A single flower
Placed on your feet
Blooms my entire garden,
My life, my Soul!
A drop of water
Poured at your feet
Comes back as monsoon rains
To quench the thirst of
Parched lands
My, Lord! Unable to imagine
The quantum of reward
When my life is placed
At your lotus feet!
I can place a flower,
A drop of water
But how to place my life
At your feet, my Lord?
You pluck this flower
And place on your crown
You do it, my Lord
You do it!
‘Ammalu, comes to memory the good olden days when you used to fan me with a pretty palm leaf fan, standing close to me, almost touching me. Can’t you repeat that kind act, when my friends visit us, this afternoon?’
‘There were no ceiling fans then. We have a fan now in every room. More over, why do you want me to fan you in the presence of your friends ?’
‘To exhibit proudly that you love me, you care for me. Some of them think that your love is not sufficiently intimate’
‘Did they say so?’
‘They didn’t tell me, but I know’
‘I will do something better to impress on your friends. I will hug you in their presence’
‘Go away, go away! Switch on all the fans in full speed’
‘Sweating, SP? Call your friends. I will get a palm leaf fan from our neighbor’
Cartoon courtesy. My cousin Ramki, Chennai.
‘Ammalu, your mother is most welcome to stay here and have the pleasure of my company. After all she is your mother, a rich and respectable lady’.
‘She says that the present arrangement works well. In the evenings you call on her, enjoy her snacks and coffee and return with some cash collected from her kitchen dabbas. She adds, ‘ let him tack cash for buying pan, arecanut or whatever he wants to, on his way back home, but spare me from his lectures on electrical engineering’
‘Ammalu, I’m a busy man with many appointments and I can’t tell you, where all I go. You expect me to take your written permission before I leave the house and report to you in writing where I went and whom all I met? Sorry, impossible’
‘Not written, oral will do. Your hand writing is horrible!’
cartoon courtesy Ramki, Chennai
‘Ammalu, a food this? You call this a food?’
‘What happened, you don’t like it?’
‘Not at all. Ammalu, this is not a food for big people, like me. Fit for cattle’
‘I too won’t like it then. I don’t want to eat cattle food.
I’m going to Appaiyer hotel’
‘Are you mad, to waste money in hotel food?’
‘If I don’t like the home food, what else do I do? You don’t want me to eat cattle food!’
‘You have not even tasted the food you made. How do you say that you don’t like it it?’
‘Your like is my like; your dislike is my dislike . No need to taste’
‘Ammalu, I’m so proud of you. How can I reject the food made by your affectionate hands. It is not ordinary food. It is Amritham, nectar for me’
‘Thank you. Say ‘Devamritham- nectar of Gods’
‘But, I’m not a god’
‘You’re my God!’
‘Devamritham’
‘Say again. What food is this?’
‘Devamritham, Devamritham’
‘Thrice was too much. Once would have been enough’
Cartoon courtesy. My cousin Ramki of Chennai
All the animals in the forest are hiding within us, only to urface under different situations.
We hold a forest within us !
——————
Every strike on the surface of a percussion instrument, gives out a sound.
Every sin one commits too delivers a punishment.
The sound vanishes. The sin doesn’t. it will follow the sinner.
————–
For 80% of your problems, there are solutions, if you work out.
The rest, leaving to Destiny, you can feel free from the load.
—————-
Once, twice you can turn your face against your wife. Don’t make it a practice. She will show her back to you
———-
Better to be brief and to the point when you are taking to your newly wed wife. It is a difficult job but will be long term tax saver for you.
—————-
One, two, three, four— is counted faster than ten, nine, eight, seven —,
That is the only occasion when going up is faster than climbing down!
————-
Give me strength God, not to fight a war, but just to keep me moving . And moving, I should . Every one should be able to move.
The Earth moves, The Sun moves, the planets move.
————–
The problem with problems is, none can escape from their grip, big or small, rich or poor.
The plus point is , invariably there are solution/s for all problems
and what is needed is knowledge, skill and luck to solve those.
Face those on ‘as is where is ‘ basis, don’t worry over , don’t lose heart and smile for a while. The success is yours.
And remember, there is none with no problems. I have my own problems, though there is absolutely no cause for me to have problems. I have hairs on my head- no problem. But those with no hair on head have also problems as head load.
——————-
Eat only if you should, talk only if you should, write only if you should but walk, as much as you can and drink water liberally.
————–
What we get, often, is not what we want or what we ask for. Not in our hands.
But making the best use of what we got, (including discarding it, if what we got is bad for us and others) , is the correct attitude.
It also happens that we get exactly what we want but either we misuse it or dumb in a dust bin. It could be your life, it could be your wife or it could be even a great thought.
‘Ammalu, why don’t you buy a new sari for you, this month?’
‘SP, I know your next question is going to be, ‘what did Ammini tell you about me?’. She said that you’re the most charming person she has ever met. Ok. Go to sleep peacefully’
‘So, you don’t need a sari?’
‘Why not? For giving you such an important message, I will buy two saris. Don’t worry. Go to sleep peacefully’
‘How to sleep, Ammalu? Two saris will cost minimum two thousand rupees’
‘I didn’t ask for sari. You offered!’
‘That was during a weak moment’
‘You can’t afford to be weak. You are my husband’
Cartoon courtesy. Ramki, my cousin.
‘Ammalu, did you close the letter I asked you to write to that idiot Nair, on my behalf, with ‘love and regards’?
‘Yes, i did. What is wrong in it ? That is the way you close your letters’
‘He replies that he loves you and want you to convey his regards to me ‘
‘What is wrong in that? I accept his love and convey his regards to you’
‘As a married woman, you should accept only my love’
‘You write to me saying that you love me. I shall accept it instantly’
‘Are you mad, old woman? You want me to write you a love letter?’
‘Not a love letter. Simply write, ‘I love you, Ammalu!’
‘I can’t do that. Neither my father nor my grand father did that’
‘But they loved their wives?’
‘Yes, they did’
‘How do you say that with authenticity?’
‘Ammalu, stop the nonsense . How was I born? Anyway, to please you, I say, I love you’
‘Ok put it in writing’
‘I won’t’
‘Will you ask me the next question, I asked?
‘No, I won’t.’
‘Good boy. Go to sleep ‘
‘Alone?’
‘No, take one more pillow from my bed’
Cartoon courtesy- my cousin Ramki, Chennai.
‘
‘There seems to be only sleep left in me, not music,’ I told my daughter who wanted me to start singing.
‘You have been over straining your body for the past one year and the accumulated tiredness is having its toll now. Nothing to worry. Let the body exhausts it sleep demand’, said she.
Will this Fall last for ever
With branches standing dark and dry
Fit only to be burnt as firewood
Or will the life return?
Life should return
As my inner flow is still intact,
My veins and capillaries throb
My bones are wet.
The dryness is only skin- deep
The antharvahini, the flow below
Deep below the earth is alive.
When Mother Earth is wet
Why worry for the seed?
When She is totally parched,
Her heart will melt, eyes will shed
A drop of warm water
The seed will grab it
And grow as a huge tree.
But, I won’t allow my mom
To shed a tear in mourn
I will beg my Father in the Sky
To drop a dew in the morn