Ramana's Musings

My regular readers will be familiar with a frequent commentator Mitch whose blog is one of those that I regularly visit and comment on.

His weekly Sunday Question posts inevitably challege one to think and respond and the last one “What Happened To Modesty?” was no different.

A great debate among Mitch, Rose and Sire is going on there to which I too have contributed a few words. Please do visit Mitch’s post and perhaps join the debate.

And if you do visit Rose’s blog, do not miss a beaut from her called “A Bizarre Fragrance” It took me a while to recover my breath after reading that. I would be interested in your reaction too.

Tags: Brazenness, Generation Gap, Provocative Dressing, Youth

In Indian folklore, Sage Vasishta was such a respected Mahapurusha that Viswamitra insisted that he would accept the title Brhmarishi confered on him, only if Vasishta cofirmed that he deserved to be called so. We use this analogy to impress that someone has been called Brahmarishi by Vasishta to claim excellence. In the story that follows, I shall claim that I earned the title from the Vasishta of food, in our family, my father.

I was looking for some pickles in the small cupboard in our kitchen when I came across a packet of dried double beans, a kind of lima beans that someone had gifted me a long time ago.

This discovery coincided with the discovery of some accumulated home made yogurt that I make everyday. The accumulation was due to Ranjan not having been eating at home the last few days, due to many engagements in the city.

I decided to invent a new dish and searched for what was available. I found some potatoes and a small piece of elephant foot yam, left over from last week’ shopping.

Finally, my search also yielded a bottle of refrigerated dessicated coconut powder.
So, I experimented with what was available and here is what I hustled up with some help from my memory of my mother’s cooking.

I soaked the beans for over five hours. The potatoes and the yam were peeled and cubed and soaked in water too. I took about four cups of yogurt and whipped it with some water to make a batter like base for gravy. I blended that with two cups of powdered rice with one cup of dessicated coconut and four long pieces of green chillies.

I put on my cook’s apron and started the process of cooking in simple short steps. First the soaked vegetables and beans were put to boil in salted water just enough to cover them. In a separate sauce pan, I heated some cooking oil (Sunflower seed) and popped a table spoon of mustard seeds and bunged in a fistful of curry leaves, I added the blended yogurt gravy base to the pan, and allowed the mixture to come to boil and simmer. In the meanwhile the vegetables and the beans were half cooked and I transferred them also to the pan with the gravy and allowed the whole lot to cook covered on low heat till the vegetables were done.

Lunch was served and I waited with bated breath for the reaction from the Great Epicure Himself. He helped himself to a small helping, tasted it, savoured it, took a larger helping and repeated the exercise and then turned around and asked Asha our daily help, whether she had cooked it. She replied in the negative and confessed that the culprit was the saheb. The GEH harrumphed, turned to me and said, “Very Nice”.

I am still recovering.

Unfortunately, Ranjan was not at home and I could not get some photographs of me cooking nor the dish.

Tags: Brhmarishi, Epicure, Vasishta, Viswamitra

My friend Prasad from Sydney in Australia was chatting with me last night on Skype for quite some time. We had not spoken to each other for some time and there was a lot to catch up on.

While we were catching up, I espied something brown behind Prasad that looked suspiciously like a dog. I was surprised because, after the death of his pet and companion dog last year, about which I had posted,I was sure that he would not keep another pet. I asked Prasad if that was a dog and it turned out that it indeed it was. He then volunteered this touching story, which is a measure of my friend’s character as well as that of his lovely daughter Meera.

Some days ago, Prasad and Meera were driving along a major road in Sydney, when they saw a stray dog unable to cope with the traffic and being brushed by speeding cars. They decided to help the dog and maneuvered the car slowly to push the dog to the side of the road and Meera jumped out of the car and dragged the animal inside the car with her. They took the dog to the animal pound and left it there to be cared for by better hands.

After a few days Prasad went to check up on the dog’s condition when he was told that since no one was willing to adopt it, it would be put down soon. Prasad and Meera offered to adopt it and the pound arranged for all the pre adoption formalities including surgery etc, and Prasad brought the animal home a couple of weeks ago.

After bringing it home is when they discovered that there was something wrong with the dog’s vision and on taking him to the animal ophthalmologist, it was found that it had only one functioning eye and that too only with very limited vision. Since it was a genetic fault, there was nothing that could be done and so, the blind dog is now part of Prasad’s household.

