The Tale of the Mole under the Sole

"You know, when I grow big, I'll go to Australia"
"Bah! When I grow big, I'll go to Antartica!"
"Silly gals, When I grow big I'll go to Bermuda Triangle"
And so we went on, when we were about 2 ft high, knitting dreams in the air, about far flung places, as though we were just talking about going to the Periyar street behind our house.

Then one day, while removing the shoes and socks for the computer science class, when the Preethi saw the mole that I have on the sole, she pulled me aside, with eyes as big as saucers. While I was wondering, if the reaction was due to the fact that she was accidentally in the vicinity of Varun, when he was removing his shoes & socks-that-were-rumoured-to-be-the-reason-for-computer-ma'ms-frequent-fainting-episodes, she was regarding me with something in the terms of a venerable expression. While I was searching for something to hit her head with, to get her out of the trance, and decided that James's shoes were not the right option, she opened her mouth at last to throw some light on the matter.
"Hey Aishu, you have a mole on your sole of your right foot. You know what that means?!!"
Must say, I never realized that a mole could actually 'mean' anything. But apparently it did to her.
"I don't know what it means. Err.. do you?"
"Hey.. u know.. that means 'payanam' (travel). You are really going to travel to a lot of places. Only very lucky few have a mole right in the center of the right foot. My god! What a luck!"
And so she went on until the computer science teacher at last told us, that she might ask us both to make a short trip to the principal's room if we didn't stop chattering right away. So much for traveling! :O

Well, somehow that thought registered itself in my brain, and whenever my eyes fell on the mole, my thoughts would wander among the monuments that Discovery channel would show. Sigh!!!
Little did I know, how true Preethi was. Travel I did.To far flung places, you ask.. oh sure!
College itself was a good six hours of bus travel from the place that I lived. Though this is common and many even travel longer and have tougher journeys, I'm just highlighting upon the fact, to stress on the effect of the mole. The journey though only of 6 hrs, made me change 4 buses and a van/car to get me to the house. As you can imagine, by the end of the journey, any beggars in the vicinity would look at me, as though welcoming me to join their gang. (The best part was that they wouldn't hound me for money.. Pheww!)
Ok.. let me not digress. After those dreary college days when I started working, I thought the mole's luck would take me away from the Tamil Nadu and I would get to work in other cities too. But no, I got a job in Chennai itself, and the only mole-effect was dreary bus journeys to the Siruseri. While in 2 hrs you can make a trip to Madurai from Karaikudi, I would be waiting for more than that time, sitting in a bus, looking at vehicles honking for no reason.

But the mole-effect didn't stop there. My toothy problems, had me going to the dentist, who for some god-forsaken reason, felt Perambur to be the best place to pratice. Sitting in a bus for more than 2 hrs, all to have a doctor tighten some nuts and bolts in your mouth in 10 mins, then ask you to come after 2 weeks, also reminding you not to eat anything solid, was really not my idea of travel! During all those longer bus journeys, Preethi's fateful prophecy kept rewinding in my head. Mole-ki-to-aisi-ki-taisi!!! $@%$#@($#!!

And then happened the fateful US trip very recently, after quite a bit of fate and luck played their parts. So when I thought, "Hmm..after all Preethi's prophecy ka kuch to hua" I was boarding a plane to Denver. Happy that in the end, the mole decided to do something true to it's dubious reputation, I was quite happily going about my way.

But looks like, the mole is not very happy to have obliged it's role. For now, another mole has sprang up on my left foot's sole. Though not as big as the other one, this one now seems to be more like those fresher kids who join work, right out of college. The kind you know, who are all eager to prove themselves.. and come and ask your permission even to go to restrooms? I know.. really amusing lot! But not this teeny-weeny mole, I tell you!

Next month again, I'm moving to West Chester, PA. I hope this small travel on my part will abate the pangs of this new mole, and I can at last stay there for while. By the way, do anyone of you know, how to prevent moles, especially on the soles?
(Quite rhyming eh? :P)

And I'm back!!

