Chaotic times

It is really like life in a Robin Cook story, a sleazy production of one, at least. Everywhere I turn, masks assault the eyes, in various sizes, transparencies and colours.
People rushing about their jobs, or loitering around, all with this new accessory on their faces. Pretty soon I am expecting someone to launch couture versions of these infernal eye-sores. Hyderabadis being the Bling-loving, ostentatious, fun-loving people that they are, this isn't going to be a deterrent to their lives, for very long. There is talk of shutting down the Malls, I shudder to even think of such an eventuality. Kameeney's coming out this Friday, for crying out loud.
Jokes apart, the numbers are rising, people are dropping like flies, it's almost as if the Virus is carrying out a personal vendetta. Containing the virus in a country like ours is going to be an impossible task, the people are largely illiterate, likely to panic at the first given opportunity, then there is that small group of people, (let us call them entrepreneurs, for want of a better word) that will hoard up on medications, make a killing (sic!) on the black-grey market, a few doctors are going to get beaten up, a few ministers will be given the ever-novel opportunity of airing their empty brains on a global stage, the teeming masses, everyday on the increase, the up-coming festive season, the insurmountable difficulties in implementing any public welfare programme of any kind, throw in a few communal clashes in between, (Why? when did we ever need a reason to behave like animals?), and you have it,,,,,The Swine Flu Effect in India...Trust me, there will never be a grander show for many years to come!
On top of all this chaos, when people are looking for any excuse to be happy, there are even a few like me, who try and find solace between the pages of a book, but thanks to people like Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, even that seems like a distant dream.
I was re-reading one of my childhood favourites, "Pollyanna", a book I like, for the optimism and the simple, almost magical solutions it offers, to some of life's problems, when I came across one of the lady's articles in a leading daily, where she tore into this book and several other favorites as well, making them sound like books designed with the single purpose of enslaving women all over the world, managing to find so-called "loop holes" in their plots, not even sparing authors like Susan M Coolidge and L Alcott,,,,.
I am amazed how a few lewd lines about an imaginary lifestyle gives someone the literary acumen to critique these great books.
For those who have read books like "Little Women", "What Katy did", and the "Anne" series, you will know why I am enraged. These books gave me countless hours of innocent pleasure when I was younger, and I still go back to them from time-to-time,, reading that stupid article made me feel like someone just abused my childhood friends, and that is not a very pleasant sensation.

As crimes go,,

As my foul mood continues, and I cannot think of anything good right now, I am going to try and put down something I have been thinking of, for quite some time now.

RAPE,,,,,,, No, I am not about to go and commit what all of us know is a heinous crime, I just have been thinking that the laws in our country, or for that matter, anywhere in the world is clear pertaining to this barbaric act, the woman just has to holler "Rape!!" and the person on whom the finger gets pointed, gets thrown into a mire, out of which he is able to climb out, only when he manages to prove, beyond the least bit of doubt, what-so-ever, that he has not committed the said crime.
Isn't it just a little too much power in any one's hands?

Some woman who has it in for a man, just has to cook up a story, sufficiently plausible, and accuse the person of having raped her, no proof needed, no justification sought. The man sees his worst nightmares come to life.
It has happened too, a few weeks back, the dutiful wife of a petty Mumbai hustler, accused the local police chief of having picked her up, ostensibly to question her about her crook of a husband, and along with his fellow-policemen, brutally raped her.
Result- The senior officer gets transferred, suspended, his name gets sullied and the entire onus of proving his innocence falls on his shoulders.
The ever ravenous media smell fresh blood, fall on the story with all the zeal and fervour accorded to all sleazy stories. after a lot of due and undue coverage, the "lady"finally confessed to having concocted the whole thing up, why? To prevent the said officer from getting his hands on her guilty husband.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that rapes do not happen, they take place much too frequently, much to my utter disgust, but my question is, in the midst of the 99 guilty men, appropriately accused and duly punished, what of that 1 man who is wrongly framed, and that too by someone who knows the power she enjoys,,What then?
The law always maintains that a 100 guilty men may walk off free but no innocent should ever made to face persecution.
How does one make sure that the Anti-Rape laws, which are meant to protect as many as possible, do not become tools in the hands of a manipulative few?
How does one do that?

Sanity- What is that?