I am often stumped for answers to some existential questions like, why this dog, why Prasad and why the whole sequence of events leading to its adoption by a caring family. Karma?

Tags: Adopting pets, Karma, Pets

My friend K came today on his monthly visit. The topic of discussion today was on parenting.

K’s last born, now eighteen lives with him. K as my readers may recollect is a divorced single parent. K’s two elder children are daughters and now married and settled down to domestic and career bliss in India and the USA. K did not need to consult me on parenting for them, but now finds it necessary at least to discuss the matter to see if he is doing the right things with a growing young man who lives at home.

I started off by telling K that I know of no father who has been totally successful in providing the right kind of parenting and that it has been my observation that almost all, bungle their way around this and eventually come out smelling like roses. I also suggested that things will be alright and there is no need to worry unduly about this matter.

Interestingly, the topic then changed to some other matters that have been worrying K and on top of the agenda was the problem of an alcoholic in the family. That discussion took off in a direction that neither of us had anticipated. I had just been south to tackle the same problem for another friend’s family and I shared my experience of that visit and the course of action that we followed there. K is likely to get another meeting organised for me with the people concerned in his family soon and perhaps something will come out of it.

That discussion took us into another matter. K wanted to know why I don’t drink or eat non vegetarian food any more and whether I will start to do both ever again . This has been a topic that I have not discussed with many people, and certainly not with K. K knew that I was quite a bon vivant some years ago and wished to understand what brought about the change and whether the path that I chose is something that I enjoy being on or whether it is a distasteful experience that I am undergoing with some other self imposed compulsions.

That broke some dam inside me. I simply cannot figure out why it happened, but all the whymeitis that has been kept bottled up inside me for years, came out in a torrent, much to the surprise and eventual delight of K. At the end of it all he said, and I quote him verbatim, ” you are now ready for Sanyas.” Some friend!

I now have an idea for a post on whether I am ready for sanyas or not. In the meanwhile, some of my readers who have been following my rants here may have their opinions on the matter. I would be interested in reading their comments.

Tags: Alcoholism, Bon vivant, Parenting, Sanyas

I reproduce below an extract from a mail from a Pakistani friend with Indian relatives. This is not unusual and many families on both sides of the divide have relatives on the other side. We were one country once after all.

“Rummy, I know that you follow Thomas Friedman and am surprised that you have not blogged about his article. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/opinion/01friedman.html?_r=1)

What is the problem dost*? Don’t tell me that you have become a dove in your old age.”

*Dost is Urdu for Friend.

I have had other regular readers asking me why I have stopped writing about Pakistan and terrorism.

There is no big mystery here, nor any change of heart.

Other, more capable writers, in the recent past, have been using many platforms to convey what I have been proclaiming for years about Pakistan’s establishment and its duplicity.

I have other things to write about.

Shoaib, does that answer you adequately?

I am not one however to let an opportunity slip out of my hands.

The problem with Pakistan has been highlighted by recent events now better than I or Thomas Friedman can ever do. Pakistan’s establishment has been shown to be what it is. Broke, without any credibility in the rest of the world and still prevaricating on India’s intentions. After some nudging from other sources, it has graciously accepted India’s offer of aid.

I still believe that if Pakistan stops being belligerent about India and drops the India bogey which helps the establishment remain in power, and most important, smashes the officially supported terror net work within its borders, Pakistan can take its rightful place in the community of nations of the world. Shoaib, will your establishment listen?

Tags: Aid to Pakistan, India, Pakistan, Thomas Friedman

There are two towns that have developed a particular connection with me which keeps taking me back to them repeatedly. Bangalore, now known as Bengaluru and Tirupur. Last week, I had to visit both the places as I had to attend to some business as well as some crisis management in a close friend’s family matter.

Since reservations on convenient trains were difficult to come by, I flew to Bengaluru, spent a night there while attending to some business during the day and took an afternoon train for a six hour journey to Tirupur the next day. I took a train again last Saturday afternoon from Tirupur and after a 26 hour journey, came back to Pune on Sunday evening. I had traveled 1800 Kms by train during this trip.

