[Experiences] The Bridge Between...

Life's jigsaws are pretty quirky. Here a piece, there a piece but at moments when you discover the connects, something magical happens. This is about all those interwoven web of connections that I could see in a momentous moment.

The event was the confluence of women from the polar ends of the world. On the one hand, you have Hillary Clinton - First Lady, Senator, Presidential Runner-up and now, Secretary of State of a very powerful nation. A dynamic symbol of power and fortune. On the other hand, you have 400 women, who don't have a list of posts or power. But they have taken the mantle of their families in their hands. From dire poverty and helplessness, they have empowered themselves to be working women. Moving symbols of hope and courage. Although languages differ, cultures differ, both the speaker and the audience, were connected by the fact that they were both women and working women, at that.

From July 2011

An entrepreneur came on stage to tell her story to Ms. Hillary Clinton. She spoke on the many facets of the working woman - Leaving their young children at home, opposition from family and the benefits of belonging in a group. Her words illustrated the power of independence, the possibilities of a woman who takes charge of her family. She dwelled on the fact of how there was vehement opposition from her husband when starting out on this initiative and now she does not depend on him, be it to marry off her daughters or give them a full education. Just made me think about husbands, on one end, blocking and preventing a woman's growth and of husbands, as in my case, who encourage, push them forward, make them reach for things that even the woman can't see.

The Secretary spoke on the power of self-help movements that has changed the lives of women all around the world. She promised 'more help' for 'self-help'. Marketing training programmes, political management course for Panchayat leaders were some of the many weapons, she sold to these women. The powerful weapons of education, that can change the lives of many. She also spoke about the problems faced by women cooking on unclean stoves and ways of converting the sale of clean cookstoves as a business opportunity for these women. She praised them, applauded them for the great example they were setting for their sons and daughters. It was a true honor to capture the essence of her words and relay to the audience. I was truly touched when after the Secretary had long gone, these women continued to come to me and say they loved the way I relayed the message to them. My education, my skills have truly found a purpose if I succeeded in touching the hearts of these struggling women with the message of one truly empowered woman.

From July 2011

My personal weapon of education, I received from my father, who wrote my school oratorical speeches from the age of 5. He planted the seed of communicating well, beyond barriers and without concern for the status of the listener. When growing up, I have seen him speak both to people in high positions and to people working on the fields, with the same ease and clarity. It is only because of this something that he left in me, I was able to face this stressful situation with a simple philosophy, "However powerful, Madame Clinton is also a woman and a human being, sharing this planet with me". My father who taught me to speak was there, but a brief time in my life, having passed away when I was 11. But he changed it forever with the many skills and attitudes he gave me. I wish every father in India and the world believes in the greatness of his daughter and gives the most beautiful gift of all, not jewels, not money but a meaningful education.

In my little capacity as the interpreter, I was fortunate, very fortunate to be in this gathering, linking this great woman on stage to that great woman on ground. One, making a difference to her home called world and another making a difference to her world called home!

[Travelogue] Mom's-eye View of Cape Town

I am seriously doubting the truth of the old saying "Well begun is half done". Our journey to Cape town, South Africa was anything but well begun! Imagine hours of trying to calm an infant, who has been disturbed from his sweet dreams to take the red-eye flight and then onward to travel another 14 hours in a confined space with specific rules to tie the child and yourself to the seat. If you ask me, that's the perfect recipe for disaster. Haiku had a lot of company in the first flight with his little peers, all joining in the musical(?) chorus. I seriously wonder how many other sleep deprived passengers wanted to break the glass and jump out with a chute. But to my surprise, the world is indeed a kinder place when it comes to kids. This I kept discovering, thanks to Haiku.

From Cape Town : Around the Peninsula

After that long flight with your hands and arms screaming such colorful words at you for having to hold a sleeping baby for continuous hours, you finally land and think all's going to be well, now that we are in the safe hands of mother earth. That's when the temper tantrums start. Baby wants to be let down to explore mother earth too. Only, you are not yet feeling centered enough to give him free reins. So, you collect him in your hands and he gives you a hard bang on the head that you literally see stars, exclamation marks and @ signs, in assorted combinations! At that moment, with all that sleep deprivation, I just wanted to take the flight back home and mark it as a complete failure. Go back home to peace and calm. Well, sometimes we all need someone to say that quitting is no option. My fellow sailor, although exhausted and weakened by the events above, had the calm conviction that we are doing this, no matter how difficult. Once you are ready for anything, then the universe smiles at you with special favor, for passing it's litmus tests.

