Oscar was born in 2005. I don’t know the day, date or month. I have no idea how he happened to be in an animal shelter though he was cute. He got adopted by Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rhode Island (U.S.) as a therapy cat (Cats are known for making people comfortable). He wasn’t that friendly as a therapist and he once even bit a doc. His mission is different, it seems.
When he became a member of that Hospital, he was six months old (There are more therapy cats in that Nursing home). He grew up in the third floor which has the Dementia department (Dementia is a disorder where a person (usually elderly) face problems to reason, think , remember etc. Has links to Alzheimer’s). Some of the staff members happen to notice something. Whenever a patient died, Oscar was in the room.
That was the turning point. And then Oscar got closely observed by the staff, may be especially by Dr.David Dosa (I assume so coz it was he who told the world about Oscar).
Like doctors, Oscar too goes for rounds in the hospital. He enters some room, jumps up to the bed where the patient is lying and sniffs the air. If he don’t find anything odd, he moves on to the next room. If he smell ‘something’, he stays with that patient and sometimes nuzzle the patient. Within a short while, the patient dies.
Not just one or two, but so far Oscar predicted 50 deaths with 100% accuracy. Once when he tried to enter a room, the room was closed and he waited outside for 25 minutes. These days, if the staff see him cuddle with any patient, they immediately inform the patient’s relatives and many a times, they come with a priest.
Sometimes the relatives may not like a cat sitting with the patient and in such case the staff will move the car out. But Oscar will wait outside the door strolling and saying lots of ‘Meaow meaow’ and goes back to his room once the soul leave the body. If he don’t smell any more death, he goes back to his desk.
Oscar
How do this cat do this? I read many theories by many doctors and people from scientific field including a stupid theory by a qualified doc that when somebody is about to die, he/she becomes immobile and the cat finds it and sits there so that it can sit there comfortably (not verbatim). I wonder how a doctor can make such a statement? But many others say that it can smell some hormone that gets released at the last moment.
But there was this incident. Once Oscar was sitting with a patient and all the relatives were there in the room (since the hospital ppl called them) and there was this grandchild of that dying patient too. The child asked
“What is that cat doing here?”
And the mother answered:
“He is here to help Grandma get to heaven”
Whatever it be, one thing is sure. As long as Oscar is there, nobody in that ward is going to die alone. And he sees off the soul with love and compassion.
I happened to check my own blog. There are less posts these days. For a moment I felt happy about it coz there passed many blogs through my mind during every sleepless nights, which were in plenty, and had I wrote them the next day, it could have resulted in kind of criticism type blogs about a BIG country in which I live now; not all of the blogs but many of them. But lack of sleep has this ability to wipe off those blogs from my mind rather quickly. If we do not get enough sleep, our brain will not function properly. There will be confusion, short term memory loss, fatigue, acidity and GERD (GastroEsophageal Reflex Disease) and so on…some latest studies say that prolonged insomniac nights could result in early death. Whatever…
I think that is a nice introduction for this blog coz it has nothing to do with what I am going to write. Sitting on this couch with slight back pain, upset stomach, tired eyes, mild headache, and aching toes I was thinking about my 8th grade. It took some time to get a visual of my class room. Once it came into my mind, I wondered why it took so long to remember it coz I do remember that class room.
When I joined this school as a 5th grade student, our division, the ‘I’ division, had no particular class room. We were split into many groups and were accommodated into other divisions. I had no idea why they just accommodate and did not absorb. But 8th grade ended this slavery and we got freedom. A separate division got created and we the ‘I’ division became ‘F’ division. May be 8th I division was English medium, I don’t remember now. We had both English and Malayalam medium divisions in our school and I was in the Malayalam medium. English medium was considered as something ‘above’ Malayalam medium. English medium had no representation from poor people (this does not mean that Malayalam medium was filled only with poor people). I think there wasn’t any extra fee for English medium or was there?
Who was my class teacher? Can’t remember.. it was either John Sir or Titus Sir. I still remember some of my 8th grade teachers, obviously by their nick name. Geography teacher was known as ‘Ambattan’ which means barber and Malayalam teacher was known as ‘Eruma’ which means buffalo. English teacher’s name can’t be written here coz it means something dirty (once I got a very niiiiice pinch from him for trying to imitate his signature).
None of us in that class can forget our Math teacher, Titus. He got transferred to this school that year and ours was his first class he taught. He was a terror. He always carried a cane. He beaten up the students and very soon there came some uproar against him. There came writings and graffiti against him on many walls on the school. Our school was well known for politics (major political parties have their student wings. Our class and school elections were just like president and prime minister Elections of the country. All contestants belonged to one or another political party ) and thus there were kind of rowdy students too in our school. I think Titus became a discussion among them and some of them even called him names, hiding here and there. (Later on, Titus sir left the school and joined a College as a Math lecturer. This wasn't coz of the anti-Titus movement but he always wanted to become a College teacher than a school teacher.)
Our new class room was already occupied by a boy who failed two times in a row (such students have to pay a fee for their next term). Happened to meet my 2nd grade best friend. There were only three students in my class who scored first class in 7th grade and promoted to 8th grade and I was one among them. There wasn’t any competition in my class. If Math wasn’t there as a subject, I would have been the topper all the time in that class, coz the other two always scored more marks than me in Math.
One thing about this school is that, once you pass out from here, you will have a clear idea about almost every filthy word in our mother tongue. This is coz every class had some kids who use abusive words liberally and once there was one ‘filthy word competition’ in our class, when there was no teacher for a period. The class divided into two groups for this purpose and each side had one lead person to shout the swear word and the rest hauled, whistled and made noise tapping on the desk. All of a sudden a teacher appeared and asked who did that (shouting dirty words). Though couple of students including me were against that ‘competition’, we did not name others coz it would have made our lives tough in that school. Some students managed to bring some porn book in the class and they always kept we, the so-called decent guys, at a par and we were warned to not to tell this to the teacher.
The English teacher assigned the work of checking the homework to three (or four?) students and I was one among them. We were selected based on the marks we scored for the first term examination. My old buddy was supposed to show his book to me and he took advantage of my friendship and many a times came without doing the home work. He never took me seriously. Once or twice I gave my book and asked him to blindly copy it into his book.
(went to bed early coz of headache) (Feb- 1- 2010)
I started wearing full pants from 8th grade. There were only very few students who were still wearing shorts. That boy who failed twice and studying for the third time was wearing shorts (we had uniform. Black pants –half or full- and white shirt. And, on Wednesday we were allowed to wear color). He was a big boy and the reason seemed that he is poor and half pants cost less compared to full one. But he too started wearing full pants, later on; may be its coz he felt embarrassment since only 2-3 boys were wearing half pants and they were small (short) too.
