New moon and my old scooter

( A small write up by my grandpa. Hope you all like it. #grandpa_writes)

My neighbor who is always punctual for office, whether it is rain or sunshine,
usually did not have time for pleasantries, so I was surprised when he said a warm good morning to me, on a clear morning, while, washing and cleaning his two
wheeler decorating it with kumkum, a jasmine garland, two green chilies and a
pierced fresh lime, explained that, the day was the worst Amavasya (new moon
day) of the year and it is absolutely essential that he protects his new vehicle (2
year old) from Evil eyes.
Being an Agnostic, I do not believe in such ostentatious rituals to protect my 12year
old scooter from evil eyes, but it reminded me that, I have also not cleaned or
washed my scooter for a month, blaming the recent rains, but embarked on this
tedious task forthwith.
“You have time to waste and to spend on your old vehicle ,but no time to go to the
market to buy me a blouse piece”.
As I had finished by obligation to the scooter, I decided to go and get a blouse piece, of a particular shade, which was available only in a shop, which is exclusive and costly for a pensioner.
I parked my vehicle, in an unmanned parking lot near the shop, went in, and
came out in 10 minutes., as I did not have any other purchases.
I was aghast to see that my vehicle was missing, and realized that the vehicle has
been stolen.
Heartbroken at the loss of a 12 year old companion, who has been with me
through thick and thin of my life, I was at a loss and confused to plan what to do
next. With tears clouding my eyes. I went back to the shop and told the shopkeeper that someone has stolen my scooter. He tried to console me with his own story of how he had lost his own scooter from the same parking lot 6 months
ago, and complained to the nearby police station, after frequent visits , they
found the scooter in a nearby housing colony, where it had been abandoned.“So you got your vehicle back? I asked . “No” was the reply, because there are some legal hurdles to be sorted out, before the vehicle could be released, which will cost me more than the 2’nd hand value of a scooter, I have not taken delivery of the reclaimed scooter yet.”
People around me offered many unsolicited advice. and In the end, I decided to
file a police complaint, that is when I went through an inquisition.
I went to the nearby police station, met the policeman at the front desk with a
small sign board, “Complaints”, where a person with a clean shaven face,, in a spotless starched uniform, and spectacles sat ,( the glasses gave him a scholarly look), He politely offered me a chair, set aside what ever he was doing, and
looked at me, through his glasses, shot out questions after questions.
1. Name ……….
2. Age…….75plus,
3. Do you have a license? Yes! (I could overhear his feeble murmur,” who
gave this old hag a license? )
4. Are you Diabetic, or do you have Blood pressure, Amnesia, or any
disease connected with old age? No.
5. Do you wear glasses? Yes, cooling glasses while riding
I meekly asked him, without offending him, what relation, my physical conditions
had to do with the theft of my vehicle. His reply was not very convincing, when he
said these questions and answers prove whether your complaint is genuine or
not.
Further questions were in a peculiar staccato voice from the earlier authoritarian
rough police voice, about the brand, model, the registered Number ,colour of
the vehicle, whether the vehicle was registered in my name , had I insured the
vehicle, emission tested, and whether the vehicle was locked when it was stolen
and had obtained the parking token to which I said No there was no attendant
because of Ammavasi .
In between he answered many phone calls, stood up umpteen times to salute his
superiors, followed them in to their cabin for some discussions etc.etc. by the time he was free to talk to me again it was more than an Hour, from the time I
had entered the Police station. then came the final verdict, Please come after a
month; let us see what can be done.
With a heavy heart, I started walking back to the spot where I had parked the
scooter to pay obeisance to a lost friend, cursing myself for not protecting my
scooter from Moon’s evil eyes, but soon better sense prevailed over me and I said
to myself that the Moon does not have any power of it’s own, it deflects only
Sun’s rays to us and does not have an evil eye to seduce an old scooter. The Americans have walked on it with their boots on, and till now there are no repercussions.
when I reached the spot I saw a fair , well dressed young man sitting on a parked motor cycle, who asked me, why am I looking so sorrowful , Sad and fidgety touching other vehicles, then looking up as if saying a prayer?
I confessed to him my loss, and told that I cannot afford another vehicle with my
meager pension, whether old or new .He was very sympathetic about my loss
and hinted that he could give some clues ,that may help me to get my vehicle
back, I was jubilant and was willing even to fall at his feet.
He said, according to his knowledge, vehicle thieves carry 12 to 14 duplicate Keys
that could open any two wheeler locks in a jiffy , take it, lock & park it in any
nearby unmanned parking lot till dusk and if nobody shows any interest, ride it
out with other office goers, who come together and ride out one after the other,
mostly with Helmets, without evoking any suspicion .
Excited I asked him what I should do now? Go out on the roads in all four
directions from here, at least for half a kilometer , if you are lucky, you ‘ll find it in
one of them.
I found my vehicle nicely parked on a road side parking ,during my search .
I rode back as I had the keys with me to thank the young man, but there was
none.
George kallupalam

Crossing the Red Sea.

The story of Moses crossing the Red sea, is one of the most prominent stories in the Bible.

I always used to imagine how Moses and the Israelites must had crossed the sea when it was divided into two parts until I experienced it on my own.

This incident took place three years ago when I was 14. It was during my visit to Muscat (Oman).

