I visited the zoo in Al Ain a week back along with my family. My daughters enjoyed gazing at the different things each animal was doing. Some were lazing around; some were jumping with joy; some were miserably looking at the visitors; some were busily eating and some were pathetically sitting and dreaming. For a moment I thought what would be running through those animals’ minds? They say that animals are incapable of thinking but why is it that I felt that they were mourning? Why did I turn sad on seeing an orangutan which I felt was at the verge of tears? Was there something really wrong with that poor creature? Or was it just my imagination?
‘Zoo is a prison for animals.’ This is my view. I feel that their movements are restricted within the walls of their allotted space. Fortunately or unfortunately, man is the supreme creation of God and as a result animals and birds have no other choice other than to obey the master. It could also be true that if they were let free, they would harm people. But still I feel that they should be let free. When terrorists (who are supposedly human beings with intellect) can roam around freely in this world, these poor creatures definitely have the right to their freedom.
Animals in the zoo may be well fed and very well taken care of. The environment may also look jungle-like but how can they give them the freedom that they deserve? How will a man feel like if he is fenced in the middle of a jungle and animals come to ‘see’ him everyday? Will he feel comfortable? Every bird or animal tries to build a house on its own to stay. Why do they do so? Is it not because every being is entitled to a private moment? I felt so uncomfortable on seeing those animals constantly being watched. The worst thing was that the lights were turned on during night time. Wouldn’t it be too suffocating for those creatures?
I am against growing pets at home thinking that I would be doing injustice to them by holding them in my house for my purpose and comfort but I know of many people who grew pets with all love and how the pets too reciprocated the same or more love to them. Yet they chain their pets or cage them when situation demands. Can love be chained? Can love be caged? Well, there may be controversies here. I know of many families who cared a lot for the pet that they grew, who understood its needs very well and the pet too preferred to stay back with them.
Aren’t animals at liberty to roam around this world? Let them also explore and innovate things their way. Animal Planet and Discovery channels are doing a great job. Is that not enough for us to learn about animals? Should we necessarily have a zoo as a medium of education and entertainment? Let the animals loiter all over and let we, the supreme creation of God equip ourselves always to escape from a fierce animal. Just like how people are trained in army to fight against their enemies every individual should be provided training if an animal comes to attack him. Is that not enough? Will the world understand what I am trying to say? Am I hearing voices of human beings whispering “Our lives are much more miserable than the animals in the zoo”? :)
Sunday 30 November 2008
Freedom for the 'not so supreme' living beings
Saturday 29 November 2008
Life's little lessons
The smile of a toddler and the innocent laughter of an infant can be mesmerizing. I realized this truth last evening when a couple visited us with their two children. The elder one was a four year old kid and the younger one was a seven month old kid. It was a nice feeling to carry the little one and play with him. The child was so happy with the new place and surrounding that he responded well to every game I played with him. It was wonderful to see him conquer his sleep because of the games that he enjoyed to participate in. Finally, when he could no more keep his little eyes wide awake, he made a loud cry followed by a short sleep.
It was such a lovely sight to watch the little boy fast asleep. I somehow began feeling that his sleep was blissful and tension-free. He does not have the worry about his next meal or the fear whether he would get another pair of clothes tomorrow or whether he would grow up to be a billionaire. He doesn’t search for a particular person to keep him happy. He smiles and laughs at whoever makes him smile. His needs are simple and genuine. He gets up with no expectations, cries when he is hungry or thirsty, cries when he needs a wash, laughs when something interests him and sleeps when he is sleepy. Simple!
I realised that I did not enjoy the infancy stage of my daughters because I had a big role to play then. I was only concerned about the endless tasks and the insufficient time I had in a day. Though there were moments when I relaxed my mind by looking at my kids’ angelic faces, still I could not persistently enjoy them. But last night, I felt that it indeed is a joy to have a little baby at home whom you can cuddle with and smile at all day long. Their cherubic face removes the loads of stress that we hold. They are undoubtedly a pill to our greedy and restless mind.
It was a sad feeling to part from the little child last night. I wished I had him all day home so that I can get inspired by his innocence. When I told the older boy that I wish to retain his little brother here with me, while he can go back home with his parents, he innocently returned the toy that he took from our house and said “I have returned yours. Now return that is mine.” It was surprising to see the understanding the little boy has in his mind. Life has begun teaching him little lessons already. As years pass by, they understand what belongs to them and what not.
