A friend I lost

It was a dusty morning en route to office that I stumbled upon Alison. The moment I saw her I thought to myself that if she wasnt taken care of immediately, she wouldnt survive the next 24 hours. I got off my car and called one set of rescuers. She was in bad shape...her face was infested with maggots while her skin was mangy. She had'nt eaten for at least two weeks and could barely walk. She didnt look anything like a German Shepherd-majestic and powerful. What I was amazed to see was that despite the condition she was in, she was such a friendly dog. I held out my hand and she came towards me, limping, in a few seconds. I mean she could hardly walk but she came. Makes me believe and she and I had some kind of karmic bonding.

The resuers came and went. They couldnt take her since they didnt have space in their kennel. They instead volunteered to give her treatment daily where she was...on the road-yeah I know, a ludicrous thought indeed. It was then that one of the rescuers gave me the number of Animal Farm- a home for abandoned and neglected animals. The owner of Animal Farm-Sucheta Vishwanathan was more than happy to take care of her. I was relieved to the point of feeling that I have achieved something in life.

Day went by and Alison was steadily recovering. I only saw her twice in the last 4 months but everytime I saw her,I saw love and loyalty in her eyes. I wished I could adopt her but that was not to be. She grew in strength and slowly, the burns and infection began to vanish. Her skin began to heal and her coat started to grow again. My heart was filled with pride and happiness that she was well and truly on her way to recovery until that fateful day.

At 5pm on wednesday, the 14th of October, I received a call from the Animal Farm. I was informed that Alison had died of asyphixation while the attender was trying to apply medicie on her. I couldnt believe what I was hearing. I was planning to spend a few hours with her this Diwali. It was especially because I had heard that she was 95% back to her old self and she was one beautiful dog. I dont recollect the last time I felt a sense of numbness within me. I wanted to strangle the attendant for being so careless. My chat with Sucheta made things worse as I found out that there were at least 3 people willing to adopt Alison (Sucheta kept her name). Alison, whom I would love talking about to all my friends, was dead. As I write this blog, I think of her as a someone who came to my life for a reason and left without one.

Wherever you may be Alison, I just want you to know that I love you. Till we meet again, in another life and another time. goodbye.

Now thats what I call a dialogue:

My favourite dialogues from my favourite movie of all time:

Star Wars: The scene: Luke Skywalker has just failed in his attempt to pull out his space fighter which has sunk beneath the swamp on the Dagobah System-Yodas Home.

Luke Skywalker: We'll never get it out now!
Yoda: So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you nothing that I say?
Luke Skywalker: Master, moving stones around is one thing. This is totally different.
Yoda: No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned.
Luke Skywalker: Alright, I'll give it a try.
Yoda: No! Try not! Do, or do not. There is no try.
[Luke concentrates, and the X-wing begins to rise out of the swamp. A moment later, however, it sinks the rest of the way, with Yoda and R2-D2 both expressing their disappointment.]
Luke Skywalker: [tired] I can't. It's too big.
Yoda: Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you, hmm? And well you should not, for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it. Makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Everywhere. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere. Yes, even between the land and the ship.

Rathna cafe

A few days ago, at the office I was animatedly remiscing the wonderful aromas of freshly steamed Idlies, pongal and the golden brown crisp dosas that my hometown -Chennai is so renowned for. Add to that some freshly ground 'thenga'(coconut) chutney garnished with 'Karuvapillai' (Curry leaves)and 'perungayam' (asafoetedia), and some delicious sambhar- all enthusiastically served by a waited with the popular thick moustache, and served on the even more popular 'yelai'. There-You have the perfect south Indian breakfast washed down by the most popular of all- South India strong filter coffee (In fact, thining about it now I feel like going back...sob sob).
A fellow colleague of mine, overhearing this, came over and said to me " I lived in Chennai for a while in an area called triplicane". Triplicane is one of the oldest areas in Chennai and is quite densely populatred with temples (some more than 400 years old), messes, and really old houses. He carried on " While I was there I would have most of my meals at Rathna Cafe". Now the juices were flowing. Coz Rathna Cafe is as old and as good as it gets. You really dont have to go beyond it once you've had a flavour of it. Every morning, the entire area is woken up by the aroma of sambhar being cooked at Rathna cafe as early as 5.30 in the morning. When the doors of Rathna Cafe open at 6.30, the first of the lot to enter is usually noisy bunch of oldies. They would have just completed their morning walks at the beach (which was very nearby) and indulge in a feast of idli, vada and pongal (with an extra helping of ghee). Now Rathna cafe has a speciality. they dont serve you idlies the usual boring way i.e in a plate with chutney and sambhar together in tiny bowls-NOPE. Instead they bring hundreds of absolutely steaming hot idlies and a ton of pongal in basins from which they serve you how many ever you wish. and that too on a nice green clean banana leaf. Now comes the best part...They have a bucket of boiling hot sambhar which is poured on the idlie/pongal and then glazed with a generous dollops of ghee. The result...pure heaven.

Rishav asked me curiously, " Does Rathna Cafe still serve sambhar the way they used to?" " I nodded. He sat back on his chair with a smile.

