My Encounters with Reality

                                            This is one of the rare day – i seldom buy chocolates for 200 bucks – I’m starting my bike finishing the purchase in a departmental store. Just then, I noticed a man- in his early fifties, bright eyes, lean looks, not so neat clothes – standing in front of me . At first I mistook him for a person searching something there. Then he spoke to me with the sense of urge ‘romba pasikuthu , romba romba pasikuthu , ennaku …. ‘(I’m hungry, very hungry……). We are used to this kind of pleading but when he asked me looking straight into my eyes. I was emotionally moved and opened my purse to give him a 10 rupees note and took the vehicle back to my home. This incident made me thing again and again, he is not a real beggar, IMO he is not a person who seemed to deserve Nor I’m a person who is very kind enough . I’m witnessing more disadvantaged persons in my daily life in chennai railway stations. Even witnessing more people with special abilities –unlike normal beings- selling various range of things – instead of begging – there but I hardly ever bought a product. Only thing that made me give away some rupees is the way he expressed his situation evoked my emotions. After seeing “naan kadavul”-definitely one of the must see movie on Tamil – whenever I see a people with special abilities begging , it evokes a sense of urge in me to look into their lives and know the reason behind their ill being . is there anyone who milks the sympathy in people using these people ??.After thinking these all , why did I give him without giving a second thought ?? After some thought process – my traveling time is killed/utilized by this activity- ,I can picture what is there is my mind . There are so many things happening around me , I have been keeping mum controlling my senses just living my life as silent observer  . There are times, when I have thought to myself “ I would earn then I would change things ‘ but in reality , I too *now* a ‘yet another ordinary person ‘ , so one of the easiest things I can do now is giving away some money and to feed not only them but also my inner self’s appetite .

                                   2 years back , I was visiting a young doctor for my ligament issues . in that hospital I happened to see his Dr dad –who is the son of late Dr KAP -consulting patients for a meager 5 rupees in his old ages and seen the gratitude of the patients in their eyes . On that day, I understood the nobleness of medical profession but there is always a flip side .I have heard lots of story about money savvy hospitals but I have never had a personal experience . recently I happened to visit a hospital urgently with my friend –who needed immediate attention- when I expected them to take care ,they promptly asked me to pay the fees and coolly said “rest is next “ . I had a mix of emotions running through my mind mostly annoyance and anger but I know it won’t help my cause so I just replied “u take care , I would take care of this bill ‘ .when this matter run through my mind again and again , I thought I’m overreacting to a simple day to day issue .after all, it is their business . day in ,day out they are seeing patients in pain and ‘money they pay’ to cure is their business model . I too knew they are not here for doing any service , but what I expect is minimum business ethics-since they are engaged in a business- in it , I have no clue whatsoever why they wanna charge us before treating ? they don’t belive though I’m wearing my ID card – license to be robbed in day – . this is not a matter of money but a matter of customer satisfaction in business terms :(

 

B’days

                          ‘B’days are occasions ,just to remind that I’m getting older ‘ This is the view ,i had for B’days once I jumped out of my childhood days and magic date feb 12 (obviously my B’day) never seem to interest me anymore .it is just a occasion for wearing new dresses , but this impression broke as my life moved on . in hostels , we were used to celebrate the b’days as a grand event . it started as place ,where we friends mingled as group ,started looking outside our ROOM ,and introduced to new people who eased into our lives as friends . Hostel B’days have 12′0 clock cake cutting ceremonies , back breaking slaps with lights switched off ,bed sheets all over on you ,playing hide and seek to escape cakes being pasted upon our face, buckets of water being spilled upon you and last but not least photo session ( I liked this part ,very much) . another interesting part is waiting for people to wish you @ midnight . whenever I think of B’days , feb 12 ‘08 is a special one.. that is my last one in my collage life and we celebrated both in hostel and my class room . it came within the last one month of our college life , so it had more emotional attachment to it .

 the period in between the feb 12′08 to feb 12′09 would easily be the most *happening* period of my life time , I slowly translated from college student to a vetti guy (nearly spend half an year in that) then I’m slowly building my professional career. But then this year , I know that my family members wouldn’t be around as in my school days , i know that a good chuck or most part of friends who were greeting wouldn’t be near you and surely I miss numerous hand shacks I had before but then one of the things that make life beautiful is , unexpected turns and twists it brings to you . it is great that new friends have stormed(?) to your life so soon than u hope and gave u a ray of hope on life . It would always feel great to hear old friends(sometimes ,even across from across the Atlantic ocean) , especially their parents and someone’s whom you don expect to wish , wish u ‘Happy B’day ‘. But with *this* type of B’days , u tend to expect more. and with expectations sky high tend to get disappointments and it is part of the parcel , I’m used to move on ,with the disappointments  .

PS  :my colleagues/friends poured with gifts I had a good number of wardrobes and 8 books.. I’m looking forward to read that books as soon as possible and return back my comments , but travelling nearer to 3 hours per day in public transport make things harder for me

 

Few Random thoughts

GIRL-BOY friendships: i saw a movie ” finding neverland” . it is about a friendship that blossomed between a married man and widower with 4 sons.it has depicted the relationship between them with such a dignity ,which hardly movies does . i have doubts that whether our society ,would honour the girl-boy relationships outside the college environment. would we able to continue without any hi-cups from outside world. my question is , would the society allow the gal-boy friendships to mature as woman-man friendships ??!!

MONEY: though there r many gods in idol shapes . this is the real god ::P. i have seen many people ,who prefer money more than people.  all of us were running a race to earn more and more money,but we dont care about the end of the race .society and social setup is changing fast .  money seems to buy  everything for us . whatever money we earn, at the end we need some self satisfaction and we should do some justice to our life.   i’m not a saint ,i too wanna earn more and more money . but earning money only wont give a meaning to our life. money may satisfy our body not our soul ( if we have )

WINESHOPS:  one of the things that irk me in tamil nadu is government itself running the wineshops all over the state. in numerous places, it has been placed near schools ,colleges and prime residential ares. it may fetch enormous revenues, but is government is public limited company ???  is revenue only the motive ??? it should have atleast some of the moral responsibilites , isn’t it ??

cricket &cinema: if these 2 were forbidden from our speech.. then 75 % of our country
cant speak ganguly’s sloppy fielding and rajini’s new film were the things that unite people of india:). they provide us a topic for conversation. amount of time we spent of discussing about these topics can be more than anyothere topic for a average indian. we in our life breath these things invarible of caste and religion