I got befriended with couple of more boys. I was choosy as far as friendships were concerned. None of my friends used any filthy words while speaking to me. There was a gap between those students who do not study well and those who study well. I wasn’t a very studious boy, though I stood 2nd or 3rd in my class. I was attentive at class and used to do the home work. Other than that, I never had this habit of studying each day. If there was no home work, I didn’t study anything. There were moments where I came without finishing home work and then copying it from one of my friends (this boy (usually) never allowed others to copy from him. He stood first or second in the class and he never helped others during exams). I was one among the toppers because our class mostly had boys who do not study well. There wasn’t much competition and hence I never put an extra effort to improve myself.
I started participating in some Hindi language exams (every year till 10th…I passed all those exams with first class and I somehow lost all those certificates when I shifted my city after marriage) and that’s the end of my extracurricular activities. There were some other similar exams but I did not participate. Now I feel very disappointed about that because, I was good at science and I could have attended some science related stuff. Even our class teacher was not interested in sending his top students to any such exams. At home? Who cares about my studies? Mother never cared about what, how or when we study and father felt OK since I always scored a first class (60% or above). It looks like he had no idea about my potentials.
Usually, we used to play something during lunch break. But I don’t remember what I played when I was in 8th grade. But I remember one incident where one of my friends falling into a pit. It was fully covered with long grass and he accidently fell into it. Which was stupid, keeping a pit open in a boys school or playing somewhere which was not meant for playing? Anyway, he was my close friend and I helped him come out of it by pulling his hands. He had pain in his chest, looked like he felt some difficulty to breathe…
We were more active during ‘Sevana Vaaram’. Sevana Vaaram literally means ‘Service Week’. Every year, during/starting October 2nd, which was Mahathma Gandhi’s birthday, we used to celebrate Sevana Varam. That is, there won’t be any class for one week. But we have to come to school. All we had to do was cleaning the school, neighboring roads etc and some helping the poor and needy acts. The school arranged something to eat (steamed tapioca/cassava for example) and drink (usually black tea or coffee). We always enjoyed that week.
There weren’t any change in my home atmosphere, which never wasn’t great. My sister started attending college. The college was very near (just 5 minutes walk from our home). During the initial days she did not like the college and even cried since the medium of instruction was English. That time, I had no idea how it would be when all of a sudden our teachers teaching everything in English. My house owner’s wife, who was an illiterate that time, came to console my sister. Even now I can remember that moment. I can still see it in my mind (?, or whatever. I refer those dream kind of visuals what appear when we think of something).
In our native place we had this educational institutions called ‘Tutorials’ (and ‘Parallel college’ too) which provide tuitions, not for just one subject but for all subjects we learn at school (we had Malayalam I and II, English I and II, Hindi, Math, Drawing, Craft, (P.T.), History and Civics, Geography, Physics, Chemistry and Biology). By default, most of the middle class students (the upper middle class and rich prefer private lessons or one to one tuitions) used to attend one such place and so did I. It wasn’t the best known place for tuitions or teachers (there were such places too) but one which was closer to my home and run by some unemployed guys (who were friends). It was a mixed class and many a times I had butterflies in my stomach when some girls look at me. One of the boys used to wear the cleanest shirts to impress the girls. He was my school mate and if he came home with a dirty shirt (oh yes, we used to make it dirty), he used to wash it and dry it immediately using electric iron and wear it whenever there was evening classes.
There weren’t any boy-girl friendship in my tuition class. Most of the good girls hardly spoke to boys. I faced serious competition from three girls. Many a times I managed to stand with 2 of them in overall marks but never ever bet one girl (her name is Subha). She was very strong at Math. When I recollect those moments now, I realize that I never took any effort to compete with those girls.
Sometime back I witnessed a strange thing. Somebody making tea. What is strange in it? It was done in our traditional way – keeping a utensil with milk and water in the stove, adding tea leaves, filtering it with a tea strainer, adding sugar… that person wasn’t using a utensil which will allow us to easily pour tea into a glass without spilling and naturally I saw tea getting spilled. Spilling...wiping... Once, twice, thrice…I saw it happening every time that person made tea. It looked like a daily ritual. The strange thing is that I saw a perfect utensil for making tea that can be then poured without spilling even a drop. But why that person did not use it?
According to that person, that utensil is for making a particular curry. I came to know that this is because that person’s mother told so.
Do we need to label things around us that way? Do we need to follow our parents blindly in this labeling process?
Everything might have a specific use but it also has a general use too. A safety pin, a swab, a kitchen fork, sewing needle, a rubber band, a dining table, a dining chair, a business card, a screwdriver, pliers, a piece of wood, a tea spoon, a roll of toilet paper, a coin...Prejudice about people, ceremonies, rituals, beliefs, culture, religion, faith etc too gets labeled.
When I saw that labeling, an incident came into my mind. Roughly 20 years ago, I was working in a factory as an accountant. They had lots of machines and tools, including some lathe. That factory used to open by 8 in the morning and the owner used to come around 10. One day, I saw my boss’s car coming early, I stood up in my seat to greet him and here he comes in a hurry and from his face I read that something is odd.
“Call Madhavan” he said
Madhavan was a strange worker there. He was not in our rolls. He was working with that factory as a supervisor but later on resigned and started his own workshop. But still, he comes here and works on an hourly basis. He was the best there..was proficient with every department there. Not just that, he was capable of fixing many things like motor bike, car, clock, electrical equipments, plumbing…he was very very talented.
Why did the boss come this early and call Madhavan?
As usual, he took his morning shower, cleaned his ear with a cotton swab and there it is…the cotton stuck inside his ear. But he did not go to an ENT specialist. This is not because he was a miser. But his trust with Madhavan. He did not label Madhavan as a Lathe operator.
(Madhavan or none of us did not dare to laugh when we came to know why boss called him coz our boss was very very short tempered)
Who was the first country singer to whom I listened to? I might have heard some songs without knowing that it was country or who sung it. But the first singer I remember is Jim Reeves. His ‘Bimbo’ is still popular, though he died and early death even before I was born.
Why do I remember this particular singer? When we connect certain things to certain other things, sometimes we remember odd things. It was my then best friend who gave me a ‘Best of Jim Reeves’ cassette. She said she like the song ‘Bimbo’. Did she say she liked the song ‘Just Walking in the Rain?’, can’t remember it ...the incident happened about 20 years ago. Why did she like Reeves? She did not tell me …may be because I did not ask her. But I know its coz his Gospel work and Christian songs. My friend too was a good singer, was highly involved in Gospel work and even sang in couple of music albums.
Why did I remember my then best friend now?
Is it coz I happened to listen to Reeves or is it coz I missed her and hence I listened to Reeves?
