Religion?

I offered to take a very troubled and desperate friend to a place of worship of my choice. As soon as the offer was made....there was a gurgle...a cynical smile. I persued, "So, when do you think we can go?" On seeing my insistence, the friend said, "I don't think I can quite accept your religion and its customs and pray to your God."

KP: "Come on, I am not asking you to convert, just visit." 

Friend: "Hmmm...I don't think so...but then yeah, may be like a visitor. Like a traveller..."

KP: "Traveler?? Am I asking for a photograph to be taken? Alright! You don't have to follow any of the prescribed customs, not even salute my God. But I have faith in the power there, and will you trust my faith and come at least for my sake?"

My friend smiles.... No answer.

KP: "I thought you were broad-minded! I thought you understood that there is only ONE God and but only the paths are many. You do know that there is only ONE God, dont you?"

Friend: "Listen...can we actually talk later?"

KP: "No. I am sorry but then there is nothing left to talk about this later. I am sorry I even pushed you to embarrassment...asking you questions you dont have answers for....Let you remain steadfast in your faith. And don't ever worry about it. I won't talk of this at all....."

And then we held hands and walked together.....

I have a big goal - One World One Family One God. When will we all live in harmony? We are talking of peace in the world...when peace seems to be a distant dream even amongst immediate neighbhours. Oh God! Do you see how religion has separated us from You? Only Love unites. I Love You, God!

Make Love Not War

'Why do we shout in anger?' A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?' His disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'

'But, why do you shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?' The disciples gave a lot of other answers but none satisfied the saint.

Finally he explained, 'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.' 

Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'

The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other. 

'Moral' said the saint, 'When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return!'

- What a great lesson, someone ANONYMOUS can teach you?!! Learn from it!

Car Rally

Car Rally for the Visually Impaired? After an enriching first-hand experience, I choose to call it - “Car Rally with the Visually Impaired”.
“Car Rally for the Visually Impaired” – read the subject line from a friend of the first email in my inbox. Overpowering the temptation to look into any other mail, I quickly opened this one. There went a formal invitation asking for people to register to participate in the event to be held in a week’s time. And what interested me the most was – the navigator was to be a visually-impaired person! Let alone the innumerable races with fellow-passengers on crowded roads, varied attempts to emphasise speed as my motto, I had never before participated in a formal rally and this one seemed a desirable opportunity. I called and quickly registered. I needed two more participants, to be sourced from my end and the navigator would be provided for by the organizers – Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) and National Association for the Blind, Chennai (NAB). I zeroed in on two of my trustworthy friends – Suchi, to be my mathematician and Shony, to be the co-navigator.

On Saturday, the eve of the rally – we had an orientation programme. The three of us presented ourselves on time, to find the hall packed with people who had arrived way before time. The coordinator from MMSC started his speech and invariably led the group to a series of formulae – Speed equals Distance multiplied by 60 divided by time taken…and used words like “be there at the right time in the right speed maintaining the right distance…of course, ensure that you are in the right direction as well.” I felt a steam of hot air evaporating from my head. Suchi looked at me from the end of the row and nodded – that why-are-we-even-here look pierced deep within me. I hoped to find solace from Shony, who seemed to be looking around, totally avoiding my gaze. I had no idea what the coordinator was saying. To me and am sure to many others, he was merely rambling away. Seated right behind us were a group of 3 visually-impaired men constantly chattering (thereby distracting me from paying attention to the physics or mathematical lecture). Since I was not paying to the lecture anyways, I started observing them. One young man, in particular seemed to make jokes on almost every line that the coordinator said and comment on everything around in general.

Internally, I knew – He was to be my navigator. I quietly went up to him, introduced myself and asked if he was allotted any driver. On answering in the affirmative, I asked if he would be my navigator – to which he cheerfully agreed! A decision had been made – Thiru was to be my Navigator. Mid-way the lecture, I understood that we had the option of brining in our navigators. I quickly went up the registration counter, lest they allot me a random navigator. To my dismay, they had! I had Thiru with me and we behaved like the best of friends and started heated arguments with those at the registration desk. The registration desk was in a chaotic mess – new entrants waiting to sign in, older ones screaming for their ‘competition number’, few others finding out who’s their navigator, and here we wanted to be on the same team. Finally after a lot of pressure from my end, the desk re-allotted me my navigator and Thiru gracefully and officially became a part of our team – Competition Number 24.

I introduced Thiru to the other team mates, who thought he was randomly allotted. (I told them much later that he was a chosen one!!) The first remark that Thiru made to all the three of us was – “You don’t worry madam(s), we will surely win a trophy”. Phew! What a sigh of relief we all heaved! I liked the confidence he had. We were given sample Braille Tulip maps, if we wanted to test drive.  “Please be here at 8.30 tomorrow morning.” I heard someone announce. We chose not to test drive and parted ways. As I saw Thiru walk away, I heard him giggle to his friends, “I have three ladies in my team.”

