Archive for July, 2011

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Little artists


2011
07.28

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I ALWAYS considered myself to be hopeless with kids (unlike with puppies and kitties). But perhaps I am not as hopeless as I anticipated. The two rascals who live above my office did something so sweet – it put smiles on my face and a spring in my step. I walked into office one morning and spotted these drawings pinned on my soft board. What’s more the ones by the older one Saraswati also features the names of each object in the picture. Gulab (rose). aam (mango). saib (apple).

Art by Kuldeep

I was stunned. My colleague then informed me that the kids were at my desk after I left work. They pinned everything up and stole out, the evening before.

The kids hail from an abusive household and life isn’t pretty. The father would regularly beat the mother and after much effort by many, thankfully the beatings have stopped almost completely. He never does anything to the kids and is loving when not under the influence of alcohol, but with it he morphs into a mindless brute.

Cat resembling an extraterrestrial. and a gulab.

But the scars of this dynamic are evident in the kids who loiter around aimlessly all day and never seem to be doing any lessons. One day the grandmother, a fragile old lady who does a lot of work around the house, mentioned that the kids give her a wack every now and then. Can one expect them to know this is wrong when their father does the very same thing? But this cycle needs to break.

I gave the older girl Saraswati (she calls herself ‘saswati’) a telling off. She choked and would not say a thing. I couldn’t tell if she was sorry or mad. So, I let her be and went on my way. You see, Saraswati is a natural charmer, and she’s a sensitive girl too. But she has a lot of pride and when she is wrong, she purses her lips and refuses to speak. Then one has to have a conversation and draw her out, using the voice of reason.

"I confess. I did it" :)

But this time, I just let her be. The next day she smiled and went into a garrulous rant about some very inconsequential goingons and I realised that all the idle time is turning these kids into gossips. So, I told her that she must spend her time doing something useful – like drawing. Over the last few days, she seemed very busy with colour pencils and drawing paper. And this was the result. What’s more interesting is that she got her brother Kuldeep to also chip in. Some crayons and drawing books are in order for these young uns’!

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Money and spirituality – where the twain meets


2011
07.26

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TODAY I shared some words of wisdom with a close friend who of late seems rather disturbed by his newfound consumerism. He especially feels upset by visits to the mall — I keep saying it’s the Delhi heat that makes us mark time here.

The words of wisdom were penned by Wes Hopper, an elderly gentleman based in Phoenix, who refers to himself on Linkedin as  a ‘Personal Change Architect’ and pens a daily newsletter called “Gratitude”‘.

Now, some folks may deem that real corny – but there’s nothing even a tad corny about what he writes. So, everyday at noon I drop all work, lunch and other inconsequential activities, and check in on the Daily Gratitude, which dutifully lands in my inbox, without fail. If I like what I read (which I mostly do), I zip it across to a friend who I think it may help in a moment of self-doubt.

So, here is what Wes had to say on a fine rainy day in Dilli, about money and spirituality:

“It’s in the use of material things that
a person finds full life for the body,
develops the mind and unfolds the soul.”
Wallace Wattles

Continuing our series on the writings
of Wallace Wattles, we see that he
is pointing out that it’s an error to
think that material things, like money,
are not spiritual.

We need things to nurture and
comfort our body, engage and
stimulate our mind, and feed our
soul. Poverty makes this difficult.

But, look carefully. He says the “use”
of material things is necessary. This
choice of words is to make it clear
that the acquisition of lots of stuff is
not the point.

The point is to be able to fully express
our body, mind and soul. To do that
we need to use “stuff” and it’s not
important whether we own it or just
have access to it.

But living in poverty and thinking it’s
spiritual is an error. Poverty goes
with lack, and spirituality goes with
abundance.

We should never settle for doing
without something we need to fully
express our gifts and nurture our
body, mind and soul.

In order to do that we need to have
a healthy relationship with money.
And the biggest block for many
people is thinking that money and
spirituality don’t go together.

They will, if you let them.

Many blessings,
Wes

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Girls just wanna have fun…


2011
07.24

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A COUPLE of months back I visited a school on the outskirts of Noida. The address didn’t mention a sector number, which made it tough to locate as people in Noida are now programmed to think in sectors. “What do you expect? This is a poor community,” the principal said. My experience culminated in an official bit of writing for my magazine Careers360. However, am penning the unofficial bits here, plus pics.

