Kadmanivasi. My Blog. Geeta Ramani

When a fragrance stirs a memory, when berries on trees against a shaft of light takes your attention from the world, when you walk down a path and wonder where it might be going, you step beyond who you are and where you are. For the briefest of instants, you have stepped into the magic realm. I need the magic of memory to conjure magic again. I need to know and remember, and I want to tell you!  Last week end, I attended the wedding of our friend’s son. We were old friends, we had known each other from the time we went to school, and we knew their parents and our brothers and sisters were friends too. Both our families have traveled far away from home since.  So we were eager to meet a lot of old acquaintances from our hometown; many of whom I had seen in school uniform.  Now we had   families of our own, including children and grand children!   I welcomed the guests with flowers, in the traditional South Indian way and was shocked when I was introdu...

Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires.       Charles Caleb Colton I begin this year, deliberately, with no resolutions but with a determination to enjoy and cherish life, as I bid a bitter-sweet  farewell to the  year that was! Bye 2015, What a year you have been! It began with the sweetest event , the birthday of my grand daughter, little Samyuktha, who  turned one on January 5 th , 2015. The two  families came together and celebrated the occasion. And unknown to us, fate was dealing her secret hand. We were getting ready to forge, another new relationship! That was the first of the three visits last year, of the littlest one! I was witness to every milestone in the first year of her life and like a pupa that struggles to ...

The process of decluttering is painful .  I undertook a marathon decluttering session which lasted over a couple of days. It is heartbreaking to discard personal possessions, many of which are just keep sakes, mementos and reminders of people and places. They are of immense emotional value. Some papers and files find a place to stay,  for you might just need them on a rainy day. Clothes you hope to get into, jars that you might re-use, documents which remind you of things you once possessed and so on and so forth. Over the months I had saved so many things,  not  really out of necessity. I have also realized that clearing out cupboards and shelves, once in a while, helps you remember the things you have and the places in which they have been safely kept. On one of the shelves I found a small slim book of short stories and as soon as I held it in my hand, it started to give way. It was not very old, I have books from a much earlier period, may be this one was...

Over the last few days a lot has been telecast about the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or the Common Man's Party. Every time the spectre of AAP is aired, I am reminded of Baba Bharti and his majestic horse Sultan; from a story titled, Haar Ki Jeet , I had read in my Hindi text book in primary school. It is the story of a mendicant, named Baba Bharti who used to lead a pious life in the outskirts of a village. His only worldly possession was a grand horse named Sultan. There were many who coveted this horse. One of them was a dacoit named Khadag Singh. When he heard about the horse, he wished to possess it. He was told that Baba Bharti would never sell it or part with it. So if he wanted to own that fine horse, he had to steal it.  One   morning , as Baba Bharti was riding on his majestic horse, he was stopped by a pitiable man, begging for alms. As Baba Bharti slowed down,   the beggar overpowered him, and revealing his identity, the   dacoit said that all he wanted wa...

During the years I attended school, we carried home invitations for our parents, inviting them over for the Annual   School Day or the Sports Day. Our teacher would painstakingly write neatly on the board, ‘ Mrs. & Mr. _______ ’, ask us to take it down on the envelope and complete it by adding our father’s name and surname. She would also specifically mention to add ‘Dr.’ where applicable. One was very particular about spelling for ‘ Dr. Chakraborty ’ would not attend if he was addressed ‘ Dr. Chakravarty’ ! We seemed to have little problem those days as we did not have any other title to worry about. An army unit came much later and I often heard my friends remark how careful they had to be while addressing army personnel! Personally, I have never had any issues for I was used to seeing my mother’s signature which included Smt. (Srimathi, for short) her name followed by my father’s name. When I started signing, I gave up the Srimathi part, writing my own name and my hus...

Another New Year! Happy 2015! Each passing year has its own milestones. 2014 was special, personally. The littlest member joined our family, my sweet granddaughter, Samyuktha. And in 2015, she is already a year old!  What I seem to miss most are hard copies  of photographs! The photo album! How does one preserve those wonderful memories and refresh them from time to time, alone or even with friends?  I felt the same after my holidays. Well, as they say, you need to change with the times for fear of being left behind! So here I am rfreshing those wonderful months in a foreign country with my very own ones. Here is one way I tried reliving  those days and I reproduce another of my earlier attempts, at savoring all those moments again!  A-Z in Washington D.C.!  Are you ready to journey with me … On a virtual holiday to Washington D. C.? A dream come true. For me it is! It begins with a drive to A nnapolis! You hear about it….all too often So...

