Of medicines and its extremities

The visiting hour in the hospital was very tight especially in the ICU. And the procedures to enter into that sanctum sanctorum was equivalent to visiting a hard core prisoner. You remove your sandals wear the socks provided  put on the face mask and wait in an enclosed space for the precious call from the nurse....

"Remember your time is just two minutes.. ok" she orders you and  you nod your head like a sacrificial lamb!

 I was thoroughly nonplussed as I entered in. There in lay a man with tubes hanging from both his hands attached to bottles of various liquids, rhyles tube going through the nose and many more emanating from the sides with the helmet like apparatus covering his face.

"Is he the person whose silent hearty welcome multiplied the joy of entering his house?" I wondered.

His children were waiting outside determined to save their dad by hook or crook. Or are they playing in the hands of the cunning hospital whose sweet talk and assurance make you believe that the best of the best is happening there? Is he used as the guinea pig to the numerous advanced medical apparatus and instruments the hospital boasts of? The vulnerability of the near and dear ones is thoroughly manipulated  to keep their cash machine ticking. But  I know this was not the time to reason out with them. I docilely nodded my head as they requested my prayers.

The advancement in medical field which promises the elderly with a brand new life lures, the cash rich over enthusiastic, affectionate children to go to any extent to put their parents back to normal and the greedy hospitals take advantage of this attitude. In addition the advertisements of happy elderly in various postures of before and after treatment beguiles the elders too into these costly hospital ventures!  They are forced to undergo various unwanted tests and put through umpteen number of machines just to keep the hospital cash machine ticking. After all today's hospitals operate on a corporate model and maximising the profit becomes the ultimate goal.

Acceptance of old age with minimal essentials necessary for a maintenance mode does not suffice the human mind. Greed for greener postures of youth is eternal that we seek and the seeking never ever gets satisfied!

I still remember as a child when the elderly sick people in my village were put in the airy back shed of the house where an assistant took care of the his daily needs and at nights people in the street took turns to give company entertaining him with tall stories. We children used to accompany the group till sleep overtook us! The Buddhist concept of death as a natural part, a smooth and peaceful process was well understood then.

My cousin in the village is 80 plus. One day  when he got up from bed he was feeling giddy and had to hold on to the pillar nearby and was in that position for some time and as it subsided he took his morning cold water bath and washed his clothes and got ready fortified by his morning tea, the elixir vitae to warm the cockles, and he was up  on his tractor like a king! "Give the body  time to balance and it would do the automatic correction." was his simple logic! He staunchly believes in the saying   "Take medicine you can be cured of cold in a week. Without medicine it may take seven days!"

His city grown wife who was witness to this show was the one who worried her head off compelling him to go to the nearby hospital since she knew he was diabetic!

There is a saying in my village " If you are having fever just take a dip into the Pappakulam tank and everything goes off in a jiffy." And believe me even today there are umpteen number  who would vouch on the curative power of those waters!! The Buddhist philosophy that life is a natural smooth and peaceful process is operative in full swing at my place.

There are many sensible people in the cities too who never put their parents through the tortuous process of medicating. When their mother's kidney functions started failing in one of our relative's family her eleven children gathered together to make the crucial decision of whether to put her through the painful process of dialysis or leave her to carry on a normal life with medicines. Opinions were many and varied but at the end they concurred to leave her alone than to let her go through the agonising procedure. Along with the children living closely  those living in  faraway lands too made sure that they gave her company spreading  plenty of the positive vibrations around her.

One of my friends,  who was taking care of her mother who is a cancer patient with a heart condition and high sugar as an accompaniment, shared with me about her mother’s attitude "She loves her sweets  and we give it to her and she is happy back at home and even asks me to go back to my house in Chennai and not worry about her".. And giving her chemotherapy is impossible. "Providing   the comfort zone  is the best thing we can offer to her" she said " I am planning to take my daughter to  her place or I may even bring her to Chennai for a change."

Becoming the custodians of elders' medical and dietary needs cannot follow researched recommendations beyond a point. Giving an overall  space they prefer to have and the love emanating from the heart matters a lot in making  their life an enjoyable  and complete!