Sometime ago, I had mentioned about people who are into God business (Benny Hinn for example and more can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_televangelist_scandals). Evangelism is a business for them and they live in super luxuries. We cannot blame them for their followers’ ignorance. If we closely listen to them, we can find out that many a times they say scripture or somebody from the scripture said this and that and they never tell that they believe in what they preach . They escape from places where there is a possibility of them getting exposed and next day they might say ‘God asked me to not to attend that meeting’…
Pastor Tony Alamo is one such cheater. He grew from a news paper delivery boy to a multi millionaire. He married 4 times, sexually abused minor girls and two months ago ended up in a jail with 175 years term. That means he will never come back (good God!). Today’s news said one of the US courts ordered him to pay $500,000 each to 5 women who became victims of his lust when they were minors. 2,5 million US dollars is a big money but he and his missionary has more to spare.
Why all such evangelists and their missionaries are filthy rich though they are not coming from rich families? Too much for a coincidence?
Jealousy is a negative emotion, a negative force or energy. It can work the way the prayer we do (for others), but in a somewhat opposite manner. A prayer we do for somebody else purifies our mind where as feeling jealousy rotten the mind and attracts more negativity. If our prayer for somebody else can do well for them, jealousy can do something bad to them.
To what extend our prayer can do good or our curse can do bad AND to what extend the other person can receive the good or bad from our prayer or curse depends on various factors including the magnitude of our thoughts, the aura around us and them and many other things.
Getting a well paid job, buying new car, an ipod, a laptop, a camera….getting a chance to visit places which many others wish to visit, moving to a better living condition…many such things can make others jealous of you; even if those ‘others’ are friends or family members.
It is in the nature of humans to share our happy moments with our loved ones. I said loved ones.. where divine love is the purest form of positive energy. I am not referring to that love in the ‘ I love you’ originating from lust.
So, when we share good things with others, it is better we think twice to whom and what we share coz it can attract negative energy or even bad luck.
What if we think we made somebody feel jealous of us?
The flight was at 3 pm. Since it was the first domestic travel here, we (me my wife and son) started bit early. We commuted to airport by train ( BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit). Since it was Christmas day, there wasn’t much rush in the train. But the plane was full (except for first class and they offered an upgrade for just $50). Travelling on Christmas day has this advantage of getting a low fare.I got a window seat but since it is winter season it was foggy.
But still I could see many snow filled mountains… It was beautiful
Reached at Seattle-Tacoma airport around 5.10 pm. Weather was different…it was colder than Fremont. Sister-in-law came to pick and we went to a Punjabi restaurant and bought some Indian food for dinner.At night went out to see the Seattle skyline. It was a great view but I had bad headache coz of lack of sleep on couple of previous nights. So went straight away to bed as soon as we reached home, I did not even change my dress…
Saturday, December 26, 2009
I wasn’t traveling to Seattle for tourism or sightseeing but my sister-in-law was kind enough to add some tourism element into it. Thus we decided to go to Snoqualmie falls and Pass, which was about 55 miles away from home. I was thrilled to see the snow but sis-in-law said if the weather is not good, she will cancel the trip (it was she who was driving the car). We went to the falls first. It wasn’t a great fall but it really was cold…I went out without wearing any jacket and when the wind blew, wow wow wow…but my jaws did not chatter.
Snoqualmie Falls
Next was Snoqualmie Pass, the mountain with snow. There are big billboard kind of things on the sides of roads which provide live update on traffic, weather etc and unfortunately, there came this warning ‘Gusty wind ahead’ and my sister in law said we better cancel the trip and come another day. But I did not agree to that. This resulted in her handing over the steering to me. I was driving that car for the first time, the steering has play, the wind was gusty, as they said, but luckily for me, there weren’t any snow or ice on the road which could have been a spoilsport.Finally we reached there and it was a fantastic view.
Lots of people were doing skiing and snowboarding.
At Snoqualmie Pass
Since we did not bring any of those equipments (sister in law knows how to ski and snowboard) I did not try anything funny (‘thank God!’ Said my poor old knees).
Way back home, I saw a young homeless man begging, hanging a placard in his neck which read: ’ Anything will help’…and came to know that it’s not a rare scene in the US.
Sunday, December 27, 2009.
Which is the easiest way to have a look around the Seattle city? Ride the Ducks !.
Space Needle
This city tour is operated by ‘Ride the Ducks’ (they have service in many other cities including San Francisco, which is about an hour’s drive from my apartment in Fremont).Duck is an amphibian. It can travel both in land and water. The design is taken from the DUKW (pronounced as ‘duck’), an amphibian truck designed by the General Motors during the World War II to transport goods and troops over land and water.Now Ride the Ducks manufactures its own vehicle.
The Captains of these ducks are all funny. They sing, crack jokes and entertain us throughout the journey, apart from providing other information about Seattle. I liked my captain very much. He was a real entertainer. The ride starts from (near) the famous Space Needle and takes us through the major streets. Seattle has lots of Starbucks, including the very first Starbucks in the world. The duck takes us to the Lake Union, which is a fresh water lake. We can see lots of private yachts and boats parked there .It takes about one and a half hours to finish the ride. I really enjoyed the ride. Unfortunately, this time too I wasn’t wearing any coat and at some point of time, I even shivered…yes, it was a real cold day.
Though the duck went through the Pike Place market, we paid a visit there ourselves.
This market is near the Elliott Bay waterfront. This is one of the oldest farmer’s markets in the US. This place attracts around 10 million visitors in a year. There are lots of shops selling many different items. One fish shop
seemed to be an attraction for many visitors. The first ever Starbucks is here. There was a crowd inside and outside hence I shyed away from taking a picture standing just in front of it (or have a coffee from there). This market place has some long history too.
We went to one Turkish restaurant. May be we visited at an odd hour coz there was only one lady to attend all the customers and hence we had to wait for some time. I ate Baklava and Spinach Borek. Baklava, the sweet, had some similarity to one of the Indian sweets.
We paid a visit to the Pacific Place mall too. This is one of the premium malls in Seattle. We went to the Bose store and experienced a demo of their home theatre system which was awesome. Since it was holiday season, there was live music. The lady who sang the songs ended it with ‘Jingle bells’.
We had dinner from an Ethiopian restaurant. This was a different experience. I never thought of having Ethiopian food in my life. I ate something called ‘Injera’ which is one of the most popular foods in Ethiopian cuisine. This was similar to our ‘dosa’ and ‘aappam’. I really liked the tea served by them.
Monday, 28 December 2009.
Spent the whole day at home….finally, to the purpose of the visit..sort, pack, work..
Tuesday, 29 December 2009.
This is the day of one of my dreams coming true. Visiting the final resting place of the legend Bruce Lee. When I had this dream of visiting his grave, I had no idea how it is going to happen; after all, from where the funds will come? I was in India and we had no US plans that time. But I had this strong wish to visit the grave, which was in Lake View cemetery (I passed Volunteer Park too, but did not go inside the Park), Seattle. I really really wanted to visit it someday.
When I really stood in front of his grave, my head/mind became blank.
It was hard to believe that finally I am standing there for real. I don’t know how to describe this moment….I thanked my Guru because it was one of his teachings that inspired me to keep such a big dream in my mind.