Whoa! I haven't been writing for ages! Hmm.. I need to do some justice to this space that dear own blogspot has allocated to me, thinking that I would scribble now and then, but what am I doing? Reading dready documents all day and your night, trying to exercise the top bean into a hit shape. Well, in any case, jolly old bean liked to be left alone, and I wanted to do some scribbling. So am back! :P

So amidst doubts of 'Tera Kya hoga re Aishu' I was flung into this far away land of Denver, sometime last month. I must tell that, when the weather outside is like -5 C, it is a very bad time to be caught by the worst form of cold. But it had already caught sight of me, and while I was sneezing the bejesus out of all and sundry, I had to travel to this land of 'Mile High city'. 34 hours of solid travel, in a trance like state, nose all clogged up, almost wheezing, sounding like a baby-elephant learning to bleat, I somehow reached this city. The best thing about the travel was that, I was able to watch 'Zabaan Sambhaalke' on the flight. Now this used to be the TV show that brought many a laughter with it, when I was in school. Those days of simple unadulterated laughter, the kind that is really rare now. Simple easy old days! Sigh! :)

Ah.. well, where was I? Oh.. yeah.. so now it has been more than a month here, and I've seen the snow, the rain, and sun too (thankfully). It is a quiet place, with rabbits and geese having a stroll on the roads as they like. I even saw a deer jolly well crossing the road in 2 long leaps, while my mouth was left hanging by itself. Err..By all this don't you guys go into any thoughts in the rein of "Iva entha vandalur zoo le irukka?" There are enough people around, and though the place is a far cry from the honks, loud whirring bikes, and other noises that keep company all the time in India, it has a peace about it, that quietens the soul. Take a peek.. go on!



Now does the peace part of my talk make sense? :) *Smiling benignly* I knew it is difficult to expect so much of the grey cells residing in the cranium without giving some of the tough work to the photoreceptors on the top of the head. Ah.. well, now that you got it, the most part of what I wanted to scribble here has been conveyed successfully.

While I go on, to enjoy a little more of the solitude of the place, you all have a jolly good time! Pip Pip!

Directionally Handicapped!

"Right a left a ma?" asked the auto driver
Uh oh! Now which is right? Eeeeks.. I was almost hyper ventilating!
"Enna ma.. right-a left-a?"
"umm.. err.. adu.. adu.."I stammered, while the auto driver tried to slow down in a extremely busy Anna street in Thiruvanmiyur. If I didn't come up with the right way soon, we were going to be hit, either physically or verbally. Twenty pairs of eyes were trained on the auto, framing the choicest abuses in the worst possible way, while the auto-driver himself was glaring at me, a little baffled. He might be thinking what happened to me, since I looked perfectly normal when I got into it. Little does he know my problem! Sigh!
Tension rising every minute, I quickly kept the bags in the auto seat, and took out my hands, identified the right, right hand and pointed to the driver.
"Idu anna. Right" Phewwwwwww! At last!

Yeah.. that is me! I'm the most directionally handicapped person you can ever meet in your lifetime. (Pray to god, he never produces any more specimens like me, even after your lifetime). I've always found it difficult to point out right / left when someone asks me. I have to use my hands all the time. I take out my hands, look at them, mentally figure out the one used mostly, the right one, then take the other one, which obviously has to the left one,(How lucky, we have only two hands!!) and then point out to the person who asked me the fated question, only to find them in a half-slumber already. So I simply wake them up, and tell them the right way. :D
Thats why I call myself directionally handicapped, coz without my hands I'm lost! :P

Now, not only this. I have another problem. I cannot remember any routes, even if I've been through that route 100 times. Say, even if it is a simple, straight, then this way and that way and again this way(Oops, I was again using my hands to point out.. Wait, till I figure out which way...2 mins later.. yeah, so where we we..) So even if it is a simple straight, then right, and left and again right, I need to ask at least three people, keep track of their hands, and memorize the way they move pointing directions, to find my way there. It is such a sorry state of affairs, that my friends know I can get lost soon. :|