When one of my friends  took VRS (voluntary Retirement for Service) from his lucrative government job I know that a remunerative job was in the anvil in  any one of the private concerns since expertise in his chosen field was a well-known fact.

"Have you applied for a job?" I asked him over a pep talk.

"Yes madam." he said happily." I am having the best job in the world. I am taking care of my elderly mother." A blessed mother indeed!! A visit to his house proved that the frail smiling lady was never taken to the hospital and spends her time with the family especially her devoted son  amidst various oils and balms and herbal concoctions!

Let us also be part of this  beautiful process and try not to play God!

The Boon From Heaven

Those were the good old days when the word  'beauty parlour' was absent in the dictionary and Thesaurus  of  Indian minds and friends and neighbours chipped in whenever there was a necessity to deck up a girl! On that auspicious day when the bride-viewing was happening to one of our friends, we were present in her house in full strength to display our enviable background.

As  we entered the house it was her grandma who accorded  us a very cautious  welcome. "Girls please stick to your place inside  the room and never ever step into the hall on any pretext lest the bridegroom tends to choose one of you."  She indeed tried to hide the intensity of her admonition with her smiling face.   We dropped our idea like hot coal to accompany the would-be the bride to the viewing point. Experience should have taught that grand lady some good life lessons!

The groom's party was satisfied with the family and the girl but for a  single condition. “It is your choice that you allowed your daughter to work but we don't want that to happen when she gets married and come to our house. We want an educated girl to manage the children well and our prestige would be hurt if we send her out to earn." However, wounding the statement was to the bride's side it was humbly accepted of course without waiting for any consent from the girl.

The same thing happened to me when I had to resign my government job in the Ladies college at Kumbakonam. But it was circumstances that made me give up my job. My would be husband was working at Rajahmundry and I moved along.  The society thoroughly approved it!

The case with my another friend was entirely different.  The instant her wedding invitation reached the hands of the nuns who were running the school she had to put in her papers too! I still wonder whether the nuns did it out of reverence for the  sanctity of  marriage  that made them have this  unwritten constitutional rule or was it their selfish  motive that the school should run smoothly without any headache of a married woman which means pregnancy, childbirth, long absence from work and plenty of  short ones whenever there was a problem. The nuns were  sure of their Bible words "No man (woman in this context)  can serve two masters". This created a situation in the school wherein the staunch spinsters along with the nuns ruled the roost while the rest of the lot was considered as flotsam and jetsam and treated as such.

In due course the group of women who had to resign their job with marriage became a minority " If a man can continue to work after his marriage why not a woman? If people in the government jobs continued in the service after their marriage why not them?  There was no government ruling which said that they have to resign the job once they get married." was their defiant attitude. They fought with the school authorities and regained their lost posts. This insolent group included my dear friend too. The dispensable human resource metamorphosed into a powerhouse.

But my friend's slavery continued in other ways. The household chores combined with the regular job became a double whammy for her and whenever there was a complaint from the wife about her joint family existence, the noncooperation from various members of the clan and the casual reply from her husband was " You know about my family. I have explained my situation as soon as we got married. But it is you who insisted on working. I didn't compel you to go for a job. It is your choice and now you have to grin and bear it and even today you are welcome to give it up." This off-hand reply hurt her self-esteem of which the man never bothered. The rest of the family too treated her primarily as a duty-bound housewife.

The sinister sisters-in-law never lost a chance to put her down. Her mother in law in her prestige never acknowledged her as a breadwinner like the sons, in spite of the fact that her whole salary went into the common kitty!  She grumbled when she had to manage the child for a few minutes if the maid was late. "What sort of mother is she? Never caring for her own. But she does she ever forget to deck up every morning and with her handbag hanging on the shoulder makes a show of herself in the street." In spite of the abuses conservatism and the jealousy, the daring heroic woman of the era persisted and pulled along!

And lo behold it was the IT industry which created a revolution jolting the social system topsy-turvy! The implied superiority of men and their male chauvinism went down the drain and women literally broke the glass ceiling which had suffocated them for eons in varied forms. They were hurt, humiliated, laughed at, but were determined that the sky only could be their only limit! The equally high pay packet had given them economic independence and with it came the accompanying change in the male attitude. The paradigm shift was happening! 