Space needle is one of the major tourist attractions in Seattle but we did not visit it or took the elevator in the needle. Instead, sister –in-law took us to her office building, the Columbia Center, which is the tallest building (937 feet) in Seattle downtown, taller than the Space Needle (605 feet). Thus we got a wonderful view of the Seattle.
Space Needle and Seattle seen from Columbia Center
It was really beautiful.On my way back, I bought roasted chestnut from a street vendor. He was a nice guy and the street was beautiful coz of the decorations. I wished there were snow too. Then it would have been a magnificent view.
We travelled in a bus. The most interesting thing about Seattle is that the bus is free in the downtown area. It was hard to believe. May be Bill Gates is supporting them a lot. Since we caught the bus not from the downtown, we paid ($2 per tkt). It included a return trip too but we had to hire a taxi since we were in a hurry and we already wasted enough time walking here and there and eating chestnut..
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Woke up (as if I slept nicely, huh!) at 4 am with headache.Here in these weather conditions, if we do not drink enough water, it can result in headache. We are going back to Fremont by car. We had some work in city of Vancouver (Washington, not Canada) Motor Vehicles Department. That building and surrounding area was marvelous... everything covered in snow. It was just like the white Christmas I have seen in pictures and movies. Unfortunately, I did not take not even a single picture; one reason for my bad mood was my headache. But from Vancouver till my house, it was me who drove the car (over 1000 km).The drive was really good. It was scenic too. But we did not stop for any sightseeing since we had planned to reach home before midnight. This again is coz we had some other work next day morning.
This was the longest drive I ever did, so far, in single stretch. We saw lots of snow and ice on our way. Many mountains were covered in snow. Luckily for us, there wasn’t any fresh snow fall on our way. I stopped the car at one restroom, stepped out of the car without wearing gloves and there it is….it was some minus temperature and my hands got almost frozen. But I enjoyed it. Though I was wearing a coat, it was really cold. And the view from that place was superb. Moon and snow covered mountains..Mother Nature is really beautiful.
Reached home around 9.30 pm. We prepared some express dinner and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Which is the recent memory which looks like a nightmare for me? The flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco? May be not…there is another ridiculous memory coming in to my mind..
It happened about two months ago, when I was back in India. I got a discount coupon (when I had coffee from a café) of a premium saloon and spa. I went to that saloon and did haircut (usually I do not visit such places since a haircut can be done for less than one forth of the amount these kind of saloons charge). It was a nice experience. The ambiance, the chair, the equipments, the process involved, and the way the guy behaved etc.
I was coming back with a happy feeling. When I passed my regular saloon on my way back to home, this thought of doing a facial came into my mind since I got very tanned due to an one week long travel in a hot place. So, I dropped in to that saloon and told that I want a facial. He suggested a ‘Papaya’ one. This was the first time in my life so far that I was trying out any such grooming other than haircut.
He started with a bleach and it I did not feel any issues (well, any difference in my skin tone too) and then he applied something and started massaging my face in such a way that I felt like he thinks that my face is a road and he is running a road-roller. At some point of time, he poked my nose and it became watery, even the eyes (he applied that thing on my eyelids too). I thought I better stop the whole thing and save my face from his barbaric acts. I realized that he don’t know even the basics of facial massage. I was waiting for him to wipe off the stuff he applied.
When he did that, I opened my eyes and…
My eyes were red and my face was yellow ! how can I go home this way? He was trying his best but the color stayed there… I asked him what this is and he said it will go when he finish the whole process. I don’t know what he was applying on my face but he applied couple of more things on my face and continued his brutal massage…it took about an hour for him to finish his ‘work’
Then he asked whether I want to go for a head massage. And I politely said no coz I didn’t want to lose the precious hair that is left on my head in an hours time and end up in a severe headache. When I paid the money, he expected some tips but I did not give any…he stared at me and I just said thanks and left the place…May be he thought I thanked him for his ‘work’ , but no…
All that ‘feeling good’ that I got from the haircut place is gone now…its replaced by feeling bad…
Same day, same kind of place and opposite results….
It’s 11 days here in California. I am still in a hotel and yet to get settled here. Settled in the sense living in our own (rented)house, getting the Social Security Number, getting California driver’s license, sending my son to the school, having an idea where my wife is working, getting familiarized with the neighborhood place I am going to live etc. So far I have no idea about how our income and expenditure account would be. But it looks like we can’t save much (or anything) because of many factors.
I spent this weekend with a relative in San Francisco. Had lots of Indian food (thanks a lot, guys!). It was a beautiful place in a hilly area. We can see the downtown San Francisco from there. Their neighborhood had more Filipinos than Indians. I did not miss any chance to visit shops there. Almost anything and everything had further choice here. Milk and yoghurt is available in varied fat levels and in big big quantities (I did not find any half liter milk)....onion, orange, apple they all comes in different varieties..
We can see obese people everywhere. U.S has everything that can make you fat. I was surprised to see some teenage looking girls wearing kind of plus size (may be its not plus size here) jeans. This is not the case with India and that is not because Indians do not have anything to eat. It has everything to do with what and how people eat and their physical activities. Here even the trash bin is sensor monitored and we don’t have to press the pedal and waste our energy to open it. Just place the hand over the lid and there it opens. Machines to wash and machines to dry too (yes, its catching up in India too). Most of the food available here in the restaurants is packed with tons of calories. And the funny part is I hardly saw anybody walking here (there are exceptions like school hour and some odd people taking their dogs out).
I happened to read a statement by our governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that biking (bicycle) is a healthy option to commute. But here in California, one can hardly live without a car. It looks like people are scared (of mugging, mostly…Why do people mug? For fun? Not really.. its mainly coz of poverty and unemployment) to walk. Back in my apartment in India, people start morning walk and jogging by 5-5.30 in the morning. This is one aspect that I liked about Hong Kong (this could be the case with many other Asian countries too...same is the case with Paris). People walk, they have excellent public transport system too.
There could be business behind this. It’s all about marketing. Capitalism…I believe in science but also believe in applying commonsense. Do normal kids need vitamin supplements just like that? We can find vitaminized candies (for kids), milk and eggs, fortified rice, ‘heavy weight’ potato and onions, tons of frozen foods etc at one end and organic products at the other end. At one shop, I saw a strange over-the-counter tablet. This offers comfortable sleep (apart from acetaminophen, it contains a mild sedative). I wouldn’t have minded testing one but it came in a double pack containing 250 tablets each ! One bread company says ‘Eat more bread’ and I saw it written on a white bread. It looks like most of the health issues here starts from stomach. And what about the health system? Its damn expensive. If you do not have insurance, you are done with it. The other day a taxi driver told that a doctor charged 250 dollars for a check up (for his kid) and finally he had to shout and bargain to reduce it (he told this coz we hired his taxi for an appointment with a doctor. On our way, when we almost reached the hospital, they called up and cancelled the appointment saying that the doctor went for an emergency). Now I understand why India is promoting medical tourism. Last month, I happened to talk to a dentist and he said if people have some major dental things to do (like couple of root canal and a cleaning), it is cheaper to fly back to India and get it done. These days, we can get high quality health care in India and Singapore at cheaper rates compared to developed countries. In some ‘developed’ countries we need to wait for our turn even for surgeries.
