Hi, folks! Last week was one of
the worst in my life whole week I was down and out with a bout of Herpes
Zoster. I bet many of you don't know what Herpes Zoster is! To enlighten you,
HZ is an affliction caused by the chicken pox virus. It seems the virus never leaves your body
after you have had a bout of chicken pox in your childhood. It lies dormant in your body for many years
and then one day when your immune system is weak and vulnerable, it attacks a
particular nerve in your body and appears on the surface as ugly red rashes
along that nerve.

In my case, it all began with a
burning throbbing sensation on my right brow.
When I examined my face in the mirror, I could see nothing out of
place. Then a tiny bump appeared on my
forehead right above the brow which, at first glance, looked like a
pimple. But on close scrutiny after a
day or so, I found that it was no ordinary pimple, but a cluster of tiny
blisters. That started the alarm bells
ringing! I had some idea about HZ though
I had never seen a real patient before. Anyway, I immediately went to my family
doc who confirmed my fears and started me off on medications right away. The
tiny blisters became bigger and spread all over the right side of my forehead,
eyebrow and eyelid (shutting down my right eye for a couple of days!). It was terribly
painful, making me miserable for the whole week. Thank God I went to the doctor at the right
time and though the medications didn't prevent the rashes from coming out, it
did help to control it to a large extent. It could have been worse.

The right medicines, lots of
prayer to my God and plenty of rest that did the trick. I'm back to my
job. I'm told that it takes two to three
weeks to get over from HZ, if not longer.
I guess I am fortunate to have made a quick recovery. It may take some more time for the scars to
disappear completely. But, hey, I'm alive!
Isn't that great?

Hi, folks, sorry for being silent for so long! It's not that
I had gone away somewhere or something like that. No, not at all! I have been
here all the time, visiting my iland almost everyday and reading up all the
blogs that you folks have been posting! But to my great dismay and frustration,
nothing flowed from my pen! It's not as if my life has been dull or
uninspiring. On the contrary, as I look back at 2007, I find the past year had
been a much better year for me in many ways. I have been blessed by God in many
things and the year ended on a happy note when I got the opportunity to make a
trip to Delhi in the last week of December.
It was exciting to visit Delhi
after ten long years. So much has changed in Delhi
in the last decade a change for the better.
So many new places to see, so many sights and sounds to soak in! All in
all, it was a memorable visit which I enjoyed to the fullest.

We also made an overnight trip to Jaipur, visited the City
Palace, the Observatory, Jalmahal
and Amber Fort. What can I say, folks? Jaipur is really a city worth visiting.
The drive from Delhi to Jaipur and
back on NH-8 was a memorable experience which I'll remember for many many
years.

So, here I am, back on my iland and hoping to be able to
write something regularly. The first month of 2008 is almost over. But I hope
it's not too late to wish you all a HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS 2008!

They made a perfect young couple he fair, tall, handsome;
she svelte, lissom, good looking.
Together with their cute little daughter they made a pretty
picture. Lets call the couple Joel and
Nisha.

Those who knew Joel, were happy for him for finding such a
nice girl for himself, 'coz they knew if anyone deserved happiness, it was
Joel. In his young life he had seen many
ups and downs. Joel's father was an executive
in a big company. But alcoholism ruined
his life and his family. When Joel and
his sister were quite young, his father left them and went and began to live
with his mistress. It was a turbulent
time for all of them. All efforts by
relatives and friends to reconcile the family got thwarted. Joel's parents didn't divorce, but neither
did they stay together. It's hard to
imagine what trauma Joel and his sister went through in those formative years
of their lives. How their mother fended
for the family was questionable; there were rumours which, of course, were
never proved. Since there was no
conducive atmosphere at home, their education suffered; Joel and his sister
never went past high school. They had
aristrocatic good looks, but no education or enough money to go with it.

Then Joel's mother died of cancer. A few years later his father also died from
alcohol related complications. Now Joel
and his sister were alone in the world (though they had many relatives, the
question of staying with anyone of them never arose maybe because by this
time they were not so young anymore!).
His sister left for Mumbai to try her luck there, but Joel stayed on.

Then he met Nisha and they got married. They set up home in a rented apartment, Joel
started a small business, Nisha found a teaching job in a private school. Everything seemed perfect. Joel's relatives and well-wishers heaved a
sigh of relief that at last he has been able to leave his unfortunate past
behind and make a new beginning with a nice homely girl. Nisha really seemed to have made a lot of
difference in Joel's life. She even
changed her religion willingly to that of Joel's and became a Christian,
attended church regularly, took active part in church activities and showed
just the right amount of respect for elders and Joel's relatives. All in all, they became quite popular in the
social circle and all were in praise of Nisha.

It seemed nothing would go wrong with this seemingly happy
family. Then after about a year and a
half of this, it was heard that Joel and Nisha had split and Nisha had gone
back to her parents with their daughter.
At first, nobody took the news seriously and thought it was just a
regular tiff which happens between husband and wife every now and then. But quite soon it became apparent that the
matter was serious. There were accusations
and counter-accusations which literally left everyone stunned. There were many attempts to reconcile the
couple, nothing worked. Though Joel was
willing to give it a try, Nisha would not budge an inch from her decision not
to come back to Joel not even for their daughter's sake.

