Gold like Old

I am caught in dilemma. Some times I feel that I have nothing much to write or say. Some times I feel I have plenty of things to enumerate for the sake of  fun, personal satisfaction or for the benefit of few who read my blog. After all I lived quite few years in this world of jugglery . As a hobby  I usually inspect the back cover of any book I read or lay my hands upon . It so  happens that I end up  knowing the publisher, place and price and business  paradigm of printing and publishing that book. Barring  small pocket sized books of spiritual nature which  carry no price tag and their price often is quoted  as "Amulyam" (Priceless) it is the case with many. 

My book in hands  has already attained an old  manuscript status  by turning brown and brittle with small holes devoured by insects,  indicating careless handling  of pages would  ring it's  death knell.My eyes blurred at once  looking at it's price. The book's price  was humble Rs 1.50 NP. Were there any day in the past  where a printed book of 100 pages would  cost just a rupee and odd? I don't find anything worth buying in the market except Cadbury Eclair for Rs 1 as on this  day. Even beggars are unhappy to receive a coin of one Re. now a days. Many old timers take a flight to their days when asked to compare  the prevailing  market rates with old time prices. All look like fables to the children imagining a chocolate full of box for just Rs.5 and a cream biscuit packet selling  for just 25 paise or 50 paise. I could not help flying to my times when I saw that book.  It took me to recall my olden days when   annas were just then  transforming to NPs, miles into kilometers.

I was just in the primary school when my grandmother chose to present me with "Papidipinde" ( an ornament which adorns middle path of hair) as I was one of her countless grandchildren. Each one got some thing or other as a gift by way of money or gold ornament.   My mother inspected all the twenty gold shops in the town  with hefty amount of  hundred and fifty rupees in her hand  in the town to select one "Papidipinde". Yielding no result finally it was made to order. My mother's friends banged their chest looking at the price of Rs, 130 per sovereign( 8 gms.) 
 What were those days like  ? I really wonder.  To day we are emptying gunny bags  to buy an ornament  with gold hoovering around Rs. 31000/- per one tola( 10 grams).

Though I never frequented shops for consumables I remember Rice being sold for Re.1 per kilo and edible  oil for less than a rupee per KG. But all that was not heaven. How much an average individual was earning ? Pathetically it was hundred or  it was less than hundred sometimes. Tiled houses were yielding rent of  twenty rupees a month and single storied building not more than Rs 40 a month,  portions being half of that rent.  I knew all of it  not surprisingly. 
Rice rose to Rs.5 when my children were growing up and shot up to Rs. 25 in no time. Veggies  which were sold Rs 3 to 7 in the wake of millennium are being  sold for 50 or 70 now. It took them thirty or forty years to reach double digit but no time to change the fore digit with a gallop. Certainly this shoot up   is not in correlation  with incomes. The more they go up  the more people are in search of an  extra buck often leading to unethical earning and restructuring familial responsibilities and bonds.

 While double digit  inflation is hitting every day people's life   it effects the governments the least. Criminals  and their collaborators get a fine  Rs 3000 for a rape and  a million dollar scammer is made to pay paltry Rs 50000 fine.  Rs 100 for jumping the signal Rs 200 for parking in no parking zone . Unofficial hundred bucks for driving without licence and zero for not knowing driving despite licence. While enforcement is the big problem low penalties are  still bigger problems. When a coffee sells Rs. 50 who is afraid to throw couple of thousands for violations ? I have not seen any one getting imprisoned  for  30 or 40 years for any sort of crime  in India, albeit  funnily our govt. claims David Hardly's 40 years imprisonment was less. Collect Rs 2000 for signal jumping and 5000 rupees for wrong parking half the traffic  problems are solved. When banks are increasing their service charges proportionately why govt stumbles to keep pace with the flaring inflation? A big question in my mind peeps. How much they would have collected for signal jumping in those days? One anna? Were there signals in those days in the first place? How much would be for wrong parking?  What parking? How many cars were there on the roads? I still remember roads are lone privilege of  people, the only other intruders being  rikshas, but car was a rare specimen. What a heaven it was really with no emissions, honking, and pollution, road being exclusive property of humans and cattle !!     
  