As I mentioned earlier we need to apply commonsense. Nobody here force you to take high calorie food. No rule says one should not walk. But in the contrary, here in California, pedestrian has the right on road.
I was checking out the possible part time jobs here and I found one strange job. ‘Interns to lead campaign’. Campaign means next governor election campaign and this campaign is against human trafficking. This was a surprise for me. (The CIA fact sheets about many Asian countries states that human trafficking is a major issue in these countries and thy keep mum on U.S). This is what that organization says:
“17,000 slaves are sold in the United States each year—70% are female and 50% are children. At the same time, American minors are being exploited as sex slaves in the pimping industry. Today, a convicted human trafficker can walk free after 3-5 years under California law”
So, women are treated ‘equally’ everywhere in the world? Even in the U.S.?
Another shocker for me was the internet connection which drops very often..
Am I being critical about US? Nope, I was just observing things around me and naturally, my head and mind started comparing it with the places I had been, especially the place from where I am from. May be I had a different picture about U.S in my mind. or too much expectation?
It wasn’t an all of a sudden affair. But I took it lightly since I already had a bad experience in a similar situation. So, I kept it low. Did not get excited about it…did not make any plans in advance… Finally, when things looked like a reality, I had very little time left to arrange things properly. This does not mean that I had no plans. My plans got interfered by many others. When you stand alone against many, it’s a different experience coated with frustration and pity. I always believe in planning in advance and I believe that some times we need to compromise money over convenience if we can afford it. When one is doing things alone, one can stick to his plans otherwise it’s not easy.
26-Nov-2009, Thursday
We are supposed to travel tomorrow. This is a long term assignment and hence we need to carry lots of things but even the packing was yet to start. There were many things to buy plus lots of things to move out from our apartment since we are going to let it out. We had one dinner invite too. My wife and I had to be at our apartment till almost 9 and thus reached the dinner place bit late. We stayed at my in-laws place. I could not sleep coz of two reasons – I was very tired then I did not get enough space to sleep (might sound silly but its true that I prefer to sleep alone in the bed…but this time the whole family, the three of us, had to share a single bed).
27-Nov-2009, Friday
Woke up with headache since I could not sleep last night. But there were still lots of things to be done, including some last minute shopping. I decided to do the out door chores and my wife decided to start packing. She did not get enough support since she did not want to blindly follow others opinion and thus it became a tiring job for her. I was running around till 6 pm that too without drinking enough water. Thus I was really tired.
We left at 10 in the night ( I wanted to leave at least by 9-9.30). Since we could not get the boarding passes early, we did not get window seat. Our first flight was from Bangalore to Hong Kong (Dragon Air). The flight was at 2.35 in the early morning. Couple of people in the flight had cold, it seems. I heard some sneeze and finally, I too started sneezing..then I had a tablet to arrest sneezing and headache.
28-Nov-2009, Saturday
I could not sleep well again and hence there was terrible headache. I wished I could lie down somewhere. This is the second consecutive day without much sleep. So, as soon as I boarded my flight (Cathay Pacific) I tried to sleep. The headache did not stop but increased heavily and hence I had one more tablet. Headache was not affordable for me since we had lots of luggage (we carried the maximum that airline allowed, in terms of number of suitcases and weight. This wasn’t my idea and I always prefer to travel light). We got two window seat and one middle seat. But we exchanged the window seat (a Chinese guy…this poor guy accepted one Indian vegetarian meal delivered to him which was supposed to be ours). I lied down on my wife’s lap for almost the entire trip (18 hours) but I could hardly sleep coz of the headache. The third tablet started suppressing it..
We reached San Francisco around 10. The officer who interviewed us was a Chinese man and he was very friendly and he gave 3 years permit though we had only 1 year visa. Now we can stay here for 3 years in one go (if we go out of US after one year, once again we need a new visa). My sister-in-law (who live in Seattle came here just for this purpose)was there to receive us. And within a few minutes, there came another relative (who are settled in SF). As soon as I came out of the airport I felt the coldness and this made me very happy (I love it, though my body might not like it many a times).
We straight away went to that relative’s house and within 10 minutes I went to a nearby Chinese store to have an idea about how the US stores are like….Then we had lunch, Indian food. It was a nice house and they had an apple tree in the backyard. Since we were surrounded by our own people, I did not feel like I am really in the US. It was a surprise for all of them seeing me not sleepy coz of jet lag (my wife and son were sleepy). Yes, I wasn’t sleepy though I could not sleep for couple of days plus this long travel crossing time. (But this doesn’t mean that my body does not need sleep. It does need sleep just like anybody else. For me, this happens so coz of my mind. But body warns me with headaches and heartburn/acidity and sometimes even with chest pain).
In the evening we checked in to our hotel and then went to Starbucks to have coffee. Most of the malls here are not single huge building with escalators but lots of small but independent buildings/shops. It was cold and windy outside, but sunny too.
For dinner, we went to a place which sells pasta, pizza and some Mexican and American food. I did not much like the food but I had no issues in eating them. Everything had lots of cheese. Food was expensive.
29-Nov-2009, Sunday
Woke up very early. The complimentary breakfast wasn’t good. Re-arranged and re-packed stuffs and came to know that baniyan (an inner vest for men made of cotton which is worn under shirt/Tshirt) and the sandal that I bought as last minute purchase turned to be wrong size (they showed me something and packed something else). The only Indian traditional dress I brought got spoiled by some mango pickle (we were not supposed to bring this, I guess. But I was helpless…the one against many issue again).
Checked out many apartments. The houses were spacious and neat. There was one neighborhood full of Indians and my personal choice was to keep away from that. Finally we decided on one and told them that we are interested.
Did some essential goods purchase. Sister-in-law, who was driving the car, bought a GPS. We even got Indian roti/chapatti from one store. The variety available here in the US is amazing. We have lots of choice here. Even eggs come in many different varieties and sizes. Same with milk, it comes in different fat levels. One particular store called Costco sells everything in big quantities but at lesser price. There are so many chain shops specialized in different stuffs like food, grocery, stationery, saloons etc…I really enjoyed the shopping experience. Happened to be at a McDonald’s which did not have any vegetarian stuff and thus I had to go for a burger without anything inside.
30-Nov-2009, Monday
First working day after we arrived here. But woke up little late and hence had to hurry. We had so many things to do. First was to return a mobile phone which did not work and when returned, came to know that it was billed more when we purchased. There was a difference of $5. The we proceed for the most important thing in the US, the Social Security Number. I will never forget this visit, coz…
We entered the SSN office and parked the car. I got down from the car and started walking and heard a lady saying:
“Excuse me”
I saw a tall, athletic looking blonde lady saying that to my wife. She continued:
“You made a dent on my car”
Then my sister-in-law interfered
“There is no dent, nothing happened, its just a..’
