began and now she lives in Dubai. She has all the comforts that money can buy but no real “Home”. I remembered my Lebanese friend...

My friend asha wrote this in one of her blogs (http://toconstantlywonderafresh.blogspot.com)"Does the landscape we inhabit enter our characters, define the people we become? Does the landscape we inhabit enter our characters, define the people we become? Do mountain people know patience, and the humbling truth that you cannot control everything? Do forest people know courage, that buds break forth from ravaged trees? Do farmers know waiting, that there are things that you cannot hurry? Do river people know change, that you "step and not step into...

Orientation needs

Orientation needs

Many years ago, I was amused to see the following safety warning on a plastic bag which came from the U.S. It read :"This is not a toy. Keep out of the reach of children." and then there was something more like " Do not place any of the enclosed plastic bags over your head and then tightly wrap duct tape around your neck to shut out the air." I wondered if that was any indication of the manufacturer's assumption about the buyer's intelligence or if it was common practice in that country for plastic bags to be put to such a use. My friend explained...

There is a jewish story about the "tree of sorrows".On the Day of Judgment, each person will be allowed to hang one's unhappiness and sufferings on a brach of the great Tree of Sorrows. After all have found a limb from which their miseries may dangle, they may all walk slowly around the tree. Each person is to search for a set of sufferings that he or she would prefer to those he or she has hung on the tree. In the end, each one freely chooses to reclaim his or her own assortment of sorrows rather than those of another. Each person leaves the Tree...

What is it about some people that even your "first" meeting doesn't seem "the first"?How is it with some people you can remain silent for hours and still feel completely at ease ?How is it that you say the rudest thing to someone and when you are in trouble you don't think twice about calling them?Why is it that it does not seem like a favour when some people do so many kind things for you?How come you can say "love me or leave me" to some people and be pretty sure they wont leave you in spite of all your tantrums?What is it about some people that...

I envy people who can switch off their hearing at their will. I have always been more receptive to what I hear and I normally seem to hear everything people say to me. Even as a student I used to read my lessons aloud so it registered better. It was always a joke among my friends and siblings to see me solve arithmetic problems talking to my notebook. Now this has caused a major problem for me with my maid. She is also about my age and perhaps going through similar problems of all women in their middle age. Unfortunately for me she has no husband...