Its been a long time.
When you get to my age, time becomes relative,, (No, I didn't say RELATED, I said relative).
Age does seem to be catching up with me, I have started getting irritated by other people talking too loud, or calling out to each other in loud voices,,,while it seems all right if I do the screaming.
Strange? Not at all, I don't scream, just speak emphatically as and when required. So there!!
Anyway, it has been a long time since I felt the inclination to sit in front of an unfriendly, blinking, blue screen, pouring my heart out to it,,,unless,,
Unless I can make a horcrux or two out of them.
I really can't imagine what on earth gave me the idea that I could do this day in day out, being a doctor I mean.
I cannot really remember how my last four months have just swished by, in a blur. If you ask me to recollect anything important during that time, I'd be really straining my grey cells, (if I have any left, that is). Life's a mess and I can hardly hold one single thought in my head for more than a minute,,Age?
Someone who is very dear to me called me up, as he usually does, I was eye-deep in stress, said I would call him up,, and am still trying to gather enough thoughts together in my head, to make a conversation out of it. Sorry "V".
It's not that I don't want to.
The only saving grace in all this while has been the promise of rains. Each day I wake up to gloomy, cloud-swept skies. Yummy.
Anyone going through this is welcome to point out even a single line that made sense to them.
PS. Landmark has opened up here. I am yet to go there!
PS. SIGH

NEWS

"World music day",,,,yet music is one of the farthest things on my mind as I hear my mum, on the phone, describe a town burning.. Yes, my sleepy little home-town has managed to grab a 1 minute slot on National Television this Sunday morning, wedged between more important stories like the BJP leaders mudslinging, an HIV+ve woman being actually "labelled" as such, the Titans facing off in the oh so important T2o Finals,,,and so on........

I struggle hard to try and remember Haflong as I once saw it, quiet, serene and idyllic, during our so called rebellious college years we would crib of how things never seemed to happen where we lived, real life just seemed to give us a wide berth, little did we know then of what was to come. On the news spot, I saw the intrepid journalist who had the sense to travel to a refugee camp in my town where he was shown with children on his lap, around him, wide-eyed, staring at the TV crew, unaware of what was going on, just knowing that they had left behind all things familiar, and were forced to walk for miles with cloth bundles on their heads, to come to a place crowded with similarly scared, bemused children. Thus is the state of my land. The newly formed NIA has its first assignment in trying to solve the intricate weave of terrorism, self-rule and corruption that has found a safe haven in this woody paradise, for the past decade. The local Governing body has been dissolved, yet again, the power to run it given to an 89 year old man, who was hospitalised the very next day that he took over,,,we cringe at the memory of something similar in the not-so-distant past, when another old man had opened his greedy mouth wide and it had to be stuffed with crores of the towns-peoples' money before things went back to their original bad state. There is a curfew that has been imposed, which takes effect from 8pm every single night for the past few months, my parents and countless others like them have moulded their lives, both social and essential, around it. The state Government and the Central machinery seem like stuff out of fairy tales, what is justice and law for the rest of the country does not seem to percolate down to our level. Houses burn, people are ruthlessly massacred, children too, scores of people are displaced from the lives and homes they knew, thrust into a future rife with uncertainties, but how many people know what is going on there ?, under the leafy forest cover, that was once our pride and now seems so sinister.....when will the media, so engrossed in more "news-worthy" bytes realise that while they run after elevated TRPs, a small world burns, and if something is not done soon, if someone does not see it fit to remove the layer of apathy from the eyes of the rest of my countrymen and my leaders,,,I shall lose my world, my small little hill-town, a place I grew up in, a place where people still walk for miles to catch an overfilled bus, once a week, to come to a town, far away, buy an entire weeks commodities, and go back home, tired, an entire day behind them, only to repeat the whole process in another 7 days, a place where there is so much money and so much lucre, that there are guns all around, grabbing hands, killing hands and all hidden from the rest of the country, partly due to apathy, and partly due to ignorance.

Travails unlimited

Maudlin melodies on the net, thanks to Internet Radio, and a lovely sunny,wind-blown day,,,an impending nighter after two days of well-earned rest,,life is good. Add to it the fact that I was out on my favourite activity yesterday,,shopping. So what if it was for mundane and utterly prosaic stuff (read Undies, bed-linen, flip-flops, a wallet,,), retail therapy works, every time!