She tried to wipe it off
Then that lady took her wallet and took an id and showed it. The first thing I read was
“POLICE” in bold red….
She was a police officer. I checked her car and yes, there is a dent. And that was caused by our car when my wife opened it…it ended up in claiming insurance…
I am very busy...and I will be very very busy for the coming days. I think I can continue blogging only after thanks giving, with some all new experiences...
Yesterday! The weather wasn’t friendly and I had slight headache, but still I had so many things in my to-do list. One lift wasn’t working. The working one smelled kerosene. There was heavy traffic on the road….I was supposed to get a document from my son’s school but they said it is not yet ready. Then the gas agency people asked for a supporting document which I do not have. Two disappointments in a row!
Then, all of a sudden, like a pregnant woman, I felt like eating a particular sweet which was available only at a particular store (I have not seen that anywhere else except in their chain stores). I took a wrong route and happened to proceed further at a cross road which forced me to travel about a kilometer to take a U-turn. Then this slow moving traffic with a hell lot of motor vehicles. At the end, I missed the store and decided to get away from the traffic and reach home.
On my way, I decided to buy a somewhat similar tasting sweet from a store near my apartment. I got a good parking, went to the store and they had the sweet I was looking for. I paid the money, collected my bag and went home. I changed my dress , washed my face and opened the box and there lies some pieces of fruit cake !!! Dressed up again, drove to the store and accepted that salesman’s sheepish smile and came back. Before changing dress, I opened the box, and ate one to make sure that the sweet is for real. I thought I just talk to somebody about my day. There was only one person online (others were either busy or invisible or out of touch) I waited for a ‘hi’ from her…one minute… 10 minute….one hour….no, no response…my son was about to return home from his school by 4.15. I was waiting in the balcony. 4.20, 4.30, 4.45….his bus did not come…..Man, enough is enough!
If a day starts like this, we better postpone the things in our to-do list, if possible, to avoid further disappointments. And if we believe in God, we better do a couple of rounds of rosary (at least 108 counts)… It is said that, even Lord Shiva had to suffer the influence of Saturn when he was on earth…Krishna, Buddha, Jesus…they too had their share of bitter days when they were here. It is better we keep our cool, coz some days are like that, we can’t help it.
Illness is not cured by saying the word medicine, but by taking medicine. Enlightenment is not achieved by repeating the word God but by directly experiencing God.
I grew up in an environment where I did not hear any swear words from any of the women members (can not remember any male member too) of my family and relatives. It was not part of the middle class people’s culture (We might hear it in slums or among upper class people (but they say it in English)). This could be one reason that I do not like to hear bad words spoken by women.
When foul words come even from world’s most kissable lips, it takes away the beauty…isn’t it so?
I was out of station for sometime. I love long drives. I was satisfied with my driving. These long drives are one moment that makes me feel greedy for high-end cars and good quality roads. I am a ‘slowman’ who love speeds.
The trip was successful but one strange thing about this trip is that I did not use the camera, not even once, even at the beach. Before the start of the journey, I told my wife that we should take lots of photos and it ended up with no photos (except couple of them taken by my mobile). It’s really a shame that too considering the beach was quite known for filming and neighborhood is filled with film actors...
Only one friend complained me for not telling in advance about my travel. Yes, I should have told. But does it matter that much when a person moves from one place to another in this virtual reality world? I wonder…
What difference it makes when one of my Philippino friend moves to Dubai or one Indonesian friend moves to Singapore? Logically it doesn’t make any difference as long as the touch is maintained. But somehow I feel that there is some difference…I don’t know what or where
Can time tell me that?
Let me wait and see, after all, its official now…I am going to make a big move
Yesterday, Pakistan faced the worst terror attack it had seen since 2 years killing over 90 people and injuring more than 200. This country is playing with fire since many years and now it has become world’s terror hub. The Government, Army and ISS used terrorists in many ways to ‘manage’ internal situations and then to disturb India’s peace and economy. And now it looks like they can’t control the giant that came out of the bottle.
Taliban already is on a war against India and now the funniest statement is 'India is helping them' !!! We are not that stupid to fund them to buy weapons to use against us. It is like me hiring some professional killer to kill me.
I am an Indian but still, I condemn this dirty act by Taliban, especially killing many innocent kids.
Congrats Indian cricket team for a wonderful match against word’s most of the time number one, the Australia. The captain’s act was a feast to watch. The records tell the story.
Indian Captain Dhoni’s 124 is the highest by any captain against Australia
That again is the highest by any wicket keeper against Australia
India’s 354 was the highest total kept against Australia by any other team in the world
I was talking about how a woman should or should not look like. I wasn’t talking about her natural looks. At the end, a friend of mine called me a chauvinist. Then I happened to see a ‘shoutout’ posted in Friendster by a second degree friend of mine ‘Trust no man’…..another friend of mine posted ‘no man is capable of taking care of the family’…
Isn’t it sheer ignorance? Just because one man cheated her (her version, possibly) how can she say ‘trust no man’ as s universal statement? May be she will keep that statement until she falls for another man…if no man can take care of his family, does that mean that I am not a man? so, I wrote to my friend to which she replied ‘ dont take it personal’
When my friend called me a chauvinist, she was kidding, I know….she just wanted to tease me. But is there a chauvinist in me?
Yes, I like women to look like women and not like men. That is my personal preference. A six pack abs is the last thing I want to see in a woman and I think usually we men think that way. Cutting the hair like a boy and dressing like a man will not make a woman a man. There are some women who have strong feminist views. But I wonder, then why do they want to be equal to men? When a woman dress up like a woman, she is not going below a man, on any scale. There is no need to copy a man to show that we are equal to you. It’s too childish.
Nature created man and woman with some general and some distinct characters. When a woman looks feminine, she looks more beautiful, cute, attractive… and not the other way. Yes, there are some boyish girls. In many such cases, if we check the level of male hormone in them, it will be slightly above the normal level from a typical girly girl. This is one reason why some women have mustache or very deep voice. Their outlooks are different. If they are into sports, they easily beat other ladies. I used to play badminton with ladies and I have observed this. We can make out even from the way they walk (girls usually do not walk spreading their legs).
My kind of woman is not somebody who thinks ‘I am equal to man and I want to do everything a man does’… a man is a man and a woman is a woman. So, workouts and gym is only for men? No, not at all. I believe in keeping fit and this applies to women too. When I talked about women and tummy, a friend of mine reacted this way
‘ it is natural for a woman..there is no need to worry about it..if you do not want a tummy, do not get pregnant’.
Is that true?
