rain..

yesterday it rained in delhi.....
here it feels like a blessing from the heavens...as long back as i can remember, after those incredibly long months of scorching heat...first drops of rain have a mesmerizing effect on barbequed souls of delhi!!
- really summers are actually that unrelenting over here..well for that matter so are the winters...

but its just that even after acting as human specimens for nature's extremities..we people( i mean dilli -wallas) are never ever prepared for the extreme heat and cold that alternate each year..
year after year each one of us complians with such preserved innocence that only an initail shock can deserve....
"i can't take this heat"(when the person has taken and lived in this heat all their life!)...

on a different note-
for that matter -are we ever prepared for anything at all...or are we always prepared??
what is the drawing line between being prepared and not....well, once its here its here...
whatever is, it is...and whatever is not, it is not....i guess thats all it takes to accept the reality.

fear of the unknown

why fear the unknown when all that is known is so frightning in itself?
some time back i read this piece which suggested that in large parts our miseries ,fears and anxieties are rooted in our obssesion with either the past or the future...which in effect do not allow us to live the 'now' moment.

that actually got me thinking that why cant i let the 'now' be the reality for now...
yes there are many things ..things and tendencies that i know ...in the sense that they are not unknown to me and precisely that is why i can positively do something about them....i can only live and control the now...might as well do that???

songs

some songs are forever..sacrifice by elton j , i also particulaly like air supply.....out of nothing at all...now and forever....roxette is good too...
then ofcourse therz kenny rogers...he is out with a new record...water and bridges i guess..shall check it out.
then there are songs of the moment.....
it goes something like this
main to tumm sang.....
nain ladaa kee......

hmmm

so watever goes around .. comes around....

water voes

it is said that now if a world war were to take place it surely will be fought over water. so almost an year back, unarmed protesting villages in rajasthan were shot at by the administration because they were asking for the right which has traditionally always belonged to them- the right of acess of the local community over the local water resources.

well to say that water has never been a bone of contension would be a white lie, beacuse for times immemorials water or rather acess to it has been a cause as well as a indicator of the existent social and an economic divides in the society. so all the so called upper castes had acess to the nearest and the safest water supplies of the village to which,the rest of the residents were denied acess.
cut to the modern age, comes the role of international economic bullies and bosses ( world bank in this particular case) who are in somewhat similiar vain the water bosses , the only difference being that these agencies are not even a part- inheritors ( as is the case of upper castes) of the traditional right of the local population over the natural resources of the region.
so whats my point here:
as a happily ignorant resident of delhi, my first encounters with what resulted from the privitazation of water in delhi came up when taps began to run dry ever more frequently then before this season.
what has caused this? the sonia vihar water plant was hailed by the delhi govt. as one of its great achievements which was to end the water vows of its privileged citizens ( well we are priviliged at least relatively speaking because: a) we do get some water in our taps and; b) on days when we don't we can atleast afford those bisleries..)
but what was chosen not to be told was that the delhi govt. was indeed quite clandistenly engaed in the process of privitization of water distribution. now this is an important point to be noted. personally i am not against privitization but whenever the rule : 'power without responsibility' comes into play things do get murky. afterall its a well proven dictum: power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely' (lord acton).

so when water is being privatized it should be done so in a rational manner; what has actually taken place is that water distribution has been privatized but its treatment and availability to the supply points has not. so basically it means that: although the private players have been entrusted with the task of distribution( therby giving them direct acess to the consumers thereby enabling them with a position to play traditional arm twisting gimmicks with the consumers); however, ensuring acess to safe treated potable water remains with the djb (delhi jal board).

there is yet another angle to the whole issue: the callous indifference of the local residents of delhi. so when installing water pumps continues to be illegal, its a law which is flouted in almost every single house hold of delhi (including mine). further despite regular studies proving that the ground water tables in delhi esp. south and south west delhi are plunging rapidly and dangerously, direct extraction of the ground water continues to flout every rule present in this regard. so now once the municipal water supply has run dry, we have the kind of money to acess the ground water. and it is to be admitted that now with this 'new found resource'- we continue to 'waste' water ever more royally then before.

GANESHA....

