A Dangerous Predicament and Other Snippets

What are the circumstances under which one tells the truth or otherwise is a nagging question, faced by everyone at some stage or other. I was in a dangerous predicament and I came out unscathed by being honest. That is what matters to me most in my sunset years. In today’s materialistic and competitive world, mental peace and harmony even amongst siblings is on the wane. Rivalry leads to efforts to be one up on the other. Life is but short and we need Abduls to make our lives fulfilling and meaningful. My father’s face appears before me and I hear him distinctly, “When you get a chance to help a worthy person or take up a worthy cause, do it immediately as you may not get that chance once again”. I salute his memory for the good advice. People went to wars, sacrificed their lives and built magnificent edifices to proclaim their love. A girl asked her boyfriend whether he loved her and would die for her. The boy replied “No, my love is of the undying variety.” Normal human beings turn kleptomaniacs due to a conspiracy of factors both God given and manmade. Let us deal with them, with understanding and sympathy. Thank God for keeping us as normal human beings. I come out with my front teeth missing, making it comfortable for the teenagers to address me as “Thatha(Grandpa)”. I walk out without a care in the world determined to enjoy with whatever teeth are left out. A sage advised the snake not to bite if it is not to be chased and killed. When it complained later on that food became scarce , the sage replied, “I told you not to bite only but you have to hiss if you want to survive”. I am sure many of you have hissed to get things done. Mules boast that their ancestors were horses goes a saying. When boasting ends dignity begins-goes another saying. Thomas Jefferson gives the correct guidance “We confide in our strength without boasting of it, we respect that of others without fearing” Most of us by nature are curious and do indulge in harmless gossip. It hurts when it involves intrusive snooping and offensive gossip.God gave us one mouth and two ears to listen more and speak less. Even when you want to tell someone go to hell tell him in such a way that he looks forward to the journey. When adversity knocks at our door, we should ask ourselves the coffee bean question. “Are you a carrot, egg or coffee bean?” and try to follow its fragrant example With over one billion people, we Indians are trained to out shout others to be heard. We like it that way. We justify that we are a vibrant nation with a lively atmosphere. As the saying goes “The English may not like music but they absolutely love the noise it makes”. Being a positive person, I did not google Hell and I am sure it is not a good place to live. Someone said hard work does not kill anybody but still I don’t want to take a chance. Let me therefore not take a chance and do what is good in whatever time is still left to ensure a happy living in Vaikuntam(Heaven) thereafter. So what if we don’t have money? We live in a world made of dreams Glass bangles can make my girl feel like a queen ,bajjias can make me feel like a king In our dream world there is no dearth of happiness, you see. She sits there looking at the man by her side, He, who was a stranger till now, But has married her and made her his own, She believes, he will make her dreams come true-you see. But the boy Ramu, I am sad to say, had no emotion on his face. He silently stood up and carried the pail of water and the mop and walked away. Ramu, head of a family consisting of his four siblings, his father who had no job, his mother who was sick, has no time for emotions. Even though he is also hardly a twelve year old boy, he was born an adult. Why do they wear war costumes for a romantic song, why is there no tenderness on their faces, why don’t they even smile at each other? How come this music is called the most romantic song of the year? These are questions that bother me even now. Jayanthi was led to Shekar’s room in a mini procession. We accompanied her. As soon as the bride’s people including our heroine neared the room, something happened, which I am not able to forget even now! Shekar came out of the room, he approached Jayanthi, bent down, he being tall and she being short, scooped her up in his arms, hoisted her up, my dear and made her sit on his shoulder. Wow! And he walked into the room with Jayanthi on his shoulder. Jayanthi melted and melted, my dear and blushed and blushed till her toes turned crimson red. We screeched in delight,all of us clapped hands. “Sai, PremaSai,to the world you are PremaSai but to me you are Prema,Premee and premoo. Prema please show me your real form once.” Amma cried.The next minute she saw Prema,Prema Sai in his real form. Her eyes brightened. Prema hugged her to his chest for a second and the next second, he was on the road. Prema Sai, the Avathar purush is walking down the road, surrounded and followed by the young and the old. He is walking into the future ,the purpose of his Avatar being to drive away the misery of people,to make people realize their own worth.He is walking into the future to make this world a better place. “Radhe,Radhe,Radhe,Radhe RadheGovindha Brindhavana Chandra Anadhinadha,Deenabhandho Radhe Govindha” Men and women were following Rosamma’s body and these little kids followed them singing Rosamma’s favourite song. We middle class people don’t keep anything in our hearts. When we are angry, we scream at each other, shout at each other, when we are happy we laugh aloud, when we are sad, we weep and sob. This is how we give vent to our feelings. This is counselling for us, this is our therapy to heal us of our hurts and disappointments and sadness in our lives, for after all we are middle class people, you see