The blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort — the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person — having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.
धीरज धरम मित्र अरु नारी आपद काल परखिये चारी | (तुलसीकृत रामायण)
Dheeraj dharam mitra aru naari aapad kal parakhiye chari ! (Ramayan by Tulsidas)
Meaning: In the time of crisis are the (deep waters) of patience, religion (karma~deeds), friends and women (wife/partner) tested!
An impressive line from the sacred Hindu text. Diverting from the topic a bit, when I look at these ancient texts, they seem to be full of words of wisdom, relevant to today's time as well!
Back to the train of thoughts: I am recovering, and recovering pretty well! Thank you all... And this is the line dedicated to you all, who have been with me through out this time. This post is to tell you how a crisis in my life seemed negligible, just because of the four characters: patience, religion (karma~deeds), friends and women (wife/partner). If I had to apply them to this test, all of them surpassed it.
How many visitors do you think came around within the fourteen days that I was in Pune after the accident? A minimum of 500... I am not saying, it was me who commanded all this love and affection. Most of it was due to Mom n Dad and then Pooja. But, the important part is, all of them were there. From every nook and corner, from every age group, friends, relatives, colleagues, any one I could think of had been there with me. And, those who were not there physically, most of them had either written or called. It was incredible...
The other day, I visited the specialist in the States at the Duke Eye Care, the number one service provider in the field. The doctor, Mr. Tariq Bhatti, is supposed to be the best neuro-ophthalmologist in the whole of the States. And he looked at me, looked at my medical file, and his reaction was: "impossible. The improvement you have shown is incredible."
Dr. Bhatti, this line does make sense! It does help to have four functioning bearings...
The time could not be any more appropriate... With the Sangli riots making news, it was just perfect to read this forward, thanks to Manjiri! I wish I could have added one of the grasshoppers version, that he gets into communal rioting as there's nothing else he wants to get his hands "dirty" with...
I cannot say this post is politically devoid, but surely, it is nothing personal either...
Sit back, relax, and enjoy a classic analogy...
The Ant and the Grasshopper (in India)
An Old Story:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food orShelter, so he dies out in the cold.
Indian Version:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter .
Mayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities.
Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.
The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .
Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for ' Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.
Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.
The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.
Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.
CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '
Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.
Many years later....
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley,
100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India, .
......AND
As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers, . . India is still a developing country…!!!