As for Joel and Nisha's well-wishers, they were left feeling
let down. It was unimaginable that such
a perfect happy picture could hide such terrible bitterness and bad blood that
their marriage was not even worth a second try! How could anyone break off a relationship just
like that? It is not for us to pass
judgment who was right or who was wrong.
Because we don't know the whole truth.
Was their marriage based on truth and honesty? Did Nisha know everything about Joel's past
before marriage? Or, did she get afraid
of the financial struggle that seemed to lie ahead of them? We don't know. What we know is that in this sorry mess one
thing that was no where to be seen was the emotion of love. The pretty picture they presented before the
public was just a façade. Such a clean
break would not have been possible if there had been any love between the
couple. Their marriage was over before
their daughter was three-years old!

So, Joel is back to square one a broken marriage like his
parents a little girl who will grow up without a daddy (for no fault of hers)
and the story goes on!

I don't know why I feel this way!
After all, it was just an inanimate object incapable of thinking or
feeling. Yet, I feel deeply sad as if I have
lost a dear family member and can't help feeling guilty as if I've let it down,
betrayed its trust and sent it away when it became too old and weak!

I'm talking about my old 'fridge
which I exchanged yesterday for a brand new, gleaming double-door 'fridge. My happiness at procuring a new 'fridge is
dampened somewhat by the fact that I had to send away the old one.

The old 'fridge was in our
household for many many years, giving excellent service. Only once we had repainted it and changed the
gas. Otherwise it had never given any
trouble. I remember when many years ago
we had opened up a fast food joint and had no money to buy a new 'fridge, we
had taken it down to the joint and used it there for many months. That was a particularly tough period for us,
but the old faithful 'fridge performed its duty even then!

Of late, it was not working
properly, it was not cooling enough and the door lining had become loose
because of which cockroaches were getting inside. It was painfully becoming apparent that we
needed a new 'fridge.

The new 'fridge was delivered yesterday
and they took away my old 'fridge don't know if it's lying somewhere in a
dark corner of a scrap godown! Come to
think of it, don't really know what they do with the old 'fridges! Do they scrap them or give them to some
second-hand dealers who repair, repaint and then sell them? If that's the case, I'd be happy if it finds
a new home.

I know I'm an emotional
fool. An object can't think or
feel. Yet it hurts so much when you have
to send away a thing that has been part of your life for so long!

That's why I'm writing this piece
in remembrance of my old refrigerator. I'm
doing this for myself (it's okay if no one reads my blog), because I want to
immortalize my old refrigerator on this page, to make it live on somewhere in
the world wide web.

[I know this feeling of loss will go away after some days and I'll be
okay once more.]

Finally the verdict is out Sanjay Dutt has been sentenced
to six years imprisonment in the 1993 Bombay Blast Case and immediately sent to
jail. I think it's a sad day for all of
us who had watched him grow from an impulsive, reckless young man to a
responsible, warm-hearted, generous man.
There is no doubt that after the incident Sanju turned a new leaf and
atoned for his misdeed and the Indian public has forgiven him long time
back.

But I guess justice looks at things differently it was not
looking at the man Sanju has become now, but was passing judgment on a crime
which happened 14 years back. And he did
commit a crime then and is being made to pay the price now. As such, I think the sentencing has been just
and proper. It is unfortunate that it
took so long to wind up the case (perhaps there was no other way, since it was
such a huge case, involving so many people) and the verdict came when Sanju has
become a completely changed man. I just
can't help feeling that if he had committed the crime at any other time, the
verdict would have been quite different.

The only ray of hope now for Sanju is the Supreme
Court. I hope they will review his case
from a different angle (if that's possible) and perhaps reduce his sentence or
even set him free!

Anyway, I can only say to Sanju "Be brave, Sanju! Since you had caused no harm to anyone with
your mistake, surely the Almighty will look down on you with mercy. Our prayers and good wishes are with you!"

There is a saying, "Too much of a
good thing is bad."

A few weeks ago I had written a
paean to rain, exalting over the comfort and respite it brings to our lives
during the hot summer months. Now after
incessant rain for almost two weeks, the same me wants to scream out, "Oh, God!
Please stop the rain.!"

Haven't got a glimpse of the sun for
almost two weeks now.everything has become damp and musty. Many areas in our city are under water. I'm fortunate in a sense that I reside in an
area where there is no water-logging and my workplace is only a short distance
away. But imagine the plight of those
whose houses are inundated, who have to wade through knee-deep water or slush
to go to their workplaces or markets! My
discomforts are negligible in comparison to the woes of countless people of our
city and our State.

Our whole State is reeling under
flood. Lakhs of people have been forced
to leave their homes and hearths and take shelter in relief camps. They have
lost their crops and cattle and perhaps everything they hold dear.

Sometimes I can't help but feel
guilty that while I keep complaining about the small discomforts in my life,
scores of people are experiencing real nightmares and they don't know when all
these will end and they'll be able to go back to their homes and start their
lives anew.

I can only say a silent prayer, "Please,
God, stop the rains and please bring out the sunshine.!"