Oman is a country known for it’s serene beauty of mountains, caves and the sea among all the Middle East countries.

There are beaches like the Pebble Beach, turtle Beach ,Zawadi beach and many more, each one having it’s own specialty.

We went for an outing to the Zawadi Beach where we had our lunch and rushed to the sea shore. The sand is different than what I have found in the Goan beaches and the coast of Konkan and Malabar. There were pretty little sea shells all over which settled on the shore due to the low tide. Little crabs were spread all over the shore and got washed off whenever a wave appeared.

At around 1.00 pm to 3.30pm there was a complete low tide in the beach. The water was just knee deep and we could cross the sea and reach the other side of the shore by walking through or swimming in the sea water. The opposite side of the beach had a small fort and observation deck.

We were so excited to cross this sea that we just rushed into the water without any delay so that we could reach the other end within that time.

When we were right in middle of the sea. My cousins and me were so excited that we wanted to spend some time in the middle of the sea swimming and having fun. We were surrounded by small fish and it was such a phenomenal experience.

Then slowly my mother realized that the water level was rising. From our knee it almost reached our trunk. We all got so scared that we almost felt that we would drown if the water level would rise fast.

Then we started rushing towards the shore, with all the stamina we had. And finally reached the shore.

When we were crossing the sea we felt as if we were Moses and the Israelites, but when the water level started rising we felt as if we were the Egyptian soldiers who would be swallowed by the giant waves.

Oh! What a fascinating experience it was.

There’s a lot more to share about my experiences in Oman.

Stay tuned for my next chapter of Oman Diaries.

The ‘fine’ city -I

Singapore, a small country or one can call it just a city, located in the south-eastern part of the Asian Continent. One of the most famous tourist destination in the world and also one of the most beautiful and best places to live in this world,as per world reports and as well as my own perspective.

I consider myself fortunate, as I got an opportunity to visit this beautiful country and capture many memories and experiences.

A week long tour had a lot to enjoy and learn. I got to know about the Singaporean culture, food and way of living.

Firstly, we visited the famous ‘Gardens by the bay’, a huge nature park of 101 hectares. The nature park is divided into three areas, the bay central, bay south and bay East. One can see variety of plants from all around the world. There are different plants from the African forests like the giant cactus, plants from the Australian forests and even plants of South American region.

As I had been there during the Halloween season, the whole garden was decorated with pumpkins and the Halloween theme which made the whole place look spooky but yet beautiful.

There is a bridge named ‘Cloud Nine’ of about thirty feet high, covered with mist, which made me feel as if I was walking through clouds.

There is even a man-made waterfalls which sprinkles water from it’s majestic height all over the place and even on every one.

The whole garden park is covered with a huge glass covering which stretches all over without a single pillar, just like a huge dome.

The second part of my journey was the ‘Singapore city tour.’

We were taken to the ‘Tech-city’ of Singapore and even caught a glimpse of the entire commercial and residential areas of Singapore.

The whole system in Singapore is very well organized. Right up from the roads to the pavements, the sky scrapers to the parks, every thing has been planned and designed to perfection, that’s why it’s been termed as the ‘ Fine city’. But the word ‘ Fine’ can is used as a pun, ie the city is not just fine to see and admire but also so strict and rule driven that one can be ‘ fined’ severely if he commits anything against the Singaporean law.

Here ends my first chapter of my Singapore diaries. The next chapter will bring you a lot more about my experiences and facts about this destination.

Strive for soil

Morning and evening

This fleeing time troubles me,

Puts me into a dilemma

As to what to do and what to be.

I remember those days

When merry and play filled my life.

But today I’m in a game,

Where fear and expectations make me strive.

Strive to be someone,

To live in this domain.

But when I’ll mix with soil,

I’ll realize that leisure I could never gain.

Winters in pensioners paradise.

Dharwad, a small town in the state of Karnataka. Not very well known as the other districts of Karnataka like Bangalore and Mysore but quite renowned for it’s educational institutions, it’s pleasant atmosphere and serene beauty of land and greenery.

Because of these reasons it was known as the ‘pensioners paradise’.

As I have been brought up here, I have witnessed the drastic changes that have occurred in this place since the time I have observed them.

I remember those days during Christmas when it used to be so cold that my mother used to deck up my sister and me with a lot of woollens.

Those misty mornings which used to make me so lazy to wake up for school. The dew drops on every leaf of our garden, which used to look like little crystals on dark green leaves. And my grandma’s hot soup which warmed our throats.

But, since 2013 those winter’s have just disappeared. All due to the large scale deforestation taking place for urbanisation.

Before, from October itself the climate used to get chilly. But now at the end of November too the scorching sun’s rays doesn’t back off. It feels like winter has taken leave and left summer as it’s substitute.

Now a days I return home from college totally exhausted due to the heat even during November and December. It has been so long since I have had my grandma’s soup.

But one sign of winter is yet to be seen. It’s the long nights and the short days. It gets really dark by six in the evening.

And the mornings are lazy for me, as I am torpid to wake up despite the sun shining bright.

But one thing that never changed is the tranquility of this place. Especially my garden. As it is filled with the fragrance of flowers, pretty butterflies attracted to them, the birds singing their morning song and my little furry, wagging friend who makes the whole place lively.

I just hope that our winter comes back so that we can enjoy the allurement of winter as before.