Open Books

Every day I walk down the street, busy people gliding on their feet.

Hundreds of faces passing by, heading to destinations, you would wonder were?

One look into theie eyes & you can see, lost souls in deep thoughts, deeper than the sea.

Mahesh has a job to find, just a carrier break that’s on his mind.

Alan has a loan to pay, bigger than his pockets can weigh.

Don’t you see what I see, people are open books I can read.

Shetal has a picture of a guy in her eyes, one she loves but cannot stand his lies.

Prashant is hoping for a raise, praying someone appreciates his work and utters a raise.

Don’t you see what I see, people are open books I can read.

Reena has got divorce papers to file, to get rid of her cheating husband, and go away in exile.

Jerry just had an HIV test, doc says, sixty days and he may rest.

Don’t you see what I see, people are open books I can read.

Akash has dirty money in his pants, a place to blow the money is all that he wants.

Shrinath is waiting for his pension to come, cause his kids are saying dad we are done.

Don’t you see what I see, people are open books I can read.

At the corner of the street poor Chotu is craving for just a roti,

With hunger in his eyes, he afraid he may never see the dawn again.

Don’t you see what I see, people are open books I can read.

What's stopping me ?

A few years back I was contemplating to take up a course I was long resisting. I got a distinction between a conversation; 'Why are you not doing the course?' and 'What's stopping you from taking up the course?'

The latter is actually a very powerful way of inquiry. It does not put a person in a spot.When you ask someone 'what is stopping you?' the context of the conversation changes altogether. It's an empowering inquiry that the person does not resit.

What's stopping me ?

Fish Tank

Imagine a water tank with only pure water flowing into it. It has beautiful fishes, all swimming in their own rhythm. And then one day the tank starts getting filled with dirty water. The fishes in the tank grow sluggish. Hovering at the top of the tank to gasp some oxygen. The dirty water is filling the tank faster than the pristine water.

The dirty water also brings with it some fishes. Fishes, those are used to the dirty water. Slowly the fresh water fishes are all dead.Will the dirty water fish still survive? Why not, they are so used to the dirty water; right? But the dirty water also brings with it lots of sludge. Slowly the sludge fills up the tank bottom up. The dirty water fishes also now start moving to the top of the tank,gasping for oxygen. And then one day, all that is left in the tank is nothing but the sludge.

Now the tank itself is not capable of holding any more water, pure or dirty.

Our life is also very much the same. In real life, there are a number of instances when good and bad collide. Just like the tank example, we let the bad thoughts,emotions,experiences or actions

flow faster than the good. If the pristine water were to flow faster than the impure water, the pure water would have displaced the impurity like a waterfall juts with pure water.

The Death Of Family Physician

Achuu!! This was my 16^th sneeze in the past ten minutes. I was drained as usual with this periodic bout of sneeze attacks. In the interim break from the sneezes, I glanced through the swine flu advisory i had cut from one of the daily bulletins. It’s just one of the symptoms I said to myself. ‘Nothing to panic’, I made an instant autosuggestion to my already sluggish brain. Another rapid fire round of ear numbing sneezes and I packed my bag to leave for home. Between a doctor’s visit and self medication, I have been choosing the latter.

Well, that wasn’t me, at least till the time I moved in my new neighbourhood few years ago. While in my old dwelling place, I was fortunate to have an intelligent and caring family physician, who had his own practice in the neighbourhood. A doctor, who knew as much about his patients, as much as the knowledge he had about medical practice. What I appreciated about him was the absence of ‘I know all’ haughty attitude which a number of medical practitioners displayed. Though his diagnosis was usually correct, on specific occasions he would refer to other MD doctors for quicker diagnosis or prescribe a battery of test well in time.

I have been noticing an influx of specialty and super speciality hospitals in the metros, however, I have not seen as many as new generations of general physicians doing an independent practice. Blame it on the mall culture, or whatever, just like the friendly neighbourhood grocery store, general family physicians could be finding it difficult to survive. Unless a doctor has an established practice, affordability of rents and expenses like staff and electricity is not for every general practitioner. And seldom if one were to come across a general physician, the clinic would be bursting with patients, actively acquiring more viral infections and disseminating it to the unaffected lot.

Won’t a timely and accurate check up by a family physician, cut down on the bout of viral and malarial cases we are witnessing? Well that may not be the only answer, but one thing for sure, the breed of family physicians is getting rare by the day.

Well for me, my reckless self medication has spared me a visit to the hospital this time and I am back in action.

Honey I cloned the kids!

Do we regard our children as an extension of ourselves? Just the way our clothes, homes, cars and gadgets have become an extension of ourselves. Just mere an expression of our status to the world.

Do we fail to recognize or appreciate the unique individuality of our children? An insane way of self absorption, wherein we are oblivious to their identify and blossom into what they dream to be. And yet expect then to succeed in their lives, well as per our expectations, our unfulfilled and dreams, fantasies; that were clipped in the bud in our childhood.

To love our children is to know the pain of separateness. But we don’t dare to endure the pain. Not because we as parents cannot bear it now, but we rarely were conditioned to bear it in our young days. Separateness is physical as well as in thoughts. Sameness brings forth comfort, mitigates fear of isolation.

And while we are relentless in taming our children to adopt our traits, likes, aspirations, fears, they may or may adopt our thoughts and ways; sure enough they will learn how to make replicas of their own self.

Mandar Karnik

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(Excerpt : The road less traveled)

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of the Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You my strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward not tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrow may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archers’s hand be for gladness;

For even He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the blow that is stable.

pensilly: Silent Cry-Darkness of the Womb

pensilly: Silent Cry-Darkness of the Womb

A lovely poem on Female infanticide.

Silent Cry-Darkness of the Womb

Deep in the darkness of the womb,
A baby is sleeping, in it's cosy room.

Mother will keep baby warm,
And take care it, to keep it away from all the harms

The baby's arrival will bring everyone joy,
With mixed curiousity, whether it's a girl or a boy.

Cos, if it's a boy, it's a matter of pride,
And if it's a girl, then she will be a liable bride.

So they try to detect the sex of the child,
And to know that she is a girl, drives them wild.

As Prevention is better than cure,
They say abortion is the only cure.

The baby's cries echoes in the womb,
Mother would you let me die in your womb.

But, there is no one to hear the Silent cry,
It is there all alone; and it is just a futile try.