Swachhta!

She sighs, tired from a long day, and sits down to scribble a few lines in to her journal.
She rarely does that. Something really profound must have happened.

May 2nd 2012,

My cousin and his kids came home from the U.S. of A last week. I ve been spending a lot of time with them.

Cute kids, they have a lot of energy,so many stories to share, it is so much fun being around them.. Well the younger one is a peach, the kid is in that place where they learn to talk, precious right?! 
Had a really long day. But one incident just baffled me.

My nephew was filling his 'Ben 10' fanny pack with wrappers from all the chocolates and ice creams he had. It was so full he started holding them in his tiny fists and  washaving difficulty holding the other things. 

So my cousin says 'Why aren't you throwing all the trash away?? Why are you collecting everything?' 

The kid complained, 'I couldn't find a trash can dad!'

For which he got a reply, 'No no, you need not search for a trash can , you can throw the wrappers here or for that matter anywhere!'

The kid obliged. What else would he do? He is four!!

Well thank god there was someone who cleaned up right behind him.

I grew up with 2 siblings who did not give any thought before throwing juice boxes, wrappers or cartons right in the middle of the road for 22 years. I even got into a huge fight with my brother over a Frooti bottle and didn't talk to him for hours and got into trouble with my parents for being arrogant, obnoxious and some other things I shouldn't even reveal here <Well, sounds stupid now I guess>. And today, this happens!!

Well I guess you tell and tell, but you only end up being such a bore to your own cousins and nothing ever changes!!


August 16th 2012,

It is one month since Tinku returned to India after her long trip from the U.S. of A, and I couldn't help but notice that she is being really clean about everything around her, conspicuously putting every juice box every small wrapper nowhere but in the nearest trash can.

I was very intrigued and grilled her for the reason [well my wicked plan was to work it on Pinku so he could change too.. ;) ] when she said that she was shamed by our nephew (the four year old with the fanny pack) in-front of his foreign friends. He said, and she quoted 'Se,e don't litter this place with all this plastic,if it is India, you can.. But you are not in India anymore,so here you ll have to put it in the trash can.'

Though I can't play this card on Pinku, it got me thinking. It took a long expensive trip and shaming by a four year old for Tinku to realize.. And the worst part is, she is educated and all!

I wish I could smack on Pinku's head and the keys fall in the right place, that would be so much easier!!

October 2nd 2014,

My cousin and his kids are visiting again. The kid threw some trash on the road.
I asked him to pick it all up and hold it till he finds a trash can when Pinku said, 'Well I don't know which India your father grew up in little fellow, but here, we don't do that anymore!'
He happily obliged!!  Well, he is just six, but he ll never do that again. Not here!

<This is not fiction. It is very much veridical!>

Might not be as moving, but we are literate and sensible right? 

So the next time you mindlessly stop to pee on the roads, realize that you are making approximately 60% of India's population vulnerable to cholera, diarrhea, typhoid etc..

The next time you drop a juice box on the roads, realize

that there thousands tourists who dread coming to India,well you are just slackening up the chance for a low paid employee to construct his own toilet.

The next time you spit on the road, the next time you throw a still- on-fire cigarette butt on the road, realize that there are many girls dropping out of the school because they don't have good sanitation facilities, you are robbing them of their future and dreams.

'Nirmal' or 'Swachh', good intentions can never let us down. 

Every effort to fulfill our duties is also patriotism.

I am that change. I hope you are too.. 

So we can meet on the other side where the grass is greener and India is cleaner!

Aspire..

"Hey,look for the green file in the lobby, I am getting really late for the class.." She opened the cupboard, to check for the file there. She knew that the chances of finding it there are really thin, the top drawer,which was not opened for the last few months since her uncle passed away, she did not want to lose even the thinnest of chance to find it, for, she was really getting late. She always used those hand-made files from the SHG she worked for, beautiful as they seemed and also a little something to help the others. She was groping the top drawer for the file,when a roll of paper, as thick as a parchment fell down. To her surprise, it was addressed to her.. Unfolding, she started reading it, it was from her uncle, her father's brother, who was her guardian since long..