I'll tell you one such incident that happened. I and my friend were off to Ega theatre to watch 'Jab we met' and were on our way back at around 9 or so in the night. Now we had to reach our hostel before 10, else had to be ready to face a 2-hr long torture from our hostel-owner who was always on the lookout to murder people with his supposedly 'intelligent lectures'. (Rumour was that he used to be a favorite of the torture chamber wardens in some unknown country until he killed one of their own with his favorite topic.. Brrr. Scary na! I know!)So coming back to the story, we were trying hard to find our way through the traffic and reach on time. Suddenly my friend remembered another way (she still says it is the same route we used while going to the theatre, though I'm not so sure), and we raced towards it. We reached a junction pretty soon, and my friend asked me, which way we had to take now. (Blunder! I tell ya, the worst she could make.. err.. she knows that now though). In the hurry and tension, I blurted out something, and she took it for 'Right'. She again asked me if she was sure, and I was!! I was soo sure it was 'Right'. But after a few more turns, at around 9.40, we were back at the same junction. And then we realized, we were wrong. (I was obviously wrong, and she was wrong, coz she trusted me with such an important info :P). Now, this time she took the decision, and in no time, we reached another junction, and then she said.'From here only, we took right, not that one. Guess, you were confused"
To which I replied. "Oh.. so this is not the same one? It is another junction?"
Her eyes popped out to such a worst extent, that I had already trained my glasses to check the roads if they had popped out of the eyeballs. Recovering from the shock, she raced to our hostel, and we reached in record time, barely missing the torture chamber. Pheww!

And after that day, never has anyone trusted me to know any way or any direction.
I'm pretty sure this is no silly thing, and is a very rare disease that only the best minds get, but still my friends do not seem to believe me. So, this is my request to you all, if you find any information about this disease, please feel free to contact me.

Note: Nami you are a dudette! :D :D

One unforgettable evening!

Innocence is one thing you can never ignore. It is like that wild flower in a desert. You see it, and a smile flashes across your face! :D

So it was one lovely evening when I went up to the Pantaloons to get a shirt for my dad. (I know, I know, I know as much about shirts as Thala Vijay does about acting.. just read on.. plz) I had my brother along with me, who helped me find the right shirt. Whenever he felt like throwing up, I knew the shirt in my hands was a disaster. So well, after quite a bit of almost-throwing-up-stashing-the-disater-away, my bro took up the job on himself, while I,... err.. like any other species of my kind went up to the ladies department. While I was there I spotted this bright kid. (Pssst..Now I'll let u on a secret of mine. I can do that Kathakali thing with my eyebrows, where they just keep dancing their eyebrows up and down). Now like most involuntary reactions, as soon as I see a kid, my eyebrows start dancing right away, and I must tell you, they love it! Or so I thought!

This kid promptly turned to his father, who was waiting for his wife to come out of the trail room, and started pointing at me.Yikes! I knew I was in trouble! I quickly ducked under some clothes rack, and was pretending to be absorbed in a plain gray t-shirt, when I felt a tug. It was the same kid!
"Ello, Ow-er-u" [hello, how are you]
"Oh.. I'm fine.. how are you?"
"You go to play-shhcool a?"
Now when a cute little 3 yr old, dressed in those over-sized shorts, sneakers and shirts with all big designs asks you some buzzer round questions in a kiddo voice that went 'shhhcool', you get all tongue-tied. Well, I did. Err.. you see that last question was a real bumper!!
"Err.. no-"
"I go to one. Ajay can jump like this only thee tiimes. I jump fiiiive times. And my shhhcool is there only..."
So on.. and on.. for another 15 mins it was like a new language that I learnt from him. Since I'm quite a fast learner, I was somehow able to reply back. Sample this.
"you terra kitnera?"
"ya..terri ponsalaa"
Well, he was satisfied with that answer. Right then, I got a call from my bro, asking me to get going as he had found a good shirt at last. Sadly when I turned to my new friend to bid goodbye, he went "You going? ok Shee you" with a resounding kick aimed right at my ahem-ahem.
His father's "No fighting or beating" apparently didn't include kicking. Owww!

