This is very normal

“I cannot eat this”, said my son pushing his aubergine curry away. “It is too hot.”

“Wait for it to get cold”, I told him.

“Not that hot”, he corrected. “The other hot. Chilli hot.”

“But I didn’t even put any chillies.”

He was not buying that, and finally let himself be partially placated after I sprinkled sugar on the offending curry. Minutes after finishing dinner, he wolfed down an entire packet of fiery hot jalapeño flavoured wafers.

“And you don’t think this is hot?”, I asked him.

“Not at all”, he replied with a smile. “This is very normal.”

The Man who Dreamt. The Man who Did

Game-Changer is not a term I use often, but nothing describes Dr. Verghese Kurien better than that.

In a nation talking about socialism but doing little to implement it, he created a co-operative movement that successfully took on the might of multinational firms. Long before it became fashionable to talk about it, he realized that true change can only start with the financial empowerment of women. He brought about a paradigm shift by taking a model that worked in a few hundred villages and replicating it across the nation.

Visionary, Leader, Manager.

The Man who Dreamt. The Man who Did.

Verghese Kurien

(November 26, 1921 – September 9, 2012 )

Requiescat in pace

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Can't we use pencils forever?

“You have to start writing neatly”, I admonished my fourth grader. “Or they wouldn’t let you start using a pen next term.”

“Oh good”, he exclaimed. “I don’t want to write with a pen. What if I make a mistake- how will I rub it out?”

“When you start using a pen”, his younger brother piped up, “you will stop making mistakes. Big people don’t make mistakes, do they?”

Did he realize how profound his statement was? The day you stop admitting to your mistakes, isn’t that the day you stop growing? I wish we could all use pencils forever.

I will never understand

Too lazy to wait for the lift, I used the stairs today. A couple of floors up, I was greeted by the stench of rotting vegetable peel and a solitary diaper sunning itself on the steps. Someone had dumped their garbage bag in the stairwell. The diaper made it easy to identify the perpetrator- a perfectly turned-out lady, who’s immaculately kept house could easily feature in a home decor magazine.

How anyone can dump their garbage in a common area is beyond me. How someone can be so fussy about their house, and yet do it, I will never understand.

A tea-break

I had a really tight deadline to meet, there were three calls to return. Laundry waits for no one, and plants need to be watered at least twice a week even during the monsoons. There was nothing in the fridge, so unless I wanted to order a pizza or starve, I had option but to cook something for myself.

I brewed myself a cup of tea, and plonked it next to my laptop. Just as I was easing into my chair, I changed my mind, and carried the cup to the window. The rain was beautiful. I needed the break. 

Forgotten how to laugh

While alighting from the school-bus, my younger one exclaimed, “Jahapanah!”

“Jodha!”, I replied, taking his school-bag from him.

All three of us dissolved into laughter, and continued with the silly word-association game we had invented the previous day. It wasn’t particularly funny, but we had giggled so much while making up the rules, we couldn’t not laugh.

“Mamma, please”, hissed the older one suddenly. Someone else had got into the lift, and was giving us strange looks. To save him embarrassment, I struggled to control my laughter.

But isn’t it a pity that the world has forgotten how to laugh.

At home in the Universe

A light drizzle started during my run. Within minutes, the sky opened up, and I was caught in a heavy downpour. Umbrellas erupted, people took shelter under trees; the park emptied out. I had the track to myself. Raindrops hit my face, and washed the sweat away. My feet took on the rhythm of the falling rain, any fatigue long washed away. I was one with the elements- at home in the Universe.

People thought me crazy. Then one joined me, and another, and another. The park was full of bobbing umbrellas. Can life get any more beautiful than that?