Bat Kid, the Super Hero!

Five year old Miles Scott becomes the Bat kid on November 17^th, 2013. At 10:15 AM, he rescues a damsel in distress; at 11:15 AM he prevents a bank robbery and at 1: 15 PM rescues Lou Seal – saving Gotham City from certain doom at the hands of Riddler, the villain. The city folk of Gotham City hail the draped crusader as their savior and turn up in huge numbers on the street to cheer him and hail him hero. A grateful Mayor of Gotham City felicitates the Bat Kid in the City Hall at 2 PM.

This is no script for a Batman series on TV.

San Francisco turns itself into Gotham City; Lamborghini donates a bat mobile; an actor plays Batman to give company; City Police Chief himself plays the role of Gotham City Police Commissioner; City Mayor plays the role of the distraught Gotham City Mayor; volunteer women play the role of the damsel in distress and Lou; an actor plays the role of the green clad villain Riddler; the City police turn up at places of crime and wriggle their helpless hands, outsmarted by ‘Riddler’; the city traffic aligns itself to give precedence to the Bat Mobile, watching in awe their capped crusader go from crime scene to crime scene defeating the villain; the city news papers come out with a special edition of Gotham City Chronicle screaming the head line ‘Bat Kid Saves City’ and the media in San Francisco runs live coverage of his ‘exploits’ on virtually every channel.

That is not all.

Actor Ben Affleck tweeted live - ‘Batkid. Best Batman ever’.

President Barack Obama puts out a video on Vine – ‘Way to go, Miles. Way to save Gotham’.

The five year old Miles Scott has leukemia and has been under treatment for two years. He is a Batman fan. The Make A Foundation of USA decided to help the kid live his dream for a day – to be Batman!! What started as a small initiative to get him batman drapes and perhaps a ride in a car around the city turned into a day when Miles Scott lived ‘Batman’ with San Francisco going out of its way to be part of his dream.

Honestly, my son, wife and I cried as we watched the event on YouTube. The human touch was so overwhelming that we wished and prayed Miles Scott the best of everything that he (and his parents) could ever hope for. Our prayers will remain with him.

The Make A Wish Foundation of USA deserves a standing ovation – our wishes and blessings to its volunteers in whatever they do. There are millions of children in this world who need care, dignity and love. May your service reach as many as the will God would grant!

Thank you, the Hindu, for the lovely coverage on Metro Plus, 21 Nov, in your Chennai edition.

I must say it this way: Compassion must become a passion.

I salute the Mayor, Chief of Police and the Citizens of San Francisco. You are simply wonderful. You have demonstrated that in a world that is ridden with strife and suffering, you stand tall with a heart filled with compassion. Behind the shine and blind of worldly affairs, you are darlings with a heart of gold. Good Show, Frisco. Live the way you are!  

PS: In case you have missed, here is the YouTube link to watch the Bat kid in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrkoNjbSRBg

Typhoon Haiyan

Typhoon Haiyan wrecked devastation in Philippines a week back. More than 10000 feared dead and the body count continues. Thousands have lost their home, stead and bread. Philippines wails.

The net, TV and media are ablaze with stories on location. As we watch, USAID and USAF aircraft offload relief material. Belated though, but much needed. On CNN a Filipino women says ‘it is worse than hell’ and breaks down crying. An elderly person is sobbing, unable to express his grief at the loss of loved ones. In yet another street, we see scores of bodies wrapped in available material, lined up on the street side waiting to be lifted to their burial ground. Some of these may get identified and the desolate surviving relative will get a chance to pay appropriate homage. Yet others will get buried nameless and unmarked. In a few days, for fear of disease and epidemics, the unclaimed bodies may even be burnt or buried away. No one can actually estimate the loss – physical and psychological. Sitting thousands of miles away, we watch helplessly as the trauma unfolds. In a few days, we would have forgotten Philippines as our own life would take over our concerns. The survivors in Philippines on the other hand, will live with their pain and memories that will subside only in their graves.

At this moment of great tragedy, there are quite a few things that all of us, as citizens of this world, can do:

First, pray. May the Good Lord protect these people from further trauma and give them courage to accept their suffering with fortitude.

Second, if you are someone in your respective government who can mobilize relief material, please get involved. Love their neighbor.

Third, if you are a volunteer, this is your moment.

Fourth, if you can find the right agencies on the net, contribute whatever you can.

Philippines needs the world more than ever now. As the UN theme says “IT IS YOUR WORLD”. It is our world.

Thank you for reading. That is actually one prayer said for Philippines. God bless you.    

