Strange Ways Dreams Come True!!

Based on a quaint tale from a Pak TV anchor rebroadcast by Raj TV some time ago:

There lived a merchant living in Dewas who built his riches selling metalware and textiles. He was also known for his charitable disposition towards the poor and needy. The fires in his kitchen were never put out.

As they say good times don’t last forever, a few lean seasons took their toll. Now impoverished merchant could not manage two square meals a day. Even so he did not change his charitable ways, continuing to share what he could with those worse off than him.

Days passed with no solution in sight for him, his prayers going unheeded.

One night he had a strange dream. He heard a baba appearing in a haze tell him: “Go to Ujjain at the earliest, your life would unimaginably change forever.”

He woke up with a start. He looked around. No baba. So, it was a dream.

He took glasses of water to quell hunger pangs and tried to sleep off again.

Come morning, he packed a few things and set off for Ujjain, little knowing where to and what awaits in Ujjain.

On the way, resting at dharamshala’s and availing of free food offered here, he finally reached Ujjain outskirts late evening. Took shelter in a dilapidated temple mandap.  And quickly fell asleep in sheer exhaustion.

Once again, he was startled out of his deep sleep, this time, by repeated hits on the sole of his feet.

Three uniformed guards were standing before him:

“So, you’re pretending to sleep here, is it? Where’s the loot? Where have you hidden it?”

Took a while to gather his wits: “What loot? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t pretend again. We know you robbed the house of the mirasdar in the village, taking away gold and jewels he had saved for his daughter’s marriage, and now you’re putting on an act of innocence. Come on, tell us…”

Ignoring his protestations, they hauled him to the house their chief. He was roundly thrashed by the latter in an effort to get him to confess and disclose. When they got nothing from him, they threw him into their prison where he languished for four days.

On the fifth day, the chief relented. He talked to him:

“Well, I have half a mind to buy your story if its good. You look like you’re a stranger in these parts. Where are you from and why did you come here?”

The merchant told him about the dream he had.

“You’re mad! You heard from an unknown guy “Go to Ujjain” in a dream and you came here with no address, knowing no one, not knowing what will happen, what should you be doing…don’t you think you were crazy to…”

“But…”

“You know what, even I get these dreams…why, only a couple of days ago I dreamt a old lady, witch like, telling me to go to Dewas, to the back of a single-storied house to the right of the only temple in the village, and dig up under the mango tree at a spot three paces away towards the entrance of the temple…in such detail! Paid no heed…must be because we had gone to that neighborhood only a week ago to nab a criminal based on a tip he was hiding…our mind is a great artist, often it takes our memories, experiences…even just our desires and mashes and serves them up in our dreams later like real…well, I’ll grant it your story is too ridiculous to be made up…will let you out this time, don’t try anything foolish like this anytime ever…lucky for you we nabbed the real robber and recovered the goods…”

The merchant made haste back to his house, picked up a shovel and went straight for the mango tree at the back of his house…

He had never thought even in his wildest dreams he would be rich again!!

End

Fun For Recalling, Not For Living

(heard from a close acquaintance)

Baby steps to Alzheimer?

These days life is interesting…probably a little too interesting when I miss things…

Like: LIC (Life Insurance Corporation), without intimation of any kind, rudely stopped my monthly pension, an amount neither handsome nor loose-change. My agent for medical insurance gallantly offered to help. He made some inquiries, sent me a proforma ‘Existence Certificate’ (stating I’m not dead yet) and suggested I sign it in the presence of and attested by the manager at my bank. It meant a visit in person.

So it was this morning. Met the young man, my newly assigned personal banker – a nice cheerful chap. He took to me to an executive – not the manager – besieged by a small crowd and explained it to her. The multi-tasking lady obligingly did a quick work of it and handed the certificate back, not even insisting I sign it in her presence! Addressed the sealed envelope with its content to my agent, took it to the courier, paid the charges and returned home relieved. The first step was taken, I was now a wee-bit closer to claiming my due.