The time had come for my friend to look out for a bride for her only son.  The girl was from a known family where goodness and Godliness was the treasure trove valued more than material riches. The girl from there was a boon from heaven.  For her part, my friend made sure that the girl went to her job with a happy heart. Happiness overflowed in abundance in that joint family till the day the girl was called upon to take a better position in a foreign land. None in the family had the audacity to ask her to stay back, nor did the girl oblige them by asking their opinions about her placement. Would her male chauvinist husband of yesteryear ever have consented for such a  situation? But the girl right royally took it as her birthright.   Settling down comfortably in her new job in a new place she was clever enough to obtain a good position for her husband too!

My friend was ferocious over the phone. " That girl took away my son, my only son, from me.  What comfort did she lack in India that she had to go to a foreign land?  she had everything she wanted at the beck and call ... she had all the love and affection. The dominating girl had pulled away from my only son. It should have been her plan all through." She was in tears.

"But you can always go visit them." I tried to console her. My statement made her even angrier.

"Look at the audacity of the girl to throw crumbs at us...... I don't want the visiting right to my son. I want him...... I want him and I want him. I want my son to stay "

I cannot argue with this possessive lady. She is just like her mother in law who ill-treated her and abused her just because she worked. But my friend a revolutionary during her prime could not comprehend the phenomenal change and understand that her perceptions has to transform itself to adjust to the new era. I am sure that she would be thankful for small mercies when she observes how many modern high tech families are getting destroyed by the obnoxious ego between the partners and of course their ill-conceived love of possessive parents.

Believing in the comprehensive goodness in that family, I will definitely wait for her next call when she would be happily announcing about their impending visit to her son's place.

Time has its own healing power.

The clash of the Titans

My father in law was all enthusiastic about the arrival of his first grandson in law, a foreigner. On the day before he went to the best of bakeries in Madras for the best of breads, salted butter and jam. At breakfast he was elucidating the superior quality of the bread, the one and only Kissan jam (Is he carrying coal to New castle? I wondered) and how Amul butter was the best in the world produced by a ladies' cooperative and a successful one at that. Out of courtesy the man listened carefully to these microscopic explanations.  But when grandpa buttered the toast and spread the jam and kept it on his plate it proved to be the last straw on the camel's back and his grandson in law  authoritatively asked "But where is my dosa and sambar?"

My father in law was in ecstasy when he heard those words and  he ran to the  kitchen to give  instruction to the cook on how to make a perfect crispy dosa, in spite her well known expertise in the field!

"Our idli / dosa are the best food and no doubt that he likes it." he said to himself."

Each of the three dosas he consumed were properly scrutinised and quality checked before he brought it to the table!

He was further  astonished when he used his fingers to dip the dosa in sambar and relish his breakfast!

"He could still use all his four fingers in this process instead of just the two!" He thought to himself and  determined to teach him the  perfect art of dosa eating before he went back to his country!!

"I don't understand why your grandpa should stand near me throughout my meal? Makes me uneasy. He could sit with me and have his food" the  grandson in law pathetically said

 “Athithi devo bhava" you silly......" my daughter smilingly said to her hubby.  "A guest to the house is the personification of God himself. Do we sit with God while we pray? For the guest, especially a new comer, the nuances of the food and the manner in which it should be consumed had to be explained  and whenever the plate becomes empty it had to be filled up to the brim and that's the way we affectionately take care of our guests."

The man was flabbergasted...... "Grandpa observes my every single gulp! Sitting there I feel like a hard core prisoner being overseen at every single step!" he was lamenting.

 This uneasiness of the guest had to be subtly explained to grandpa lest that gentle and caring soul got hurt!

The man was also in wonderment to observe our carbohydrate over loaded  breakfasts lunches and dinners.  Apart from the morning idli / dosa  the lunch and  dinner consist of rice with sambar, rice with rasam and rice with curd!

While he was awestruck with this starchy consumption of us Indians we were equally amazed by his ways and it was indeed a cultural experience for us the south Indians!

