Talk with the deaf ……………dance with words!

Talk with the deaf

       ……………dance with words!

 

Faced with the effects of sudden loss of a routine and occasional bouts of insecurity,   

emotional rewards come from running errands & involving in some domestic chores

The loss of a routine  occasionally sets off  bouts of  sadness, hopelessness &  a  feeling  of being        lost . Managing the condition itself turns into  main occupation.

Once in a while an opportunity for purposeful interaction crops up promising a bit  of  intellectual stimulation, achievement and satisfaction .  Here's  one   such Incident 

I  was leaving home to the public office in a hurry to meet a certain Bureaucrat who was arriving from Bangalore.I could not suppress a sense of excitement within me  .” Like old times” I said to myself.

Settling down in the visitors' room, I waited in anticipation, After what felt like an   eternity, the attender in white uniform walked in & announced    that “ Sahebru”   had cancelled his visit.

While Driving back , I noticed that there was  some kind of calmness .The usual noise and commotion  in the city seemed very  subdued,

Suddenly I remembered “Domestic” responsibility. I arrived home & marched triumphantly to the dining room carrying a bagful of fresh vegetables and   expectations of acknowledgement for my commitment.The house was quiet and tranquil.

The lunch session was in progress. There was only a perfunctory glance at the Vegetables and nothing more.

As I sat down for lunch,  the monologue was delivered “you marched off as if only  you can hold       up the world from tumbling” !  “There I was  screaming my head   off asking you to buy Tea     leaves and my tablets and you just  walked away…..  inanities.   inanities.    Inanities”.

The bag of vegetables was was being unpacked .I was  gazing dolefully. As the packet  of Tea leaves was brought out from the bottom of the bag,a mellow voice  uttered “I have prepared Your favourite Coconut Chutney” and the bowl was paced   in front of me. 

Before I could even finish thinking how nice it would be if life was always this calm  and serene  two little ear plugs; my  "hearing aid" which  I had not plugged on that  morning grinned  at me  from the side table.

Without doubt, consequences would have been disastrous, If the “Sahebru’”had kept   his appointment, 

Pry Zone….a slippery slope

 

Pry Zone

       ….a slippery slope

 

 

If “Wrong number”  was the source of irritation that one had to suffer during  the days      of the bulky “Stationery” Bakelite contraptions called Telephones,  flawed, accidental     e -mail forwards   (spam?) are the cause of annoyance   in the modern day ..

I happened to receive one such mail,  a portion of a “letter” , and I must admit that      I read through it ( call it wicked sense of curiosity).and  I was laughing like a drain .

and cannot restrain myself from reproducing the same. So here it goes

……….Since you insisted,  I travelled to Bangalore and called your father on phone and enquired if I can meet him. He said that he was very busy in the office, and  could  meet me in the evening. “ can you meet me exactly at 5.15 pm at Adayar Ananda Bhavan (A2B), sampige Road” ?  I was mighty pleased “ A very dutiful father” I presumed.

Zig zagging through traffic snarls at great risk I reached A2B.There he was! Seeing him seated at the table by the widow my first reaction was ** “How did a buffalo give birth to a doe”? I was bewildered. Though the doe would have only mild reservations being compared with you, the Buffalo would most certainly be livid . Alas! I failed to notice his greedy eyes that indicated he was capable of devouring everything in the restaurant excepting the  furniture. Resigned to the fact, I decided to order some snacks hoping to   express our plans to him soon after.

Courtesy,your father, the waiter made  not less that 50 trips from kitchen to table Even as I was praying that that his gastronomic frenzy would abate, he tapped on my shoulder and ruefully remarked “ I’m getting on in years, so  not able to eat as well as I used to”!  He veered off  to “beverages” : Rose milk,Badam milk, lassi…….

 

Even as I breathed a sigh of relief ”at last he is done”, he ordered “Jamoon” ! .I bet no one can spot six differences between your father and a temple elephant,except that elephants do not consume  paan. Masala

 “ It is always good to finish with an ice cream” he winked. The word “finish” promised some hope.  I seized the opportunity

'Sir, I like your daughter, I want to marry her. I called you just to talk about it', I began the conversation slowly. ' Oh! Then are you not the one who met me at                ' Vidyarthi Bhavan ' in Basavanagudi last week to talk about the same thing, brother,”? he queried, looking  surprised. Only then I realized that your  whole family is going about with a professional touch to target  someone just for the sake of snaring prey.

 

Getting ready to leave your father blurted  'Brother, this is an important   issue, we can't  conclude  anything in one sitting, come to CTR Malleswaram  same time tomorrow evening...  we’ll  talk.'  It's a shame that I didn't  carry  a gun ..

By the way, having witnessed your exploits at coffee day,pizza hut etc I can now safely conclude that all the bills you pay is  because of a genetic problem.