Germofobia

Why do we get cough occasionally  ? Why we are down with fever at least once in a   year ? Why our stomach aches ? Why do our  eyes burn ? Why do we vomit ? I found a reason. It is all because of dreadful bacteria  every where around us. They are there under your feet over your head, legs , hands either  creeping or sticking to your every part of your  body, hands being the ultimate contact points. Germs  are found  hiding  in your drawing room, spreading  in your bath room, sneaking into your kitchen, rolling in your bed  room. 

On a fine day the moment this  knowledge dawned upon me I began cleaning my house on war footing. I purchased truck load of  of liquid hand soaps  antibacterial sprays, sanitizers and began  pouring, moping, spraying,  washing and rubbing them all over. All began with floors, kitchen platforms,  lavatories, fridge and deep fridge, water filters. All the cloths are rinsed in Dettol . The more I  think about germs they began appearing like monsters ready to attack from ambush. The  final stage of cleaning my house ended  door knobs and handles the most dangerous and vulnerable  spots in the house.  How many people would be entering my house? Who would open a door with out holding a knob or handle? How about my  calling bell ? What is the use of my cleaning them once in a day when tens of people are entering  opening doors umpteen number of times ? That has become my major concern. 

I would serve the food in a dry plate before. Now ? never. I will clean it with antibacterial soap before serving any food. "Mummy . The plate is wet. I don't like to eat in a wet plate" cries the  younger one. " Have you washed your hand ?" That is my first question before I serve any thing in the plate. " Yes Ma. We do it regularly" " But have you washed it for a minute ? " "Lo I haven't counted. Come on mummy".  "Mummy, how can I use the hand wash? Every body is pressing the same knob" Is my younger one trying to be naughty? 

"Never hold the railings in a theater" I cautioned my aunt. " But I can't get down stairs without holding it" She murmured. " Dad. Don't eat that. It is fallen on the ground" cried my elder one. " See if your mother is around" I am sure he would have eaten that. I couldn't control my anger "Who will be responsible if you fall sick ?" I shouted. " It is me. No body except me" he swore on his news paper. The house is echoing with children's laughter. Why these people don't understand my concerns ?

I decided to abandon my servant. Despite my warnings she never pay heads to what I preach about cleanliness and it's importance. My work at home tripled with her absence. I began loosing my trust even with water filters. What if  the water is unclean. I began boiling it in huge quantities spending my gas. My expenditure has doubled with  doubled santizers, soaps and cooking gas  usage. My energies are sapped due to heavy load of work. My children showed undue discipline on dining table.   They stopped laughing and talking while eating. I began to feel  the growing  distance. 

We never squatted on the floor. We stopped picking up "take aways" We stopped stopping for sugar cane juice. We sneak into the house like thieves carefully holding the knobs and gently pushing the doors. Domestic chores began looking like drudgery. Finally the elder one got sick. So very sick that it took almost fifteen days for her  to recover. Why this? Despite my being so careful why this happens ?  Did I miss any thing? Was I careless? I cried. It is years that she got sick. After all this how  now?

After one of  my recent visits to the temple I came home. My elder one was smiling and looked as though she has recovered. Her father was siting besides her. I thought my prayers were heeded by God. "She is very happy" I said with relieved tone. " yes. leave her alone  for few days. Don't impose any restrictions. She will be alright" No restrictions. I understood. Strangely things began to change. She is back to normalcy in no time.

 "What medicine did  you give her?" I secretly asked him.
 "Nothing....but simple sugar cane juice' 
 "What !  you gave her the dirty sugar cane juice..?"
 "Yes but without ice. Don't scream." It took some time for me to recover.

"Look, what have you  done to yourself. You have become  so weak. Did any thing got better with your germofobia? Bacteria is there all around us. There are some good bacteria as well  some bad  bacteria. You in your unbound zeal to kill germs can  harm even useful bacteria.  We can't blindly follow a European or American  who is susceptible even for milder bacteria. We Indians are immune to some bacteria due to our living conditions.  It all depends on how  our biological system adopts to a particular  environment.  I do agree now  there are more harmful bacteria than before. But reasonable precautions are good enough to take care of the problems. Sanitizing as you did on a gigantic scale  is not needed. Have you observed? None of us got sick as long as we did not  bother much  about bacteria. But the moment we began over sanitizing our house like never before  even a petty  negligence  became  conspicuously decease producing. My sincere advice to you  pl relax. Call back the servant . She is safe to us .  Our knobs, handles, doors all are safe. We are safe. Don't watch too many ads on TV." 

My servant is back. I changed battery in water filters and satisfied with water purity. My children wash their hands only for few seconds  before taking food.I clean door knobs and handles once in four days.         