                                                  (The Theatre of the Absurd) Once upon a time, he was a journalist. Today, he epitomizes the Super Prime-time Debate on Times-now. Ex political party spokespersons who learnt to combat him, and very few seasoned dignitaries know him as Mr. Arnab Goswami. If you watched him over the  week, you would still be undecided about who he is-an analyst, an investigator, a judge, a commissioner, an  inquisitor, or really Haldir, the 'Hidden Hero'.  You may be right to think he plays many roles. He painstakinly prepares the script with a line from the many news items of the day, for example what the elected chief minister of the new state of Telengana said or what the Chief Minister of the flood ravaged state of Jammu and Kashmir had not said.   He picks the Dramatis Personae, the guests on his panel, ...

Never mind the announcement of the 2014 Champions League Twenty20 to be held in India from 17 September to 6 October 2014; nor the news that Lasith Malinga will represent Mumbai Indians over the Southern Express side he led to victory in Sri Lanka; or the great Ian Botham saying that the IPL was “too powerful” for cricket’s long-term good as he called for the lucrative domestic tournament to be scrapped. There had been a clamour from a section of politicians and cricketers in India too for a ban the IPL! But this is not about the IPL! For you see, I have great valid reasons to bat for the IPL. Everything went wrong just before the IPL-7! Ok, just one thing, to be specific; our TV just blacked out. This was not the first time it had just stopped; it had happened on New Year’s Eve as well. My husband was away on work and our daughter had come home for the holidays. We hoped to usher in the New Year together, watching the programmes telecast on TV. So out went a call to our mecha...

Sounds familiar, isn’t it, especially to all my teacher friends! A writing prompt for kids, a favourite topic of the teachers! So many times have I read this composition and year after year, they grow impossibly difficult, painful and traumatic. I have often wondered if there is any other way out for kids and have asked myself if parents really have to subject these little children to the tongs and hammer of the dentist. I have been fortunate in the sense that I never had to visit a dentist for any serious condition, as a kid or even when I was younger. So I have really never faced this  harrowing experience. Well recently, during a general check up, my dentist suggested an invasive treatment. After having confirmed that there was no other way, or rather it was the best treatment he could offer, I returned, to have the procedure done the next day. My dentist, did, however ask me whether I was not mentally prepared to have it done that very day. If I wasn’t , I was not ready...

I had written this epilogue in my diary many many years ago .. and here, I reproduce it in my blog!   You see, our family is a sentimental lot; we get attached very easily, even to the 'treasures' we possess. From 1988 to 1992, we were the proud owners of   a second hand Sipani Dolphin 2-door car and like every such decision made at home, selling the bright red car was more dramatic (traumatic?) than buying her!   We should have realized it the first day she came home. But the little red car just bowled us over. She would start with a purr and she would race away. My husband got her for a tidy sum and declared, quite unnecessarily though, that the car was not a luxury, rather a necessity. She sat demurely in the garage, her red hue sparkling and glittering in the sun. My husband believed that she just needed a quick fix and then she’d be as good as new! Soon, the day dawned, wet and cloudy, the sky threatened to pour down the whole day long. My husband look...

The idea that a Prime Minister should address students on Teachers Day seemed a novel one and I was looking forward to it. It was not any Prime Minister, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After having heard his speeches, I was eager to know what he would have to tell the children. His address in Parliament was inspirational and motivating and so was the Independence day address. From the ramparts of the Red Fort, he spoke to the common man. He filled their hearts with pride, he infused in them a  renewed vigor.  I think he excelled himself while addressing the joint houses of Parliament in Nepal, in terms of motivation and inspiration. That small Himalayan Kingdom must have really felt on top of the world that day. And so, in that strain, I was looking forward to Modi's speech. Yet I could not understand why students were being addressed on Teacher's Day! Sambit Patra, the BJP spokesperson, explained that just as a mother cannot be seen in isolation without her child, ...

Decades ago, when computers had just been introduced, people wondered where and how  they would be used. I got an opportunity in those early days, to undergo a week's training course by an institute named DPS - a basic general course about hardware, software and computer languages. This helped me to address the simple questions: what is a computer? What are its functions? Name its parts,  etc. I too found it confusing. After we got a personal computer, the operations became clear and the 'logic' became apparent! Back in those days it was comforting to begin the class with these few words.. Just as the bicycle adds to the power of your legs so does the computer, it adds to the power of our brains. It can calculate thousands of numbers, store them in memory and with a click of the button, retrieve it all. I also remember employee unions going on strike due to the introduction of computers in LIC and banks, they were afraid they would lose their jobs to the computer! The...