We were at the billing counter though, when we discovered that that shirt was apparently a defective piece, and my bro has to resume his 'search-for-the-right-shirt'. But there was somebody right there to give me company.
"Hey.. nee polaya? Inge vaa" (Hey.. you didn't go yet? Come here]
(Apparently he had included me into his friends list, since we started conversing in Tamil and English there on. :hude-grin-plastered-on-my-face-now:)

We played hide and seek, among the clothes racks, looked at each mannequin there in detail, as to what each was wearing, and why there were no shoes on. There was another insight too from my little friend, as to how tall those mannequins really were! Brilliant I tell ya, my buddy was going places. Well, but by this time, since all the store-assistants had become his thick friends, anywhere I hid, the little sonny found me out in no time, with this HUGE grin that just lit up my day.

But you know what? Even these little fellas fall for a girl. Guess what happened? At the billing section this guy met a new kid (girl), and forgot all about our hide-and-seek. He was so overjoyed. He introduced her to me, and showed her all those mannequins we had so sincerely studied. But well, he tried this big fighter hug thing, and ended up falling over her and hitting their heads. Well, being the superman my little buddy was, he moved on like the Rajdhani and we were back to our little games.

After a while, his parents found us, informing that it was time to leave. My buddy, was perched up at the billing counter, lest he ran off somewhere. We kept signaling to each other, since I was standing just 2 places behind them.
"Bye bye"
"Bye bye"
"Shee you"
"See you"
"Shvuit deems"
Eh?
Oh
"Sweet dreams :D"
And then the best part.. he blew me a flying kiss!!! :D :D. (I so resembled my profile pic then. :P :P)

That little kid's innonence had spread its warmth all over. It was the best evening I had in a long time, and I'll never forget that little bugger! :)

Of Men that laugh and children who cry!

It was a tranquil night. The moon was silently whispering to the barren lands that swished pass by. A lone tree or few bushes,looked on serenely now and then. It was around 10.00 and I was on my way home. Almost all had retired to their berths and when the last light was put out, I had decided to take in the beauty of the countryside in the moonlight, sitting in the dark train. But then, there was this family, to the right of my compartment, with two small kids who found the idea of traveling in a train, a little discomforting. This hunch of mine was confirmed by the kid suffering from wailisirenotopia.( This is a syndrome when the afflicted keeps wailing like a siren every 4 mins and 53 secs.) This one was unique though, coz the wailing was in a different tune each time. And then, there were this group of men to the left of my compartment, who definitely were trying to prove Darwin right, in that we evolved from monkeys. From the time they had boarded the train, they were behaving like a bunch of excited teens out on a trip for the first time. Every 10 mins, it was like a bunch of Narakasuras from Om Namah Shivai had descended on the train, booming at the hapless devi who had fallen victim to them. It was like 10 gorillas roaring in pain (well, it really couldn't be counted in as laughter, you know, so I didn't want the good old hyenas somersaulting in their graves, if I used them as metaphors here)

Now this was not bothering me much, coz staying awake was my idea. I had to get down in an hour or so, and did not want to snore all the way to Trichy, missing my station. Now by around 10.15 or so, this kid with the wailisirenotopia had got into this pretty drab tune, which was certainly not music to the ears. But of course (no sarcasm here) everyone understands how difficult it is to manage kids, and so all patiently waited for the kids to go back to sleep. That was when one of the men from the gorilla gang, wearing his 10-yr old son's shorts, crossed my compartment to the next and kind of gave a look , that was surely meant to be a warning to the parents.