The little boy made me forget all the tensions and worries that were piled up on my mind that I forgot about all of them as long as he was there. There were many things that would have eased my mind that was so clouded – an intellectual conversation, a chat with my friend, a drive or even a walk would have diverted my mind but I considered the boy’s visit as a God-given gift to me that made me go through innocence for a while along with him. Though tiny, though new to this world, he was yet successful in imparting some knowledge onto me. He made me believe that life is so simple. I felt as though he said “Stop dreaming and live for the moment like me.”
Thursday 27 November 2008
Breathing my new life
I am known as a very talkative person to many, as a reserved person to a few, as a lively person to another few, an irritating specimen to some. The list is endless. But knowing me through me is an achievement and I did it! I now know me. I love me. I want me to be me, forever. I am my special me.
I no longer want to depend on the happiness of yester years or the dreams of my future. I want to enjoy every bit of the happenings in my life that are festooned with vibrant wrappers and are available exclusively for me. Whether it brings me joy or sorrow, I want to accept it and enjoy it too. I am confident. I am positive. I am self-assured.
No philosophies can convince me. I have formulated my own unique conjecture to lead my life. I have drawn the silhouette of the vim and vigor of my existence. I will be exclusively responsible for every movement in my life starting from the air that I breathe. This is my new life, my lonely life, my only life! There are no partakers of the happiness and sorrows that I go through ‘coz it is MY life.
How inimitable is the creation of an individual! Each one of us is distinctively known through our exceptional nature. Set aside the limitations that bind us. Throw away the objects of disturbances. Kick off the statutory obligations that restrict us. Lead the blissful life that brings shocking surprises and excitement every second. Is that not life all about? We are gifted not to have absolutely any idea of what will happen the next second. Isn’t life thrilling? It is indeed thrilling to me. Life is like watching a thriller movie. Every second is going to be suspense. Sometimes appalling and sometimes pleasurable.
Saturday 15 November 2008
Weekend Musings
I never appreciate taking kids to cinema halls. I get irritated with the noise of children at theatres. I love watching movies uninterruptedly with a bag of popcorn, a bar of chocolate and some juice. I hate to attend to kids’ uneasiness at that time. Hence I successfully avoided my kids into theatres so far. G and I managed to watch movies in their absence always. Either of our parents was always there every time we wanted to watch a movie. But this time, we had nobody to look after kids but I badly wanted to divert my mind. Hence I decided to take kids along with us to the movie. I gave them a brief lecture as to how a cinema hall would look like and what would be screened and about the silence they are expected to maintain throughout and finally promised them all the goodies that they would love to munch. That did the magic.
Surprisingly, they were quiet all through. They were amazed to see the gigantic screens in front of them and things being screened in an enlarged version. The sound was deafening and they were all surprised. We went to a Hindi movie called “Fashion”. Kids do not understand a word in Hindi but the exuberance in their faces was so profound that I could make out that they were really thrilled by the strange feeling. They were so busy munching their popcorn and cheese balls that they were completely lost in their own world.
The movie was a fantastic movie – flawless and thoroughly entertaining with not one unwanted scene in between. It was so coherent and sequential. Priyanka has indeed done a fantastic role.
In the interval, I asked kids if they enjoyed the movie. They gave me a big nod. One said that she enjoyed their popcorn most while the other said that she enjoyed the aunty on screen. At the end of the movie, I was curious to know if the kids understood something. But both of them said that they did not understand anything but enjoyed it because it was a huge screen with many beautiful ladies and nice gorgeous stuff that they wore. They also made a request finally to take them to a Tamil movie next time so that they can understand something. :)
Sunday 9 November 2008
Categories of People
Category 1 – People who do not answer their phone: I agree that we all will get into a situation where we may not be able to attend calls. But this particular sect of people does not fall into that class. They do not pick up phone by habit. Even if the heaven comes down, they will not pick their phone up. If by mistake they pick it up, they have their recorded monotonous message, “I will call you back.” The time will never come for them to return their calls till their death. If we happen to meet such idiots in person, we silly people tend to confess honestly to them that we had called him on this date at this time and such crap. To such questions, he would reply with wonderment, “Is it? I never received your call!”