A few minutes later an unsettling thought sprang up and nagged me. Rushed back to the courier’s office. Luckily my envelope was not yet collected by their sort-and-dispatch office. Retrieved it, and opened to see my suspicions confirmed.

Signed the certificate as it should be, repeating it a couple of more places just to be sure, sealed the envelope again and handed it back!!

Like: Yesterday evening I was returning from our flat in R… Apartments (our res until a week ago) clearing out a super heavy bag filled with this and that…after I was gone for about a hundred feet looking to flag down an auto (three-wheeler), I felt my feet on the sidewalk outside the gate…

Had to go back climbing two stairs, rummage my sling-bag to find at the bottom the keys to the main door – is there some physics I know not at work always driving a key bunch to the most inaccessible place around – not before spilling half of the bag on the floor and retrieving them in a converging iterative pick-some-drop-some process, gain entry with the last key in the bunch as always, and tick off my forgetful chappals (foot-wear) for not taking up their appointed position🙄…..feet suitably encased, came home without any further incident.

Like: Today I went back to R… Apartments to let my neighbour remove the split-a/c from our flat – he had agreed to buy it off. Reached the Apartments a little late, keeping them waiting. Bounded up to our flat apologetically as fast as age and bulk permitted. Reached into my trouser pockets for the keys…came out empty handed. This time there was no other place for a bunch of keys to hide from me. Truly licked I stood. Turned to the workmen, a little impatient by now, sheepishly telling them to wait for a few more minutes so I could go back to our new place, not far-off, and get the keys I had not carried.   

That’s when one of them pointed out a key were in there already…in the keyhole……had left it there overnight after retrieving the chappals🙄

In the bed, I did think but only for one worrisome moment what was in store for morrow and promptly dropped dead for the day and the world🙄

End

Times When Wishes Turn Horses…

Sanmargam

A forward from T R Subramanian, edited for readability:

***

“There is a popular breakfast point near our factory, we often visit.

Many times, I have noticed that a person comes in, eats and sneakily leaves without paying. taking advantage of the crowd.

One day while he was eating, I wisened up the owner to what was about to happen, discreetly pointing to the stranger.

The owner smiled and said he was quite aware of it, but would let him go and that we will talk about it later.

As usual, the brother treated himself to a good breakfast, looked around and, mixing with the crowd, quietly slipped away.

After he had left, quite intrigued, I now went up to the owner and asked him why he had let the man go… was he related to him…from wife’s side? 🙂 Or, some old debts being discharged? But then why…

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Azad Maidan

About This And That

Was attending a crucial meeting on planning for kicking off a large project. We were about half a dozen of us including the function-heads from the company.

The spreadsheet was up on a small screen before us. N was checking with us and updating the sheet in his laptop and on the screen.

It involved factoring in delivery schedules of many vendors, new hiring, statutory clearances and other umpteen dependencies. The meeting often devolved into confabulations in knots of two’s and three’s. Of course, for right reasons.

It fell on N and D from time to time to call the meeting back to order.

This is when I heard them use the metaphor ‘Azad Maidan’. A deshi description, though not exact for the present occasion, with an interesting etymology:

Azad Maidanis a triangular-shaped maidan (sports ground) in the city ofMumbai.It is located on 25 acres…

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We Does It! Every time.

How did they come up with such an odd name for their show?

Known to only a very few, here’s the story, remarkable for its out-of-the-box thinking. Not very long to stretch your indulgence:

*

It was a Saturday.

Regardless, they had gathered to brainstorm over a tagline – something that can make all the difference – for their start-up in logistics.

After considering several, they converged on: ‘We Deliver Today!’. It did convey impressively a sense of speed, urgency…like no one else did.

They felt good about it.

With no images at all, only simple text, the Agency turned it around overnight.

The painters were called in and instructed.

On Monday morning, the fleet of mini-vans were ready to be rolled out with tagline prominently stenciled on the sides. The deadline was licked. And the world…it’ll never be the same!

When they vehicles emerged from their overnight parking…Oh sh##, it read ‘We Delivers Today!’ On everyone of them.