How insensitive could people get! At 10.30, those people never had the sense to pipe down a bit, but the man in shorts had the gall to remind others to quieten down, a kid at that! Appalled, I went back to the barren lands, wondering about the manufacturing defect that Lord Brahma had made while dishing out this particular specimen.

After about 15 mins, the kid had gone to sleep and the whole train was softly sighing in sleep when these men - on a apparently rib-tickling one, went into this ritual of slapping thighs and making sounds that was like 5 old Bajaj scooters + 8 gorillas + 7 Narakkasuras and 11 buffalos on a high!!! The compartment almost jerked, when some 60 (remember a sleeper has 72 berths and a good 8 were occupied by these ppl, one by me, and 3 were unoccupied yet - I'm good at my math, you see :P )people were jostled from their sleep. The ones sleeping in the middle and lower berths banged their heads on the top of their berths, when they were woken up with a start! And our child with the wailisirenotopia, poor thing, also seemed to find a new tune to kick off now!! :(

Now, I decided something had to be done. But what? Hmm... yeah.. there was one thing. But, I had my own doubts. What if they went into another of these thigh-slapping, and guffawing rituals, if I did that?? I couldn't even imagine me being the cause for another of those!!! :O

But well, given that I take approximately some 53.9 seconds to make up my mind, before these thoughts could even play out in my mind, I was already on the way to their cabin. (Remember it was dark everywhere except in their cabin)I went and stood at the entrance of their cabin, and gave them all a bewildered look. I looked at each of those specimens for a good length of time,especially the one in his 10-yr old's shorts, all the time not letting go of the blank expression. There was silence. The guffawing gorillas now closely resembled dumb buffalos basking in the sun, open mouthed. I returned back to my seat, with such of sense of satisfaction, I had never felt before. That had done the trick. Within seconds, the lights went out, and the train went back to it's sleeping mode. I had not actually expected such a quick response, so to say, I was actually scared, if they would start off on another laughing spree, seeing my dumb look. Phew! :D :D Luckily the child also seemed to get tired of wailing, and had quietened down.

The tranquility returned and I went back to the moonlight barren lands, and in all that silence, barely missed snoring all the way to Trichy!

Note: I know the title is grammatically wrong. But it is intentional, which I hope you understand better after reading this post. :)

A Cockroachish day!

To hell with micro-blogging! Right when you need it, the site won’t work!

Sigh! Well, if your day starts by trampling a poor cockroach mercilessly, you know it is not going to be your day. The sin will follow you wherever you go! And it did!

It started with this. My brother leaves early in the day, and when I wake up, it is only these cockroaches or ants that give me company. (No, no, don’t even think that this is coz I keep the house dirty, ours in on the ground floor, and so, even Hit and Baygon have become ineffective to their innovative ways of finding a place into the house). After hearing a sound like ‘htttt’, I half-yawning moved my foot aside to see that it was the exoskeleton of a cockroach that I had very effectively broken, and therefore killed. After paying my last respects to the poor creature by throwing it away for good, I proceeded to the wash basin to brush my teeth, when another sound caught my attention. This time it seemed to come from the kitchen where the water can is usually kept. Though my eye sight is poor, I could figure out that the water in the can has been disturbed and the can itself was swinging this way and that, as if it has been something had pushed it. I wore my specs to investigate the incident. Ok, I’m no Madam Marple or Nancy Drew, but I can surely figure out any rat’s or cat’s tail, if it had been hiding somewhere after mischievously playing with the water can. But nope, nothing there!

Some thoughts about the recent Paranormal activity, and other horror movies did come to my mind, but then, when I thought of my steely teeth, confidence did a hulu dance and proceeded to encourage me. After about one hour I reached the bus-stand to find no M1s in sight. That was the only bus that ensured a no-sandwich-or-burger smashing, squeezing journey till Velechery. The hulu dance being forgotten, I couldn’t even think of the word confidence then. Mustering all the courage I could at that time, I stepped foot onto the M70 that was in sight. Oops… then I saw it was another lady’s foot that I had stepped on, and quickly apologized to stop the steady flow of expletives that were raining from her red-stained mouth. So much for my confidence’s hulu dance! Sigh!

