You are already a Doctor

There are so many patients in this world!
Suffering from so many diseases!
Some of which neither have a cure nor clear symptoms!

If only love could cure them all,
I would have asked them to watch us,
And learn
How to love.

Nira

Whatever you do
or wherever you are,
You seem to be smiling at me
sitting right here, or sometimes in the car!

Fathers Day (June 19th!, 2011)

(Finally! Been a draft since long!)

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In the evening while I was walking by the riverside park, a guy was chasing his two year old daughter. The girl was screaming with excitement as her dad neared. Just when he was about to lift her into the air, I lost sight of them as I crossed them, but I heard a high pitched shriek and loads of laughter. Couldn't stop smiling. :)

We will be strangers

During a one-night stay in a hotel near Kochi Railway Station, while killing mosquitoes (again) with two touring Britishers who were waiting for a delayed train.

Once upon a time, we traveled together, on the same train, towards the same destination, but we might never meet, never even know the existence of each other! Do you know why? the world is too big, traveling it or conquering it might not take you long, but connecting it will, take time, the lifetime of generations..

Flying Rhinos

The Black Rhino Range Expansion Project (BRREP), a partnership between WWF-South Africa, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism

This picture reminds me of a Telugu song in which as part of a story, the writer wonders "emo!! Gurram egaraA vachu"... tranlsation... "who knows!! the Horse might even fly".

The story: A prisoner promises to make a horse fly in exchange for his life. On the day of the test, he says it takes 6 months to make a horse fly and requests food, accommodation and amenities for that duration. When asked by his fellow prisoner if the horse will really fly, he replies, "I was just kidding, I made up the story to postpone my death penalty. Now that it's postponed, who knows (!!), the King might change his mind, or he might (even) die, (less probable but) this prison might collapse during an earth quake, or (...), who knows, the horse might even learn to fly!!". He puts the possibility of a horse flying as the least (subtly implying it will never happen).

But, here we are,
Kings are gone,
riding horses is a mere hobby,
killing wild animals is a crime,
and RHINOCEROSES ARE FLYING!

A Daily Wage Labourer's Daughter

Flustered by similarities between Delhi's Metro and New York's subway, I totally forgot the day long rain. After hours of waiting for all those thousands traveling at the very same time as me, I took another train with a different thousand. I got down at the station or rather, I stood at the door and was carried outside on the wave.

If I knew which gate I was supposed to take to get to the hotel, there would have been the right gate and wrong ones. So, I took a random gate and got out of the station. I was surprised to find it chilly outside having forgotten the day long rain after hours of work and waiting indoors. It was the kind of cold you feel when the snow has started melting, which is slightly colder than when it was snowing. There was water dripping from every roof, most of them corrugated and made of cement and metal. The water drops were forming patches clearing off mud on the rough cement road. A tube light was trying to lit the scene. 'Sheesha ho ya, dil hoo, aakhir, toot jaata hai' was playing in the background from a tea stall.

Someone dug pot holes alternatively on two different strips on the road according to a plan, or so it appeared. If both strips of potholes are joined, they would form one long pothole along the road. The fraction of the road without potholes was muddy enough that if you were walking with shoes, you'll have mud on toes, if you were walking with sandals, you'll have it on your pants, if it were chappal, it'd be on your hair. If you were not walking but running, you better run in the direction of a hospital.

A small girl was crying for a chocolate and the father was offering to buy a lollypop! This is not the case where the father is picky about what his daughter eats. This father will not buy his daughter the lollypop. He was saying, we'll buy a lollypop when we get home. But, the girl wanted a chocolate and nothing but a chocolate. When her taste changes, if at all and she starts crying for a lollypop, he might offer to buy something else, a chocolate perhaps! After all, he might have to manage his meager wage to fulfill other needs and an entire family's expectations.

Unconventional Soul

From a mud raking viral thread on Facebook, which inspired this article!

Einstein was right about Mahatma, "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood has walked upon this earth". For the commonest among us, it is unbelievable and out of touch with the common-reality that a common component of men and women, the soul, of a commoner amongst us could traverse such unfathomable distances!

We doubt, not his existence, but his legend! I will cross my sphere of comfort to guess those who doubt such human ability, believe in a Supreme Being. They believe such feats are possible only for a supernatural being. They take comfort in the truth that Gandhi wasn't a saint since birth. That is why they doubt he couldn't have become one, because they realize the difficulty in such an endeavour.

This disbelief he inspires in generations born decades after his death is not surprising, considering the enormous disbelief in his ways and in turn immense opposition he encountered during his life time. However, clouded by time, the current generation alleges that he had desires, a circumference they are unable to cross.

What attracts them in these allegations is not the pursuit of truth, but the hope that the possibility of sainthood of commoners will be disproved. Such proof will free them from the inferiority of their aims and efforts.