Lemon-Chilly Solution.

 

As I see a traffic signal from far off showing green, it seems like the whole world is cooperating with me! But, amidst the traffic, as I near the signal, it turns red and now the whole world seems against me. I curse my luck. This happens only with me, always. Whenever success seems just a step away luck deserts me and I fail. Why does it happen always with me?

As I sat their, behind the wheels, a little annoyed, my patience getting tested for the next 1.5 min, I observe a familiar sight. Looking at that sight I realise it's Saturday. A lady, unkempt, knocking on my car window. She was holding a bundle of lemon and chilly, stitched together with thread. Only on Saturdays, she and her army of friends, appear with this unique product. A no moon day (आमावास्या) also gives them a bonus day to sell this product. 

Humans are superstitious. In India, these superstitions take different and huge  forms. Along with these grave implications also come their solutions. The combination of lemon and chilly is one of them. 

They say, that if 'evil eye' invades us than this lemon-chilly combination keeps it away from us and shields us from ill-fate. Some also say that 'Alaxmi' the goddess of poverty is driven away by this powerful combination. 

Experts prove and preach that for success we need to be disciplined, skillful, knowledgeable, well networked, persistent, patient, strong will-powered, and a lot more things. But, one bad look from someone who doesn't have even 1% of all the required qualities for success, can destroy all our lifelong efforts! How sad! 

So along with the mantras for attaining success we should also have the all important thing growing in our backyard, a plant of lemon and another one of chillies! 

Also, this evil eye strikes only on Saturdays or no moon day. All other days of the week the conditions are not favourable for them. Hence, we need to have a fresh set of lemons and chillies to drive those evil vibrations off, a rotten ones won't do. 

As I sat contemplating on those merchants of good luck, sweating themselves off on a hot summer day, working hard for our success, driving off the goddess of poverty, I observed a little distance away sitting on the divider, beneath the signal pole, was a little child, crying her heart out for attention. With torn clothes, malnourished, sun burnt, eyes deep inside, craving for a little food. 

Their own child is struck with poverty, ill-fate, but we believe that they have the solutions to our bad luck! 

Either these Angels of god are too generous to distribute even their share of luck to us or our belief on lemon-chilly solution is too strong! 

Sharing

 

What are the basic needs of a human?

Food

Clothes

Shelter

What else?

Should we add Oxygen and water too?

Surely. What else?

In the last some days, watching 3 Hollywood movies, 'Cast away', '127 hours' and 'Into the wild', one thing that I found which should be added to the above basic needs for us is 'SHARING'!

Yes, a simple activity of sharing. 

As I started observing people, analysing situations, studying results, it became more and more obvious. A man can live without his basic needs but not without sharing. Believe it or not!

Facebook, Whatsup, and all the other Social Media tools have one and the only reason for their success and that is sharing!

When a man succeeds, he wants to share. When he fails even than he wants to vent out his feelings and share.

When he is in love he wants to share, when he gets rejected, he wants to share.

A Buddha becomes enlightened and for the world to understand the importance of spirituality, he shares!

An artist, whatever medium he is using, whether Painting, or Acting, or Music, or Cooking, what he is basically doing through the art form is sharing!

A blind man shares. A dumb and deaf also finds some way or the other to share!

An Adam without an Eve or an Eve without an Adam is not possible because than there will be no one to share!

What is the toughest punishment meted out to a criminal? 

Hanging might end him of all his troubles. But imprisonment seems to be tougher. If the authority wants to punish more harder, what do they do? The convict is enclosed in a dark cell. Here he has clothes, shelter, food, everything but still it's horrible....why? Because he has no one to share! In this condition he may loose his mental balance too!

If I am happy, I share.

If I am sad, I share. 

..... if I want to express my feelings, my observations, my achievements, my so on and so forth, what do I do?

I write a blog!

...... and I share!

The Game of Housie

Come April and our family gets ready for our annual pilgrimage. Like most of us, my place of birth and our ancestral village are different. It's the time when we have the opportunity to touch our roots and return back. 

I always look forward to this opportunity of visiting the little village in the south coastal region of Karnataka. Our home is situated in the middle of the farms, with a well, a cowshed, et all. It's a fabulous experience. 

This year, the Puja to be performed in the village temple was a once in 12 years Event and hence our whole family, some 14 of us had gathered. 

We living in the city, with the support of mobile, televisions, computers, iPads, do not know what to do with the time when all these supports are removed. As we sat in the verandah of our village home, doing nothing, Hrishant, my 12 year old son, suddenly came up with a box from his baggage. As we grew curious about what might be 

inside this box, he opened it to reveal the game of Housie! 

As you know, this game of Housie (or Tambola) is typically played in kitty parties or when a group of ladies gather for some reason or the other. I always thought that it was a girlie game and had never attempted to be a part of it. 

Variations of Housie : The simple game of Housie  includes three lines (Top, Middle, Bottom) and two or three Full Houses. You can bring in some fun with these variations like..

 

Fastest five - One who cuts the five numbers in a ticket first.

Fastest seven - One who cuts the seven numbers in a ticket first. 

King's corner - the first number in each line (in the above ticket 5,28,6)

Queen's corner - The last number in each line (in the above ticket 80,77,82)

Four Corners - The 4 corner numbers of the ticket (in the above ticket 5, 6, 82, 80)

Lines can be called twice.

Number of Full Houses can be increased.

It typically has a Coordinator who calls out the numbers and the players who participate and test their luck.

With a recently fractured hand, I was the natural Coordinator and all other 13 were playing, children, young ones, seniors, et all. 

As I started calling out the numbers drawn randomly from a packet of numbers, comments started flowing along with some interesting cries like 'Yess', 'ohh', 'oh no', 'my god'. Jumping, clapping, laughing, teasing  as someone reached the 'first five' first, the 'Kings Corner' first, and so on.

As the game went on, I realised that, I who was conducting the game was doing the things mechanically while the participants were having the time of their life! 

Also, the fact came to light that though I was withdrawing the numbers and placing them on my card, which had all the numbers in series, unlike the players cards which had only selected numbers in their individual card, the chances of the players completing their first row, four corners, were much more than I completing them on my sheet. 

After about half an hour, the game was completed with the winners in ecstasy and the losers cursing their luck but each one of them happy. The only one sulking was me! 

As I contemplate, I compare this Event with some similar experiences in life. 

We go to a movie, enjoy it and than feel jealous of the glamorous life of the Stars and Directors of the film.

We go to a Restaurant and think how lucky are the management who can saviour the Restaurant food daily. 

We pass a Mercedes Showroom and think how the owner of the place must be riding a brand new latest model Merc each day. 

But, maybe, like the coordinator of the Housie  game, these people are more than sweating it out  in bringing the Product on our table  while it is we who enjoy the maximum out of it. 

'Uneasy lies the head which wears the crown'. 

A perfect phrase to describe the situation. While everyone thinks the King is the most luckiest person to sit at the citadel it's actually the subjects who are having the time of their life and the poor king is engaged in responsibilities!