Obviously, a junior staff present on Sunday – not one to quibble too much over number, tense and gender – had approved the Agency copy. How could they…rank carelessness☹

They got into a huddle. What do they do now? Get it redone for their entire fleet, small no doubt?

One of them came up with: ‘Why don’t we let it go as is…companies in the past have profitably used the technique. Errors and Omissions get more ‘hits’ than the staid and grammatically correct.’

Well, why not? They liked the thought. May not set off quakes, it would certainly cause ripples… heads were sure to turn. The more they thought about it, it seemed they had landed a kind of winner by sheer accident.  

Their relief was short-lived; for among them, as it usually happens’, there was one carrying a ‘wet blanket’ for the occasion. He averred the goof-up was a clear statement and a revelation of their sloppiness in execution, an inexcusable sin in the business they were in.

It had looked so good. Now, this…such a shame to give up. They were back to square one.

Until another among them – you know start-up’s are never short on brilliance – suggested…they could, to use a cliché, have the cake and eat it too.

*

That’s how their as-yet-unnamed org was christened as ‘We’!

End

PS: The day before we were caught up in a traffic mess, vehicles backing up for miles from Seepz all the way to LBS Marg, thanks to the metro project. Before hitting L &T, idly looking out, alongside was a van carrying ‘We Deliver Today’ emblazoned on its side. I let my mind muse over it and…entirely fiction.

Image: istockphoto

The Science And Art Of A Peeled Orange!

The question raised in a forum and some responses it triggered:

From others:

Obviously, its bright orange peel is like the sun, always raising. When you remove the peel, it looks like the moon and sets. I think Plato wrote a paper on this.

The skin is full of tiny pockets of air and oils, which make the orange more buoyant. The oils repel water, and the air in the pockets is less dense than water. Without the skin, the orange loses buoyancy because it’s just densely packed fluid-filled cells and the solid matter of the pulp.

Think of the peeling as bubble wrap and the orange as a balloon filled with water

Oranges have tiny arm like appendages called cilia with which they swim. Removing the skin removes its arms and the orange can no longer tread water.

The pith in the peel holds a lot of air.  Reasoning says an orange with a peel will float

The peel is like a little submarine protecting the sailor orange segments and they are breathing the air in the submarine. Now they are all drowning when you take away the submarine and air. That’s my answer. Like it or not. 🤦🏻‍♀️😅 Don’t ask me to explain it. That’s how I’d explain it to my 5-year-old.

I need therapy after this post and its entire thread. I’m broken

For the same reason a ship will sink when you remove the hull.

You’d sink too if someone peeled your skin off.

Oh…so that’s how you know the difference between peeled and unpeeled…

Same reason women float and men sink.

The orange peel has natural anti-gravity properties.

You’ve removed its life-jacket!

…

End

Between A Dame And A Damsel

Vide Usha Narayanan

End

Kalamkari – The Tree of Life

Shalini Agarwal

Oil on canvas

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Faithful Or Faithless?

Sanmargam

It is a practice started since last few months, of doing one’s bit in this lockdown period.

Of the many street vendors, there was this man selling flutes. The flutes were mounted on a central support which he hoisted on his shoulder. As he went around, he would announce himself to the flat-dwellers by playing some popular tune on his flute. It was once a week or in ten days.

Times are tough. Buyers, mainly children, were not exactly flocking. Feeling sorry for him, it became my routine to go down hurriedly to catch him before he moved away and thrust the money into his hands. Initially I had to explain to him. Not anymore. He knows I’m not buying anything. We would exchange namaste with a smile and be done.

So, it was a couple of days ago. I heard him – I mean his tune – and rushed…

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Shining Star

Sanmargam

Thought of You, Dear S!

©Anon

Published: January 2012

The angels looked down from heaven one night.
They searched for miles afar,
And deep within the distance
They could see a shining star.

They knew that very instant
That the star was theirs to gain,
So they took you up to heaven,
Forever to remain.

Look down on us from heaven.
Keep us free from hurt and pain.
You’ll always be within my heart
Until we meet again.

Source: family/friend poems

End

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