Coming back to the princi, she and her late hubby set up the school several decades back and managed it on the funds they raised by charging higher fees for another school they ran for those comparatively well off. Not well off but comparatively well off. Both were located in the same compound. We chatted for a while and then I pushed off to meet a group of young school students who had worked on some film projects.

Chatting with school girls in English-Hindi

I felt nervous! …on the account of the poor state of my Hindi. On top of that I have an unpronounceable name in these parts. Meru, Miril, Merin, Maru. When I entered the classroom I was greeted by a teacher and her 42 female students from Class 7 to 11. Some with pigtails. All looked like they had be prepping to give their best for this interaction! So, we began interacting and I felt like I was their teacher for about 20 minutes. But then they opened up and started speaking freely. Perhaps meanings are in people and not in words, and just like canines the young uns’ respond to a friendly vibe.

There were one or two eager beavers who had an answer for every question. Now this proved to be a problem as I wanted more perspectives, especially from the shy ones. So, I packed them off to pose along with their storyboards for our young photographer Rajat, an intern from a design school. And bingo, the discussion opened up and more young minds dived in.

In fact, some of them spoke to me in English even when I posed a question in Hindi. Perhaps, they thought it was most disastrous and wanted to save me any further embarrassment. Or perhaps they wanted to impress me with their English! Either way it was both amusing and endearing!

These girls seems quite determined to be ambassadors of their community. One said she wants to be a doctor and treat the people in her locality “as the govt. does nothing”. Another wanted to be a software engineer. One girl wanted to be an airhostess. And two wanted to documentary film makers. The fact that they had heard of this concept was very heartening to know.

School walls = artist's canvas

We bid the girls farewell after distributing Cadbury chocolates for all, and walked around the school and discovered a creative streak in the students. The walls of the classroom were their canvas, and sketches of the Gods and Goddesses, cows, dogs, birds were their inspiration.

sipping for the shutterbug...

As we wrapped up our visit, I noticed that Rajat was being coyly “checked out” by the girls in the vicinity. He wanted to photograph them drinking water from the taps outside, and they posed willingly in between sips and giggles!

Pictures: Rajat Rao from Raffles (design school)

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RIP Milky


2011
07.11

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Milky nibbling away at her mid-day meal...

THOUGH I keeping harping about loving canines with a vengeance, I also have a soft spot for kitties. Especially a feline called Milky, aptly named because of her soft white coat and delicate gait. She and her fellow cat, who we named Tom were abandoned by our self-confessed animal loving neighbours who moved away, and am not kidding – literally vanished into thin air, one not-so-fine morning.

Tom and Milky went hungry for several days and began looking very haggard until my mom and dad decided to feed them lunch, everyday. So dutifully at 1ish, the two kitties would make their presence felt outside our home in Fatorda (South Goa). Both were a little scared and Milky had this eternal fear of being touched by humans.

But as the days went by they warmed up to the folks and Milky allowed pa to stroke her. My dad would often refer to her eating ways as “delicade” or delicate, because she chewed every morsel of her rice and fish bones with grace. Tom on the other hand, would act most boorish, polishing off his food in a trice, gradually edging closer to Milky’s portions, thereafter. My father stood watch for Tom’s antics and the crows who were waiting for a free meal.

Lassie (our pet canine and apple of our house) would turn into a green-eyed monster, having placed herself strategically at the window, eyes glued to the spectacle and barking her head off. As the days went by, Milky would appear on our doorstep, stretch herself languorously, sometimes I suspect to make Lassie even more jealous. But as time went by, the two began to share an odd kinship.

As the feeding ritual continued everyday, Lassie barked less and Milky showed off less, and often when Lassie did bark it was to scare off the crows.

Then one day Tom never came back and we suspected he was no more. So Milky would turn up alone.

Then one day after dusk, into the wee hours of the morning an unsuspecting Milky sat perched on a chair in our neighbour’s front porch. Our neighbour who has several cats also fed Milky once a day, and she was turning into quite a bonny ole’ thing. Then four street dogs showed up – encircled her and ravaged her to death.

Only the next morning did my father realise why Lassie was barking herself into a frenzy while the battle ensued. Our neighbours tried to scare off the dogs but to no avail. The lady who would feed Milky her meal sobbed for her, for she genuinely loved her cats. And my dad felt a hole in his heart, for Milky truly was his pet, even if she did not live inside our home.

