Refractive Thoughts

A unique and holistic experience that entails an ablution with application of oil to the head and body for pronounced health benefits….. It is a jiffy world in our fast-paced life.   Present day youngsters apply a little oil to their hair, jump into the shower, run the hot water from solar or geyser, use a variety of shampoo and conditioner (inspired by celebrity endorsements) to wash off the oil, quickly attempt to blow-dry the hair, and run out of the house with a wet-look hair!   An experience of today that fades in comparison to the elaborate ones of yesteryear cherished by my generation. I grew up in Mysore during the 70s and 80s, the pre-and-post preparation for an oil bath was an exquisite process.   Initiated with a massage to the scalp with warm castor oil, our grandma recited prayers to invoke the Lord’s blessings on us children; the application for the rest of our body followed and the rubdown helped our skin to absorb for enhanced glow and related b...

June marks the International Cancer Survivor’s month; exactly one year ago on 10-June was my beloved mother’s surgery to remove a cancerous growth.   By God’s Grace she is a survivor today and in good health now. Last year around her surgery schedule, a lot of time was spent at the hospital premises for tests, doctor reviews, therapy sessions, hospitalizations, and post care.   As I watched a sea of people of all ages, my perception changed; now I apply a different set of lenses when I look at things around.   At the hospital, there were a variety of faces - some sad, some very anxious, some perplexed, some writhed in pain, some heaved a sigh of relief, and some with a sprightly smile to hide the pain.   Things have quite a different meaning now! In the cancer hospital cocoon, it is natural to see many tonsured heads.   My mind froze in time and wandered a bit to surface the many facts that were deep etched in its crevices.   Head tonsure is con...

Albert Einstein quote: “A ship is always safe at the shore - but that is not what it is built for.” Our car we proudly flaunt on purchase day; we then shudder to drive out due to intimidating experience on our perilous city roads. Forget the Monday blues, one fights the daily blues of driving which sapped our energy. I vowed to formulate a method to this madness, if you will. Theme Driving. A theme for the driving day to keep our mind focused and away from potential road rage incidents, can range from politics to the esoteric. My mind decided to research - why is the decibel level high on our roads? At a signal behind a lorry I had my moment of enlightenment. “Sound Horn, Ok Please!” has prompted people to honk incessantly and in reverberating tunes. I started to observe what is written behind vehicles, mostly in Kannada in our own Namma Bengaluru. With my attempted crude translation to English, the most common one read “Stop your histrionics, speak in Kannada” – a diktat to sp...

This Albert Einstein quote says: “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” I have worked in the IT industry for many years and for a decade worked for the largest technology company in the world.  When I worked there, there was a time period during which the corporate policy did not permit us to bring in phones with cameras into the workplace.  Even if we did, we had to seek written permission to click photographs inside the premises.  This was a safety measure to protect our client’s data confidentiality. The world has indeed progressed at a fast pace and technology is now ubiquitous.  Driverless cars have become a reality!  World in the near future will fully accept the sensor technology, otherwise referred to as the IOT world with devices, vehicles, appliances, homes, and a few other items networked and connected with embedded sensors, software, electronics, even analytics to dra...

Heat and light in the shine of the bright sun Vastness and blueness in the peace of the azure sky Ripples and droplets in the waves of the endless ocean Life and the resplendent presence of the brown earth Is you and resides in you Rays of the sun that shines through in its path Reflections and refractions so created in its existence Atoms it excites to infuse the flora and the fauna Shadows cast to create hues of light Is you and resides in you Gleams of blue it glows into the waking birds and animals Balance and poise it instills into life and its beings Peace and tranquility in abundance it bestows upon all Thoughts soar as you gaze into its limitlessness Is you and resides in you Biodiversity that it breathes into and wakes up its life Streams of waves to raise droplets of hope Ideas it advances across frontiers of continents Shallow and deep its true nature Is you and resides in you Magnificence it soaks into the enormous spread ...