It is true that our everyday staple diet rice plays a royal role in it is various culinary avatars. But lo behold  this precious granule was converted by this foreign soul  into a binding medium similar to the soldering iron used by our precious technical team to bind various electronic components into the pc (printed circuit) board in our  factory. Two spoons of rice in the centre of the plate was combined with the carrot and beans porial, the snake gourd kootu, sambar, fish curry and prawns gravy. We the people who had some experience in varied cultures were stunned by this amalgamation. At this juncture our daughter made sure that her grandpa a ,stickler to the etiquettes of rice eating, respected the LOC (line of control) especially, the one between India and Pakistan never ever entered the dining space during his meals!! 

On a particular day as we sat down to eat our son in law  was sitting hesitantly in his seat.

 "Are you ok? Or would you like to eat later?" I asked him

It was natural that I was worried since the amount of sambar, vegetables, fish gravy and prawns etc, he consumed in proportion to the rice was in the ratio of 90:10   which could upset the stomach lining of even a normal Indian.

"No ma.." he said "My plate is wet. Can I have a napkin please?"

 While it is sacrosanct for us to rewash our plates before each meal lest we carry some dust, a wet plate is a sacrilegious one in their culture!!

 I had observed this when I visited their place for the first time but was unhappy with their way of cleansing.

The plates and other vessels which were soaked in soap water were taken out straight from sink and wiped with a towel! They wipe and wipe again till all the vessels were bone dry!!  (It was the case with the whole country) What happens to the other half of washing with clean water?  I couldn't fathom. I wished I could  clean at least plates with water but contain my urge lest I offend their hygiene code! Luckily for me the dish washer, a new kitchen utility, a wonder gadget entered into the house that which rinsed and cleansed  water sprayed the vessels and dried  them too.

This  concepts of 'dryness' applies to not just to the plates and vessels but equally to their toilets too. In those carpeted toilets the water is available just inside the flush tank and not a drop to be seen anywhere else. The toilet roll is the thing that welcomes you majestically from wall mounted roller, which Indian sensibilities refuses to accept. Water washed in copious amount was the norm. So I tend to bring a mug full of water (on the sly) from the bath room and complete the action making sure that not a drop spilt on their 'dry' carpet. I was aching for my health faucet in that foreign land.

A miracle happened then! When our son in law extended his house he made sure that we had a wet toilet, a health faucet et al.  He too fancied that wonderful contraption and when he was in India, he took one back to be part of his wet toilet.

In thankful reciprocation we make sure of dry plates whenever he is in India!

The  foreigners  make a fine differentiation between the containers in which they drink coffee and tea. They call it 'coffee mug' and 'tea cup'.  We South Indians  are addicted to decoction coffee and use dabara and tumbler to savour it and  if there is a preference for tea by anyone, it is also served in a similar tumbler minus the dabara.

Our man a connoisseur of coffee prefers a  restaurant in our  neighbourhood.  While he loved the strong coffee served there he couldn't understand the miniscule quantity served in a  tumbler and dabara.  His coffee mug at home is considerably big  and to balance out the contents he would order at least three coffees to the wonderment of us the locals. He also loves doing 'the one yard coffee processing' that everyone does between their tumbler and dabara. But to  the servers and the neighbouring diners the man was a revelation.

Cultures differ, they clash, they are heckled, the superiority of one's own dominates  each one's mind. 

But human emotions are similar globally. The love and affection for anything Indian and admiration for Indian fine arts the attachment to his own Indian family by this dear person is far beyond words and he would go extra miles to retain and relish it!

We too for our part reciprocate these gestures with our own value addition,

"Aththi Devo Bhava" ………………

A Bodhi Tree in Our School

The wood jasmine filled the school ground  with its heady fragrance and toddlers were picking them up to learn simple math.  The multifarious aroma of opened lunch boxes mingling with this scent created an unusual yet a lovable ambiance. While some students preferred the veranda  the majority ran towards the shady trees filling their bottles from the RO plant of the school to share the joy of lunch with friends. The crowd under peepal tree was one  among these groups. Their teacher had told them that this tree is venerated throughout India. It is the king among trees giving out maximum oxygen during the day. The reverberations from this beautiful tree when the breeze passes through the leaves is  similar to the laughter of innocent children!!

"Auntie miss.... auntie miss... please come and see our tree please please..." Raising their lunch steeped hands up the  peepal tree gang eagerly beckoned a lady.  'Auntie miss' the creator of the school, the prime value giver and a great sculptor moulding the younger generation was on her usual rounds, an event eagerly anticipated by the children big and small. The lady was all in smiles when she looked up! The tender red leaves of the peepal tree  were peeking out as the old ones had withered  away!