I know boss! I know you never bother to check who called you. Maybe you are using a mobile that cannot store more than 20 numbers. You consistently miss all calls and act as though you know nothing! We are fools to call people like you. I think you carry a phone for fashion.
I feel tempted sometimes to snatch their phones and hand it over to really needy people.
Category 2 – People who give missed calls: Of late, it is becoming a habit to give missed calls to people who are at work so that they can use their office phones for personal use. That is not my worry. Again, my concern is about people who give missed calls at our residence numbers. They lack the sense of understanding that we are not interested in returning their call when we turn quiet to such strange rings. They continuously give missed calls after missed calls until we return their call. What kind of foolishness is this! Sometimes, I try picking up immediately to such missed calls. Even if by mistake they happen to hear our “hello”, they immediately ask us to call back. I don’t understand why I should be interested in saving their money!! Or will they call us back if we give them missed calls? Good heavens! Save the earth from such silly guys!
Category 3 – People who don’t respond to emails: I know that emails simply get accumulated in everybody’s mail box. 24 hours will be insufficient if one has to read and dispose all the mails on a given day. But, these kinds of people I am talking about have the time to read but no time to respond. They claim to be ‘busy’ people. They have all the time on earth to read mails or see the pictures sent but we should believe them without a doubt when they say that they did not have time to reply. Is it not an insult to the person who sends the mail?
At the moment, I am vexed with the above mentioned categories of people. They all fall into the ‘educated classes’! Education has lost its value for having educated such people!
Saturday 8 November 2008
A Fulfilling Weekend
Thanks to the Thursday traffic that made G, A and S come very late back home. Had they come much earlier, they would have been shocked to see a messy house with no trace of any dinner being served. I was delighted to see ‘people’ coming home. Being deprived of any kinds of contacts for a long time, the arrival of A and S indeed brought some bloom in the face of children as well as mine.
A and S were equally delighted. They played with kids and kept them thoroughly entertained. Then came the dinner time! Kids ate quickly with the least fuss fearing that they might miss something if they ate slowly. That way, one of my big troubles of feeding kids was also diminished by A and S. G, A, and S had dinner together and they richly complimented the food that I served (I really do not know if they meant what they said). After dinner, we all sat down to play board games. Well, I should admit here that kids are growing up. They too sat down to play with us and had great fun playing. We then listened to some music, talked, talked and talked. I thought I was only going through the loneliness here in the new city but the way kids reacted that night proved that they were also dying to meet people. After prolonged hours of chatting, we then decided to sleep.
I don’t understand why the sun rises too damn quickly on a Friday! I was prompted to curl myself into the blanket for a little more time when I was suddenly reminded of Sadguru’s words – “It is not real freedom to sleep for a long time. Real freedom lies only when you can afford to get up at ANY time you are asked to get up.” I had to get up early to take care of the ‘guests’ at home and serve them a proper meal though framing an itinerary for the day was a big task since each of us got up at a different time. We planned from a desert safari to watching movies – but nothing actually worked. We finally decided to have our lunch outside and keep loitering around. Each of us had our breakfast at a different time.
By the time we went out for lunch, it was 3.15 and somehow managed to get into a restaurant that could serve us what we wanted. After spending nearly an hour inside, we then moved towards the beach. The climate was very favourable to the decision that we took. The wind gently swayed as though they followed a pattern. It was quite a chilly evening. Kids enjoyed collecting shells and building sand castles as usual. G, A and S were busy talking all kinds of politics around their world. I was very busy creating my dream world and trying to live there with all my imagination. In short, it was a fulfilling weekend.
Monday 3 November 2008
Show Mercy, O Showers!
through the harbinger of all seasons?
Now I see not a trace of you around!
Aren’t you testing my patience?
You may be seasonal yet sensational;
You may be inconsistent yet steady;
You may be garish yet simple;
May I implore for a quick downpour?
Waiting restlessly for you with parched lips
on the crest of a lonely rock of a desert,
in the brink of despair
with no layer to shield me.
Waiting for the strands of mercy
to touch every cell of my body,
that would relieve me of this desperation
and rejuvenate my soul and spirit.
I will squirm not with displeasure
on your gentle touch,
for, I have fully attuned myself to
merrily dance to your cadence.
