Whispering Shadow

On my way to the bus stop today, I came across a sight that made me think that my life was not so bad after all. There was a lady, naked and extremely frail, by the road. She was moving on her hands, since she didn’t have one leg, and the other had been rendered powerless because of the lack of strength. She looked pale and exhausted. I wondered how long it will be before she becomes a victim of the awfully cold winters. I was getting late so didn’t stop to help her. It was like so many other times, where I have wanted to help, but chosen not to go out of my way in doing so. Will without action is futile. I know I am not indifferent, but I am also not proactive and forthcoming. I feel so useless. When I sat in the bus, I started feeling guilty. Yes, just as I do, on those numerous other occasions when I could have done something which means a little to me but could have done them a lot of good. I could have got her food to eat, given her some money, or got her an old t-shirt from home....

This has absolutely no relation with my article in Education Times dated 17th January. As always, it is another random post on the who's who and what's what of my so-far insignificant life. This time I look at standard dialogues of the apparent members of my extended family. First and foremost is the introductory dialogue. "Pehchante ho?" Since it is not good to be asocial, I try to blink, smile, then blink again, feigning the 'I am pushing my memory hard to conjure some name' look. On a memory miss, I say a polite and soft " No". Knowing the consequences of the reply, I force myself into a trance to skip the huge chain of relations that emerges out of the conversation, more so, if the reply is in English. "I am your father's maternal uncle's wife's sister-in-law." It would have been way better on my behalf to add an " and I am not interested in knowing you" tag after the first "No" but being curt is not a...

Each answer has a question, but is the converse true? It is. It isn’t perhaps. I am confounded. Some might say it’s a matter of whether you belief in what answers are given to you. Some might simply accept the fact that there are no answers. Others will argue that these questions themselves are objectionable. I don’t know about which side of the debate to support, but what I do know is there are a few questions which I haven’t been able to find convincing answers to. Science has given us a lot of convincing reasons behind how most worldly occurrences take place. Its arguments are supported with facts and figures and can be considered credible. We now have answers to a variety of questions like what an atom is made of, what the El Nino cycle is all about, how to control nuclear fusion and even what led to the creation of the world? Ever wondered how did all the matter come into being in the first place? If there was no matter in the first place, then where did all the energy to create ...

I always had respect for the Australian cricket team’s game until I witnessed what they did in Sydney. The match was memorable for a lot of reasons- some right, most wrong. For the first time, we also saw the Aussie sportsmanship being replaced by such a strong thirst for a win that they stooped down to shameful levels. The arrogance of the world champions has driven the spirit of healthy competition out of them. They were quite shocked with India’s response in the first innings because they had not faced opposition in the last 15 matches they played. They resorted to unacceptable measures on and off the field. Whoever goes to the match referee for on-field sledging? The Aussies don’t even have the right to, because their team is the fore-runner when it comes to playing on-field word games. People who watch the telecast from their homes are not blind to not see the number of times the lips of their players shape to say the f-word. I don’t even think Bhajji called Symonds a monkey. Even...

Promises are meant to be broken and resolutions even more so. I barely know of a few people who genuinely stick to them. For most others, it is fashionable to make resolutions and then claim "I am going to try to stick to it, thought I don't think I will be able to do so beyond a month." I was partly successful in some of them. ‘Them’ included resolutions like not having tea for a year! With the slightly more difficult ones, failure was inevitable. However, I soon stopped committing myself to them at the start of the year and have now completely moved towards a goal-oriented approach. But if I were ever to make a resolution again, these are the ones which will test my patience and determination to the limit(listed in random order). I Net - Centric I will stay online for a maximum of one hour in a day. I will orkut only once in a week. I will not torture readers with highly opinionated political blogs. I will not rush into writing testimonials. II Behavioural I will not ...