"Are you taking care of your tree?"

"Yes miss.... yes miss..... we pour water every day before we go home" was the chorus

"Fine.... fine..... have you brought some vegetables, greens and pulses for lunch?"

Auntie miss had become a nutritionist now!!

"Except Nithya who has brought some chips."

"It is ok for a day Nithya..... Can you ask mother to make some vegetable or greens daily?"

"Sure miss... she is not keeping well........cough and cold miss ....and she couldn't cook much today."

"Oh what a pity!! Take some adathoda (justicia adathoda)  leaves from our herbal garden and ask her to boil the leaves and take the  concoction thrice daily along with palm sugar........" The palm sugar  will give the brew a better taste and it is also good for cold. Can you take the permission to go the herbal garden please?"

"Miss......  adathoda plants are  growing near our house."

"That is better Nithya. Please give my regards to your mother ."

"Sure miss, thank you miss....." The rapport between the teachers and the students is  pleasantly contagious in nature!

Of the hundreds of trees in the school  this peepal tree occupied a vantage location. Teachers loved to conduct classes under its shade. The yoga mistress enjoyed the location for exercise and meditation!

As days went by  the peepal tree in accordance to the nature's call started the process of shedding . But the children observed a change in the way  the leaves fell. It  happened  too  fast and the tender red leaves failed to appear.....   and in  no time the tree turned bare!! Their luncheon location  had to be shifted to the nearby neem tree! The peepal was indeed going through a metamorphosis of thinning. The children were worried. Auntie miss was called to the spot and she could also feel the change.

"May be it is affected by TB  miss. It has become a skeleton" said one of the boys. "My grandfather was  just skin and bone when he had TB but became ok after taking medicine for 6 months. Can  I ask my father  to get the same medicine for our tree?"

The other boys laughed at this suggestion .

"We should regularly pour water in the morning and in the evening."

"Red soil would help."

"How about fertilizers?"

"Fertilizers are chemicals. We will go for cow dung."

"Vermicompost is the best."

The ideas were many and varied.

 Next day morning   the arrival of a bullock cart  to the school surprised the  children !

The parent who accompanied it was met my auntie miss.

"My boy wouldn't stop his pestering till I loaded my cart with cow dung manure." He laughed and unloaded the contents.

Bags of red soil arrived.

The vermicompost prepared at school  was thrown in the pit dug around the peepal tree!

The panchgavya,  a special preparation to enrich the soil, was gifted to the school by a parent!

The children standing  around the tree held their hands together and closed their eyes in fervent prayer.

The intention was a focused one even though the end result was zilch!

The teachers were indeed touched by this act of faith!

They suggested "We will uproot the remains of the tree and plant a new one in its place during the beginning of the summer holidays and when the children come back for the new school year they could at least see  a tree coming up." We were there in the school during that summer. My sister who is the correspondent (auntie miss)  said   "Lord Tennyson is right. 'More things are wrought by prayer than the world dreams of.'

We were anxious to know the context of such statement. 

'Has the vast amount of outstanding  fee collection had come into the school kitty?' We wondered!

 "I want to give you a surprise ." So saying she pulled us to the school ground.

"My peepal tree has sprouted new leaves. My children's faith had indeed given the tree a new life!!"  We witnessed that wonder tree  along with the interesting story behind the show narrated by my sister!

 On November 16th 2018  the  newspapers were full of the devastation the Gaja cyclone caused in the delta region of Tamil Nadu.  I called up my sister.

"Are you ok? The news says that Trichy is not much affected."

"I am in the school..... It is a sight no one would want to see. Thirty  trees have fallen down and our peepal tree is one among them..." She was  on the verge of tears.

I too was depressed. Years of effort by the school administrator ( my sister's husband) had indeed filled the area with greenery and it would  take  years  to replace them. I was also worried about the children's reaction regarding the peepal tree when they come back to school from the cyclone holidays.