On my way back I discovered the joys of weightlessness, once again,,,as one of my ex-friends (notice the sudden icy chill?) used to say, being a "feather-weight" has its own advantages, your self esteem is much better than when you were a hippo in man-skin, plus it makes you ready for any upcoming NASA auditions for their future space programs,,they do need fussy, cleanliness freaks out there, trust me! Back to the auditions,,, every time I am out, availing of the public transportation, be it bus, cab or the three wheeled demon-vehicle called an (?) Auto I am at the mercy of the laws of physics, the wind condition of the day and all other elements that are in my immediate vicinity. I happened to be in an (shudder!!) Auto, while returning from my little trip yesterday,,and I found myself tossed around in its confines, thanks to the drivers love of cross-country rallies, I pretty soon was sitting on an unknown lap,( the sheer embarrassment of it),,snug as a bug in a rug on a rainy night, after one slightly more violent undulation of the vehicle,,.gives you a pretty good idea of what floating in space must entail,, after that I more or less hung on with all I had, read teeth, claws, legs,,,,till my destination was reached. Needing something strong to steady my jangling nerves, I headed for the small tea place near my hostel,,,,Yes! Tea! What do you take me for? It was just 5.30 in the evening?

Finally! I was in the safety of my room, I proceeded to put on a movie,,Eragon it was,, and relaxed.

PS.The Nano is out, right? Maybe,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Friggin' trying times

I saw my face in the mirror, just now,in passing, mind you (lest you credit me with some Narcissistic tendencies), and I could swear my face looked like Meena,,,,,,, the Kumari, I mean, and I surely do not have any leanings towards cross-dressing . My life is such a melodramatic, sad, tragic, sob-story right now, even Shakespeare would be proud of it,,let me enumerate how,,,I am on alternate nights, because of some impending International audit, that is the official version at least, my version of things are, I believe, more accurate, they just do not want my face hanging around to sour the milk, so to say, when the Phoren gents and Laydies come a-calling, anyways,, so I am on these nightmarish alternate nighters, hardly able to tell one day from the next, what with spending all my time, curled-up in bed, asleep, or guzzling coffee, by the gallon, trying to keep my peepers seperated while at work. To top it, and this really hurts, the Humongantic water-filter-cum-chiller-cum-dispenser in my hostel has picked the perfect time to call for an early, albeit well-deserved retirement. I am parched during all my waking hours, and am reduced to lugging huge bottles of chilled water from the Hospital at all odd hours. Maybe I just have not been noticing, but my hostel seems to be inhabited mostly by camels, I am the only guy seriously pissed enough to be on the phone, a dozen times a day, trying to get the blessed thing resurrected,, but with all the,"Daagtarr, ho jayega Daaagtaaar-ing", I have had it upto HERE with it all. The sweet Amma who was cleaning lady-cum-breakfast-fetcher,for the entire hostel, had a nasty fall a couple of days back, and is laid up in bed, with half-a-dozen stitches on her fore-head, (God bless her),thus,,,the Hostel is literally swathed in dog-poo, all the boarders have rave parties all night, food is literally flung around, and all the dogs in the Tri-state area seem to congregate here at night, gate crashing, and all this junk-food is sure upsetting quite a few canine tummies,,,,my OCD is in its death-throes. it has been six days of living in a smelly hell, oh, I am cleaning my room all right, rest assured on that particular count, but I have to crawl through two friggin' floors of stench, and coated, smeared floors, every time I go out of or come back to my room.

If you read an Obituary bemoaning yours' truly, in the next few days, please do remember that I was made a martyr to filth and tap water.

It is time to go back for some water, let me go put on my Scuba gear, bye folks,,wish me luck, or simply a speedy end.

PS, Forgive the typos, am too upset!!

COLOURS

Holi came and went, leaving me with its colours,
Blood and gore, the irremovable stains of parents' tears, the black stain of drunken driving, the unwashable hues of peoples' misery, left all alone to suffer.
The stain of sweat on my brow and the imprint of guilt on my soul, as I spent an entire night, filled with futile attempts to stop 2 lives from slipping away, these were the colours of Holi for me. How do you tell the 70 year old parents of a student, when they call you, long-distance, that their son is hanging-on, by his teeth,?
The colours were so different, I was so different, the stained faces and hands meant happier things once, I long for 'that-boy' to come back into my life.
It is a 24 hour joy-ride for me, guess I better go back in, the families need 'counselling' and 'consoling', and I need my high.