Dear Shekhar “the Mother” is a beautifully written ode to the eternal mother in all women. But there are also fathers out there who deserve all the love we can give to them. Here is my story:
My father.
When the phone call came from Germany on this gray winter morning a few days past Christmas 1990 and my sister had uttered the ominous words I knew that our father would soon leave us. The words fell like a hammer, there was a finality to them that left no room for a sliver of hope: pancreatic cancer. This was a cancer with a reputation for swiftness and a survival rate of virtually nil. Neither my sister nor myself had the courage to break the dreaded news to him or for that matter to our mother……
Tata, Jaguar, Land Rover
Like all Indian’s I too walk a little prouder in London with the Jaguar and Land Rover brands almost owned by Tata. But from a business point of view I am not so sure. The Jaguar brand has been struggling for decades. I owned a couple years ago and constantly had transmission problems. The jaguar is famous for them. And not since the e – type 30 years ago has Jaguar come up with something really revolutionary. Other than the traditional Land Rover used primarily for defence and off-road activity, the road models also face mechanical problems and are nowhere as reliable as the original basic Land Rover, which is terrific…..
JW Marriott molestation – Open Questions
I am surprised how the media is targeting the police. Without trying to question why this event happened. Like it was merely a law and order problem. What was the psychology behind 70 men treating the humiliation of two young women as spectator sport ? I am sure that it was not just group of friends, but amongst the 70 men, most were just those that just joined in for the ‘fun’. Why did no one try and stop it ? This was not a sexual act. It was an act where a group of men enjoyed the sexual humiliation of two young women. And to them the best way to humiliate women is to publicly strip them off their clothes and fondle them. It is the frightening the way that these men feel empowered through the sexual humiliation of women. How lacking must their own self worth be, that they feel a surge of power and domination through such acts ?
Mob molestation outside JW Marriott
All Mumbaiites should feel very very concerned of the behaviour of drunken young men that molested the young girls outside J W Marriott on New Years eve. While there are individual incidents of rape etc reported all the time, what is frightening about this incident was the mob mentality that took over without a single thought or compassion for the hapless girls. Almost like hunting pack animals, the girls were attacked by a mob of 70/80 men that were ripping off their clothes. Which means that this has become a socially acceptable behaviour pattern. Why does this happen …… ?
Is Time really running out ?
If ages could be divided into the Age of Reason, the Age of Contemplation, the Age of Action, then surely we are living in the Age of Hurry. We all act as if we are about to miss the train, forever chasing that elusive concept called Time. Somehow believing there is an absolute and exclusive connection between what we DO and that which gets DONE. Not realizing that in our zeal to Do and anxiousness not to miss that elusive train, we are often blocking and standing in the way of that which we want Done. We replace the positivity of passion and action by the FEAR of not achieving. The Universe is then reacting more to our fear.
So one of my New Year resolutions is not to chase that elusive event of the future, as much as to act with passion and belief in THIS moment. And I wish you all a fearless year.
great new year
I hope all of you have a great new year, where the mind and soul feels fresh like a child’s. Unburdened by past memories, but enriched by the wisdom of experiences of the year(s) gone by. Where each dawn is like a new birth, each touch unlike one before, each sunset a moment of deep contemplation and prayer. I wish you all the immense adventure of life. I wish you all everything the ‘leela’ and ‘maya’ of life can offer. I wish you all the the joys of humility and gifts of love. Shekhar
New Year Resolutions
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ideas ?
Benazir’s killing and Al Quaeda
Who killed Benazir ? Suicide bombings were unheard of in Pakistan before 9/11. And before the US ordered Musharraf to send his army against his own people in Pakistan’s western regions to flush out the Taliban. Why ? The supposed reason was to look for Osama Bin Laden. But that was EIGHT years ago, and Osama could be dead of natural causes by now. No one talks about him anymore in any case, and the Keyword has become Al Quaeda, about whom no one knows very much. Because Al Quaeda has now becomea ‘philosophy of terrorism ‘ as an acceptable tool of warfare, rather than a cohesive organization anymore. It is the usual construct of the Western World looking for simple answers to vastly complex problems of cultural divide, religious divide and harsh economic disparities……
you
jumble,
like a jigsaw
pieces of myself scattered,
putting them together
searching for lost ones,
one piece that is missing,
that makes sense of the rest
is you
Benazir Bhutto 2
Benazir Bhutto in her younger days. She was president of the Oxford University Students Union. A face so full of optmism, joy and hope. Can only the young be so optimistic ? Is youth unafraid of consequences, or merely unaware of them ?