29th March 2009 dawned. I didn’t have a good night’s sleep – sleeplessness caused out of sheer excitement. Shony and Suchi met early morning to discuss the math involved and practise on formulae’s and calculations – while I was briskly cleaning my car! When all the three of us were done – each one was satisfied with one’s own individual contribution to the rally, the preliminary activities that needed little or no intervention from the other, of course. We reached Savera Hotel, the place where the rally was to be held at 8.30 (On the dot) and saw cars of different makes and colours all lined up for the event. I proudly parked mine amidst the other competitors. Big, loud stickers bearing the competition number were on three sides of every car. The yellow sticker stood out on the white surface of my car! We found Thiru who was his usual self – chatting and laughing with his little group. The organisers gave all the navigators a cap and a bag filled with goodies as compliments.

We were four seated in the car. Suchi, the math geek sat in the front with me, while Shony and Thiru shared the rear. “Priya, you better drive slow, and just listen to what the mathematician has to tell you”, said Thiru. Shony and Suchi chuckled. Celebrities flagged off the first few cars. We were in line. Each car was to start at one-minute intervals. The car in front of us left and we were given the Braille tulip map with the time sheets. Thiru almost snatched the map and started reading it. Shony took position: Taking down notes. We were now at the gate. People cheered from all sides wishing us luck!

10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – Go!

And the first few meters….I had no idea of the route? “T-Junction. Turn right. Drive at 18 kmph”, said Shony. While I was at 18 kmph, Thiru and Shony managed to makes notes of the route and quickly passed it to Suchi – who then gave me directions and speed instructions. “Take the first right, after the signal. Drive at 18 kmph at the time taken for this would be 17 minutes.” “5 Cross-roads go straight at 24 kmph and you’re on the right track.” “T-Junction, turn left at 12 kmph and be there at the 12th minute” “Enter Kasturi Estate Ist Main Road at 30 kmph and be there at the 7th minute”. “Time equals speed multiplied by 60 divided by the distance”, I murmured the words. “Would you like to do the math”, Suchi offered. I avoided the question trying to concentrate on driving. I was at 18 kmph.

Each of us had a specific role to play – Thiru was the first one to read out the route map given to him in Braille. Shony took notes – didn’t miss out a word that Thiru read. The calculations were then done by Suchi and finally I drove at a particular speed against a set time….we were four interlinked. It was complete integration – of skill and labour and brain and technique.

 “Drive for 20 minutes at 12 kmph? Do you guys know that it is a task driving at that speed?” I asked. “It is a rally madam, not a race”, Thiru jeered. And the three of us laughed. We passed our first Time Control Marshall, someone who would stamp our time sheets and enter the time. If we missed a Marshall, we were to be charged 30 penalty points. Being early at aMarshall costed 2 penalty points for every minute and being late costed 1. At a time when we should have been driving at 18 kmph, I started speeding out of sheer exhaustion. As I was speeding away, I noticed a couple of cars driving at snails pace in the extreme left of the road. As I pointed out the cars, Thiru remarked, “That’s the pace you must drive at. Drive slow now.” The odometer showed 10 kpmh. I increased the speed to 18 kmph. Thiru and Shony had completely translated from Braille and Suchi was left with the entire math. She broke down the parts to bits and pieces and gave me the solved puzzle. I was the only one left to drive at the right speed. I finally succumbed to following all of the instructions – to the T. Many Marshalls passed and we stamped our sheets at every one of them. Thiru predicted a few places where the Marshalls would be, and yes, they were there!

It was ten minutes past the allotted time when we drove back to the starting point. Many cars had arrived. The Marshall stamped our last time-sheet and the rally was officially over. The 2.5 hour rally seemed to me like Zen Meditation – I was oblivious to my surroundings. 4 hours later came the prize distribution ceremony. Novice Category, the third prize goes to Competition No: 28 – Driver: Marian Pais & Navigator: M.Muthiseli. Clap Clap! Clap Clap! The second prize goes to Competition No: 24 – Driver: Priya Krishnaswamy & Navigator: R.Thirunavukarasu. Clap Clap! Clap Clap! And the first prize goes to Competition No: 18 – Driver: Senthil Kumar & Navigator: M.Kannan. Clap Clap! Clap Clap! Thiru was all smiles as he heard his name being called. He looked around in pride as the audience applauded. I leaned over and said to him, “So, how does it feel?” He looked back at said, “Feels good and do you feel good too?” “Oh yeah! Winners! That’s who we are”, I said as Shony and Suchi gave me sharp piercing looks. I moved over to Thiru’s side. It was a moment to cherish as Thiru and the three of us went up to get our trophy and certificates in Braille. When the ceremony got over and we said our good-bye’s, Thiru pulled me over and said, “Good Driving Priya. Make sure we are partners’ next time as well. So long farewell!” 

                

Miracle...

Wanted to let you know that I stunned the doctor who told me that I had Psoriasis. He said he was certain it was and now there are no traits of it - and all I am left with is some ring worm/fungal infection. The patches have almost turned normal...merging into regular skin...except on two or three places...I have no 'desperate' itching and am doing well.