May it be beating showers,
or even gentle tapping all over,
I am ready to welcome you in any form -
all because of my fretfulness.
Come on, pour down! Tap me, and pat me,
touch me, and feel me
encompass me, encircle me
engulf in me and just dissolve in me!
My eye lids are wide open
waiting for a brisk sprinkle to close it.
My face has withered down
waiting for you to come and moisturize it.
My lips are bruised
devoid of your tender kiss.
My body is burning with heat
waiting for you to come and cool it down
You are nature’s bounty bestowed on me.
Drown me with your compassion.
Don’t you know that I have a syndrome
for which you are the only medication ?
Saturday 1 November 2008
The Metamorphosis - from hatred to love
Sitting in the foyer of isolation, crooning elegies over my lost autonomy, I spent my first few days in the new country. Shifting from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi was undoubtedly a cumbersome task (more precisely, an unwilling task). Having been used to lesser traffic, meeting people quite often, walking out on a weekend without planning for dinner, it seemed tougher to get adjusted to this new environment. To lead a life here, one needs immense patience, lots of money, loads of luck (to get a car park) and hell a lot of planning.
It has been more than a month since I landed here in this capital city but you have to believe me when I say that I haven’t made frequent visits out of the house. It was due to manifold reasons like car-lessness (I have not wrongly spelt carelessness. I wanted to tell that we spent nearly a month without a car), husband’s busy schedule, kids’ exams and other stuff that made me confine within the walls of the house. For the first time in our life, we have been living a life for ourselves – just ‘we’ all days through. That was indeed a torture to me. Unpacking cartons, buying groceries and other kitchen-related stuff kept me occupied for a while. I kept cursing about every single thing that I could see or hear about in this place. Cribbing over those unfound things, whimpering heavily over my dis-connection with the outside world, I somehow managed to pass through the frontier of distress and hatred and entered the precincts of acceptance. That was when the thought of going out for weekends arose. After a couple of hours of browsing, I identified the right places to visit. To begin with, I discovered places of interest for kids. We began moving out every Thursdays. With some money to spare, some luck in hand (for parking), instilling patience on my husband’s mind (for driving in the madding traffic of Abu Dhabi on a weekend) and with proper snacks to feed children when we get stuck in traffic, we thus began our journey out on weekends.
Everywhere I went, I looked around helplessly to locate a known face but in vain. It is not that we do not know anybody here in this place. I simply could not get the key to enter into their minds. Neither did I want anybody to consider me an object of disturbance. I developed my own saying, “Strangers can be better friends than acquaintances”. Thus I began the project of spotting new friends. With just one day to spare in a week, how successful can I be in making friends when the rest of the family’s concentration is purely vested on entertainment? So keeping that thought in the backyard of my mind, I managed to participate in the rest of the weekend activities.
For a change, this weekend we decided to go to the corniche instead of malls since the weather was pleasant and favourable. Abu Dhabi corniche was a lovely place to visit. The serene beauty of nature was unperturbed by the hustle and bustle of the people occupying it. It was a feast to see such a beauty properly organized and effectively used by the public. Corniche, park and beach were spread over kilometers in a single long stretch. This is an ideal place to relax after days of busy work schedule. Kids were left loose in the open area. I could see them stretch themselves to this ocean of paradise encompassing them into the beauty of nature and jumping in the new found joy. Since they were not properly equipped to jump into the water, they simply let their feet touch the gentle and kind waves that kissed the shore with grace. After a while they played with glee in the park and built castles in the sand. The happiness was found not only in kids’ face but also in ours. I too assisted them in building their castles. I began understanding that since there were lots of friends in Bahrain, we hardly spent time understanding our family’s tastes and interests. This is what the new life has made me understand. That moment I realised that in this city, we don’t have people to visit us home or call us or invite us or even to enquire about us. But still there can be seen traces of joy and happiness. It is not the people or place that gives us happiness. It is the settings of our mind that enable us to unveil the curtains of happiness hiding behind every single thing in life.
Everything in this world is in the eyes with which we project it. If we are able to lead a life without bias imbibing the innocence of kids, there is no missing or craving for anything around. With time, I have got used to this new surrounding. But I believe that I should not have taken 30 days to begin liking a place. We should be able to change gears based on the circumstance we step in. There is always a scope for enjoyment wherever we go.