From Cape Town : Around the Peninsula

Our days rolled on, as smooth as a roller coaster! We simply took on the role of being each other's cheerleader. Having known the joys of being a lonely traveler or in the company of like-minded adults, who can feed and take care of themselves, the journey does get difficult at times! But there is no comparison. The joys of being a parent in an alien land is of a totally different nature. You simply become famous among all the tourists. "Hey, we saw you and your husband with the baby on the boat", "Cute kid", "Beautiful smile" are just some of the phrases I remember. Your heart just melts with pride. The aches seem to melt away too, just until the next episode of the "moods". The whole world just wants to hug you along with your baby and you bask in the shared glory. To watch the world with a child's eyes literally, to give him your undivided attention, to teach him that "Oh, it's a beautiful world", that's indeed some priceless moments that justified undertaking this journey.

From Cape Town : Around the Peninsula

As the days progressed and we had a new life every day, I saw myself changing too. From losing my cool over mere trifles, back home to handling serious problems with poise, there I was growing as an individual. Sometimes it takes a new situation to teach you how precious the ones you take for granted are. A mom was maturing and being open to the new wonders that every day comes with!

Whether it was watching the fish, corals and giant turtles indoors or basking in the beauty of flowers, greens and sculptures outside; Whether it was playing hide and seek in the presence of Nobel Peace winners or feeding food to the goats ; Whether it was watching a South African TV serial on a city woman adjusting to country life or looking at the dancing women exhibits in the museum ; Whether it was listening to an impersonal audio tour giving accurate information of the places that fell on our eyes along the way or it was understanding the depth of knowledge of our tour guide, presenting the history, geography and culture of the region with timely humor; Whether it was watching the nation's future in it's election booths or knowing the past in it's castles and paintings; Whether it was having high tea with high society in the Mount Nelson Hotel or it was sharing a laugh with the underprivileged children of Khayelitsha; The flavors were so many and so varied, but just perfect. Words bow humbly before the magnificence of those individual moments!

As we travelled with people from other countries sharing the joy of discovery, we were pleasantly surprised to see that it's not just about another culture or another place we were learning. At a deep level, it was all about us and what it means to be human. In the end, you just come back with what in Africa is called "Ubuntu"! (No, not the operating system as my tech-savvy husband answered when queried on the meaning) In a simple sense, it means "brotherhood". I feel it is described succinctly in the words of the Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee - "I am what I am because of who we all are." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(philosophy).

From Cape Town : Karkys & Capetonians

I am glad I started and finished this journey. I smile with happiness at the memory of Haiku calling the Africans we met as "akka, anna and maama" - Just simply our son's slice of ubuntu!

[Reflections] Hazar Hazares, please!

Once in a while, someone comes along and does something to pull me out of a coma. Right now, it is a 73 year young man, one who captured the hearts of a million youth in this country. Delighted to talk about Anna Hazare, a true avatar of Mahatma Gandhi.

[Img Src - http://www.buffalonews.com/Media/article387842.ece/BINARY/w620/05585e0ee54ad307e90e6a706700bda1.jpg]

I feel India's greatest claim to fame is that it gave the world a Gandhi. Throughout history, there has been countless struggles for freedom from tyranny, known and unknown, written and forgotten. But ours was the first struggle for the basic human right of freedom, by offering the other cheek. Mahatma inspired nations, people and individuals by his message of non-violence and showing that it can work, even in this war-crazy world. The sad story is that we have made Gandhi a God, a saint and not invited him personally into our lives. We look at his greatness and think we can never do all that he did. But in little ways, he can make a huge difference to our personal and social lives. Anna Hazare, case in point!

