SOARING AWAY

Robin nudged Meera, “So then we can consider the matter settled; right?”

“What is supposed to be settled, Robin?”

“Come on Meera, we discussed sending Ratan to Boarding School at Ooty....”

“Oh ya, he is to be sent away before we tie the knot! I do remember…. I also remember refusing to send away my son- just so he will be out of the way.”

Meera sighed and added, “There is no change in my stand, Robin. Ratan stays. You simply have to learn to accept him.”

***

A few days later.

 “Wow, Mom, the kites are beautiful!”

It was kite flying season and the three, Meera, Robin and Ratan were out on the terrace, along with many others, armed with beautifully crafted kites of various designs. Each one of them was flying a kite, watching it soar into the air. There was the usual friendly competition as to whose kite would soar highest.

During this joyous occasion, again Robin sidled to Meera and whispered, “How about letting him go, darling? We can then plan our wedding.”

Ratan, hearing only the words ‘letting go,’ asked in excitement, “Shall I let go of the string, mom? Then we can see how far it goes.”

“No, sonnie,” said Meera, turning slowly towards Robin. Then in a sudden movement, she snatched the kite string from the stunned Robin’s hand and releasing it, said,

 “We will let this one go.”

Robin walked away quietly as the kite soared into the Heavens.

  

                                       --------------------------------------------------

LOON'S BOON

God was struck with Wonderment

As none under His Firmament

Had ever asked for a boon,

Such as wanted by Mr.Loon.

“Evolution, O Lord, I do hail;

But please return me my tail.

For, every time I see a monkey,

I turn green with envy.

Oh, Things I could happily do

If only I had a tail too;

Hang upside down from a tree

And read a book, swinging free!

Hold a cell phone or what I like,

With both hands still on the bike;

Drink coffee, tea or whatever,

Even while holding the newspaper.”

Hearing this from Mr. Loon,

God fell in a great swoon.

When last we heard-

Mr Loon

Is still awaiting his boon,

Hoping God will recover soon.

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BEWARE OF FLYING INNER WEAR!

Soman was happy. The young man was headed home for a brief holiday after a long time. As always, he was well dressed and took pride in his appearance. While walking home from the bus stop, he was day dreaming about how he would spend his valuable four days- the friends he was going to meet, the movies he would see and so on.

For reaching home, he had to walk by an apartment complex. A strong wind which was blowing that time dislodged a man’s underwear that was hung up for drying in the balcony of one of the apartments.

This piece of flying dress item landed securely on the unsuspecting Soman’s handsome shoulder. The young man who was blissfully unaware of the garment which now adorned his shoulder, walked home merrily.

Meanwhile, Soman’s large joint family was agog with excitement at the prospect of his coming. Meena, the younger sister was teasing her kid brother saying how Somananna was always very well dressed, “…unlike you untidy chap, Varun!”

Soman’s grandma, his paatti-wheelchair bound, though delighted at Soman’s coming, was worried about that day’s star forecast which said she should beware of missiles. Though enemy missiles were quite far away to cause concern, nevertheless she worried.

“Here comes our brother, Somananna!” shouted Varun in joy and rushed to greet him. As Soman entered triumphantly like a war hero, Varun and Meena took a look at him and started rolling in laughter. “What is it?” asked Soman annoyed at the sudden loss of heroism.

“Is it the latest fashion, brother!” asked Varun, giggling helplessly.

“Do you always carry...er… a spare like this, like a scooter tyre?” asked Meena .

“What’s all the uproar about?” asked paatti,wheeling her chair to the entrance, at the exact instant that Soman discovered his shoulder wear and threw it in anger and disgust. The much thrown underwear now landed on paatti’s face, causing another uproarious session.

Meena was rolling on the ground in laughter squealing, “Paatti’s forecast about the missile hit has come true!”

Paatti, though initially flustered, laughed aloud and said, “Soman’s forecast is also fulfilled-it was written against his star that he would have to shoulder an unusual responsibility today.”

The Soman household was thus plunged in sunshine and laughter by his arrival.

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HELL OF A PROBLEM

The CEO of  Hell was worried,

“Oh, oh! My fires are getting weaker!

If this goes on, how do I get on

With  the business of roasting my clients?”

Reluctantly, he approached the Earthlings

-His biggest client base,

And asked for a few pipefuls of Energy

To tide over his difficulties.

But Ah! The super smart Earthlings would have none of it,

But gave him a lecture instead;

On Upgradation
And Energy Conservation

And Environment Management

And Carbon credits… and so on.

Finally, rejecting the Chief’s plea,

They offered instead to deploy

Energy experts- on payment basis,of course!

The CEO of hell then rose up angrily to his full height;

Taking a deep breath, he said, “Save your lectures, Earthlings!

-Reason for the fuel shortage is the inordinate increase

In the number of rascals you have been dispatching down there;
-much higher than the installed capacity.”

Then with a royal shrug of his hellular shoulders,

The Chief added in a spine chilling tone,

“The choice is yours:  give me more energy,

Else I will send them right back to you-unroasted.”

---------------------------------------------

Just in Jest.

“Are you Sam, son?”

“No”

“Ah, then you must be Sam’s son?”

“No. I am Samson, son of Sam’s son.”