RIP Milky for the happy moments you gave us, especially pop and for fighting so bravely until your last moment.

PS: Feeding street dogs as a practice can help tone down the aggression in them. One dog a day could keep the aggression away…

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cities changing people


2011
07.09

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Is it a coincidence that two people on the very same day relate how the city over time, has altered the fabric of their personalities?

“Delhi has made me a really, really mean person,” fesses’ M, the soft contours of her face turning jagged as she explains how this sweet girl morphed into a hard-nosed woman. A hairstylist by profession, M struts around like the quintessential Bandra girl – casually dressed, no-nonsense attitude, friendly and swift in her movements. But she seems to detest the people here. “Either you are fighting with an autowallah or some man who is staring at your arse,” she explains.

One time the cops randomly came after her hubby accusing him of committing theft. She flew into a rage on his behalf and demanded to know how they could accuse someone who is not capable of“killing a cockroach” of committing a crime and sans proof? And indeed M does stand out like a sore thumb amongst the ladies here – because of her spark and a friendly disposition.

Earlier in the day I caught R sporting a woebegone expression. How are you? I asked. “Fed up!” he answered! “Kya hua?,” I probed.

People in this city have no depth. They only want to know where you work, where do you live and what car you drive. “So why did you settle down here,” I inquired.

Apparently he got “stuck”, and sounded rather broken in spirit over this decision at an age, which some people may deem “past his prime”. Cynicism flowed freely and I empathised with him on some accounts. But at the end of the convo he said to me,” Don’t lose heart” – ironic since he is the one who has written off the city.

I suppose my opinions of the city are still shaping up and it helps that I am making no effort whatsoever to “fit in”. Perhaps one needs to do it especially if ones kids attend a socially affluent school or you work for a high profile corporate or own  a business.

Yet, my own life has been enriched in some interesting ways, since the move from Mumbai to Delhi. I practice Yoga regularly, volunteer for the love of canines with a vengeance and also brought sis down here to attend a training school for the hearing impaired. I love the parks, and the woods and the deer and the peacocks. Less partying and more activities and concerts. The fabric of my lifestyle has changed.

But it ain’t all perfect. I do miss that spontaneity and spark in people. And nice, freewheeling conversations with no strings attached. sigh.

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Animal care internship


2011
07.08

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MY four-Sunday internship with Red Paws Rescue kicked off last week, and though I have been planning to blog about it, I have procrastinated all week long! Of course, this has nothing to do with my motivation levels for the internship itself, which was a both a learning experience AND an eye opener about the plight and needs of our canine friends.
The shelter is located at Sai Ashram in Chattarpur. You’ll know right off the bat that you’ve arrived as you will be greeted by a gang of curious but friendly canines.
As I entered the shelter I realised I was inside a cemetery for dogs, with loving epithets and fancy gravestones. A bunch of volunteers were acquainting themselves with the animals at the shelters. Volunteers comprised parents, kids, single adults and students, all sincere about learning and giving.

this lil' fella has a bad bout of distemper that paralysed his hind legs...but his spirit isn't dampened and he hops around staving off any bullies in the vicinity

There are two to three categories of animals at the shelter. The healthy buggers who run freely in the grass and compound and even outside, the ill boys and girls who suffer from mange, distemper and other ailments, and the abandoned ones who are fewer in number and waiting for a home/ or to recover from their ailments, which is mostly the reason they were abandoned.

We bathed the animals, applied anti-mange lotion and removed ticks (a truckload of them) with a vengeance. Of course cuddles and hugs were free flowing. There were a couple of kids who were slightly terrified but warmed up eventually. Next week we shall receive our red paw rescue signature tees. So happy to be an intern. Yippee!

Sarah spent all morning de-ticking and comforting this lil fellow. Update (July 22) : She is now fostering Snoopy, and he is recovering with all that TLC!

German Shepard - lab mix wants some TLC

this terrified boy turned to putty when this pup rolls in his arms...

This dalmation was abandoned with a fractured foot...needs foster care to make sure he doesn't chew his cast off...otherwise a congenial chappie...

this lil sweetheart is blind and didn't quite know what is happening...but such trust!

Rani is a spitz who gave birth to a litter recently...

This lil bugger, last of Rani's litter has been adopted...

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