Tirupur is a name very well known in the specialized world of ready made garments, particularly in cotton knits. You can learn a lot about it here. My first visit to the place was in 1969 when it was little more than a slightly overgrown village. Subsequently, I had a lot more to do with the town between 1974 and 1977 with very frequent visits, during one of which, I had the first hand experience with our emergency excesses.

I then had nothing to do with Tirupur till 1987, but visited it a few times till early 1990. From 1990 till early 2002 however, Tirupur has been on my regularly visited towns for the very obvious reason that I had a lot of business dealings there and on two separate occasions, employed there.

Naturally, I have made many friends there and have very close relationships with some of them. I have known many rag to riches stories there as well riches to rags stories. Throughout my experience there though, I have had nothing but great affection and excellent hospitality from the locals. I have a soft corner to the town and its people.

My visit to Tirupur after over eight years was indeed a nostalgic one. I was not disappointed with the warmth and the hospitality of the people there and caught up with a number of my friends there and successfully managed the crisis at my friend’s home as well.

In the last eight years, Tirupur has changed a great deal. It is now a district head quarters for a separate district. Roads have been widened and new fly overs have been built as well as many old thoroughfares converted into one way roads. New construction everywhere made it difficult to recognize some old familiar areas.

Being heavily dependent on the export market to the USA and Europe, economic activity is subdued and there have been many closures of units. The units focused on the Indian market are thriving but it is sad to see many exporting units struggling.

My friends would like me to come back and make my residence there. Who knows? May be that will happen too, once again!

Tags: Bengaluru, Domestic Markets, Export, Tirupur, Train Journeys

I had posted my blog yesterday on the Indian Postal system and this post will give a completely different perceptive to communications and how things have changed over the years.

Last Sunday, my father suddenly decided to try and establish contact with someone from his ancestral village. My grandfather and his siblings had left that village and my father and his siblings were all born elsewhere. There was however some tenuous connections with cousins etc which also had got broken over the many decades that the family spread out all over India.

First, I sent an email to our family members through a yahoo-group mail system asking for any information that any of the older members of the family may have and am still waiting for some response.

Next, I went to the internet and found that google has already got a map for the village and from there I navigated my way to various options and located one website that gave me a contact name and email address. The website belongs to a very enterprising young man who has opened a cottage industry at the village to provide some employment to local people as part of his commitment to rural development. He himself stays in a town and only visits the unit periodically. The unit manufactures hand made incense sticks.

I sent an email to the address given in the website and within an hour got a phone call from the young gentleman, with who I had a long conversation. I have decided that I shall keep in regular touch with him, as I found him to be the kind of young man that will bring about change in our rural parts.

This young man, while could not give me much information, as he was not from the village, was able to get another contact very active in the local affairs of the village and passed on the telephone number to me by an sms message. I was able to speak to that contact who turned out to be closer to my father’s age and the two of them had a long conversation giving complete satisfaction to my father. The two of them have decided to be in touch with each other too.

Phew!

Tags: Ancestral Village, Communications, Umayalpuram

This is a true story and I vouch for its authenticity.

The background – I was shopping for dry fruits in the nearby supermarket, our version of say the Walmart. The aisle where I was unfortunately was a cul de sac and I was forced to witness this exchange. The young couple concerned are not known to me and I hope that they never have to be embarrassed by meeting me somewhere under different circumstances.

Husband (H): Why are you so unreasonable?
Wife (W): I am not. I have just changed my mind.
H: No need to change your mind. If you like it, you buy it. Here, I have brought it. (Throws a box of something into the shopping cart) I won’ have it that’s all.
W:Fine! If you won’t have it, I too will not. Here take it back and put it on the shelf. (Takes out the box and gives it to the man.)
H: See, this is what I mean when I said you are unreasonable. I don’t like it, you like it, and I have no objection to your having it. So, what is the problem?
Go ahead and buy it. (Chucks the box back into the cart.)
W: No, I don’t want it. Just keep it back. (She gives the box back to him.)
H: Look, all I said was that I didn’t like it. I didn’t say you should not buy it.
W: It is not what you said. It is how you said it.
H: What do you mean how I said it?
W: You made that funny face when you said it.
H: What do you mean, funny face?
W: You know, just like the face that your mother makes when she doesn’t like something that I have cooked.
H: What has my mother got to do with it?
W: Nothing, all I am saying is that you made a face like she does.
H:I don’t know what face she makes and in any case it is irrelevant to this matter.
W: No, it is relevant.
H: Just leave my mother out of it.
W: I never included her in it any way.
H: But you said she makes funny faces.
W: Look, I just said that you made ……..