We, the new age lovers of statistics and charts of every shape imaginable are presented with an interesting one here - a cartographic view of corruption! It is technically referred to as the Corruption Perception index, created by Transparency International. They have taken upon themselves the sweet job of quantifying the depravity of this world. While critics argue about the validity of this ranking of countries, it makes a pretty picture, only visually. The least corrupt to the most corrupt are marked on the spectrum, moving from the calming blues to the fiery reds. Sad to say, the map is aglow with red. The true azures are few and the merry cherries are many! If we turn our focus to our own picturesque country, it is glowing redder than our reddest chillies. Quite a bite, indeed!

[Img Src -http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/World_Map_Index_of_perception_of_corruption_2010.svg]

I naively wonder why is there so much corruption, here and far? Why should men amass wealth that they have no means of spending in their lifetime? These mile-long numbers attached before the humble currency, as in so may thousands of hundreds of crores of whatever, boggles my mind completely! Why haven't they learnt from the pharaohs of Egypt? All their precious treasures are now just to be admired in museums or looted by daring thiefs. Why look far, when have our very own Maharajas in their resplendent rubies and diamonds, who had every whim and wish fulfilled. All their treasures are left generously for the world's keeping. Why doesn't that thought of death make all this, one hilarious joke? I wish more people laugh!

My dearest India, you could be so much! Just wish Hazares are born every minute and live a hundred years, to put you in the right colors on every map of the world.

[Random] A Priceless(!) Pleasure

A gentle warning to all readers of this blog article. Avoid reading this when about to operate heavy machinery! It is definitely better viewed close to bedtime, when sleep is gently nudging you, this will surely deliver the final kick into snoredom.

Here I am about to describe the pleasure of having a pedicure done. A Pedicure, as defined in 'dettol' fashion , is a 'cosmetic treatment for the feet and toe-nails'. Anyone who has had it done in the hands of a professional, will stare with disbelief at this understatement. Here I am trying my hands at doing that, a bit of justice. No, this article is not sponsored by any salon!

As the feet enter the doors of their heaven, the sins of dirt and grime, the pains of cracks and callouses melt away in a few minutes. Watch out, here come the ZZZs in the following description: The tiny dirt particles hiding in the crevices of your nails are removed with surgical precision. Then they are neatly trimmed and the serious business of removing the deposits on your feet are underway. The lines and cracks are explored with Columbusian efficiency. The icing on the cake is definitely the few minutes of massaging the feet, when all the tensions seem to vaporize like ice on summers' day! This systematic process of scrubbing, filing and massaging is one of those human inventions that deserve a Nobel. Ok, that's going a bit far. Well let's say that if all the terrorists got more of these done, we'd have less hijacking and bombing on our hands!

After every session, I have a burning desire to write to Oxford Dictionary - To add this word to the English lexicon - Pedicurean , adjective with the meaning, 'I-can't-wait-for-this-to-happen-again' !

[Experiences] BIL Bodhi.Insight.Life

An entire day at BIL "Un-conference", Chennai. Many interesting moments. One life-changing one. To me, speakers are maze-makers. They draw you into unknown territory and dynamically gauging your interest, guide you through the intricacies of their experiences. End-result - a satisfying mental workout. There are always other case-points as in "lost in the maze", "too simple a maze", "too convoluted a maze" and "don't want to be in this maze" scenarios. Luckily, most of the mazes here were on the bright end of the spectrum and here's one such that impacted like a meaningful meteorite on my conscience!

In the course of our lives, haven't we all whined about being "too fat", "too thin", "too fair", "too dark", "long nosed", "stub nosed", "small eyed", "huge eyed", and worse still , moaned about microscopic matters such as "my left foot is slighter larger than my right foot", "I have elephant ears", "my eyelashes are so small" and perpetually compared ourselves against our parents, siblings, neighbors, friends and film-stars! Hold that thought for a moment and look at this guy moving onto the dias, his arms flying out in all directions, his legs stumbling on themselves, his face pulled in different directions at the fate of a cerebral condition. But he walked with aura of confidence that not even a perfectly chiseled modern-day-Apollo has. Meet GJ Siddharth, a differently abled man, deeply "unaffected" by a serious condition called cerebral palsy.

