aye wai

Running… I so love it. I love to run. And its even more fun in cities with tons of obstacles in your way. Who needs big time parkour training? Running to catch your bus is enough. The other day coming out of a movie hall, it was fun to run out between taxis, carts, people etc and dart towards McDonalds for Jispa’s burger. Today I ran fast enough to catch the bus. The best part is feeling nice while running because after a point you realize that you can easily catch the bus at 80% efficiency. I remember the last year when i twisted my knee. I was afraid that I might never be able to run that fast and crazy again.

Today morning was Jispa’s blood test. Man it sure hurts. She gets so pissed. She thinks we have no idea how hard it hurts her. She wanted a pin to poke us and show us how hard it hurts. But I had to keep talking to her after the syringe to get mind off the thing. I can really out talk her. Heheheheheheh. She finally forgot about the poke and there…good mood once again.

Five star food – some body decode this for me – is this veg/ non veg, what the hell is this?

100% attendance

Jispa got an award I never did get. An award for 100% attendance in school. Pretty cool I think. This award is dedicated to her and her mommy. I don’t think I played any part in it. If it were up to me I surely would have made her miss a few days of school for a silly thing like a vacation! But then Jispa loves going to school and her mommy also loves sending her so I am out voted 2 is to 1 and there, she wins the god dam award. Now next time it’s going to be impossible for any bunking!
I studied in Dubai till the 3rd standard post which we shifted to India. In Mumbai from the fourth standard the monsoon never did suit me. Every monsson I would down with tonsils or something or the other. I was quite a skinny kid in school. I remember never being short of power, I ran fast, I even qualified for the shot put finals once but just a kid that kept falling ill. I had chicken pox, jaundice, malaria and the works! Well that was life. That shit kept going right till the college ended. I was finally happy when a few monsoons went by without me on the sick parade. Wonder how I manage dot get through the NCC.

lessons from the Mahatma

Gandhi did two things. He made the British people aware that they were cruelly subjugating India, and he gave Indians the conviction that they could, by lifting their heads and straightening their spines, lift the yoke from their shoulders. After that, it was inevitable that Britain should someday refuse to rule India and that India should some day refuse to be ruled.
The British beat the Indians with batons and rifles butts. The Indians neither cringed nor complained nor retreated. That made England powerless and India invincible.

I have lifted the lines from the book “the life of Mahatma Gandhi’ by Louis fisher. The autobiography is a n amazing account of an even more amazing life. What a book. The book ranks high amongst the books that could change your life! Better than the screwball/ cornball philosophy that Paoulo or his ilk dish out. This book must be read as a part of a four part series, I think. The four being ‘freedom at midnight’, this one, ‘Satyagraha in South Africa’ and ‘My experiments with truth’. The last two being Gandhiji’s own.
Its amazing how we learnt the history of independence and about Gandhi’s life without really understanding it. No history teacher could teach us his life, history, passion and ideals. We learnt little, understood nothing. Another line I read somewhere - Those who don’t learn from history are condemmed to repeat it.
While reading the books I think of two movies. One of course is Gandhi by Richard Attenbourogh, and the other funnily enough is lage raho Munnabhai. The first brilliantly portrays his life and second one is exactly what one goes through after reading a lot of his works and understanding his life. It cannot but move, it cannot but plant a seed of change in you and it cannot but force you to think.
I have always believed that every book gives you one key message. That’s all. One key message. One cannot hope to understand more than that. The key message from this book is- ‘supreme clarity of thought’. It is amazing how one man with supreme clarity of thought can accomplish so much. Wow.
I remember in school days I had a big debate on non violence v/s violence with dad. He got me convinced on non violence. This was in 9th standard. I used the argument to write a much appreciated debate speech on the same topic. There is a big reason why I never got to make the speech in public, but then that’s another blog. If Jispa ever has the debate topic, she definitely knows the books to refer to!