The Rickshawallah

I was on a trip to a small town visiting a friend of mine. From the railway station, I took a rickshaw to the house. It was a small metal half-cage mounted on two rickety wheels. The tyres appeared as though they were inflated when they were manufactured eons ago. Having become so bald and flat enough to get embedded between the rims of the rusting frame, I could understand the rickshawallah's point - that there was no point inflating them.

My father in the year of the Lord 1958, bought a BSA cycle. Sturdy metal frame, shining handle bars and wheels, cushioned seat with a wide carrier at the back and spring activated bell whose 'trink, trink' could be heard half-a-mile away - she was a beauty by any standard. She was the pride of the village because at Rs 75, she was some thing many of the villagers could not even dream of and as a matter of fact, the only BSA in as many villages around. She continued to serve the family for a quarter century more. After using it in my college for over three years, I donated it at the time of my graduation to a junior of mine, free of cost, as he was a bright spark who did not have the means to travel to college by town bus.

Oh, sorry. It appears that I had wandered into my past. The reason was simple - the rickshaw was on a BSA frame that may not be older than ours. Couldn't help the nostalgia. And then, I noticed that there were quite a few additions which I did not have on my BSA. First, there were multicolored strings of chrome-leather ribbons fluttering from the hand grips. Then there was the emerald colored grip itself, with the studs having worn out of usage so much so, that they appeared to be have been part of the handle for millennia. There were then the plastic wraps around the monkey-bar that must have been shimmering with their zari works when they were bought. Things do wear out , don't they? The pride of place of course was the pom pom - good old brass horn with the rubber balloon which when pressed produces 'music' to the ears - pom, pom. pom, pom.

Seeing that I was clad in my jeans and T, wearing a Rayban with a small duffel thrown around my shoulders, the rickshawallah had given me a luxurious seat. He had pulled it out from under the normal wooden plank seat and placed it on top to make my not-used-to-hard-surface-seats a bit more comfortable. He perhaps did not realize that with every bump on the road, the smooth rexine actually slid me off my b....s. But then, who ever expected a spoilt city dweller to be stable?

The simple frame on top with a taught strung canvas for shade was a marvel of engineering in its simplicity. Being a bit more taller than his usual travelers, my head kept getting stuck into the canvas, sometimes blocking my view and sometimes plucking a strand or two off my pate.

Oh, yes I am wandering again. Actually this is not what I wanted to write about. It was about the rickshawallah and my conversation with him. It appears that it has to wait for my next post........

Bow, Bow.....

Some time ago, I had written a post for the dog lovers of the world. With a dog running around (in) our home, actually there are a thousand things that I should be sharing. Be that as it may, I cannot resist saying this: Our dog must be the only one of its kind who is scared of 'bow, bow'!!!

If you do not believe me then you must read further on.

Just a couple days back in the evening, a friend of mine with his wife dropped in. After our chatting session was over they got up to leave. As I held the door open, out went our one year-old (dog) which was quite typical of her. After the friends left, I stood outside watching her smell the grass, survey the new off-shoots in the tree at the corner of our garden, examine the centipede who appeared to be hurrying home after a hard days work, put her nose into the tiny shell of a garden snail who was backtracking at the sight of a giant drooling snout (by snail standards, please) - generally doing all those doggy things I was accustomed to see. After giving her sufficient time to indulge in her routine, I called her in. She looked up, saw me calling and decided to ignore. As I stood barefoot calling her in, my patience dried up. I tried barking her name to show my displeasure. She not only ignored the tone but proceeded outside our gate, telling me that she would not care. The other option for me was to go running barefoot behind her. Instead, I thought of seeing what she will do if I said something terse.

Calling her name, I said," you better come inside quickly. Other wise the 'bow, bow' will come and get you".

Lo, behold! Our heroine suddenly perked up her head from her country-side research, looked left and right with great alert and....in a jiffy, darted inside the house and hid under the sofa!!!!

The entire household was writhing in laughter. She must be the only dog in the universe who could be scared by saying 'bow, bow aajayega. Jaldi aao!!!!!'.

(PS: I do not know about other societies in the world, but in India small kids are usually scared into eating their food by saying that if they do not eat, a dog will come and grab their food. They better hurry, lest they want to go hungry!!!)     

The Shocker....

Some time ago, a friend of mine had an opportunity to be invited to a school on the occasion of a national day. He is an educationist himself with an innovative approach to school education.  He made a request to the correspondent of the school - some time be given to him to speak to the teachers, which was more than readily agreed to.

