A lifelong query

The average man's life consists of :
Twenty years of having his mother ask him where he is going,
Forty years of having his wife ask the same question;
And at the end, the mourners wondering too...

(from an email fwd)

Interesting twist to my blog title !

Trudging on the treadmill

No human behaviour irritates me as much as seeing people jogging on a treadmill in a air-conditioned gym.

Agriculture, cattle-rearing, house-hold errands, probably every other manual work made sure one thing- people get their food, and people burn the calories so obtained by its consumption. Then came the flint, then the wheel, then abacus, then some electricity, then the steam engine, then Integrated chip, followed by the Internet.

All these stepping stones in the history of mankind have made sure that we shall not sweat to get our work done. Much of the hard-work, chores and errands have been reduced to a flick of a switch, turning of a knob or click on an icon - all designed to give man, his wife & kids some well-deserved 'quality time' spent together. And along came the uninvited guests called obesity, hyper-tension and arteriosclerosis.

Now people drive to the gym 2km away, beat the heat by rushing to the airconditioned building, take the lift to the 2nd floor- just to 'sweat it out' on the hi-tech treadmill which can show everything from amount of calories burnt to number of molecules of glucogen which have been converted to sugar and used up in this session. And after such hardwork comes the subtle reward of a hydrating isotonic zero-cal Diet-coke and a quarter-pounder hamburger with extra-mayonaise!

------ The author takes a severely opposing stance on all this hypocrisy, by staying at home relishing some soft cheesecake with blueberry topping, and perpetually planning to 'start' jogging outdoors from next week.

Bangkok's smiling bargains

Have you ever felt that haggling with a road-side vendor could be a pleasurable activity ? Me, never !!

I have constantly avoided shops where there is no fixed price, not because I dont like good deals, but because I suck at bargaining. Even during the rare times when I have managed to stike great deals, the joy is always short-lived - mostly somebody will pop up to say that I have been duped and my best deal was actually double the price he got the same thing for. Ignorance is bliss ,sometimes !

The streets and bylanes of Sukhumvit, Bangkok is where you could possibly find everything from Japanese samurai swords to Thai-silk ties to second-hand(read stolen) mobile phones. Here, bargaining is the only activity that provides such guilt-free pleasure, when compared to the multi-cuisine restaurants providing material for some unfettered
gluttony, or others inviting people to commit the original sin for a price.

I learnt a new language right there, and its not Thai- Calculator language, the entire process of monetary negotiations and business transactions are done between people who dont share a common language- using a simple calculator. The shopkeeper punches his price in the machine, and invites you to key in your best offer, and this process loops till a deal is struck. This also ensures that you dont struggle with your limited Thai vocabulary, and the shopkeeper doesnt murder English by saying "thlii unthleth baaaah" (300 baht) and perplexing you by showing just two fingers in a 'V' symbol !

If anybody witnessed from a distance, me and some shopkeepers bargaining, you could hardly take us to be bargaining to reach a common price. The smiles in the faces, the loving intonations in the voices, and the warm friendly gestures would look more like we are some long
separated cousins meeting after years. And in the end after much talk peppered with liberal smiles and cajoling most shopkeepers would agree to a price thats 30-40 % of their initial quote.

And the best part was, even after haggling for quite a while, you decide against buying
something that does not satisfy you tastes, you will never get a disgruntled look or a angry curse hurled from the shopkeeper. Now, doesnt that sound like a bargain paradise ??

Poetry by email forwards

Rainshine

There is nothing more beautiful than a rainbow,
But it takes both the sun and rain to create one
And for life to be well rounded and colourful,
It takes both joy and some sorrow to live one.

----

Some words

A careless word may kindle strife
A cruel word may wreck a life
A timely word may level stress
A loving word may heal and bless.

---

Soul Searching

This question about existence of a thing called soul has been haunting me. Are the number of souls on earth a constant or are they increasing in number? If rebirth is to be believed then how come the population of humans has been on a rise for a long time now ? And where do the new
souls come from ?

Maybe some insects and reptiles and birds and mammals found spiritual advancement thru good karma(?) and were born as humans. But I had no theory to prove the numbers of other species is decreasing to compensate our rise, till recently.

The explosive growth of humans and all their activities in land-clearing for agriculture, large-scale fishing, CO2 exhaling vehicles and industries and a variety of polluting activities has made sure we kill every other species at an unprecedented rate. The web of life has been
cut , and the rate of extinction of all species other than flourishing homo sapiens has been on a rise. Is it time to worry yet?

But rebirth has probably made sure that the souls of the members of now extinct species are reborn as humans. Proof: I can see some people have just about enough intellectual capability as dodos do (or did). Tyrannosaurus' future generations thrive in the corporate world enjoying
the cut-throat competition. Some men do pranks that would make endangered orangutans blush, and others have the fashion-sense of a red-eyed tree-frog. Many people in country where once bisons thrived and were hunted down, now pile on enough fat to look like them, even making obesity an ailment !
------
For a non-satirist yet nice introduction to effects of human activities leading to environmental problems- check out daversity.com.

Every

Every flower I see
reflects your face
inspiring me to dream
and
Every melody I hear
sounds like your voice
and giving it a theme

Every breath I take
takes in your name
to make me sigh,
and
Every day spent
without you with me
is like living a lie.

Every unspoken word
of my lips want to say
"I love you"
and
Every unheard whisper
in my ears longs to hear
"I love you too "