A SCENIC TOP AND A MUNDANE BOTTOM

The evening was slowly giving over it's decree to the night and me and my daughter tried moving through this place.

Frankly, it was boring as there was nothing interesting out there that we did encounter. I wish we had a nice green expanse to walk on, with some sloped terrain to climb and then to come down. But it wasn't there either. But every time we looked up, we liked to see what nature offered. We could see the evening sky through the sublime and subtle art of the tree branches, that were part of the thick canopy that lay on top of us. Frankly, it gave us that real forest feel.

Imagine walking through some thick green bushes and shrubs, with nature and greenery embracing us all around and on top, with some slopes for us to struggle on and climb, those little sweet struggles and then the getting down from these. These little sweet things that we very seldom encounter in our urban life, were what we were really yearning for. But nah!! these were not there.

We would have never felt this, had the top been empty and open without this nice rustic canopy. Somehow, it's always these opportunities in half that frustrate us more than the situations where there is absolutely nothing to expect at all :)

Well, here's where we actually were :))

This is a road in West Anna Nagar, Chennai that runs in front of my daughter's school. And the snap you saw first, was just an upper portion of it. I think we should always keep looking at the better side of things and enjoy the best portions of the total that is offered to us :)) Expecting enjoyment from the whole total is what would frustrate us :))

A BIRTHDAY WISH FROM MY LITTLE ONE

This is a card that my daughter had got done a few months back for my birthday. Each time I read it, I derive a lot of energy out of it. Kindly ignore the adjectives that are in excess :)

I am somewhere there still, hanging on as a hero in her mind probably...with time it will slowly vanish :)

WHEN ONE READ OUT OF SYLLABUS AND DOGS BIT THE OTHER

While into the WhatsApp group of my alma mater yesterday, I saw a lot of messages that were wishes for the children appearing for their board exams. It was a nice feeling for all the parents, to get those warm wishes and blessings. I even saw many children receive blessings from elders this Sunday too, while at Church for our worship. For many of us in our WhatsApp group, it was difficult to believe that 29 years had fled by since school, as while we were together, we could still smell and feel everything of school in the air, although we were just hanging around in WhatsApp :))

My thoughts trudged back to my days at school and how my frame of mind was during those examination days. Except on very few occasions, I don't think there was even one exam where I was relaxed while entering the examination centre. It was the same while at the normal exams at school too, when I entered the examination hall. The same thing continued while I was into college and even so for my post graduate studies. Being cool before the exams was just not natural in me.

The first person who comes to my mind when I talk about being relaxed before approaching an exam is my classmate Amarnath, while we were in the  XII  std. I am not sure if this relaxed demeanour in him was because he had shifted from a CBSE school to our school which had the Tamil Nadu State Board syllabus. On some days, I would go through the street where his house was and he would join me on the journey to school, on our cycles. I have seen him spend time reading magazines, while waiting for me at his house and when I would ask him whether he had completed the studying for the exam, he would reply saying "I ran through it thrice and felt bored. In fact I finished it yesterday night itself. I have been reading these magazines, since then". I would really feel a chill run down my spine, when I heard this, primarily because all of us were competing for top ranks:))  This was more so because, in the XI and XII standards, no one really enjoyed being in that top spot for more than one occasion. In the very next exam, he or she would be knocked of from the throne, as the competition was that stiff.

I often keep telling my daughter, to try and reach that state for any exam she takes i.e to try and be so prepared that she can relax and do something else she really enjoys doing, while approaching the examination. It's a different feel and I really wish she is able to do the same, at least a few times.