" 10th September 2007,
I might be dead long before you read this. But you should know,I was dead. Since yesterday. The day your parents died in the flyover collapse. Even as I wipe my tears off, anger, frustration and self hatred are brimming upon me! I always wanted to tell this to you,but I think it weighed too heavy on me that the chances are, you might hate me.. You are the only ray of hope left for me to move towards forgiving myself, and I did not want to lose that. The truth is, I am responsible for debasing myself,I was corrupt. And that pain anchors heavily on me. It all came back rushing to me when you scarpered, tears rolling down your cheeks, from the tragic scene where your parents lay numb. You knew they were not going to get back to you ever. When I got the contract of the flyover,I got it because I was bribing.Not because I was efficient, not because I was the most suitable for the job. Not because I deserved it. I bribed the officer. When he did not knuckle under, I used the kin force. I gained a lot of money, with which I sent my son to the US.. I was happy. But it shortlived. How the hell did I know that one day, my brother, and his wife, sincere and true to heart teachers as they were, would lay dying under the collapsed flyover? Leaving you an orphan, under the preview of a corrupt guardian such as me..They only left me a life full of remorse. I could not share this with you earlier. I can not bear the feeling that you would see me as the murderer who took your family away from you. But it is my responsibility that I should keep you informed, even from beyond! The day you came to stay with me forever, is the day I realized how gruesome a life I was leading. I stopped contracts. I was a bigger person from then on. I know that this is not the appropriate way of letting you know that your parents' murderer,has been your guardian all along.But,against all the odds,I hope somewhere,sometime down the lane,you can forgive me. I think somewhere deep down I know I would not be able to look directly into your eyes filled with hatred, no.. not even on my death bed, and that is  why this letter. I hope the blotches of tears will not vitiate what I wanted to say. I now know the cost of corruption. You know that my good wishes will always be with you.
Love,
Uncle (If you can still call me that)"


A letter, a piece of paper has changed all that has happened to her, her whole life, all that she has believed in.It was from that person who taught her that 'Life is beautiful'. But it turns out,Life is clasped tight in the many paths you have to choose, which path you take, which color you apply to make it beautiful, is totally in your hands.

Puffy-eyed, she thought of the last time she saw her parents, through the balcony when they were going to get her the Harry Potter book she has been nagging them to buy.They never returned. She walked up and down the hallway, clutching the letter tight. On hearing the loud footsteps, she looked up and on seeing him at a distance, a faint smile appeared on her face.As he walked closer to her, she gained some strength she lost in the last few minutes. He sat next to her, gave her the file and asked her what the matter was. She shook her head, gesturing everything was fine.Its her husband. Yeah, everything is going to be fine. She knows,though not at the moment, she is going to forgive her uncle, after all, he died of remorse, she is a bigger person than he was,now, she has a husband who is a social worker, who never in his living nightmare,would offer anyone a penny to bribe. She is a teacher, and works with the Self help groups. She is on the right side of the coin. She clutched the file, and took steps towards the school, as she knows, somewhere down the lane, she will influence at-least one person to stick to morale and be truly humane all life long. She knows, her job is what moulds the future, she knows that what she is doing is what is going to save more people from getting victimized. She can pay back to the society for what her uncle did. She was sitting in a corner, wiping the tears off her cheeks with the ends of her sari. Life goes on, but only towards a better tomorrow..

The delicate rhythm of a boatman’s song

His eyes had a glitter of glee and celebration, the bicycle sped past the village temple, the aarthi was going on and devotees were singing the bhajans, usually he would have stopped to have put the tilak on his forehead before he went home, but today all that was echoing in his ears was the rhythm of the boatman’s song. Screeching halt infront of a magnificent household, the 6 year old carefully placed the cycle in the shed,he ran towards the house. He was excited as this was his first time alone in the village on the cycle. He rushed inside, saw his aunt sitting in the verandah, panting and all puffed up started singing the song he heard by the river, it was about the river itself and how it flows, like life.. 


“I went to the river all by myself aunty! All by myself! I am all grown up! I was playing near the mango tree, by the school, the fisherman was singing this song while getting his net ready.”

“Oh, so it is a boatman’s song huh?”


“Yes aunty, he told me all about fishing, casting the net and the baits. Then his children came from the school. We played hide and seek, they bought me an ice-gola. I promised that I ll come to play with them every day.”


“So you played with those kids? Go take bath before you enter the house. They are not good kids. You are never going to play with them again.”


“But aunty! They were very nice to me. We had a lot of fun. I promised them. Why shouldn’t I play with them?”


“They are bad kids. They go to a bad school where they teach everything wrong. You should not touch them and you are not going to play with them. Now stop asking me more questions, go take bath now!”


His eyes fell, excitement drained, he left to take bath, that night when his mom asked him to come to dinner, there was one question gnawing his nous.


“Mummy! Aunty said the boatman’s kids went to a bad school and that everything they say is wrong! But I saw mummy, their teacher, like ours, also told them that 2 plus 5 is 7. Why is it that I should not play with them?”


The only answer he got was a pat on the head and a sigh.. He did not get the answer for years, and after he knew the answer, he never felt a rush of excitement seeing the river. It saddens him that he could never play with those kids again.


But he could never stop admiring the delicate rhythm of the boatman’s song.

