The Iraq War - closer to home

I found the note in my child's backpack. A shiver ran through my spine.

Our elementary school prinicipal had lost her 20 yr old son in the Iraq war recently.

We read about the war almost every day in the news, but when it gets closer to someone we know, why does it just hit you like a ton of bricks? I went through a gamut of emotions - ranging from sadness for the family, empathy for a mother losing a child, to liberally bashing the Bush administration.

Then, it came to how to approach the prinicipal and convey my feelings to her. This was an unusual situation for me. I gave this a lot of thought and ran through a whole lot of imaginary conversations that could convey my feelings appropriately. Nothing was convincing though.

The next day, i was at school and honestly, i didn't want to bump into her because i hadn't planned anything. Suddenly, there was a tap on my shoulder and a familiar voice wished me with a smile. There she was, the very person that i was carefully trying to avoid.

Words just blurted out of my mouth from nowhere - "Sorry to hear about your loss, Mrs....". She looked at me for a moment and with tears in her eyes gave me a warm hug. That said it all. Then, we talked and shared words of comfort - one mother to another mother - a strange bond capable of breaking barriers.

And, i walked away with a heavy heart.

Mixed 'Masala'....(Part I)

The following content is purely a figment of my observation and is directly and intentionally connected to real life situations and people. So, if someone is offended, well....don't take it personal, relax, take a chill pill... Ok, after that loosely-construed disclaimer, on which I took a painstaking, laborious, thoughtful, five whole minutes to come up with....on to the main topic. I've waited for a while to ramble on what i've seen, heard and reasonably projected observations of my homeland and here it goes. On a serious note... - India can best be described as an old, rusty but still-working machine. Looks messy and cranky on the outside, but once you're in and get settled, one comes to realize that there's a vague sense of order and things do go in a strange, but definite pattern. I guess that's what keeps us going on and not disintegrated already into anarchy. - A country that's only 63 years young has still a viable, democractic government, seems ama

Human Needs and Relationships....Part 1

Let's admit it. All of us as adult humans have needs, wants and desires. At first, they have and will be at a basic sustenance level of food, shelter and clothing, and once that's done, it moves to many different elevations above. Also, it always starts with material things like money, car, house, job etc., then kids (and the heavy price tag that comes with them) etc. Think of it as the " taking " phase. At some point of life, when many hairs have been "grayed-and-dyed" after, we hopefully evolve to higher-order thinking like social work, helping/caring for others or spiritual quest etc. - basically, chucking the hugely inflated and egoistic "me and only me" out and replacing it with a big picture view of "what i can do for others", "how i can be useful to Mother Earth" line of thought process. This would be the " giving " or " pay-back " phase. Sorry, life doesn't offer any free lunch, anytime, an

You and your compass....

Let's talk about what each and every one of us have within ourselves. That deep, down voice that tells us strongly what to do, not to do, what we ought to do but choose not to and regret later on with a "I-told-me-so", things that we wish to do but dare not try in our lifetime....you get the drift. Yes, it is that all-pervading, metaphorical inner compass, or the SatNavs of our lives that I'm getting into. Young adults think they have an independent mind, and do and act that way. In reality, though, in most of the cases, it's not even of their own choice, but out of peer pressure. Which interestingly, brings a point- whose collective, mob voice is it then? If everyone is busy copying someone else doing the same, then who the heck started the fire? No clue, but let's assume for sanity's sake that some life form starts a trend which gets viral, bacterial, whatever. And, suddenly there's a strong urge that compels every youngster to do it

C'est La Vie;That's life

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