Sid bowled us over by asking us a simple favor - to not to call him challenged. He is not physically challenged, he bravely said. Made me think that the ones who are truly physically challenged are us, the whiners I described above. He shared simple everyday experiences, that we take so much for granted and his momentous task in dealing with the same. A small interlude and his best friend walked on stage and shared nuggets of their friendship, how they have fun in spite of everything and everyone around them. Here's my salute to this friend! "You are able to see the dynamic, humorous man that is not visible to the common eyes. You brave others' opinion to be there for him, to give him a chance at normal life. With someone like you to believe and be there, no obstacle is hard crossing."

[Photos by : Karthick Sundar]

At the end of his talk, we all stood there, giving a standing ovation, with tears in some eyes, and a soft glow in most hearts. Made me think of all the moments , I have wasted over inconsequential things; Of the times, when I felt down and depressed for mere trifles. I hope every time a mood swing swings by, my inner voice reminds me of this moment, clapping for this man.

Just here, realized a deep but simple truth about strength and beauty - that being a Goddess Venus/ Venus Williams is more about the contours of the mind rather than the curves of the body!

[Lyrics] Kuviamilaa - Lens in Love!

Kuviamilaa from Ko, is pure word magic splashed with the colors and blends, a photograher sees the world from. My little critique on some of the exceptional lines of the song:

[Photo (also) by : Karky]

ஏனோ குவியமில்லா...குவியமில்லா ஒரு காட்சிப் பேழை!

ஏனோ உருவமில்லா...உருவமில்லா நாளை!

Picture-perfect imagery of the distorted world of love. An accurate metaphor for a visualizer falling in love - About life going out-of-focus and out-of-shape! A seemingly self-invited tragedy for the person who thrives on form.

எண்ணம் திரளுது கனவில்/ வண்ணம் பிறழுது நினைவில்/ கண்கள் இருளுது நனவில்

Exquisite interplay of shade and light in the dimensions of dreams, thoughts and reality respectively.

சத்த சத்த நெரிசலில் உன் சொல்/ செவிகள் அறியும் அதிசயம் ஏனோ?

Neat version of the million dollar questions on the exclusivity of love! The placement of words, about the clear perception of the words of a lover even in the midst of noise overload, is verbal brilliance.

நிழலை திருடும்/ மழலை நானோ?

Deeply philosophical reflections on looking inward with indulgence, at the naughty child playing with illusions.

Kuviamilaa is one of those songs that any one in any tense of love would relate to, with an empathetic smile. Refreshed myself with quaint words and evergreen thoughts. An intense, delicate and extremely focused capture of a lensman in love!

[Reflections] The Decade that was!

As I wait for the last few grains of sand in this decade's hour-glass to begin their lazy descent, the mind takes off speedily in the other direction, here a glance, there a pause, all that strikes with force in my journey through the twenties.

AU to OU: It actually began, with the clear feeling of being in the wrong place. Engineering was not my magic thing and the self was rebelling at being part of something that it could not see the meaning in. And thus, got a degree, if not an education. Often we hear the lines "No matter how far the wrong direction we have gone, one has to turn back to find the way"... So, so true even when 10 years have gone in a purposeless fashion, it's time to find the path. The turn of this decade nudged me into the right direction. Like destiny's suddenly favored child, I walked with glee into this new world of education. Are these wobbly steps, the seeds of a marathon run?

Girl to Mom: Gone are the times of hours and hours to just get an assignment done. Right now, desperately getting hold of the art of juggling. Work, Family and Studies, hasty hands in constant action... Oops, there goes another one down! Still every concept understood, every task accomplished, every smile from your kid's face is platinum-precious. Waiting to learn all over again.

Dreamer to Wanderer : The dream of seeing countries, being part of other cultures was always a soft flame in the background. 2 continents in this one. Will I make it to all that is between America and Australia in the next?

Windows to Mac : From being scared about the prospect of using the giant windows desktop in 2000 to falling head over heals in love with my slim mac, an interesting techie journey! Amazed at the role that these abstract creations have had to play with one's life. What magic/mystery awaits?

Well to World: From being closeted in a small well, with only a couple of friends to now say hi and hello to the whole wide world, has shown shades of me, that I never knew existed. A hearty wish to befriend the world with words.

The thought of being 40 by the end of the next decade has some butterflies fluttering inside... Well, that bridge is far-off ... Let me enjoy this here and this now. Here's to you too.