At the school, after the brief function was over, he asked for the teachers to gather around the table. Shedding all formal tones, he asked how many of them were parents and how many had their children enrolled in the same school. As expected, there was a mixed-bag response. Then he went on to ask them as to why they did not put their children in the same school. When hundreds of parents could entrust their children to their care, could they not trust their abilities to care for their own children? There was a stunned silence. A teacher said that the school where her child went had excellent IT environment. One another teacher said, her child was a sports star and that school had all the facilities. Couple of other teachers also mentioned things like extra-curricular activities, library, etc.

All the while, the correspondent of the school, who was familiar with my friend and who was a man of much means, sat quietly watching. My friend smiled at him and then told the teachers that indeed their explanations were interesting. But there was just one last question - who do they think was making the other schools better - the money that the management was investing or the people who worked in the school?

The answer was very obvious to them. There was hushed exchange of looks and comments. One of the senior teachers then spoke up.

'We wish to thank you, sir, for throwing such an embarrassing question at us. We feel that our correspondent actually did us a favor by inviting you here. Most of us were actually looking at our job as a means of remuneration. We forgot that the parents who sent their kids to us have the same expectations as we have of the schools where our children go. Well, thank you for putting us in a spot by your question, but we wish to assure that things will change here. On behalf of all of us, we request our correspondent to call you again to our school next year on the same day'.

The correspondent nowadays tells my friend that his school has become one of the most sought after in the locality. In the PTA meetings, the teachers get abiding praise for their involvement.

There is this interesting thing about life - everyone wants the same things out of it, though we may appear to be working on a variety of subjects. Perhaps the shocker that my friend posed had the effect of changing the way the teachers approached their job. I suppose we all need such 'shockers' once in a while to help us stay focused!!!      
      

The Dance of Clouds

Clouds have always fascinated me. The way they form, change and wander the skies; they forms that they take. The science behind all this may be elementary but, for a second, if we forget the science and watch them we are immersed in a sense of wonder that touches the soul. Here are some pics from my mobile:

 

  

Wow or Woe?

Ms Sunetra Choudhury’s article on ‘Let love, not parents, arrange marriage[1]’ set me thinking about a couple of things. First, we must compliment her for her opinion on the khap panchayats that seem to have taken law into their own hands by dealing death blows to love birds – literally. For the ‘crime’ of crossing the diktats of their society and foraying into the territory of someone else’s heart, young lives seem to be sacrificed at the altar of ‘biradari ka izzat’. Even foreign terrorists crossing into national borders do not get such ‘justice’ swiftly! Reprehensible in an age when we must be renouncing the superstitious ways of yester years so as to be able to apply reason to our actions.

The gong of rebellion that Ms Sunetra sounded on the parents’ aspiration to have their wards married as per parents’ choice is interesting. Only, it appears that the gong is being sounded on a surreal issue, leaving the woods for the tree as they say. The author feels strongly that ‘every time one of us, educated, supposedly independent, individuals agrees to marry someone not of our own choosing, someone we don’t love, we are silently condoning those who kill to oppose the concept of love marriage’.

I am confident that she is familiar with the concept of ‘honor killing’ that takes place in Pakistan; the practices in Africa (mostly, but other places on Earth are no more holy) where the reproductive and mammary organs of women are mutilated; trafficking on women and girl children; Malala Yusufzai and other such issues/stories. Every such issue has at its heart a social malaise – in our case the caste system – call it by whatever name, which prompts crude reactions from society. The villain of the story is not parents per se. It is our meek acceptance of the diktats of the so-called-society which cries foul in the name of blood thirst and vengeance garbed as they are in the name of ‘biradari’ and ‘izzat’. Far from being secular and tolerant, we as a country have always devised ever-new methods to uphold and validate caste. We just need to look around to find that we have caste in our education, employment, career, grants from government, political parties, vote bank alignments, etc, etc. Such an all pervading phenomena that is whole-heartedly accepted and exploited is bound to have its incarnations in the form of khap panchayats. The fact is all these khaps are on caste-lines.

The parents of the boy or girl are just pawns in the game of caste. A low caste girl running away with high caste boy or vice versa is just another platform on which the malaise called caste is epitomized. A poor agricultural labor kind of the runaway boy or girl is always crucified (surprisingly not the rich and powerful, irrespective of their caste) to demonstrate the power of ‘jaath’. The parents of the victims have two choices – be silenced or sacrificed on the same altar. In most cases, they remain silenced perhaps for the sake of other living siblings or for fear of ostracization.

Second, any average parent in our context spends his or her entire productive life bringing up and looking after their children. The kind of trials and tribulations that a middle class parent undertakes in ‘parenting’ is to be seen in this country to be believed. It appears therefore too insensitive to trash them and say ‘what do you know about love?’. If they had thought similarly, perhaps most of us wouldn’t be the children of whom we are! It is also insensitive to think that by not agreeing to our newly discovered ‘love of life/soul mate’, they are showing any less love or understanding towards the aspirations of the children.