When she said that, I assumed that ‘ yes, she has tummy and since she could not get rid of it, she is justifying it’. I have a friend who is the mother of 3 kids and where is her BIG tummy? (Hey, if you are reading this, you can blush, OK? That will only make you more girlish, which is cute) I know many other ladies who are mothers but maintain good shape. It’s all about our perspective. I did a small survey and almost every woman wants a trimmed tummy. But many of them are not ready to compromise on what they eat and if they did not get results very soon, they give up their exercise routine.
A woman should be proud of her womanly looks and there is no need to become like a man. Some religions might say men are superior. But I do not believe in that. if there are no women, there are no men and if there are no men, there are no women too. It’s complementary and not contradictory.
We are not sent empty handed into this world. Every one of is ‘gifted’ with something by the creator.
I was trying to understand one friendship, since couple of days.
There are people who can easily smile, possess no inhibitions, very outgoing, can mingle easily with others, shows well mannerism, talks attractively etc….They can easily act or pretend since they are gifted that way…When they combine all their gifts, it’s a lethal combination if their intention is to cheat.
I happened to get acquainted with such a guy. Initially, I did not doubt his credentials though I wasn’t sure about it. Days passed and he looked more and more impressive and some point of time, I even wished
“oh, I wish I could be like him…see how cool he is when dealing with people. Look at his life style…look at the way he speaks….”
Well, when I thought about his life style, it looked like some extravaganza but ‘I pamper myself once in a while’ kept my extravaganza thoughts in a fix.
It was during a process of ‘me trying to help him’ (by referring him to another guy who can be of real help for his present crisis) that this special moment appeared and I started doubting his credentials. I wasted some time to inquire about him using many means and the bubbles started bursting one by one…casual facts looked like factual lies…
And it ended in an anticlimax when my recommendation looked something like this:
“Please do not help the person carrying this letter” !
One of the lessons I learnt from this episode is that don’t fall for the smiles of people coz they smile for many reasons and many a times with deep rooted intensions hidden inside. We humans are the only creature who show our teeth when we are happy. Animals show their teeth when they are angry, though sometimes it looks like a smile.
We humans are gifted (within us) with a pinch of everything in this universe…rock, plants, water, snow, planets,……even animals.
One of my uncles, the youngest sibling of my father passed away, yesterday morning. Now, my mother and all her siblings, my father and all his siblings, they are all gone.
I never had any particular attachment for this uncle of mine. During childhood, the only emotion that I had towards him could be fear. He went in a wrong track as far as spirituality is concerned.( Who am I to judge him or say he was wrong? Well, though I wasn’t attached to him in any way (when I look at the paternal side, I was attached only to the eldest brother of my father), I used to observe him and I saw he quitting his then’ right’ and coming to my then and now ‘right’). Thus he himself created an invisible wall and some visible limits around him. When I was a kid, I wasn’t even allowed to touch him….
I still remember one incident, I had to meet him and address him as ‘Uncle’ (I address him ‘Kochachan’, which means the ‘younger brother of father’) and he spoke:
“Don’t call me uncle; I am not your uncle….”
I felt it ridiculous.
But things changed over years, and when I visited him last time, he was all smiles. I addressed him in the same way ‘Kochacnan’ and he did not show any hesitation but accepted it happily...
Yes, when I think of him now, the last image of him that comes into my mind is his smiling face…
I don’t know where you left, but wherever you are, be at peace…
“And the Nobel for Peace goes to Mr. Barak Obama…”
So, they proved that the era of Nobel Prize having some esteem is gone. Or Mr. Obama has to rise to the occasion and stop doing military killings which the U.S. started years ago. He better call his troops off from Asian and Middle East countries. And he should think it over being supportive to the terrorist hub in the world, where killing is a religious hobby. He can go further by exposing some of the terrorist and military/State owned outfits and their actions using the data and evidence available with him right on his table…
I guess one reason for Alfred Nobel writing such a will could be the guilty feeling that it was his invention that resulted in the killings of hundreds of thousands of humans around the world.
Under that tree they sat and Under that tree they took nap. They traded dreams and thoughts They resolved quarrels and agonies. Under that tree they sat and Under that tree they respite. Within the tree He sat and Through its shades He spoke.
Its flood time. We are said to be facing one of the worst floods we have seen since 50 years or so. Somebody asked me whether I am affected by it or not. It’s funny that I had asked the same question to that person a week ago, when I read of floods in that country.
Then this question came,
"why floods occur?”
Simply put, it is because there exists a phenomenon called flood in this planet and it’s in nature’s nature to call it as and when she feels to do so (using 'natural' causes). But is that the only reason why it floods? Don’t we have to do anything with it? Should we always blame the nature?
One of the main culprits for floods in cities is garbage and poor drainage system. Even if there is a drainage system, when it gets clogged, it becomes useless. From where does this garbage come? People with no civic sense are most responsible for it. They throw everything everywhere; the worst is when that litter happens to be plastic.
I saw some TV ads by the government, using celebrities, asking the people to not to litter. Yes, that is from where we should start to avoid man-made floods. We dug up all the sand from the rivers and dump it up with garbage. Day after day trees are just disappearing…It’s natural for a river to flood during heavy rain days. Even though people know this, they encroach near riverbanks to add up to causalities and disasters. (I read about recent deaths in connection with flood (and H1N1), but not even a single politician died !) When will people ever learn?
Many a times, instead of doing sow and reap, it looks like what we do with nature is sow and rape…
When I wrote about rat meat, I had no idea that the very next thing would be me having a dinner with a guy who eats almost anything. Should I try to erase that dinner memory? No, it was one of the good memories I would like to keep in my memory locker coz it was a rare moment since 12 years.
I am in this city since 12 years or so. And the thought of the last time I had a dinner with my friends too pulls my memory back to 12 years. Strange days and strange things, couple of recent days looks like that......
I had no idea that the person I got acquainted very recently was someone who played basket ball for my country, a national level player…I had no idea that he did some movies, TV serials and ads. I was seeing this guy for the past 2 and a half years and only now we got acquainted….strange (oh yeah? You said strange? Man, its all coz of your introvert attitude !!)
Somewhat same with another guy that I met in the recent past. I had no idea that he holds a high position in an MNC and he travels to many countries very often.
Then suddenly this happy night came into existence when one of those guys suggested a dinner out. We all had a common friend, none other than our gym instructor. So, it became a ‘Four married men turns bachelors’ affair.
I was bit exited about this coz I never had such an outing since many years. Such moments were very common 13 years ago. That time, though I had other friends, my colleagues became good friends too and hence almost every day, we used to sit together for a cup of tea or coffee. Things started changing about one year prior to me moving into this city when guys started moving to other organizations. There weren’t any internet or mobile phone that time and none of us had any pager too. still, we managed to keep in touch, somehow, and we used to meet on weekends…and then, all of a sudden…
The one who planned it was the tall boy among us (6 foot 3 inches). The short guy (our trainer, who is about 5 feet something) had a problem leaving early plus he said he wont come to the restaurant the other guy suggested since its managed by his employer company. Then the fourth guy did not turn up…It was a disappointment for me. But somehow I convinced our trainer and we called the fourth guy; he too said 'OK, I am coming'..finally !