The 'auntie miss' had indeed prepared a philosophic speech for the day. In the school assembly on the opening day she said  the loss of trees is nothing compared to the damage the Gaja cyclone had  caused to thousands of people who  have  no roof over their heads and bereft of  all their possessions  were hungry and thirsty. The children indeed did their best by bringing in sacks of food articles and clothes. The parents and the teachers  chipped in. Even though it was not a rich school and most of the students belonged to the lower middle class their spirit of sharing made it possible to fill a full lorry load!

She comforted the children especially those who cared  and believed and brought the peepal tree back to life.

"Auntie miss....." one among the boys hesitantly started " Why don't we try to replant our peepal tree again please?"

"Try what...... my boy?"

"We will pull the roots inside, bring it to upright position and try our best miss..... Let us not lose hope please ."  That single voice became a slogan. The parents brought in strong ropes and the gang of energetic youngsters slowly and gently brought the peepal  back to its position.

My sister though admired the faith in the children kept her fingers crossed.

The other day there was a photo in our school Facebook page, wherein I saw the smiling face of my sister with a few new leaves from the peepal tree as the back drop. She called me up to say

"The peepal tree and my children are my Bodhi tree. 'Focus, Belief and Action' are the pearls of wisdom which would be my lode star and my revelation written down in indelible ink in my heart by my children! "Even over the phone I could feel her great energy flowing

Much Ado About Nothing

We were anxious when our friend's wife  requested us over  phone that she would like to meet us in their house on an urgent matter.

When we went there our friend  Krishna, a happy go lucky man, was not the usual self and his glum countenance did not augur well. His wife was the one who narrated the happenings.

She said that the routine health check-up they did every 6 months was a bit disturbing and in Krishna’s blood analysis indicated a high sugar level and a visit to the doctor was imminent.

"Doctor I go for a 3 km walk every morning. How is it that my sugar level is high? May be we could do the test again in another lab?" her husband seemed anxious.

"You are using a first class lab my friend." the doctor said. High sugar can be hereditary. Is there any history in your family?

"My grandpa and grandma  had the condition..... But my father did not have." Krishna said

 "Sometimes it can skip generation. Stress is another  significant factor for sugar condition." the doctor said."  You cannot do anything with 'nature' but 'nurturing' is in our hands. Can you follow me?"

"Please make me understand." he requested the doctor.

"Hereditary factor can pass over generations. That is a 'natural' occurrence. But in our life we tend to 'nurture' stress, an important factor in sugar level. We build it up  with unwanted worries anxieties within the family in the work place  and in other relationships. But with little bit of effort we can come out of this negative nurturing and develop a positive one. Try the "Take it easy policy"." The doctor laughed.

"But he is a jovial person..... he can make you laugh at the drop of the hat." Krishna's wife said.

"Mam all of us carry a sub conscious mind. If it is in a conflict all the time it is bound to affect our system."

"Go off  sweets, sugar, salt and tuberous vegetables like potato except sweet potato. I will prescribe some medicine. Take it on a routine basis and you will be fine. Please never ever  stop your exercise.  That's the  free tonic for the  constitution."  The doctor advised.

"Having sugar is the easiest condition to manage Krishna.... Keep your routine, avoid temptations for sweet meats, eat small portions frequently there you are healthy as ever!" my husband said

"Easily said than done Anna." His wife said. "He hates his sugarless coffee and hates his less salt food. " Is a meal worth its salt without a spoon of pickle?" he grunts! He is on a sort of hunger strike. His side of the family is addicted to sweets. For them a lunch or a dinner is incomplete without sweets. Sometimes the sweets go beyond and extend to evening tea also!! A mere glance at the sweets in the shop make them salivate. And the laddus our Trichy  guests bring from Mayil Mark shop is  his ultimate!  I don't know how I am going to manage the show."

"It's a question of habit Krishna." My husband said " With some determination and effort you can definitely come out of it. Take the case of  Magie's sister. Her case is similar to yours. The  'sweet addiction' runs a riot in the family! It starts in right earnest on the new year day. The first of January is  the naming ceremony of Jesus and in keeping with the Tamil tradition every household prepares lot of rice mixed with jaggery and coconut. Vessels full of this sweets rice is taken to the chapel for distribution to the whole village. The visits to the houses to get blessing from the elders on that day is again  a process of eating this sweetened rice and no one minds it!!