‘Chalte Chalte’ is a pyaara geet (sweet song) from the 70s sung by the versatile singer Kishore da in his inimitable style. This melodious tune stays with you for the entire day – they’re called earworms.  A melodious song unleashed at an inappropriate time is like a mistimed elegant cover-drive in cricket that lands in the fielder’s safe hands… The year was 1977; on this day my septuagenarian grandma in-charge of the kitchen handed me a tray with 4 cups of piping hot coffee to be served to family members in the living room.  Tray in my hand and the coffee aroma wafting through I started to hum this tune!  My grandma from inside shouted ‘I warned you to be careful; did anything spill on you and did it burn your skin?  Or did you drop the cups on any family member?’- she was relentless!  For you readers, my grandma did not speak or understand Hindi language, she was unaware of this popular Hindi song, and ‘chalte’ in local Kannada language means ‘spilled!’ ...

For most of us who wade through the snail-paced traffic in the BTM area in Bangalore, and as we dread to approach the (in)famous silk-board junction, it is a way too familiar sight to see a mentally challenged individual planted next to the median.   He extends his right arm to touch the mirror of almost every other car that passes by him.   Sometimes he is clean-shaven and sometimes present in a disheveled manner, but lo behold, there is not a single car that escapes his magic touch.   Each touch gives him a sense of achievement, and then you see peace writ large on his face. When I see him get ready to touch my car, I squirm enough to shut my eyes closed, albeit temporarily.   My peace though in peril when a collage of thoughts crisscrosses my mind – who is this person, who are his family members who let him free, does he know his life is in danger as he attempts to touch the moving cars?   Does he count the number of vehicles that ply the road?  ...

Yesterday: Life runs at a pace that we can refer to as breakneck speed.   Flights to catch so we can reach our favorite travel destinations, may be an exotic one since we want this to be a better experience and erase the previous one.   Before we board the flight there are a few chores to complete in the form of a long to-do list.   To tick off each item on this list, we will need to crisscross the city a few times and even fly to our parents and in-laws in two different cities.   The two of us are headed off to our business destinations in faraway countries for a period of 1.5 to 2 months after we finish our vacation together. This mandates that we complete our annual medical check-up and take a few flu shots; need to update our medical insurance for overseas coverage and this is both cumbersome and a time-consuming exercise.   We need to split up the tasks, need to Google and visit a few sites to get the latest information, call up a few associates ...

Rambo the Hollywood movie, in 1988, in its trilogy till then was a blockbuster hit worldwide.  Stallone in the sensational Rambo role was a house-hold name and elevated to a cult status.  Our own Indian film industry produced its own flavors, with the implicit understanding that anything Rambo brought instant success! Around this time, I interned for a liquor company that had set up its shop in Bangalore.  We were a group of friends tasked to undertake a survey of the retail outlets here to learn the psyche for their soon-to-be launched product(s).  An exhaustive questionnaire and we toiled to cover the entire urban area.  Later, it was my turn to compile this data to put together a comprehensive report.  The company’s marketing team pieced together various promotional campaigns to fulfil the gaps as highlighted in the survey.  I was retained to work for this company with an offer that put a smile on my face.  I had to liaison with an Ad f...

What is it that motivates you to get out of bed in the wee hours for your morning walk?   Does our physician’s suggestion implore a strong-enough rationale to go through this rigmarole?   No doubt though that a like-minded group nudges us out of our bed. College days when the intent was to impress the neighborhood girls I would be up before the alarm went off to hit the tar.   Later when my parents were bride-hunting for me, I pushed myself out of the bed to stay fit, all lithe and radiant to impress the bride-to-be.   After marriage, together as life-partners we both committed to being walking partners too.   A beautiful neighborhood park is our favorite destination.   We both derive our inspiration via a careful observation of people’s mannerisms, and where possible passively eavesdrop.   Nicknamed ‘Cuticura’ is a fellow walker with a flowing mane who brings a whiff of fresh air with a distinct aroma of the talcum powder that he wears.   ...