Now and forever

She opened the door of her apartment, their apartment. She barely fought back her tears. She sat down on the sofa and held her pillow tightly. As she closed her eyes she recollected the day that just went past. She had just been through hell at work. Her confidence had been shattered, battered and bruised by a bunch of inconsiderate and opportunistic colleagues who blamed her for the loss of a contract. You see, she was very very good. She had been so good at what she did that it was evident the firms pitch for their largest deal ever was given to her hands down much to the growing resentment of her colleagues. They were waiting, like a bunch of Hyenas, to pounce on her whenever she faltered. And falter she did, an error of judgement from her part led to the contract slipping from her grasp. " How did I not see the obvious?" the question pounded away at her relentlessly and mercilessly. " Shes so overconfident that she thinks she can do it all", " Miss Know-it all finally falls", "Had it not been for her stupidity, we would hav ewon this contract"- these were just some of the accusations and nasty comments that she had been subject to. The tears began to flow as she wept in the solitude of the apartment.

The bell rang twice. She quickly wiped her tears and steadied herself. She couldnt let him see her in this state. After all, he too was having hard days. She opened the door to be greeted by the usual show of affection. A warm hug. He held her by her waist and walked in. She let him go and went towards the kitchen, desparate for him not to see her for a few minutes at least. "By the time he refreshes himself I'll be fine". She poured some milk into their coffee maker staring into the vacant wall in front of her when she felt his touch. It shook her up as he felt his fingers through her shoulders and went all the way down to her palms. Her palms were cold while his were warm. She trembled at his touch as he turned her around and his eyes met hers. He was smiling. A smile that meant " I felt your pain as soon as you opened the door". He didnt say a word but his eyes spoke volumes. More than ever before she saw something in him that said " No matter how bad things may be, I'll be there for you. As long as I live". He held her hand gently and took her to the sofa. He sat with her, still not uttering a word, just listening to her silence. She lay her head on his chest as he held her hand. In the background, one of the greatest love songs ever sung -Unchained Melody played on. He stroked her soft hair till she fell asleep in his strong, warm and reassuring arms. He thanked his life for being there when she needed him. He was there.

86 Not out

Gobsmacked is a word that is not extensively used in our part of the world. We are still content with the use of 'Awesome' and down south the exaggerated 'sooooooper'. I could think of this as awesome or soooooper but when something is gobsmacking it is literally that. You cant but help smack yourself again and again and trust me I couldnt when I met my 86-year old Mami, Vasant Mami. I've always been her favourite boy and she never hid it. Whether it was the absolutely mouth-watering aloo mutter and hot puris that she would dish out everytime I visited her in bangalore in their warm and cosy house at Malleshwaram, or now, almost 7 years since we last met.

After the death of her husband, she moved to Mumbai to live with her daughter. We thought she would relax that indomitable spirit of hers by spending more time reminiscing the great times she had.86 is a longgg innings. But no, rest and her? they seemed miles apart. True to her fiesty nature, she would get up early morning, go for her custom one hour walk (without a walking stick) chat up with almost every second person she'd meet on the way, pick up vegetables and return while the rest of the world slowly woke up. The one hour walk is followed by keeping an eagles eye on the maid that cooks. Every bit of masala that goes into the sambar or the chutney must be perfect else a friendly frown appears and then she does what the maid dreads. She takes over. This was followed by a long chat on the phone where she played agony aunts to many and her advise was always the same. " Why are you worrying so much? Is it in your control? If it is then change it instead of worrying so muhc? If it isnt, then why worry? These and a few more tips of hers appeared to calm frayed nerves. Although Im not so sure if it was merely the words she said or the soothing way in which she said it. It would soothe like a balm.

Whether it is the blistering heat of the Mumbai Summer or the unforgiving monsoons, Vasant Mami would make her visit to the market mandatory. She would volunteer to pick do up some of the daily chores. She feels left out if people didnt give her responsibilities (more out of love and respect than age) and would bulldoze her way into getting something to do.

Such is her undiminished enthusiasm that when she knew mom and me were coming to see her (we made a sudden plan), she went to the market herself to buy fruits since she knew mom loves fruits and painstakingly oversaw an entire gujju meal with the Aloo Mutter being the central attraction. She admitted that it had been ages since she made aloo mutter but my coming was enough motivation.

During that mos memorable meal, I found out that Vasant Mami travels 5-6 times a year sometimes through peak summer across the country to Delhi, sometimes to US and Canada all by herself. Whenever shes comes here to Pune to meet her grandson, she goes for a 45-minute swim, an hour on the treadmill. I cant believe this. I seriously cant. I mean for God sake the lady had a hip replacement surgery just a few years ago. The doctors were very worried if she'd handle the anaesthesia well enough and advised her well wishers that her chances of 100% recovery were bleak. Just before the surgery, the surgeon came over to her ward and asked her rather hesitantly "Are you feeling nervous?". She burst out laughing " When I am in the hands of such a dynamic and able young man like you, should I be nervous????" No matter how you are as a person, those words are enough to make you feel that you can indeed conquer the world. The surgery went of well and she was back in action in no time. I've seen much younger people struggle, crib and suffer during hte recovery of a hip replacement surgery but no, not Vasant Mami.

And shes 86 years old...or pardon me shes 86 years young. Its us who are getting older by the day and more so in our heads. People like Vasant Mami never grow old and thats why they gobsmack you. I have made a promise to myself that I will visit her once every month. Moment spent with our loved ones are precious. Like the Master Card advert would read. 'Travelling to Mumbai: Rs.300, Having aloo mutter and spending time with your favourite Mami: Priceless"