Skip to main content

Sermonise or Accomplish

Scenic Durga Tekdi

We lived in Siddhivinayak Nagar near Appu Ghar at Nigdi in Pune for eleven years. The area happens to fall in the cantonment area of Dehu Road and has been leased for ninety nine years I believe.It was beautiful to be close to nature after our stay in the concrete jungles of Mumbai . We were living in a row house which is a lot similar to an apartment with common walls but stands apart due to the garden area ,terrace and a first floor like a duplex.Our colony turned out to be the last one in that area and our backyard was the prohibited area of Durga Tekdi an artificial forest built on the ghats by philanthropists who watered  fast growing silver oaks and cared for it to make it the most exquisite walking area of nearly two and half kilometers uphill. We led a very contented and peaceful life in the area with merely a scarcity of water haunting our peace. Finally our house owner agreed to get an underground water tank dug so that in dire scarcity we could get a tanker of water and fill the tank and use it for a week.The work had begun and three lorries of earth had been dug out which had to be cleared. All of a sudden my multiple fibrosis landed me in the hospital and on coming back I was weak physically and psychologically  as I had lost my father a few months back. On the Dhanteras  my neighbour came home and curtly asked me to get the sand removed as it was causing havoc flying all over the place. With a great deal of intricacy I called a few manual workers as my husband was busy.Late in the evening two burly workers came along and my first reaction was to yell at them and transfer my neighbours annoyance.The workers were strong but wore torn clothes and looked at me apologetically and said "hame kya diwali aur kya eid" a lorry wasn't available and so the work got delayed." Hearing all this commotion my fourteen year son who was studying upstairs came down . He looked at me disdainfully and said  ''mummy utterance of this kind is contradictory to the values of politeness and love for the poor" For a moment  i felt humiliated but recognised that its easy sermonizing but the most difficult observing what one has preached, I had learnt the most valuable lesson that day.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Wealth for Lakshmi

“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”   ―   Mother Teresa ‘ A ayi ’  refers to m other in Marathi, but Lakshmi had graduated from a mother, to a grandmother. Her daughter and her grandchildren loved calling her ‘Aayi’ in Konkani.  She was a native of the lush green Konkan. Aayi began her life with ‘ abu ’ Jagannath in the city of warangal in Andhra Pradesh. She was a tall, healthy lady and Jaggnath a good looking, lean and handsome man. Together they made a handsome couple not only looks wis e, but also mannerism wise. Lakshmi’s family was a large one consisting of seven sisters and the youngest one was the much awaited sibling brother. Her parents were ecstatic over the birth of a boy after seven sisters. The sisters treasured their kid brother. Lakshmi and her sisters got married early owing to the social norms and customs. Lakshmi was blessed with a daughter and a son. The daughter was a replica of Jagannath, the same chiseled features, fa

The Most Beautiful one

The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation. Corrie Ten Boom Neela looked at her daughter lovingly, the baby had an attractive smile. She kept gazing at her contented smile as she caressed her hair backwards. The child was a stout baby, the sparse hair on her head was just enough to cover the bald head, and then her eyes focussed the cleft lip. She nev er wanted the little girl to get what she had found the most difficult in life to cope with. Neela loved the fact that her daughter Naina was healthy,  she had  the most beautiful eyes and so the name, ‘Naina’ was the most pertinent. However, the neighbours and family who had come for the naming ceremony, failed to notice the large eyes with the dark eyeballs. They only pitied Neela for having given birth to a look-alike daughter who they felt would find it difficult getting a handsome husband. Neela had a cleft lip, but was the most charming woman who could cook, dance, sing and keep the whole co

Forever a Teacher

“I'm not a teacher: only a fellow traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead - ahead of myself as well as you.”   ―   George Bernard Shaw Neethi saw the message and could not help smiling, it said “ Neethi Amma, I said Good morning and Good night, why no reply”. Neethi started musing at the past  when life took her backwards.  Neethi had been a school teacher for years when she had reared children lovingly. Her life had been customary for thirty five years. It involved an early  morning rouse , cooking brea kfast, lunch, packing all the lunch boxes for her children and husband and managing the maid with the other chores. At the school, she taught sciences for the secondary children and loved learning new things. Her children and husband had been a great help in her successful career. The kids flew away to their own nests with time   leaving Neethi and husband to fend for themselves. Neethi had retired last year, she joined the virtual world quickly as an online