I realize its almost a year since I blogged! I am not surprised that a hullabaloo has been raised over the issue of the Teacher Vs the Guru. As I understand, a teacher is one who works in a school or an institute that imparts  education; one who could fall into the categories as put forth by William Arthur Ward-the mediocre, the good, the superior and the great We have come to look upon one who provides formal education as a teacher and one  who teaches a mantra or Vedanta as an Acharya.  The Guru occupies a place above; a Guru may be termed as an influential teacher or a revered mentor. The teacher is an important unit in nation building, central to both the problems of education and their solutions. Hence teachers need to be motivated and inspired. Did our Prime Minister not consider it important to address the teachers and their myriad issues on Teachers Day? Instead,  he chose to address the students at a time, when most schools get over for the day. I b...

Today is the last day of my Second Term break. As I look forward to another busy Term, I also look backand wonder about all that I could have done! But holidays have a way of racing by, especially when your family is with you. I couldn’t agree more with Elbert Hubbard, when he said, No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one! Of course I did the usual things one does during holidays- watch my favourite TV programmes on travel, nature and food late into the night and wake up a little late, the next morning! During one such session, as I was surfing through the limited channels brought to us by our local Cable Network, I chanced to see the Everglades, the wetlands that stretch across southern Florida . It is the home of the Gator Boys, alligator trappers, who tackle South Florida 's most stubborn alligators. Had it not been for an interesting memory, I might have given it a miss. I remember teaching the kids a story, titled, Trashmasher , from the En...

I am hurt and saddened by the vicious assault resulting in the death of the brave young daughter of India and like my countrymen, I am distraught and upset by the state of affairs in my country. I wonder, what I can do and how I can help prevent such heinous and inhuman acts. At this juncture I only wish to reaffirm my faith in my personal moral and ethical values and hope I can lead by example. I can also express myself and add my voice to the millions of outraged countrymen and women, hoping to be heard someday. Right after the horrific incident, we waited for the Home Minister to speak, for the Prime Minister to address the shocked and stunned nation. But why only them? Are these the only two departments of the government which need to act? It seems strange that the Minister of Law and Justice had nothing to say on the issue. In fact, he should have been the first to ask for convening both the houses of Parliament, to discuss and debate the pending criminal bill. The Surface Transpo...

The difference between a tourist and a traveler is that the tourist carries his own atmosphere around with him, the traveler tries to lose himself in his surroundings.                                  Freya Stark I joined the group of ‘loafing ladies’, really, ‘laughing ladies’, hoping to travel and explore Incredible India. As I set out for Kanha and Pench, never did I dream of hitting the tiger trail at Pench, in Mowgli’s Land! Our journey to Kanha was uneventful. As we drove into ‘Pugmark Resort’, located in Khatia village on the buffer zone, we got a glimpse of what was to follow- exotic tiger terrain! The resort was charming …from the two stuffed tigers mounted on the tree, to the delightful little villages surrounding it! I have brought back very fond memories of the resort, for here we were treated as family, by the Yadavs, who run the establishment. They are a...

Sree Leathers is a chain of footwear store, in Jamshedpur. Back then, they had a wide variety of affordable shoes and slippers. Their shops would always be overflowing with people, especially during Dushehra and Diwali. And no one returned with just a pair! One fine day, we saw the Sree Leather s ad in the newspaper in Chennai and we made up our minds to visit, just for old times' sake! The shop in Chennai was situated very far away from home. Most weekends, we would remind ourselves about the visit. However, this  Sunday, we were determined to find the shop and speak to the owner and tell him of our joy! Traffic in a city like Chennai can be very daunting. But this Sunday afternoon, it appeared thin, but just only   in our residential area. As we drove to the city-center, we found that roads everywhere had been diverted or dug up for laying the Metro rail. On reaching the busy T-Nagar Market area, we started making enquiries. Sadly, no one had heard o...

 It's been months since I blogged! And boy...am I happy to be back!!! My work priorities kept me away for sometime..and I hope to be back...back with a bang, as they say! Let me begin at the beginning ...of my holiday! Our Dushehra holiday-plan materialized all of a sudden..and just like that! I called up Praveen to wish her on her birthday and there she was, asking me to consider a trip to Delhi/Jalandhar /Vishnavo Devi/ Amritsar. We had to get ourselves to New Delhi and Praveen volunteered to arrange the next  leg of the journey. It dawned on me that it would be the first of its kind…a holiday with friends, the joy of which we had started discovering recently. We have always traveled with family and this was something we eagerly looked forward to! It was an unforgettable trip, and Praveen’s two vivacious girls ensured that we remained happy and cheerful throughout the trip! Our holiday was too good to be true! Our first halt was Greater Noida. The place has to be seen t...