Category: Life Ordinary

  • The Apple Tree

    just a lil story i picked up from somewhere…..
    A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow…he loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.
    Time went by…the little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree every day.
    One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad. “Come and play with me” the tree asked the boy. “I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees any more” the boy replied.”I want toys. I need money to buy them.”
    “Sorry, but I do not have money… but you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.” The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad.
    One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited “Come and play with me” the tree said. “I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?”
    “Sorry, but I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house.” So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.
    One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted. “Come and play with me!” the tree said. “I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?” said the man.
    “Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.” So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.
    Finally, the man returned after many years. “Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you …” the tree said. “No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite” the man replied. “No more trunk for you to climb on””I am too old for that
    now” the man said. “I really cannot give you anything… the only thing left is my dying roots” the tree said with tears. “I do not need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years” the man replied. “Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest, Come, come sit down with me and rest.” The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears…
    This is a story of everyone.
    Father, mother, brother, sister, friend, it could have been anyone…….. all of us have wronged someone at some stage in our life, this is my way of saying sorry. i might not be able to correct what i have done, but at least i can pass the message.
    manuscrypts trivia
    an answer to one comment on a post sometime back….
    “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”~ Albert Einstein
    “The answer to any problem “pre-exists.” We need to ask the right question to reveal the answer.”~ Jonas Salk
    this is a must read, and did you know they actually had a petition online against sonia becoming PM…. as for our sardarji, FM 91 to PM 2004, not bad at all!!

  • Polls Apart

    is generally what i am from exercising my franchise, and this time is no exception. not exactly proud of it, but still haven’t figured out the chicken and egg situation – me making a difference to the polls and the polls making a difference to me….
    but am still socially conscious enough to be closely following the results, have sometimes even wondered whether there is a totally different form of rigging (from what we see) going on in the background. someone has said that “politics is the last refuge of the scoundrel” and in these times, it holds true in india.
    it is very difficult for the common public to get anything done from any politician, especially when he is in power, which is why i was kinda happy about some things that a certain mr.naidu was doing in hyderabad. not that that he was getting milk and honey to flow(even water was dicey), but somewhere he was making a difference. given time, he might have got the entire state to be like hyderabad. …..but the junta felt otherwise, which in my mind raises the question whether the junta deserves the politicians they get. the junta who may/do not see the bigger picture and the junta who dont want to make a difference…hehe..we have been trying to get rid of poverty since 1947, and no one has succeeded…sanjay gandhi did get rid of some poor , and therefore poverty but dunno if that can be a legal count…what has been happening is roughly like this
    “What is Politics?”
    A little boy goes to his dad and asks, “What is politics?”
    Dad says, “Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I’m the breadwinner of the family, so let’s call me capitalism. Your Mom, she’s the administrator of the money, so we’ll call her the Government. We’re here to take care of your needs, so we’ll call you the people. The nanny, we’ll consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we’ll call him the Future. Now, think about that and see if that makes sense,”
    So, the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what dad had said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents’ room and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny’s room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.
    The next morning, the little boy says to his father, “Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.” The father says, “Good son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.” The little boy replies, “Well, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People are being ignored and the Future is in deep shit.”
    and now, onto
    manuscrypts trivia
    “Write a wise saying and your name will live forever” ~ Anonymous
    “I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.” ~ Steven Wright

  • Of Vows, Woes and Wows

    At the outset, lemme state that i am experiencing all the wows, touchwood. if you are wondering what i am talking about, its marriage!! something that is increasingly becoming out of fashion.
    i saw a malayalam movie this weekend, an old one, where the protagonist climbs the ladder of success by using women , promising them marriage etc. at that time, there were rare occurences of this happening. the poor scriptwriter would have had a tough time, if he had to write it now, coz its more of a norm. there are at least 5 movies either made or in the process of being made exploring various facets of infidelity, both by husband and by wives.movies are reflections of society, so it is only fair to assume that this is the way it is.
    after one year of being married, i simply cant think of a reason why anyone would want to chuck the comforts of a long married life for a few pleasures once in a while. but i guess, lots dont agree. but i guess if they are being inundated with semi clad images of mallika sherawats, meghna naidus, beyonces (names changed to protect privacy ; -) )etc, one cant really blame them.
    but is society driving to a point where marriages would become rare occurences as opposed to being a norm?? we’ll wait for events to unfold, but meanwhile, your dose of
    manuscrypts trivia
    So you see, imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.~ Brenda Ueland
    Creativity is…seeing something that doesn’t exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God.~ Michele Shea

