April Showers bring May flowers

And finally it's April and soon it will be May- the month I make my trip to the homeland after a full year in the US of A. My dad will be glad to see me. And the irony of it is that he will be moving to New Zealand to live with my brother. And I will have to put him on a plane and send him off!

I have a lot do in in my homeland. I have planned a trip to my favourite temple at Tirupathi and also to spend some quality time with my dad at the Ramana Maharshi's ashram in Tamil Nadu. I have to meet my friends, eat the vada sambhars at my favourite eateries, meet my Guru Ramesh Balsekar... I hope my plans are not washed away by the impending monsoon season!

Sometime, living here, so far away from my people and country can seem like penal servitude! I know that the initial days will seem like a dream- the stench, the heat the cacophony on the streets will be overwhelming. Absence makes the heart grow fonder-I now also know that my very being is waiting for the day when I will smell the air of my homeland- and I expect that the first whiff will also smell of aviation fuel !

On my birthday , last week, I was thinking : What am I doing here, so far away from the people I love and the country of my birth? And then suddenly another thought asked: Why not? . The mind slowly went into a quiet mode and was at peace...

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Lessons of life- from a squirrel!

As I type this I hear a knocking sound at my window and, lo and behold , there is this beautiful squirrel standing up with it’s two front legs resting on the glass. He had a brief look at me and ran away. Talking of squirrels, last week , I was driving to a store with the significant half beside me when suddenly she says in Tamil, ” Turn back fellow !”. I looked at her incredulously and she says, “Not you, there was this squirrel coming our of the garden patch and had crawled up into the road ahead and as if he could hear me, turned back into the grass safely!”. Not all have a safe trip across the roads though. You find them plastered on the road – a squash of flesh and blood. A couple of days ago, when driving to work on the highway- a six lane road with a center wall of around 3 feet height in the median, I noticed a squirrel dart across the road and climb up the center wall. I do not know if he made it across to the other side but it got me thinking. What was it on the other side th...

More Fun Things

The other day , Geeta and I were walking around the neighborhood- a very pretty place with lovely trees and flowering bushes and I noticed a strange black animal slowly crawling on the grass. It looked a bit like the Meerkat minus the long tail. It was black and large eyed and the size of small cat. So I stopped to stare. Geeta, who likes to keep a mile between her and any animal urged me to come on and I did so obediently. Later I learnt it was a skunk . The animal, if it takes a dislike to you, turns around , it’s butt facing you and squirts an awful juice at you that is supposed be such a stink that you can become a social outcast instantly! I was told that you need to take a bath in tomato ketchup to clean up and get the smell off your person! There is a lot of wild deer and rabbits in the area. In India you would see a dead dog on the highways- here you see dead deer. There are road signs that indicate “Deer Crossing”- apparently the deer use the same route ! And I have seen deer ...

At Home

I walked into my home that night and felt totally at ease- everything was exactly as I had left it a year ago. It seemed like a dream scene- my father and my in-laws were sitting there and I eagerly held their hands and felt their presence with every cell in my being. I was glad to feel the firm mattress and the old familiar pillow under my head as I drifted off to sleep. The jet lag caused me to wake up at 3:00 am and I waited for the first light of dawn to see the world that was removed from my vision a year ago. We hit the jogger’s park and someone mentioned that they are seeing us after a long time- we just smiled and continued walking. Later we went off to the vegetable market to soak in the steaming sunshine. We argued with the vendors and shaved of a few rupees- we tested to check if our negotiating skills were still intact. The Auto rickshaws passed inches away from our chappals and we did not cringe. The deaf and dumb vegetable vendor opposite the Oswal Grain store was at his ...

Duet of One

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