Before she could complete that sentence, the husband, threw the box and a bunch of keys into the cart, and said
“I am going off. You do what you want. I don’t know when I will come home.”
He left the wife alone and stormed off.

The wife stood there staring after him and started cring. I came near her and said “Excuse me, I would like to go to the other side.” She moved the cart to one side to let me pass and started bawling.

What could I do? I scooted too.

Tags: Arguments, Shopping

“Smiling Faces Do Not Mean That There Is Absence Of Sorrow!
But It Means That They Have The Ability To Deal With It”
- Anonymous.

The above two smiling faces featured in my post “Brothers”. It was suggested there that one of them was a criminal and the other a police officer and the readers were asked which one was the former and which the other.

I reproduce below some responses which may not have been read by many of my readers of that post.

Cheerful Monk – “…who is the criminal and who is the police officer in this very unlikely story?” The fellow who needed hip replacements because he jumped out the second story window, of course. ”

Nick – “The two of you do look very similar. Clearly the dapper, well-groomed individual on the right is the upstanding police boss, while the dissolute old rogue on the left is obviously the local Mafia boss trying to conceal his latest highly lucrative drugs shipment.”

Darlene – “I think you are both plotting a lucrative crime. You are too much alike to be a policeman and a criminal.”

Melody – “Forget the cop/criminal films, I think your life story would be a blockbuster movie here in the U.S.”

Ashok, do I need to say anything more?

I hope that you enjoyed reading another post of the Friday Loose Bloggers’ Consortium when eleven of us post on the same topic chosen by one of us. Today’s topic has been chosen by Ashok the lawyer in the making.

Please do visit Ashok, Conrad, Grannymar, Magpie11, Maria, Gaelikaa, Helen, Judy, Anu and Ginger to see ten other views on the same topic. Some of these bloggers may be preoccupied with vacations, examinations, family problems and/or romance, so be a little indulgent in case they do not post or post late.

Tags: Blogging, Criminals

On Sunday, a friend who makes a monthly visit to me to let off steam and to recharge his batteries, inevitably on Sundays when he has his weekly off, came over to rant about his latest outrage.

My friend, let us call him KD, is an atheist born in the Roman Catholic tradition. He is a bon vivant who is totally secular. He is divorced from his wife who is a non practicing Protestant Christian and daughter of a pastor of one of those prolific evangelical Protestant sects that dot the Indian landscape. Her family has many pastors in it and most other members are devout and have slogans like “Jesus Saves” and “Praise The Lord” on their vehicles.

With that background, the story will now become clearer. KD has a step son, from his exe’s previous marriage. KD has three children from his marriage, all now grown up and away in many other parts of the world. The step son, the eldest, got married recently to a girl from his mother’s religious sect for which all the children had come to Pune.

After the marriage, all the children, with the new daughter in law, went to pay their respects to their maternal grandfather who has been catatonic for the past eight years in a hospital. When he became aware of the children, he opened his eyes and just asked one question to them – “Has K been saved?”. The children returned on Friday from their visit and reported to KD about this and KD went into a state of total rage and could not sleep.

This was followed by a dinner at KD’s place for the new bride’s family on Saturday during which, the family did not exactly endear themselves to KD with their frequent prayer and oft repeated “Praise The Lord!” during normal conversation. Before the meal started, the senior most of them asked permission from KD to pray and just to be polite, KD agreed. The dinner was no better with very solemn and silent eating at the end of which, permission to pray was again asked when KD who had had enough, said “No thank you.” The guests were aghast and quickly excused themselves and left.

KD stewed again the whole night and decided to come to his friend and confidante to share these two stories and to ask whether he needed to be saved? He cheered up quite a bit when I said, “yes, from these people”.

I have nothing against people holding on to their beliefs and practicing their religion to the best of their abilities. But surely, they should have the sensitivity to leave such behaviour aside on social occasions among people who either believe differently or do not believe at all?

Tags: Atheism, Family, Religion, Table Manners