Betwixt Lumos and Nox

"You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book
will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children"

As much as I avoid to agree upon, it is a fact that magic was what I dreamt of the most, as a child. The day I created my blogger account I figured out that the blog would be deemingly incomplete without a post on my childhood hero! So I figured I should do this right if I am doing it! And here goes..
Stupefy!’ ‘Experillamus’! His wand flew out of the door, outraged. Doesn't the line ring a familiar bell? Of course, it is Harry Potter. A guileful expression and Ohh! Now don’t switch off the monitor.. Close the tab or do anything drastic.. Saying "Ohh not another Harry freak!!" Well.. Actually, You can do that.. But I am on the other side.. and so I continue writing.. Err.. Typing ;)
So.. Bide a wee! :D


Lumos!!

As I lazed out of my bed that day.. The news paper had this huge article and a picture of a boy holding a wand immediately abandoning the article on the assembly proceedings that day.. I started reading
that article (Yeah.. :D I always did that..)

"A classic favourite among young readers, Harry Potter has found a place in the course curriculum of Durham University in the UK this
year. Around 80 undergraduates have already signed up for it. Though students will not be taught wizardry in keeping with the books, or how to wave a wand, the course will cover the social and cultural aspects
of life through the novel and examine prejudice, bullying and friendship in modern society."

A 11 year old me must have put up to a reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or annoyance in others!! Devilment!! Must have asked my father to send me for studies in the UK! :P
Well.. Not now.. I am 19!! See.. As much as I tend to abnegate today I cannot deny the fact that
12 years of age and I was one of those millions and trillions of Harry Potter freaks!!!

Not to mention all those scary dark art dreams I had all the spells waking me up in the bed! I must say I loved all that! Not just because it is fascinating and alluring but as i look back today.. I learnt many things I needed to, and Harry Potter helped me do it the right way!
In contrast to much of the Pagan discussion I've seen, I think the books and movie do teach some of our basic Wiccan values in a subtle and entertaining way, and that's part of their appeal.Courage, empathy, ingenuity and generosity are some of our core values, found in the heros and heras of thousands of fairy tales. Harry and his friends exemplify them all. They contend with the values
of his loathesome relations who represent utter conventionality (the adults) and utter selfishness and bullying (his cousin Dudley). One of the first things we see Harry do is to talk to a snake with empathy.
Stands up for his friend against the snobbery.
Magic in the Harry Potter books is a somewhat neutral force, a technology and a talent rather than an ethos. Part of the genius of the books is that the shadow side of life is dramatized so vividly.
Childhood is full of intense passions and contests of power. Witness a pair of five-year-olds playing together, and you'll see anguish, outrage, affection, hurt, jealousy and selflessness succeed each other
like rapid changes in the weather. Children's lives are determined by powerful figures who set the ground rules, provide or don't provide love, nurturing, nourishment, pleasure and privileges.
How important it is for children to see both their positive and negative impulses mirrored, The presence and absence of it, to know that greed and envy and rage are part of the common human condition. Only then can they eventually develop the maturity to grow beyond greed and hate. The shadow side is not disavowed, it's acknowledged and recognized. It's part! You can never overlook! Certainly influenced by the values in the books they read, but often in ways that are more oblique and paradoxical than we think. As a child, I read books about magic voraciously. I so desperately wanted magic to be real. The willingness to sacrifice, the concept of a deity who represents powerful, unconditional love, in a way I could understand and accept. In that world, consciousness is not limited to human beings. Animals,
plants, and objects all carry their own awareness and can be communicated with.
Isn't that the essence of the Pagan worldview: that the earth is alive, that all being has consciousness, and that we can learn to communicate with that consciousness if we are sensitive and empathetic. In a global culture increasingly devitalized, corporatized, logoized and shopping malled, where everything is reduced to a commodity that can be bought and sold, I find it cheering that kids still yearn for magic. I hope their love of Harry's magic will inspire them to cherish and defend the natural world upon which real magic is based.
Obviously, the idea of heroes fighting for values in some sense has to be part of any compelling fiction. What strikes me about the Harry Potter series is the richness of the characters and their commitment
to their personal values. There are a lot of people saying these books promote witchcraft, these books are satanic. You have a lot of fairly stringent attacks on the books by Christians. And then you have some
Christians who are arguing the books are in fact fundamentally religious in nature and are promoting key religious ideas. These are interesting debates, but I am offering a fundamentally different way
to look at the books. I am saying, yes, they do include these religious elements. But they are fundamentally at cross-purpose with Rowling’s central theme, which is all the elements related to this
heroic fight for values.

Today, rereading the books,
The magic in Harry Potter takes us back into an animate universe,
where hats talk,
pictures move,
snakes hold conversations.

This world lies just on the other side of ordinary reality, behind a
door or through a seemingly solid wall. Ahh.. How I wish there is a
door, like in Narnia! ;)

This is not a review.. This is what I felt and dreamt of a hero who
made me ‘read’!

"There are many little ways to enlarge a child's world. Love of
books is the best of all".
#Grateful!


Nox!!