He works it out ...
"There are so many worries; there are so many struggles you have. All these can be neutralized by Shri Ganesha. Though innocent, He is extremely clever and when he comes to your help, you are amazed. How he works it out and how he removes all the hurdles and all the worries from you. So this is the most important deity we have, though it’s a very simple deity. This Mooladhara chakra is very very complicated. It is one of the most complicated chakras I think, because it has many waves, it has many compartments. We can say which all the time are vibrating and oscillating. So to steady down these you should try to be absolutely dedicated to Shri Ganesha." (25.09.1999, Italy)

coloured....

i will try and recall this nice poem a friend sent me across which i most foolishly deleted
so here goes my try at total recall..

a 'black' child wrote this:

you white people call me black?
when i am born i am black ...
when i am a child i am black
when i go out in the sun i am black ..
when i get angry i am black ..
when i am jealous i am black ..
when i am cold i am black and
when i die i am black..

and you white people ..
when you are born you are pink ...
when you are in sun you are brown ...
when you are cold you are blue...
when you are injured you are yellow ...
when you are angry you are red....
when you are envious you are green

and you call me coloured?

my inbox had this today

These are couplets taken from the rhymezone site where there's
this competition for writing the most romantic first line and most unromantic>
>second..here are a few of the entries..

> >> >Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet,
> >and so are you.>
>But the roses are wilting, the violets are dead,>
>the sugar bowl's empty and so is your head.>

>> >After you, my love, my only prize>
>Would be a bullet between my eyes>

>> >Of loving beauty you float with grace>
>If only you could hide your face>

> > >I thought that I could love no other>
>Until, that is, I met your brother>

>> >Kind, intelligent, loving and hot>
>This describes everything you're not>

>> >I want to feel your sweet embrace>
>But don't take that paper bag off of your face>

>> >I love your smile, your face, and your eyes -->
>Damn, I'm good at telling lies!>

>> >Every time I see your face >
>I wish I were in outer space>

>> >I saw your face as you walked by>
>but then I saw a better guy>

>> >My darling, my lover, my beautiful wife:>
>Marrying you screwed up my life >

>> >Beauty is on the inside, but some may doubt,>
>If it's true, I'd prefer you inside out.>

>> >What inspired this amorous rhyme?>
>Two parts vodka, one part lime >

>> >I see your face when I am dreaming>
>That's why I always wake up screaming>

>> >My love you take my breath away>
>What have you stepped in to smell this way >

>> >My feelings for you no words can tell>
>Except for maybe "go to hell"

friends.....

i often derieve great pleasure in being a quiet, un-involved almost invisible ( a -la mr. india act) spectator to some very ordinary inane situations and people in them. its reall fun..almost like a new story to be told behind each 'reall life' character.
so today while coming back, i had some company in the bus..a bunch of... actually three young girls, who boarded the bus from chankyapuri embassy area. it seemed quite evident that these three were locallites of the area .
khair let me clarify why they proved to be objects of interest to me (besides the men folk in the bus for obvious reasons).
well, for one, all of them seemed to be just on the threshold of adulthood (that is strictly legally speaking- 18 years of age)
coming to the main point, besides the two superbly confident , smartly dressed and 'almost managing to be stylish' girls, its the third one who caught my attention. she was the quiter of the lot, was shy, hesitant..almost embarrased to be seen publically with two of her gregarious friends who kept discussing 'personal matters'( what else but boys!!) in loud voices..almost as if wanting to boast of their social accomplishments to the passengers around. well for sure, they kept many of us amused. hey! i found my story in them!
coming back to this third one, she reminded me of my days when i was many times caught with such friends and how embarrased i used to feel!!! ...thank goodness now i have become more choosy in picking up friends.

Does evil exist? Did God create evil?

The University professor challenged his students with this question.
"Did God create everything that exists?"
A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!"
"God created everything?" The professor asked. "Yes sir", the student replied.
The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then God is evil" (Nouse-O-bila).
The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the religious faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question professor?"
"Of course", replied the professor.
The student stood up and asked, "Professor does cold exist?"
"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question.
The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460? F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature.
Cold does not exist.
We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."
The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"
The professor responded, "Of course it does."
The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light.
Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it.
How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present.
Isn't this correct?
Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"
Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said.
We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world.
These manifestations are nothing else but evil.

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least is does not exist unto itself.
Evil is simply the absence of God.
It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God.

God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light." The professor sat down.
The young man's name -- Albert Einstein