Tryst with Destiny was a landmark speech delivered by Pandit Nehru on the eve of India’s Independence from Britain.  Tryst with Dates is my eternal struggle with the posit that Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus.  The fairer sex is pre-disposed to remember a surplus of dates of their own and the people around them, its second nature to them.  Men forget even the year; once my male colleague asked me puzzled “are we now in the 21 st or 20 th century?!” My mother with her date-friendly memory rescued me during my bachelor days.   Now many years after marriage, I am challenged to remember four birthdays and one anniversary date in the family; and I know the path ahead is uphill when our two daughters get married, then their spouse’s birthdays and their anniversaries, oh…the growing list unsettles me! My beloved wife and I completed our silver wedding anniversary.   I thank my stars that we did not date too much before our wedding for she would ...

Weep and you weep alone…. Laughter clubs have mushroomed around us and has brought us all together, both men and women of all ages, for lighter moments.   Laughter enhances the release of endorphins to augment the feel-good factor and decreases the stress levels.   We all agree that laughter is the best medicine and are familiar with the smirks and smiles, giggles and the gaggles, cackles and the chuckles, and in today’s ubiquitous social media environment, the ROFL – Rolling on Floor Laughing! When I approached the lady, only then I could tell she had burst out laughing, literally.   Tears rolled down her eyes, she tried her best to wipe them off, a few friends around her checked to see if she had choked, others even offered her water to drink – exact state-of-affairs at the scene as I witnessed at close proximity.   This was at a party where there were a few new friends-of-friends invited to expand the like-minded group.   The lady was new to this g...

Word Delivery conjures up some wonderful thoughts and images.  The birth of a baby in the family is the culmination of many an anxious moment and in the arrival of a new bundle of joy family members rejoice.  This wonderful moment erases from our memories any preceding sad events, like a death in the family.  A strong notion put forth is that with a newborn even deceased members of the family take a new life within the family circles. Delivery brings a lot of joy to the recipient when (s)he receives wonderful gift(s) from a sender.  The joy quotient heightens when there is a surprise element.  The courier is profusely thanked as signs of elation and gratitude arise.  The arrival of good news is perpetually welcome; happiness is viral and infectious irrespective of who the recipient. Delivery in the modern world and to the younger generation is akin to favorite food delivered home at the doorstep.  A favorite pizza, or the spicy Andhra food, or ve...

A long story trimmed will help reduce the ignominy!  On a business trip 7-8 years ago, a safe land call from a European city to my family back home in India probably brought a smile on their faces. My daughters narrated the fun with back-to-back home delivery dinners. I cleared my throat as my wife came on-line. The next few minutes it was a monologue for I was relentless in my gyan-session that food cooked at home sprinkled with love makes it divine; and the philosophy of daddy love as an essential ingredient for wholesome progress! At my tantalizing best if you will, I pretended it fell on deaf ears when she lamented her sufferings - an upset stomach and the challenge that she single-handedly managed everything.  Landed home the following week with not a hint of what was in store. My wife had planned a short trip to her parents in Mysore – me home alone to manage the kids! My better-half’s instructions were heard but not registered, as she directed me to post-its s...

Creative thoughts come to play for me at odd places and odd times and assume various shapes as new stories formulate in my mind. It was a quick resolve to pen them down on (a) piece(s) of paper for subsequent retrieval. Murphy is my middle-name, the very purpose of scribbling down was defeated as I lost track of the paper pieces. Strangely when I found some of the odd scribbling stashed in cozy corners and pant pockets, they made no sense to me; stitching a story together was next to impossible, an illusion of sorts!  My first creative thoughts crossed my mind in the mornings as I opened my sleepy eyes; only to last until I rolled off my bed. Going through my morning ablutions, I experience a deluge of thoughts as my toothbrush touches my teeth, a divine connection?! Only a notion though that the shining mirror acts as a catalyst to ignite my thought engine, but my evil twin staring at me from inside the mirror smirks as my thoughts fade away just as my frame moves out of i...