Stop the atrocities! Stop the killings!

It was a nice breezy evening. There was a live jazz band band playing in the background. We were all having dinner at a friend’s party on the terrace of his house. it was all just perfect! except for one little thing... the food was vegetarian !!!

Now vegetarian food doesnt suit me all that well... but sometimes you just gotta put up with somethings in life..The party went on and we all had fun. eventually the party ended and we all headed home, I was with a friend in his car. Now on our way back we were passing by residency road and outside the Catholic club I see a banner that reads, “The grill masters club…. You need not be a member to attend. Theme for today’s meeting “Stop the atrocities, Stop the killing!!” That caught my attention so thought why not go inside and have a look… and lo!behold! What do I see inside?

All the vegetables that you can think of sitting in a public speaking forum and having an impromptu speech contest about atrocities on vegetables. The eggplant was sitting there peacefully in his bright shiny purple long coat. The baby corn in his cute lil green baba suit, the peppers in their usual bright colors red green yellow. Miss Lady Finger in her gracefully draped green saree. The cauliflower was grabbing all the attention after her recently released blockbuster where she was paired with potato in the evergreen Alu Gobi pair.... and guess who walked in wearing an "I hate Popeye" at this "Stop the atrocities" meet.... Spianch...Mr potato and miss onion flirting in one corner trying to cook up a spicy gossip and carrot and radish feeling jealous. Mr Green Cabbage was sitting with his pretty wife Purple.

And when I entered, believe it or not if looks could kill I would’ve been dead. Every single vegetable in there was staring at me as if I was some murderer, guilty of genocide.

Ah and then the contest began.. topic was “atrocities I witnessed with my fellow vegetables”… And then began one after another painfully vivid and touching stories of atrocities. Did you know, baby corns are the most common victims of infanticide. Vegetable names are only used as insults –“The couch potato”! offensive jokes are made about their death - what did one vegetable say to another - I ll see you on the chopping board!! The egg plant is burnt alive to make something they call baigan ka bharta. Or sometimes even chopped and thrown in hot oil .. only to feed to some glutton vegetarians never ending hunger. But the worst is the cucumber… it is stripped naked and then chopped into little pieces. Even when they make fun of their mothers they dont spare the vegetables .. yo momma thought square roots were vegetables ... I mean who does that? How cruel can we get in the name of vegetarianism and then glorify it! And we speak of it as if we’re so considerate that we don’t eat chickens, but kill plants instead. What kind of justice is this.

I was just thinking about all this when someone knocks me from the side and says “Dude, what happened?? Vegetables haunting your dreams. ? ha ha”.

Yes that was my friend. Yes I had dozed off in the car. And yes I had a dream a rather scary one about atrocities on vegetables. And that really got me thinking about how we conveniently think killing plants is ok. So next time someone calls me a vegetarian im not going to say “proud to be”… im only going to be able to say “guilty as charged” …

What's the point???

I write this for i have a point to make. You’ve come here and I’m sure you have a point to make too. People these days don’t have conversations until and unless they have a point. If I talk for just 2 minutes, someone listening is bound to ask me “what’s your point?” A story cannot just be a story. Someone has to ask what’s the point. Nothing important is ever pointless.

Knowingly or unknowingly, whether we like it or not, whether we are willing to acknowledge it or not, we, you and me and every single soul who walks this earth has become a slave of this dimensionless entity called a point.

Yes, a point is dimensionless. No length no width, but still powerful enough to enslave us all. A speech, a movie, a discussion, a presentation, an article, an act, a gesture, the itmc manual, a point is everywhere. But now is the time to introspect, to reevaluate, and ask ourselves, do we need the point? And based on years of research and my own meandering experience, the only thing I have to say is, you don’t need the point.

Why do we wake up sometimes in the morning and just don’t feel like gong to work. Why do we want to go to some exotic place and breathe in everything tahst around? Do you feel like sitting on a swing and just go swwwwiiiiing????? Why??? Whats your point???do you have to have a reason for everything? If the point was so necessary in our lives, phrases like “chumma da” in tamil, or “aise hi” in hindi, "emni" in bangla, “just like that” all really meaning the same, wouldn’t exist! Friends get rid of the point. Throw it away.