On  a daily routine the morning the breakfast in that house starts with hot idli with melting butter and sugar and evening  tiffin is invariably  a sweet dish. Even the sweet potato a sweet one on its own is mixed with lot of jaggery and coconut and served as big balls! The fried peanut is accompanied by a lump of jaggery and puffed rice soaked in milk is a delicacy with added jaggery and grated coconut! The whole show reaches a crescendo  during the Xmas season with plenty of Tamil sweets! But now when  her sugar level shot up her sister  made a determined effort for a big conversion and today enjoys her tea sans sugar. When an old lady can do it can't you a young man raise yourself?

"That's the problem....." He was miserable. " I am young..... should I spend my whole lot of years  without my sweets? Or without my pickle?" He was on the verge of tears.

At this juncture I thought of my very close friend who could be a supermodel  to  youngsters. She is a  person  who enjoys her work, her relationship and her food in short takes the life as a great blessing!  One day as she was relishing her morning decoction coffee she fell down holding her stomach in great pain. Her husband panicked.  Any amount of house hold treatment for stomach pain including copious application of oil would not reduce her suffering. Suspecting  a severe attack  of appendicitis she was then rushed to the hospital. The scan revealed a tumour in the pancreas which had to be operated at once. Of all our organs the pancreas is the most delicate one  which can never be treated directly. She almost collapsed and was put on life saving device. Children living abroad rushed to their sinking mother. Her willpower and the positive vibrations from people around her at last brought her back to life. After days together in the hospital and frequent check-up she survived losing  all the functions the pancreas had to perform. A simple diet of boiled vegetables and a bit of carbohydrates became her daily diet. Not just that injecting insulin thrice a day before meals is obligatory and routine never to be missed.

She was at home for some time for rest and  recuperation. When we called her husband  to enquire about her health he surprised us with the news that his wife was back to her organic farming routine !

"But how is it possible? she had lost 10 kg. and is on a existentialistic  diet. The whole exercise will tire her out." I blurted and was worried

"Mam I am also into that diet, shedding unwanted flab! Not just that we are developing a property and both of us are on the site from the morning till evening. We carry our lunch along and relish it amidst the beautiful hilly ambience!" I was happy for them!

Whenever the couple visited the city it was mandatory that they make a short visit  to our place and that day happened to be the special one for all of us. We enjoy each other's  company, the philosophical yet lively chat.  On the day I received  call from them regarding their visit to our place and that  they were brining organic carrots beans and of course the hill specialty avocado which I love.   I prepared  a very simple lunch for the lady along with a little bit better one for us all. We had another pair of invitee too. 

You guessed it right. It was Krishna and his wife. 

With mutual greetings, all the six of us settled down as the conversation gained momentum.

With this bonhomie, lunch was a relaxed affair. The exception was  Krishna who said that he would be a glutton whenever he came to this house for a meal as Mam always made something special and tasty which he could never resist. But today she has  played a subdued note and her payasam and vadai are conspicuous  by their absence. He said “Damn my sugar." Krishna was a disappointed man.

"Same here too ......" said the lady from the hill and laughingly said, "Whenever I come here mam will prepare a special spicy gravy for me. Alas...... I am missing it."

"But that gravy is just in front of you. Can I serve you?" I said.

It was then that Krishna looked at her plate and was surprised. It was an assorted variety of boiled vegetables with a table spoon of rice occupying a corner.

Her enthusiastic conversation throughout meal did liven up the ambiance which made Krishna wonder.

"Such a tasteless meal....... is it ever capable of creating so much joy in her?"  He was in awe!!

After the couple took leave to catch the train back   the bewildered Krishna asked  me why that lady who was not over weight was undergoing such a diet. "Does she want to make a style statement?"

I spilled out the whole story. " She always counts her blessing Krishna.  For her life is a miracle and   food is for survival and not for taste which is just throat deep."

Krishna now realised  the reason for the luncheon invitation and thanked both of us  for giving him the lesson of life which any number of advisory expressions  can fail to produce.

Do Plants have Consciousness?

