Enthralling Trails

By loving one another, we invest in each other and in ourselves. Perhaps someday, when we need someone to care for us, it may not come from the person we expect, but from the person we least expect. Peggi Speers She groped and tried to find it. There was something clearly wrong with her. The room was  well-lit  yet she could not see the dust while sweeping and mopping the room. I reprimanded her for not wearing her spectacles. She smiled back saying it was her usual way of doing work. Days later as she was sweeping the kitchen, she thrust a piece of paper in my hands. I looked at her questioningly, her worried countenance told me there was something gravely wrong. I read the doctor’s prescription asking her to undergo a few basic tests and recommended her to an ophthalmologist suspecting cataract,  a clouding of the lens in the eyes decreasing her vision. She feared, but we consoled her to undergo the operation. Her absence makes me understand the value...

“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”   ―   Ralph Waldo Emerson A holiday is well appreciated when one keeps himself or herself busy. In life, every gesture, every precious moment is appreciated when it takes suitable time to ensue. Many  people in the offing have a tendency to slip into the age old pessimism and negativity rather than keeping themselves active and occupied. There are yet a few who utilise this time in understanding the divine and bestowing their gratitude for all the excellent things in life, as life could have been worse. One of the days on my walk, I encountered a dog, it was a diseased one, it was in a bad shape, there was no hair on its body, it was emaciated and ridiculously coloured, it was certainly a shock to encounter a beastly being,  I let out a bawl in disgust….it thrust its tail between its legs, looked down. Its body language spoke volumes… A light of  realization  dawn...

“Life wastes nothing. Over and over again every molecule that has ever been is gathered up by the hand of life to be reshaped into yet another form” Rachel Naomi Remen The young lad cuddled his grandmother and refused to move away from her. There was a loud noise and chaos in the family, a joint family comprising of two brothers and their families along with their parents had moved into the huge row house on our housing block. The family had several kids and the racket and cheerfulness plunged me back to my childhood. My eldest sister was blessed with a baby girl when I was in the final year of my graduation. My sister brought this bundle of joy home and we continued living as before with my father posted at  Bangalore , and my loving mother in God’s paradise. We siblings now lived with an additional responsibility as my brother-in-law was posted abroad for his work. The little doll was a cynosure of all eyes, but loved my father when he visited us. My father woul...

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart”   ―   Helen Keller   Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s deep interest in the digitization of India with a view to revolutionize the country into a digitally-empowered knowledge economy has been welcomed by one and all. It would not be wrong to say that  the  positive influence of this move has been felt in the Indian society.  People have lauded the Prime Minister for being close to most of the Indians after he began his tenure  owing to his technological spirit. His mail to everyone on Mann Ki Baath keeps us aware of every move of his. In reality times have changed. Digital India is perceptible and perceived  by every one of us. Yet I  intend to take you to my realms of perceptions. At a distance I saw the toddler . He held a mobile in his hand, it was silvery, new and had a five inch screen, his eyes gleamed as his tu...

“I'm not afraid of being dead. I'm just afraid of what you might have to go through to get there.”   ―   Pamela Bone The country woke up to the word Euthanasia after Aruna Shanbhag’s death at the KEM Hospital in Mumbai. A nurse by profession, Aruna who worked for the KEM Hospital was in a vegetative state for 42 years  on a ventilator support. She was brain dead, yet breathed with the help of a machine and  the plea for her death as right to die was rejected. Euthanasia  can be defined as the administration of a legal drug by a physician as an act of mercy at the patient's request .   The recent debate on Times News on Euthanasia held several Indians glued to the talk show. The talk spoke of several cases where the patient could not commit a suicide, but needed medical assistance as a means of deliverance from the pathetic state. Some even said that for an old person who has lived a meager life throughout, this state was the richest ...

“The truth is I'm getting old, I said. We already are old, she said with a sigh. What happens is that you don't feel it on the inside, but from the outside everybody can see it.”    Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez         The duo staggered, they spoke in whispers to each other.  They were friends, to be precise women who were growing old rapidly. A few years back, I had always  seen them rush back home as early as six in the morning.  Forever, they had the beaming smile then, and a cherishing purpose. Today, it was almost six thirty in the morning as they entered the forest area . Most of the regular walkers were rushing back home, so were we.  They smiled and told me that they could afford to start late and go back later as there was no one at home to look forward to their presence. Their children had flown away, built their own nests,  and looked after their own families. Their growing years were now far more v...

“Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.”   Patrick Rothfuss , I looked at her lovingly, she looked a lot more confident and seemed zealous. Teachers spoke a lot about her. I kept saying she was mine. She was ind eed mine as I was her class teacher for five years in a progression, and we had ascended the steps of the subsequent class together, but she was shy then and lacked the expertise she had today. I asked her, 'how could I not elicit these qualities within you'? Had I failed as a guide, friend or as a teacher. She looked at me with a beaming grin, and spoke a lot, I could infer only the fact that the college had given a boost through kind words, to her sense of worth. The recent suicide of four teenage girls of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) water sports center, Punnamada, Alapuzha in kerala moved the people of India . Police said the girls tried to commit suicide after the coaches reprimanded them, forci...