Love marriages and even the so called ‘live in’ marriages are not new phenomena of this era. There are thousands of love marriages that have lasted decades. Similarly, there are ‘arranged’ marriages that are decades old and going strong. Marriage is an institution that grows strong with time. What nurtures a marriage is not the ‘love’ that we discover during the course of few months of courting. It is nurtured by the acceptance of the differences that we see in each other through understanding. Please do not forget that a boy or a girl in love always project the best in them during their courtship (that too only during the sporadic meetings that they indulge in). But once they are married, it is not feasible to keep up the charade of good and romantic behavior always. They both will see each other as they are. They also will see the families on either side as they are. This reality that they see is not what they saw during courtship. It is at this juncture that many of the marriages that we see breaking around us break. Not because the parents had ‘withheld their blessing’ but because of their inherent incompatibility. Successful marriage therefore has, at least in my opinion, nothing to do with being arranged or by love. Incidentally, falling in love with an ‘arranged’ husband is not any more difficult than in discerning the ‘real husband’ from the ‘lover boy’!

In nutshell, learning to love what is arranged, whether by parents or on our own, is the key to a ‘lovely’ married life!

---

[1] The Hindu, Open Page, 06 October 2013, Chennai Edition, p12

Himachal Pradesh, the Abode of Mother!

We have been lucky that my career spanning nearly three decades has taken us to many places. India being India, like no other, we have had the opportunity to live (not just visit) in places where snow is through the year; where sands blow into you face carried as they are by winds from the deserts; where rain drops stand as strings of water connecting the Earth to the sky and it appears as through 'Indra' the Lord of Clouds had opened all the taps in the clouds at the same time and forgot to turn them off; and where the forenoon Sun is so fierce that we swipe the bonnet of our car clean and fry eggs on the hood!

And when it comes to temples and spirituality, I wonder if there is any other land in this world as full of mystique as India is. The Adi Shankaracharya, one of the foremost Guru-Philosophers of India who is regarded as an avatar or aspect of Lord Shiva himself, established what we call as Shanmatha or the six forms of worship. Amongst the Ganapadya, Sourya, Koumara, Shiva, Vaishnava and Saktha forms established by Shri Adi Shankara, worship of Shakthi (Saktha) is considered the most pious as this entire creation and cycles of life are said to have originated from the Mother. As in our life, Mother signifies everything and those who worship her as per Saktha traditions are required to follow certain rites that are extremely important. Interestingly, one will notice that in every other form of worship in Hindu belief, there are restrictions as to who can perform the rites and who cannot. There are also restrictions on gender. Women and men have specific rites that are permitted to their gender only. Sakthi worship goes beyond these restrictions. There is no gender based restrictions in Her worship. There is also no restriction as to who can or cannot perform these rites. As a matter of fact, the first wow that a Saktha (worshipper of Sakthi) takes is to NOT differentiate between one human and other based on their color, creed, caste, or belief. The second wow, the saktha takes is to treat everyone as equal in their soul. The third aspect is that the pooja is to be performed strictly as per one's ability and no remorse is to be allowed based on the scale of pooja performed by one or the other. The saktha is also NEVER to make fun or criticize the other peoples faith or mode of worship or their gods. The Mother manifests in everything and every thing is manifested through her. At its finest form, saktha worship demands that ordinary actions of our daily life - eating, walking, sleeping, etc- be dedicated to her so much so that every motion of life and breath becomes her. 'Aatmarpan' is the word.

We keep talking about equality and equitability in our physical life. We also hold Hinduism as full of superstitions and out-of-reality-practices. Those who have such notions must spend some time studying the basic concepts behind Hindu beliefs. We will realize that it actually is not a religion that prescribes and proscribes. It is a dharma that shows you the way and allows you to make choices.

Kangra Devi Brajeshwari Temple

Jwalamukhi Temple

Chamunda Devi Temple

In yet another of our trips across the country, this time we were fortunate to visit four of the Sakthi sthals. These are Jwalaji, Chamunda, Brajeshwari and Chintpurni.

The simple folk, pleasant ambiance, bhakthi that we could reach out and touch and the hospitality of Himachal Tourism Hotel staff made our journey all the more memorable. In fact, we found Himachal Tourism online bookings extremely comfortable and easy. One of the high lights of the trip was a helpful policeman who even walked us to the taxi stand and got us a taxi at reasonable fare!

With five of the Sakthi sthals in Himachal, the region is an important state on the pilgrimage track and our experience of traveling through Himachal convinces us that it is worth the trip.