 My dining table is again echoing with  laughs and naughty remarks and fights.        

 I stopped spraying too many antibacterial liquids. I see few small insects crawling on my floor but vanish in no time. I did not bother to know where they went. I don't know where from they came where they went. All is well.        

UNFAZED BOOK

It is many days since I wrote any post. It is very true if you ate stomach full of  snacks you don't need lunch. Such was  my appetite for Face Book. I needed a  platform. I got it.There things are simple. You don't brake your head for putting across your ideas  mend content or grammar, any way I cannot avoid committing any. Face Book taught me how to be simple, to be understandable how to be short and top of it how to be earthly. Blog gives me absolute  freedom to blabber, contrarily  Face Book taught me how to make myself acceptable, in all frankness  how to put my thoughts more sugar coated. 

I had a rude shock when when I noticed no body ever endorsing what I wrote in face book unless it wears a popular look.. I have my secret doubts if I may be labelled as eccentric . I some times regret my habit of overtly dissecting ideas that came across my mind.  I take my own reasoning to do so. This habit gradually no doubt would have become a fixation. Who wants your multilevel dissections and dichotomy? Why your  analysis should be  so complicated ?   Why generic interpretations  don't convince me? Trying to be needlessly  complicated ?  But dear you don't have all the time in the world to contemplate on every silly thing. So be simple at times.

It was a rather awakening to find some body labeling me almost like a negative thinker. I am  blissfully ignorant of this fact or assumption. I am always  supposed to say that glass is half full not empty and look only at stars from a window and never ground beneath it.  All these are suggestions for  positiveness. OK. Baba. I am willing to be positive as per your expectations . I am willing to drink half full glass and see stars from window. But am I supposed to  hang only to the window like an ape never descend on ground ? Too much sugar coated  positive ideology really confuses me. Just because some body said it is good to be positive I am not going to buy that idea. Positiveness should be born out of your convictions not through by repeating few lines.

The one good thing with blog is it is not very open for discussions. Of course at least mine. I  dislike lengthy  forum discussions about what I wrote or said.  There could be thousand ways of  contradicting you. I basically feel it is not my responsibility to subject my self for interrogations because I do that myself thousand times before I write some thing.  I presumed it to be some what like journal, an artistic journal where I can put all my thoughts in a sequence and present a concept or  idea. Through blogging I   reflected even  on frivolous  things which came to my mind.  Who wants it any way? Nevertheless  I keep churning them  in  my inner layers of heart and brain.I  have  spent great portion of life generating them than in contemplating on  how to arrange my wardrobe or clean my kitchen. It is a practical thinking?  Many said it is not.  For some body who loves thinking cleaning a household  mess is not really productive. For some body who wants to spend  every second of his life in materialism it isn't worth a penny. I don't know whether I should regret my unworldliness or pat my own shoulder for doing an unusual  thinking about certain things  which don't bother any body in this world. 

One thing I found during Face Book  escapades was that  I  have a vast enthusiasm to participate in conversations and also I never converse the way others do.I have loads of citations to make.  My derivations are generally byproducts of my past experiences . But curiously very few times I get convinced with what I listen unless it is delivered from an learned  soul.   

One great discovery during my Face Book days that  I made was  some kind of fresh thinking  in younger lot. They explore , share and are more into practical thinking and jovial about bitter facts in life. Their avenues are wider and lot more.  Good to know more about this new world and their beliefs. They don't speak of idealism but hold it  in some other form.They strongly believe in humanism. They hardly cling to the conventions.  

I learn , see many  petty things in every day news which don't deserve deeper  attention. I have an itching to scribble some thing on these matters. Some time I wonder no body seem to care about them. Really? Yes. Then why is it so important to you? Because I see lot of potential danger or trend in it. Is it so? May be or even may not be. It makes headlines when some explosive  kills  so many. But when it is put down silently by two cops who will care for it ? Hardly they find a place in any column. But I always prefer the second kind of solution for problem. 

  In Face book  all your pages are deleted in four days time. Where will you find them again? No where. Then what are you  carrying? Face Book is probably meant for  knowing others. I also found a purpose. I am knowing my self.  I am trying to know myself by putting across what I think.  I am eagerly waiting to evaluate myself. I am waiting to see how I can rip off the most unwanted heavy jackets I am wearing through out. Through this Face Book  I am  sending  my brain child to ablution.