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**All characters, (Buffaloes, Doe included)  and incidents portrayed are fictitiousAny resemblance to persons, living, dead or otherwise is purely unintentional .and accidental. & should not be inferred (unless some nut  decides to test fertility of his brain )

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 Note:While   Mark & delete is the most appropriate action to deal with ‘flawed’ forwards, the mischievous, probing instinct occasionally nudges one to intrude into boundaries of personal space of others, causing much mirth. among busybodies. Certainly not a good occupation.

On these (Rare) occasions  the best  practice is to   open,read,mark & DELETE as this post deserves to be.

 

God @ Rs.50/- (GST included)

 

God @ Rs.50/- (GST included)

 (Story)

It is very common to come across videos on Social media  showing  young men and women  organizing  food drives , clothes drives , hair cutting drives ,clean bath drives & providing  clean clothing to shrunken  ,destitute people .. .

 The philanthropic efforts deserve to be appreciated., However, applying some perverse logic one can  also conclude that   the  act of compassion  itself  can prove  detrimental  to the recipient. Psychologically, passersby would rather give alms to an emaciated, dirty looking person with matted hair & tattered clothes slouched on the footpaths more willingly, than to  someone who  is well groomed, wearing  good /fancy clothes. Thus the recipient of  one off  act of kindness loses his/her   ‘Privilege’(entitlement? USP ?) to beg for alms.  

For idle, nosy loiterers snooping around  to stay occupied, events like the above provide enough grist  to conjure up several ideas.

 Having watched a  “ show of Kindness”  performed by a group of energetic young people wearing matching T shirts emblazoned  “ we care”. Malappa Karadi(Karaadi ?)  sitting on a stone bench ,  tossing peanuts steadily into his mouth suddenly hit upon an idea. He too would indulge in some “ act of kindness” and conduct an experiment..

The next morning Malappa Karadi and a friend, (another Laggard) with a Gopro camera strapped  on forehead  arrived at a busy Road junction.  The experiment would involve 10 “selected ” people in pitiable condition.carefully selected by him:  a) an old man lying on  the grass in a park b)  middle aged woman with infant walking aimlessly up and down in front of a small hotel c) A very frail looking young man with shopping bags hanging on both hands , trying to sell his wares at the entrance of a flower market. d) e) f) and g) haggard looking men with push carts  selling trinkets, cut fruits,cheap plastic items etc.   h) A woman  bent double with age trying to sell hairpins & combs.  &  i)  J) old couple watching over footwear in front of the  roadside Ganesha shrine . Malappa Karadi  purchased  10 packets of breakfast & 10 bottles of packaged water at a small hotel.  His simple experiment  would be to give each one of his first eight   “Respondants” a packet each, draw them into conversation and elicit  answers to his question” Do you believe in God?” In the last case he would first  extract responses and only later present the packets( that is ,if possible) .All the while Laggard no.2 would be recording the “action”

Not wishing to  tormenting  you any further , the responses  that Karadi received from his “Chosen” respondants are as listed below

The Respondants:

a)    Sir, you are asking me the Question. Only because it has been ordained by the supreme power,isn’t it?

b)    If it is not God, whom else should we believe? It is his blessing that I and my child have something to  eat today. God bless you.

c)    I am running all over the place from 6.30 am. Still not  sold a bag. You have given me food, at the moment , sooo... you are God

d)    Broke into an old tamil movie song:“காசேதான் கடவுளுளடா. அந்தக் கடவுளுக்கும் அது தெரியுமடா.” and With folded   hands, looked up at the sky and uttered  “அருள் புரிவாய் அப்பனே”

e)    “I am managing a small business  for the past 15 years without much investment. I able to feed myself and my wife. It is all HIS grace.

f)     “ God is front of me now and has given me food.

g)    “ If a poor man like me doesn’t believe in God, does it mean God doesn’t exist?

The fact that a stranger like you has fed me, is enough proof”.

h)   “ I’m trying to sell hairpins and combs. On most days someone like you stops by  to chat with me. Like you some even give me some food. Is this not divine act ?,”  

       i)& j) As decided earlier, Malappa Karadi got ready to try his other method

Approaching the old couple sitting at the entrance of the temple, Karadi asks:” do you believe that God exists?” The old man replies: “Sir please give us alms!”

Maradi repeats the Question, the old woman begs  “Sir, please toss a 1 Re coin atleast”

Malappa Karadi persists with the same Question.Gesticulating threateningly, the couple scream:” you don’t even afford to give  a rupee, and here you are asking questions !  You & your God. Go away, miser, you  &*  ,@@ ,&&  so & so….*&#$ (more expletives).” Sensing that things might get worse, Karadi & his cohort place the remaining two food packets before the old couple and flee.

  The abuses heaped on him troubled Karadi a lot but the irreverent words “You & your GOD” uttered  by the couple   brought some consolation “Your God”  sounded pleasing ! Did they really mean he “Owned” God?