While at college, I had another classmate Aby Joy. He would come with a plaster on, somewhere on his face, hands or legs and tell us that he had had some injury or that he had had severe vomiting and that he just could not study anything, the previous day. I remember him once saying "Man, you know, a dog bit me." In fact, he had shared the same dog story, to different groups of friends on different occasions with such an intensity that they would almost feel that he was studying out of a kennel:) But when the scores came, they would find that Sheby had scored well :) It was fun to watch him react to a barrage of questions he would face from the classmates, who would be stunned seeing his scores. Of course, Aby could not sustain the demonstration of his raconteuring skills beyond the first year :))

Like many parents, I also joined my little one to school and saw her off at the front gate. Then I heard that the bus taking them to the board exam centre, was leaving from the rear gate. And so I went all the way behind the school and waited and finally saw her going into the prayer hall. The students were about ten metres away from the gate. We waved at each other. It gave me some sentimental happiness. Some parents consider this as too much of a chaperoning, as children are expected to manage themselves. In fact my little one is really cool, but I did it for my own happiness. I saw a few other parents too, wait there and wave to their little ones. One parent in particular sensed that his son was about to enter the prayer hall without noticing him, and he really stunned me when he hollered :) His son waved and that made him happy too.

I have to admit, that it is this stage play that parents including me keep doing, that drive the children to feel that the board exam is some thing of a celestial calibre. Little do these little ones know that when they are into jobs, it's not just the marks that matter. They are so innocent of the fact that tomorrow they will have to battle it out with mundane people who literally live out of bakeries, buttering their superiors :)

I will have to keep talking to my daughter soon about how she should remain cool and find a way to perform, when these creatures are around :) Until then I have left her to focus on the scores.

ONE IMPACT OF MODERNIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY

I still like the simple green Christmas tree with all the trinkets and lights. Too much technology and the modern touch wipes out the basic traditional aspects out of anything :)

KERALA'S PRISTINE FACE - GREEN LAYERS AROUND STRETCHES OF WATER

RANDOM ART WITH MICROSOFT PAINT

This is something worth a try with Microsoft Paint. Lot of simple tools giving you a great effect. 

If you can imagine, sky is the limit here too.

SHARPEN BEFORE IT GETS BLUNT

I happened to see one of these men today, and that is what inspired me to sketch this piece. Back in the years when I was in high school, playing cricket in the evenings on the streets, was of great interest for me. Once I got back from school, I would freshen up, have something to eat and then head for the street in front of our house. I was never good at cricket, but on some days, the balls that I bowled, would somehow spin and get me wickets. I would be so excited about it and my mind would get clouded with the success so much, that I would not be able to think of anything else. 

Mom had left for her heavenly abode much before this period and Dad was the one who was taking care of all the cooking at home, although we had a maid to help us out. We had special knives that we had got from Kerala for cutting fish. On few days in a week, when I would approach Dad with some doubts in my subjects, he would answer me, while battling with the fish and the knife, to clean them and mince them into pieces. Sometimes, in reply to my questions, I would face real heat while he replied. I would not feel bad, as I knew Dad was going through a frustrating phase as a widower.

On working days, he would return home after sunset and that would be after the knife sharpening men, came through our street. I would be there at home by that time. On some days, he would have told me in the morning while I left for school, to look for the knife sharpening men, to get the knives sharpened. In the evening, as the sun slowly gave way to dusk and then the moon, to take over the decree, the streets would be filled with the wonderful cacophony of screaming kids, running around and playing and also with the chirps of birds and the caws of crows, returning to their nests in the trees. The knife sharpening men would slowly come into the streets while the kids would keep running all around them. With the burden of the contrivance on their back, they would call out and try and get their customers. In the bowling successes that would cloud my mind, I would often not even spot these men, leave alone hearing their call and getting the knives sharpened. Dad would be very livid with me on those evenings. 

I would very diligently wait, for the next encounter with the knife sharpening men and get the knives sharpened. Many of them frequented our streets, but only one of them still remains there in my memory. And this man would tell me and all his customers once he sharpened their knives, "Don't wait for the knife to become blunt. Sharpen it often and keep it ready". At that age, his words did not carry a depth or relevance to me. But looking back today, it does. 

Whether at work or in matters of our personal life, it is good to be sharp, agile, prepared and planned, so that we can cut through our tasks like knife cuts through butter.