Like they say, there is light at the end of a tunnel, a seat in the crowded bus emptied up for me, and I taking it as an opportunity to breathe, happily lunged into it. The day did seem to be getting better. I guess in so much I had somehow washed myself off the sin of killing a poor bubbly flying cockroach. So smiling to myself, I was about to forget all worries, when this stupid man caught my eye. After about 10 mins, it was evident he was surely not smirking to himself and the obscene gestures were directed at me. In this world, there is nothing as irritating and annoying as something that is done to you indirectly. You can’t even fight back or shout or react in any possible way, lest you be called an idiot for imagining things. For that stupid smirk of his, I felt like baring my steel reinforced teeth at him, which I was sure, would make him the twin brother of the scarecrow that you see in the Thanjavur rice fields. But my dignity and the care for my fellow-travellers made me change my mind. Also my stop was near. I had by then decided to take my silent revenge on Mr.Smirking-Beauty by stamping his feet when I was getting down. Imagine my chagrin when he grinned at me, and got down on the stop that was just before the one where I get down. I felt like chasing him right then, and trampling his feet like I had done the poor cockroach! Ahh… now I knew why my day had begun on such a great note!

So sighing I entered my office to find the same boring tasks staring out of my mailbox like some demented dragons keen on making me lose my already half-insane mind. End of day was nearing, after a wearisome boring day. Only the onsite call was remaining which we had calculated to last exactly 18 mins and 23 secs. But damn all sanity, we had to hear a whole lecture on an already known issue for a whole hour with bits if Telugu in between! Mr. Cockroach was flying around my head in circles reminding me of the sin I had committed early morning! So much for ghosts! :|

If my day could’ve ended better the internal site where I had to upload some documents refused to oblige, making me raise tickets, only to suddenly start working so promptly that the documents got uploaded twice. How nice! And then there was this traffic that snailed all the way home, creating an opportunity for me to scare the driver with my loud yawns. (He was lucky I don’t snore!)

And so after a whole tiring day when I have to eat dinner cooked by myself (What worse misery can strike you! :’( ), I tried to tweet something, only to find the site not-responding at all. Now you know the reason for this mindless rant. Well, I can only hope that I paid for all my sins!

Hmm..now where did I leave my mobile phone.. (Author scratching her head, looking for some bulb to glow, and show her the quickest path to her mobile phone). OMG! How did a cockroach’s leg find its way to my head!!!! :|

Philosophers of my life!

Looooong ago, so long that it was like 200 BC, Revs had tagged me with a meme, ‘Philosphers of my life meme’. This was so long back that everyone nearly forgot what it was all about, but I’m here to refresh ur memories and bring this great meme back(This also proves how good my memory is, coz I didn’t forget abt the meme, and also how I make it a point, not to disappoint ppl who tag me.. :P.. small hints are not my forte at all)

Okie, so coming to the point, who are the philosophers of my life? Umm…err.. now that is quite a good question! I’ve not completed even a quarter century in my life to say that these people have helped me and guided my throughout my life, and hence they are the real philosophers of my life, but then, heck, all that I did live till now was a life wasn’t it. So there have to be some people who taught me some things, right? So here goes the list of ppl who tried to put some substance in those grey cells up in my cranium.

