Aha! It is raining in Mumbai

Rains.....it brings back lovely memories from childhood. Rains also meant a new semester at the school. Rains in Mumbai are called the Monsoon. It lasts for about 3 months. A new semester meant a new raincoat, a new uniform and a new school bag. It also meant new friends, new teachers.....and great fun ahead. Childhood memories of rains are very sweet. Hot milk to drink, warm blankets and moist smell in the clothes.

And then I grew up. Started working. The sweet rains from childhood gradually became a torture. The magic disappeared. To get up in the morning while it was still raining and leave for work was hateful. It still is.

My beautiful Mumbai collapses under the rains now. Monsoon means disruptions, tension, muck all over the city....harassed auto rickshaw drivers, honking, pollution...the saga goes on for 3 months.

Despite all this, the optimist in me finds rains an amazing miracle! How else can you explain this tons of water falling from heavens, defying gravity....breaking into tiny droplets. Have you ever tried pouring a few metric tons of water from a height of about 40-50 thousand feet? Everything under it will get crushed by the shear weight of water. But check out the rain drops...they feel so light on our body. Isn't it a miracle? It falls so effortlessly, so gently, so chill and pure. No harm, no damage to human beings, animals or trees. My husband tells me there is a scientific explanation to it all....well there it..but it still does not answer my question....

Have you ever thought about the thousands of liters of water which evaporates into thin air and becomes rain clouds. How do these clouds hold the water? why doesn't the water leak from the clouds and spill over. Imagine a shapeless, container less cloud holding tons of water!! Try holding a few liters without a container! You can't.

Imagine life without water. Imagine life without rains. And we say where is god? God is in this miracle called rains. Year after year; season after seasons; centuries after centuries....it has been raining.

So I tell myself....forget the muck, forget the traffic jam, forget the over flowing drains....forget everything and enjoy this miracle called ....."the rains".

Degenerating moral fabric - Arushi Murder Case and Neeraj Grover Murder Case

Two gruesome murders in two of the biggest Metros of this country have left the nation shocked this week. What is further shocking is the association of educated and highly placed people with both the murders.

case-1 : In a suburban township near Delhi, an educated father slits his 14 year old daughters throat and leaves her to bleed in the very house where she was born and grew up. Everything is done very calmly and with meticulous planning. Police claim the mother could also be an accomplice in the crime.

Case -2 : In suburban Mumbai, two people (a man and a woman) conspire against and innocent young man, murder him brutally, chop is body into tiny pieces and then burn it to hide evidence. Everything is done very calmly and with meticulous planning.

Police is struggling to nail the culprits in both the cases. Reason there is not enough evidence, no eye witnesses, most important and shameful for the society is that the neighbors claim they did not hear anything nor did they see anything suspicious in both the cases. The motive in the both the cases is not clear. It may be more an impulse than a plan. Which only goes to prove that people are loosing calm and control at the slightest provocation. Alarming.

What is happening to our society? What for? Where are we heading as a nation? In this mad race for economic progress we have heavily compromised on our human values. We have sunk below the societal values, reached the pits as far as human values are concerned.

It is like a slow poison which is working on our nervous system. Desensitizing us from our surroundings. Immunized, reaction less to our society. Professionally highly productive; personally completely defunct.

Through my blog I want to express my disgust with whats happening around. I remember in one of my earlier posts, I had quoted something about the praise and accolades which the movie Tare Zameen Par has received from all. The subject is good, but there are many more important matters which require attention.

"Every child is a special child"....the promos of the movie say. What is so special about children in India? Dyslexia is the least of the problems....There is nothing wrong with the children, it is the adults who need a spanking! To value the child and give each child a morally sound upbringing, health, happiness and education. Every child is a special child in the Kingdom of God. They are his tiny messengers....."

I am particularly sad because it is Arushi's birthday today. Dear child, may god rest your soul in peace. From wherever you are forgive those who have done this. Else they will never find peace.

I urge you to condem this act of crime. Please leave you comments.

Women, a tree and a bird.

I am happy to be blogging regularly these days. My husband is traveling and that gives me extra few hours to spend on my blog. In moments of loneliness when I miss him, I am left wondering. How is that in the past 6 years of our marriage, he has always found time to travel for himself. Be it visiting his family in Kolkatta or an overseas travel or a semi-holiday which he is currently enjoying.

A contemporary metaphor - Men are like mobile phones with roaming facility and women are the fixed wire line phone, always at home. Anyways that wasn't the thought that I actually sat down to capture. While pondering on this thought as to why my husband always finds time to travel to a place of his liking and why I am not able to do so....this metaphor came to my mind.

Women are like the trees. Their roots go deep into the soil where they grow. They remain rooted. They like the deep roots. They roots bring a sense of safety and security. They are also as selfless as a tree. The tree misses out on the fun of going out and seeing the world. It gives a lot...but from its fixed place where it is rooted.

Men on the other hand are like birds. The bird is free to see the world at its leisure.The bird needs the tree to make its nest. The bird needs the tree to eat the fruit. The bird needs the tree for shelter. Yet, the bird is a bird. it is free to fly. At the end of the flight when the bird gets tired, it knows that the tree will be there where it is.... The tree needs the bird too. The bird carries the pollen grains from the tree far and wide. So that the tree population grows. The bird needs the tree for its survival, without shelter there is no life.

As a modern women, I think we are in a dilemma - The tree or the bird? I want the roots, yet I want to fly and see the world. It is an internal struggle......sometimes the tree wins and sometimes the bird......Right now when my husband is away on his semi-holiday (he is actually accompanying my aged in-laws to for a pilgrimage), ....here I am sitting at home and writing this blog!!! Mostly the tree wins......no regrets