If I were to divide 100 by say 3, you know what I would get as a result, 33.33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 trust me I could go on and on for ever till eternity or even use the excuse of a word in the mathematician’s world “recurring” but I would still never ever be accurate. And all this inaccuracy, because I chose to use the stupid point. If I had just said 33 and 1/3^rd things would all be fine. The point is the root cause of all inaccuracy in the world that I’m sure you can do without. I repeat, we don’t need the point.

I’m sure we are looking forward to the day the world comes to an end. Are we not? Pardon my sarcasm here but do realize that none of us like things to end. We don’t like the fantasy stories that our grandmothers tell to come to an end. You don’t like good day to come to an end. In fact out worst nightmare is that day when the earth stops rotating, comes to a stand still, a full stop. And I don’t know if you see what I’m getting to already but a full stop, a poorna viram, a point symbolizes the end. Do you know why a judge who sentences someone to death breaks the nib of the pen he uses. Cause he doesn’t want that pen that put that full stop after the death sentence to announce anything that gory. A point brings good things to an end. We don’t need the point.

Have you heard of two parallel lines of thought ever having an argument? They were leading perfectly peaceful lives till they intersected at a point. A point creates clashes

and believe it or not, that’s one of the reasons for its existence.

Do you know what it feels when someone POINTs a finger at you? Derogatory, looked down upon, condemned, blamed. See how the point comes into action yet again when someone has to be blamed. A point blames.

And does it not kill us all when we see mails from our managers with action items and note the use of bullet points there. It kills us. Also notice the use of the word bullet prefixed to the point. No one ever uses a chocolate point or a flower point.

A flower point can a fragrance emit.

A chocolate point can fulfill.

But a bullet point KILLS.

A point creates clashes.

A point blames.

Can we just let a story be just a story?

Can we not point fingers and learn to work as a team?

Can we rise above the petty trivialities of a dimensionless entity and not be obsessed with it?

Just remember, If you're concentrating really hard on a point, you're missing out on the big beautiful world, right around it!

Raindrops ...

A raindrop if i could be

Born from a cloud on a wandering spree,

Where i would fall i would never know,

But the look of joy everywhere is what i would see.

I would paint the sky with colors so bright, 

A rainbow from just a ray of light, pure white, 

I could cease to exist and be re born,

But if i could be born just once again, 

I would only, as a drop of rain...

Religion...

“Religion is the opium of the masses", they say
That’s a drug to me, an addiction! Nay??
An amusement for all who can afford,
Greek & Latin for the unaware of language, or even a word!
An occupation for some and a profession for the rest,
Reason to kill for some or to take a bullet on their chest,
For the masses, eh? I ask all those who claim,
That all this insanity is to do with the name of God??

The Lord must be very patient, I’m certain
To witness what we do in his name,
And bless us still with all he has,
And we proudly let all his work go in vain…
Worship Him, that we do,
But in ways and means that men tell us to,
Doubt His ways, His presence too,
But believe words that men speak to be true!

Profanity, Insanity, Cruelty, and actions so dirty,
Forgotten words are honesty and integrity,
And apparently, all for the sake of the All Mighty!
“Kill thy neighbor”, for he doesn’t agree..
Kill him and all those who are free
Of chains we create, of walls we erect,
Of gallows we call temples,
And the devil we everyday resurrect.

Wake up man, shed no more blood,
Or wait if you want and let the world burn.
Stand up, be the wall against the fire.
Protect your brothers, and some respect you may earn.
Protect yourself from the ghost and the opium,
Clean the air, rid the water of the scum,
Trust, within you the God and the powers that reside,
All else, can forever, just stay aside.

"Just For Kicks" - A Garden Special

"Just for kicks" is my debut into the mocktail world... Conceived and blended with very simple ingredients and the outcome was a very fresh drink with flavors so distinct, you cant miss them but blended so well, you will not be able to identify them...  