My Dentist:
Now, he came in really late in my life, just about one year back, but I’ve learnt quite a number of things by visiting him once in 3-4 weeks, sometimes even twice a month. He taught me the advantages of keeping quiet, and shutting up, when he put the dratted bite-plate in my mouth. From an incessant chatter box, I turned into an apostle of silence. My understandng and respect for sign-languages increased exponentially, and I must say I could’ve won any Dumb-C competition at that period of time, coz I was just a champion in sign-languages then. So, though he incapacitated me verbally, he was the main reason behind my effective utilization of my motor controls.(Gee, I didn’t know I could make this seem so nice.. sigh!) And coming to the next wonderful aspect of my dentist is that he taught me the concept of endurance and patience. Now these are ‘The’ most important traits anyone should have. Every time I opened my mouth wide and let him hammer/pluck/whatever my teeth, knowing very well, how bady it was going to pain, I was slowly improving my patience and endurance. I’ve become soo damn patient now, that even if even Mr. Advani tries to sing ‘Aadiye kollude’ or say ‘Om-Shanti-Om’ I would just sit there quietly letting him finish, without a sound, smiling throughout the ordeal.

My Shuttle driver:
Now this guy has always awed me. Even if there is just an inch of space between two MTC buses, he has always managed to get our shuttle through it with all of us alive! Now that is quite an achivement according to me. Another interesting aspect of this man, is that he just cannot let other vehicles ride in peace if they are infront of him. He effectively utilises the horn, and the accelator and sees to it, that there is no one who can race with our shuttle. Now, that takes the competetive spirit, I tell ya. The fact that towards the end of the journey all of us inside the vehicles are all disheveled, dizzy, and goggle-eyed is no letting-down for him. I personally think he should be in some racing sport rather than waste his talents as a shuttle-driver . Maybe he could even teach Narain Karthikeyan a thing or two. Well, now tell me has anyone ever been able to teach you how precious life is, and how every moment is a great experience? You might’ve heard many sermons and lectures on this, but I tell ya, no one better than our shuttle driver can teach you this essential lesson of life. As for all those who ask me what happened, or where did you hit urself, when I come out of the shuttle, Hmph! you’d never know what it is to be on a roller-coaster shuttle, even if you went to Veega land/Queensland/Whatever-land!

EB People:
They really have taught me that life is never a bed of roses. Heck! Life is never a bed-with-a-working-fan-on-top-of-it, forget roses! Whenever I felt like just dropping onto the bed, and relieving my tired self, that had worked itself to the maximum, the EB people see to it, that the power goes of, only in our house. Now how this dratted piece of luck, works for me, I’ve no idea. But again, endurance and patience and also the art of staying awake the whole night, were precious lessons I learnt from these connoisseurs of electricity. They have also been the inspiration for learning the most-difficult art of tackling mosquitoes.Other than that one, there is this art of listening-to-barking-dogs in the silence of the night(silence, except for buzzing of mosquitoes), and deciphering what great concept of life they are discussing in the middle of the night! Such great lessons were taught only by these great people, and I’ll be forever indebted to them.

The Crow (now I’m presuming there is no hard-and-fast rule that philosophers must be humans):
Now if there is a non-human who has always held my attention other than ‘kozhi’s obviously, it is The Crow. Perserverance is one thig, but being able to make me wash all my white or light-coloured clothes at least twice, has been the main aim of this bird. Not sure if it is the same one that always manages to ruin my dresses by doing you-know-what on them, or is it a whole gang which take turns to teach me the virtue of perseverance. But they do make a good job of it. Even if it is just a chiffon dupatta that takes something like 30 mins to get dried, they manage to ruin it before I take it off the clothes-line. Maybe they just want my clothes to be extra-white, and want me on the Rin-supreme ad next, whatever, but yeah.. I’ve learnt this, that however well you wash your clothes, there is always some way you can wash them better. Really Mr. Crow, if not for you, I really wouldn’t have learnt this invaluable lesson.

Okie, there was the mock-list to make this post a little humourous, but seriously I have no particular list of people who are the philosophers of my life. Everyone I’ve come across has taught me some invaluable lesson, be it humility, courage, sensibleness or just being nice. I feel each and everyone out there has something special and so good that we can take away, and I’ve always made it a point to learn something from everyone I’ve come across. So all of them, whom I know, are Philosophers of my life!