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LOOKING INWARDS

I hope I do not mislead readers into thinking that this is an article on a spiritual matter…….there are many Great Gurus for that…. who write and talk about the Inner Self, the Real Self etc. Also I do not pretend to lay claims to any great psychological insight in the lines that follow. They are merely random musings of an ordinary individual past his middle age. I hope at least some of you will agree with some of the things I am going to say.

Most among us are quick to form opinions about other people’s attitudes; mannerisms and behavior in general, aren’t we? We love to engage in this pastime either singly, with family, or in groups. We can be quite merciless too when we form or create such ‘images’ of others. Though we have been exhorted to ‘judge not’, we do that all the time.

Over a period of time, these ‘images’ or perceptions of our friends, foes or relatives crystallize and lo!, we claim that we ‘know’ him or her very well!

Thus, in any society, we define so and so person as miserly, someone else as eccentric, another as greedy….and so on. Often a single adjective suffices to describe an entire human in the circles in which the individual moves! Of course we can also be quite generous with some others when we attribute many positive qualities to them and even fit some among them with sagely halos.

How fallacious! That poor person whom we claim to ‘know’ and whom we ‘define’ has not evolved painfully over many Darwinian generations to be judged, classified and filed away in society’s image cabinets so casually. In reality can anyone be ‘known’ so accurately even after several years of close association? Many facets of a person’s total personality remain elusive in casual friendships and even sometimes in more intimate relationships. As we have all experienced sometime or the other, there can be surprising or unexpected behaviour even from ‘well-known’ people. Often, unfortunately, such surprises- if unpleasant- can lead to ruptured relationships.

That in turn leads me finally to the main topic of this article…. How much do we know about ourselves?

The gut reaction to this question would be “Of course I know myself…I am like this,…. I am like that, and so on. But do others agree with this self perception?

Aah…There we have a problem, don’t we? Of course, what everyone does have is a self-perceived image of self as he fancies others to  be perceiving him! Alas, if it is put to comparison with the corresponding file images of society, results could be quite different, sometimes disastrous. Complicated, isn’t it? I could help by complicating further when I add, as you of course know, that each one of us has multiple images in society other than the self-perceived one. Images formed by the spouse, the mother, the boss, the friend, the sibling etc could all be different from each other and also from the self-perceived image.

The images formed about us by others are based primarily on how we act or behave in various situations. Since our response to the same stimulus varies depending on the place, occasion, person or persons etc, it follows that the images too will be different. That also would explain why the same person is a hero to some, an ordinary person to others, and probably even a villain to others. 

Then who is the real person behind all these images? Again I am not referring to the Self of the Spiritualist but only to the ordinary self. Knowing one’s true nature to any reasonable extent is possible only by one self……..if one is prepared to look within …and honestly acknowledge things as and when they are seen.

Easy, is it? Think again. Imagine you have an uneasy feeling after seeing someone. He would be a person you instinctively dislike for some reason. But your conscious mind may not be aware of the reason for your sudden moodiness. If you really probe in your mind for the reason, it is there…. His presence has affected you! But then how many times we acknowledge such feelings even to ourselves? Dislike, hatred? “No no, I can’t be like that!”, “Do I feel envious on seeing a friend’s latest model car? No, no… not me. I am not like that!”, “Do I feel attracted to that person….Certainly not, I can’t be a sinner!”

What happens is that our puritanical sense of right and wrong kicks in and we get shocked when we try to confront our real feelings. But then they are only feelings and they are there, whether you accept them or not. Feelings or thoughts do not come and go at your behest. They are always there whether you are a sinner or a saint. They are as much a part of nature as the cold, heat or wind. You can ask your child not to go out in the cold. You cannot issue an ultimatum that she should not feel the cold!  Similarly there should not be any harm in just ‘recognising’ those feelings without actually acting upon them.

Of course one should not act on such negative feelings. But one probably can actually benefit by an inner honesty where we boldly confront ourselves as we are. Yogis say that even the mere act of recognising or ‘observing’ certain undesirable feelings or thoughts can get rid of them. Also, many psychologists have discussed the danger of these pent up emotions bursting the dam of tolerance if left unnoticed. How can we apply the balm of our acquired wisdom to alleviate these miseries if we are not even aware of them?

As it has been said by the wise, the courageous man also experiences fear when facing a dangerous situation. The difference between the brave and the cowardly is simply that the former has learnt to deal with his fears. The same logic can be extended to the man who is labeled ‘good’ versus the man labeled ‘bad’. The good man has probably learnt better to apply the appropriate controls in the journey of life- to avoid mishaps.

Except for that difference, it may be well said that every one of us  is on a journey, the destination being the same. We are at different  stages, that's all.   

                        ---------------------------------------------

IN A WHITER LEIN...OOPS...IN A LIGHTER VEIN

Elsie, a mild natured elderly lady was miffed with her husband about something and decided to complain to their family friend, Joseph- who, she knew would scold her husband. But being a true sishya of Spoonerism- like ‘hissing the mystery lectures’, ‘facing his wash’ etc- she could often get things mixed up while talking.

She complained to Joseph (who was hard of hearing) that George had “...spooned her pawns in order to gamble with the money”. 

Joseph was livid.

 “George, how dare you try to harpoon her for money?”

The absent minded George answered, “She is lying!- I hate prawns.”

God knows what Joseph heard, but he smiled, and patting George affectionately on the back, told the puzzled Elsie, “There! That’s settled then. The old boy won’t do it again.”

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