Two of them wanted to go to a restaurant which serve beer or liquor but here in this city, they are not allowed to serve such things after 11 pm and many of them won’t take orders after 10 pm. The time was already 9.15 and almost all such good restaurants needed at least 45 minutes drive (coz of traffic).
At last, we stopped at a place…it was a bar and restaurant. I don’t know why, but there was a broad smile on my face..
“Me and Sir will have some orange juice” said the gym man (by ‘sir’ he was referring to me).
“This milk drinking boy, huh ” said one
“No, you and Jay are too drinking….” said the third one… they both belonged to the same religion which is against drinking.
The place was crowded and we moved on to a hall which had a tag ‘Family Room’. Then a staff came and said:
“Sir, that’s a family room, you cant sit there”
“We are family, we are brothers” said the tall guy….
I could not resist laughing… one was very tall and fair and even did not look like a South Indian, one is short, one wearing glasses and one with a french beard...none of us had same built, looks, or even skin color…the only common thing among us was that we all looked physically fit.
That staff guy smiled and said:
“No, sir”
"What is this yaar? you people don't allow even brothers to sit together?" Asked the spects guy..
We moved on to another place which looked quite. None of use felt like sitting in a crowded place, especially the tall guy. But there the only table available had a tag “Reserved”
One of the staff allowed us to sit there, though another one raised some objection. I wasn’t bothered about the situation coz those two guys who came with me were highly capable of handling people and situations.
“Vodka, Cut green chilly and lemon..” says one
“Me and sir want orange juice” says another one
“So, you don’t drink?” one of them asked me
“hmmm, No…” I said
“You don’t mind a beer, at least?”
The gym man was looking at me as if I am his savior…but I failed
“No problem….”
There was this ‘you shouldn’t have said that’ look in gym man’s face…
(They ordered some chicken to snack and I ordered a plate of ‘Gobi Manchurian’ – Cauliflower)
One of them talked about cooking..
“YOU cook? I asked
“Aary Yaar ! I am an awesome cook” he gave me a kind of look, as if I asked Bill Gates ‘do you know computer programming?”
That was time I came to know that this guy eats meat…
“You eat pork?” I asked
(Other two too were non-veg but they do not eat pork coz its not allowed as per their religion)
“Pork, duck, horse, crocodile, tortoise, fish, crab, chicken, beef….I have tried all these…I could not eat octopus though, I had to spit it out”
His ‘I did not try’ list had items like scorpion, dog, rat, worms etc…
We went to another place to have food, which was on the same road..it was closing time. It was a restaurant run by Muslims and hence we can hardly expect anything Veg. They had Roti and Paneer Butter Masala but I thought I would try ‘Egg Biriyani’. The Biriyani was same for Egg and Chicken Biriyani…the only difference was I got two boiled eggs and others got one egg and one chicken leg. The guy used same ‘thing’ (that forceps kind of thing – what was its name???) to pick the chicken legs and then eggs. Usually they do not do that in a restaurant which serve both Veg and Non-Veg….I said to myself :
‘Just forget it’
I drove very slowly, while coming back…enjoying the talks…At last, when I entered our apartment’s main gate, one of them commented:
“What happened to him? He was driving so fast before and now, after having a beer, he is stopping at every hump..”
All of them laughed, including me.
Guys, you don’t know how happy you made me (though I thanked one of them, next day)…
Thanks for gifting me with a good n memorable moment (that I had been waiting for the past 12 years???)...May God bless you all...
One of my acquaintances asked me to try eating rat meat. She said her country people eat it. She even told me how to cook it. Why should a vegetarian eat rat? She said it’s very tasty. So I asked:
“There are people who eat human fetus. So, if one such person suggests you to taste it, will you try that?”
Her response was that she is not a cannibal, as if it’s very obvious. What amuses me is why that logic is not applicable for a vegetarian when he/she says:
“Sorry, I don’t eat meat because I am a vegetarian”
Is there any need for humans to eat rats, cats, frogs, dogs, cockroaches, worms etc?
First of all, it lacks esthetics. We humans are supposed to be living like humans and not like animals. We are the only creature which is supposed to be made in the likeness of God (as per Bible). We are the only beings who walked through civilizations and got fine tuned.
Assume that the Prime Minister/President of a country where people eat worms or rat is hosting a dinner for his/her counterparts from other countries. Will he/she serve worms and rats? I don’t think so. If somebody serve rat to the U.S. President, it will be considered as an insult, I guess. Because, we humans grew from the primitive stage, long back, though it looks like some people are still not aware of it.
I was asked:
“What is wrong in eating rat?”
As I said, it lacks esthetics, especially when the situation is not survival but just to satisfy an organ of 4 inches called tongue.
This could be one reason some religions specifically asking its followers to avoid meat from certain animals. When it is in their Scripture, many people won’t question it. Because they think that it is God’s words. Those who wrote the book were clever. But we have cleverer people out there.
So, who should eat rats?
Rat is the natural food for cats, snakes, owls, eagle, vulture etc…let us not loot their food.
Some might still ask:
“What’s wrong in…”
There are animals that eat even shit and among the humans we can see the subtle aspects of the entire creation, not just animals.
There was a flood in Philippines, the other day. Flood or storm is not something new for them; but I thought it affected only Manila and hence I asked a friend who stay in Marikina to update me on another friend who lives in Manila. It is hard to believe but at the end, I got updated by the Manila friend that the Marikina friend is hit by flood….And my worry about a friend who lives near by a river turned negative…
It was bit hard to digest the realities. This is not for the first time I am hearing about a flood or storm. My city got a flood sometime back (a year back or so) and Mumbai too faced a flood. But this was for the first time somebody in my own circle getting affected by it.
I saw lots of people dragging God and faith into it (comments in many sites which reported/showed the flood) and this made me think about the laws of the nature. I was wondering about one thing; it is said that 70% of earth’s surface is covered with water. Why can’t this storm go to some deserted sea area to show its strength? I don’t know.
Today I read the news about the worst draught in African countries, especially in Kenya. People and animals (including cows and elephants) died/dying of draught.
Flood and draught at the same time, though not at the same place; what is the logic behind it?…now that this earthquake in Indonesia killing thousands...plus a Tsunami in South Pacific Islands... God, no wonder you are called G.O.D… *** India's Moon mission disproved some western theories about water in the Moon... *** Today I saw that lady whom I mentioned in one of my blogs; the one who smiled at me when I could not return couple of shots. She developed knee pain and her doc asked her to stop playing badminton… *** I never had any idea that a recent friend of mine had a real gun (licensed) at his native place and it was a surprising shock when he invited me for hunting, allowing me to use the gun. But killing animals and me? You got to be kidding… *** My wife learnt how to make scrambled eggs, finally…
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Oscar