  • Hot and Happening

    Since the whole of India is like an oven, the title would have been apt even if it was out of context, but it is in context, nevertheless….
    i saw a malayalam movie thats become a hit recently. Its called “4 the poeple” (the pun, i think, is intended because it centres around four college guys).
    Four engineering graduates who are sick of the corruption, goondaism around, and take the law into their hands. their interface with the commonfolk is a website where people can register complaints against corrupt practices, gangs etc. the guys (typically, almost as a trademark) cuts off the right hand of the perpetrator and sends off the proof of his misdeeds to the police.
    I am happy for the movie’s success, coz it means the public is still at a stage where they are appreciative of (at least) someone standing for justice, fairness etc…. and more than that, willing to sacrifice a good life for the betterment of society. In a society devoid of morals, even thats a boon. right now, the process of accumulating wealth has become a passion. and it has to be, if only for survival. and therefore morals, ethics, virtues etc dont count.
    i need more money coz my old classmate has bought a new car, my colleague has bought a new house, my neighbour has two home theatres for his single home and so on and so forth…all the while listening to new age gurus, who, like a colleague so aptly put it, are only telling me what my grandma used to say anyways!!
    i am in the whirlpool, and even though i hate it, i have to swim vigorously to survive…. and if i can manage it, sink a couple of people swimming with me…
    society judges me be what i have, and not what i am, and so i play along, and will lose eventually, but yes, i tried. and i am a traitor in society’s camp coz i derive a sadisitic pleasure when i hear people talking about the heat (even though i get affected myself)..coz , its because of the tree cutting, plastic using, animal killing consumeristic greed of ours that nature is treating us with the same feeling that we treat it… no sympathies!! but hey, i am still with society, and pretty soon, hope to be hot and happening….
    meanwhile, some good quotes from some lucky people who had the time to think…… and do …in
    manuscrypts trivia
    “About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.” ~ Josh Billings
    “Everyone is as God has made him, and oftentimes a great deal worse.” ~ Miguel de Cervantes
    “God is at home, it’s we who have gone out for a walk.” ~ Eckhart

  • Theory of Relativity

    Heat. Lightning. More heat. Coconut trees. and between all these a tiny post, a day late….a classic case of blogginess overcoming laziness. (the style was intended to be something like the beginning of a work of fiction, i am practising every week … hehe)
    a lil bit about the title, am in no ways trying to expand on what ol’ albert said or did.. uh uh, i am not even trying to go there… on the contrary, it veers more towards the ‘how we are’ side of ‘philosophy’ than the ‘how we are’ side of science.
    It was sparked off by an article i saw in ‘the week’ about the difference in salaries of profs in the iims and the dudes who pass out of there, it was around 3 times. so, i wondered why the profs were still there – the first answer was an obvious one, they loved what they were doing.
    the other less obvious reason set off a thought process whose results were as follows – if we only look at what we are, what we earn, what we possess etc in an absolute sense , rather than in a relative sense i.e in comparison with what others have, what they earn, what they possess etc we would be more at peace with ourselves and the rest of humanity. there, thats the new theory of relativity. and so we would be able to spend more time doing things that would improve our lives…screeeeeech, just slammed the brakes on that line of thought, we will go there some other day.
    just realised a pun in this – ‘relatives are the source of misery’ 😉
    and now on to
    manuscrypts trivia
    When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers. ~ Oscar Wilde
    “out of my mind, back in 5 minutes” ~ unknown
    ” i do not suffer from insanity, rather i love every minute of it” ~ another unknown