In our childhood days the noni trees of our village played an important role in our game plan. If 'keeping houses' was the play of the day   variety of dishes with brick dust, sand  and raw nonis formed  colourful  dishes in coconut shells and the ripe black noni fruits ( which was the single edible thing of the feast while other dishes were just pretends) became the celebrated dessert for the guests who visit the house.

This 'noni juice' of today, the unknown tonic of those days indeed should have boosted our immune system!!

With hefty sticks from coconut broom we had hammer throw with raw nonis serving as the hammer weight. Being a climbable tree it acted as the king's seat if drama was the amusement for the day! When we play in the moon light  which invariably progressed late into the night the noni flowers too participated in our game providing the heady fragrance  to make it an enchanting experience!

Being the only active members of the family, the visits to my village now is a rarity and coincides with certain feasts and rituals handed down through the generations. Today the almost hostile attitude to trees by residents members of the family in the village is very painful. When I tried my best to tell them about retaining and growing more the local trees  they listened out of respect and never ever did it go beyond that limit!

" If only I had more open space in my house in the city." My heart  ached.

One day as I was watering my little garden I was surprised to see  two little  plants with long tender leaves. On closer examination I was astonished to find out that they were noni plants!  " How is it possible?!"  I wondered . I have never seen a noni tree in my vicinity and beyond!  Rain tree, flame of the forest, neem tree, punga tree almond tree and konnai tree  are the commonly seen trees. I had seen some noni trees in the bushy areas at the back of Integral Coach Factory at Perambur when we go to visit my sister. But how could it  propagate  travelling such a distance and that too inside my tiny garden?!!

In my calls I made that day to express my wonderment, my little saplings became the centre of jubilation.

"You must be having a telepathic communication with your village." someone said

"You must have been strongly wishing for the noni tree to come to your garden."

The responses were varied but I enjoyed them all!

It was 9th of October which is my birthday, after my yoga in the terrace  as is my routine to  come down  to look around my garden, a chill ran down my spine. I  trembled I shuddered. I was witnessing a miracle before my eyes! My three feet noni plant welcomed me and wished me a very happy birthday with it's first fragrant blossom!!

To those who called me to wish on my birthday  my talk  literally  bragged about the miracle that had happened on the day!

" My love for trees should reach the sky high." was my prayer for the day!

The Miracle Makers (continued)

Of  late this has become our annual routine. We make it a point to visit  one of our colleague's house every year on her birthday.  She is very much younger to us and if she so wished she could easily come to our house to get our blessings and wishes. But the choice being ours  we make the visit with a happy heart. The reason was her 96 year old mother.

We called our colleague to tell that we will at her place giving her the approximate time. But we were delayed due to an  unanticipated visit. " Mam .. what time you will be here?" her cell phone rang. I explained our situation and said that we would be there very soon.

"I am not worried mam. I know you both always keep up the timings which I learnt from you. But mum is the person who is worried." she laughed.

we wondered ! Such a sharpness of mind!

As we went in she hugged affectionately and asked her daughter to get us something to eat and drink. At this age the lady retains her smiling face. Even though the church is opposite to her house her legs are not permitting her that much of exercise. But she is bestowed with a gift of hearing so the prayers reach her house very clearly!

She manages her show very well without any one's help and the food she eats is the same as she had in her youth except that the quantity is less now. She retains her reading habit

As we chat along, our colleague said "Mummy is into a hobby nowadays. She writes the prayer she loved when she was young and makes several copies every day and asks us to distribute it in the church and to all our friends. So saying she showed us the copy of the prayer. We were dumb struck looking at her pearly handwriting both in Tamil and English!

We expressed our sincere feeling of gratitude to her which made her happy!

"We tell mum that we would make photo copies of her written prayer and distribute it  but she insists  on writing  though it's an  effort on her part."

At that moment I was reminded of Andal of Thiruppaavai her dedication to the Lord and the love with which she made the flower garland and wore it and enjoyed the whole process before making the offering. So too is this lady! She wants to offer to the Lord  something of her own, her pearly hand writing rather than the machine made one! It is her enthusiastic tribute, a penance  for the greater glory!

We shared this view with our colleague and encouraged mum to go on for many more years.

Before  we took leave we asked her if we can have a copy too. "It is for you both I have written today!" she proclaimed with her radiant face! As we received the precious  gift from her we too  became the partners of that gracious penance.