I would've loved to keep the ingredients a secret and have you guess them while you try it but as this is my first I'll let you try it at home and tell me how it is. A garden special with the tangy flavor of pineapple blended with the freshness of mint, sweetly fizzed up 'just for kicks' with a little bit of sprite.. And in true Bond style 'Shaken not stirred' ...  

Enjoy your drink!!

Bliss.. Unplugged!!

Picture this.. you wake up to the rising sun, stretch a little and look out of the window casually before you get on with the do-this-and-then-that-and-so-ons of everyday life, and you see .. not some people rushing to work, not vehicles noisily moving through busy traffic on main road .. but perfectly clear blue skies and a huge hill garnished with some low moving clouds set in a serene setting. In case you were wondering, I'm not describing an oil painting on the wall or the visualization of a piece by William Wordsworth but what i experienced a sometime early this year back at my Uncle's place far away from everything you hate about the city. You walk out of your room, out the door and walk into a lovely sprawling lawn covered with grass so green that all city residents put together won't match it with all their jealousy !!!

Bhagyalok, Village Doonga, about 35 kms from Dehradun city, from where you will have to travel at least a good 10 kms to get the newspaper every morning, but if you want your favourite fruits and vegetables you just have to walk to the backyard!!! From your every day breakfast fruits to exotic vegetables, or the rarest of flowers combined with the joy of having nurtured each one with your own hands, or just simply watching them grow is an experience in itself. Lettuce, Purple cabbage, potatoes, spring onions, coriander, green chillies, lemons, exotic bell peppers, cauliflowers, cabbage, broccoli, name it and you'll find it somewhere in the backyard !!

I Was there last winter and believe me when i say winters are cold there.. but when the sun rises, its grandeur fills up the air and all you can feel is the warmth of the Sun ... the air is pure and clean and if you were to listen carefully, all you'll are the springs flowing or the birds chirping or the breeze filling up the lungs of each one who's lucky enough to breathe from it. One whiff of that breeze if you were to breathe, your insides would be filled with happiness and pleasure. Nature is the best detoxicant and it's best served out there in the open, away from the chaos of the urban civilization. 

And after reading all this if you've been transported there already and already visualizing it ... hang on .. you ain't seen nothing yet... go there once and you'll know what you've missed in your life so far!! 

Cheers!

A room full of Land Mines ...

A room full of 34 land mines, a bomb squad of 10 people who had less than a minute of preparation and very little room to move around, and a tricky set of mines cause they had to be diffused in a pre decided sequence or else they would all blow up. And 30 seconds or all would blow up anyway. Would you strategize or would you pray? We strategized in the little time we had but managed to diffuse only 16 and it all blew up. Right in front of our eyes. All of us survived and I was chosen to tell this tale. Are you wondering how?? It was coz the bombs were made of yellow sheets of paper that we had to cross out with a marker to diffuse during a team building activity inside an auditorium in Mysore!!

If that sounds like fun, you bet we had the time of our lives on the ITMC trip to Mysore, right from the minute we left, driving down from Bangalore the previous evening, till the minute the bus dropped us to our homes the following evening. The ITMC trip to Mysore was for a team building exercise that Srinath and Sujatha from the ILI had planned out for us, and it turned out to be so much more than just that.

From walking at midnight looking for a tea stall and walking back coz we didn’t find one, to the breakfast where our madam president wouldn’t let us eat coz we were getting late for the session (which we ate to our hearts content anyway), from the session where we we’re faced with a myriad of perspectives and opinions, and we learnt the difference between winning to win, and winning to defeat, to the dance moves that one could perform within the constraints of a bus seat with no leg space irrespective of the song being played, from learning about people’s ways of communicating with the animal kingdom to being rewarded with encouraging words of your peers who got to know things about you which probably even you were unaware of, it was an experience that I possibly cannot put down on a sheet of paper, but will cherish through a lifetime.

It was a beautiful sunset, flavored with a slight drizzle and great company that we started out with, only to return with absolutely no energy left, friendships to last us a lifetime and a million memories to cherish forever. Cheers!!!