'Shhh...' for Shanti!

Today was the 'Test Day'..
The doorbell rang in the morning at 7 am... and there she was... standing like a tree in a windy storm..There was a little anxiety in the air..I led her in.
She headed straight towards the kitchen..picked up the broom and without a word.. began her work.
I jumped behind her.. and yelled.."Good Morning Shanti!"
Silence.
"Shanti! Nee epdi irke?"
Prolonged silence. She looked at me blankly.. and then looked away.

Hmm..! I whispered to myself..
"foul mood alert!!"
"foul mood alert!!"
"foul mood alert!!"

My maid's name is Shanti. She doesnt know how to read and write. We have always had difficulty conversing.. since she knows no Hindi or English and I know no Tamil. Thanks to my book "Learn Tamil in 40 days", that I can now speak to her the bare essential. We fixed up a deal, that she is gonna teach me 'the-must-know-Tamil-words' , two per day.

A week back, I persuaded her to learn - how to write. And she fell for my trap. Ever since then, we have been devoting 30- 45 minutes everyday for this.

We began with the basic Hindi alphabets. She is a darling :) , a fast learner too.
She picked up how to write her name and my name in Hindi. She practised, watever I taught, after her daily work was over.
I had announced May 25th as the "Weekly Test' date. The reason for silence was now evident.

We began. I asked her to write "Shanti" (without looking at her practice papers). She wrote it. Man!! Was I delighted ot what!!
Then I asked her to write "Sugandh" in Hindi. She gets confused in the last letter 'dh'- almost always!! It was a nerve-racking challenge for her. She began - "S"..put the "oo"..."g"...puts the "dot above"...and then...after many twists and turns in the pencil.. she finally wrote "dh"..

I was overjoyed! For a second, my eyes welled up with tears...She did it!Yes, she did!! This woman who didnt know how to hold a pen will last week... had picked up so much! I jumped up, screamed "SHANTI!!RUMBA NALLA IRKE!! and hugged her tight! She was startled to see my reaction! But then, her own acomplishment, let her get away with her inhibitions, and she hugged me back! :-)

As she was leaving, she turned and screamed with joy - "Auntie! Shhhh for Shanti!" :-)

Tuesday's Gone....

Even if your mom told you not to believe strangers..I bet you'd want to believe, agree and concur with me, deep down till you reach the cytoplasm in ur RBCs...that 'loneliness is a boon' :-)

#(the first line is inspired by "No more tears!")

I, myself never believed in this-till the Gods in the heaven decided to shower on me - their heartfelt blessings.
My room mate (ouch! she doesnt like, being called my 'room' mate..) correction, FLAT mate, has gone home for untold no. of days. (the word 'untold' is just for the effect! hehe)

this means.. that i will hv no one who would nag me for coming home late in the night.. who would tell me to keep the doors and windows closed..who would tell me not to go for midnight walks on the streets... et cetera.

#(i actually love her rebukes..)

So i have been hanging around kinda alone.I am missing her- right. But I zimbly love this state. I suddenly remember the lyrics from some song - "Its a life without regret.. And I want to feel this way,for ever and ever..Every night the moon's mine.."...

#(me clears ma throat.. and tries to sing like Natalie Imbruglia..)

Yay! yay! I love being alone!! :-)

Came to office on a Sunday - Just for the kick of it! Fought with Abdul for absolutely no reason - just for the kick of it! Listening to "Tuesday's gone".. Why? Not for the kick of it man..! but coz I am lazy to change to the next track. hehe..

I hope it rains tonight. I'd get drenched then. One more thing that Shalini doesnt let me do! And which Abdul is always jealous about! Mind you two devils! The God of Rain is with me tonight!! muhahahaha!

Opinions ?

Good to see so many opinions. Thought there could be another post on this.

As Nanda says, its a primary philosphical question as to 'who decides right or wrong'. Exactly ma point! In the end we all have our conjectures.

I agree with Anadi to a large extent that its the collective wisdom of the society formulating the norms. But then - a life for a life??!
I mean think about it. If we are talking bout the Consitutional Rights and Freedoms - they are surely needed, since, some norms are indispensable for a clash-free and harmonious co-existence.

But capital punishment is taking someone's life away. When nature has not given us the right to 'create' life, how can we indulge in a process of retribution and take 'away' life?
Who decides that and why?!

The human life is ended and the executed person is deprived of any oppurtunity to change, to restore the harm done or compensate for it! Life imprisonment is enough, if punishment need be inured.

Nanda is right , that it depends entirely on societies and the long established practices.. but it is wrong.

And finally a note for my 'anonymous' friend.
"If a person is a danger to many people in the society and he cannot be rehabilitated, he must be got rid of."
One question. We humans, with an inconsequential wisdom to understand the phenomena of Life and Death - Are we prudent and far-sighted enough to say who can/cant be rehabilitated?

serial killers rock!

For quite sometime now, I have been thinking about serial killers and their psychology.
Ponder over it - its quite an intersting topic of debate.
I feel there is nothing really wrong with them. One reason why I think this way is -coz for me, nothing is wrong. The definitions of moralities and ethics, sins and crimes are all personal perceptions after all.. I mean, there are social factors involved too.. but that doesnt seem to justify it.
Although loads of work at office has been keeping me busy big time.. I couldnt really resist the temptation of going back to finish reading an intersting article which I wikipedia-ed about serial killers.
It defines them as this :

Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand.Their crimes are committed as a result of a compulsion that, in many but not all cases, has roots in the killer's (often dysfunctional) youth, as opposed to those who are motivated by financial gain or political motivations.

I mean, think about it! These guys are usually motivated by varieties of psychological disorders - which is not their fault! They feel inadequate, they feel worthless...and their crimes gives them the feeling of "power". And since they know, that their actions terrify the communities and even baffle the police forces, hence it adds to their sense of power.

Like most other things, this too is a "cause and effect" game. And with all my might, I believe, that this is quite an act of temerity. (although its a compulsive act for them!)

So? Do we categorize them as insane? Not quite. Since Law defines 'insanity' as a state where you cannot differentiate between good and bad.
yes.. "good" and "bad"... what crap!!
serial killers arent insane. infact they are motivated by hallucinations and/or voices in their head. There are a couple of intersting incidents I read about..

• There was this guy, who slaughtered 13 people after voices told him that murder was necessary to prevent California from suffering an earthquake.
• there are certain others, who believe they are getting rid of a certain type of people (often prostitutes or members of a certain ethnic group).
  
• then there are the "hedonistics" - who kill for the sheer pleasure of it. they have a surge of excitement - that might be related to cannibalism with the dead body, or sexual desires or some simply enjoy the 'chase' of hunting down the victim..
  

I am forced to think that how does our society accept the concept of capital punishment, but dismisses a murder as a heinous crime??
In both cases, there is "someone" who believes that "something" is incorrect.
The judge in the former, the murderer in the latter.

And the irony! While capital punishment is supposed to be an activity in social favour.. euthanasia is against the law. WTF!

These have been debatable issues - either on the basis of moralities, or religious preachings or social and human rights. Whatever its been... is hard to justify - coz they are mere perceptions...

there are times...

sometimes, more often than others ... one is forced to think..
forced to wonder, as to wats going on in life...

i hate getting used to certain people.
i hate missing them.

i wonder if its my turgid ego, which doesnt let me accept that my life 'does' pivot around certain people..
at the risk of sounding conceited, i confess, that i am quite a weird person. (yeah... i wrote that correctly.. ) .
i hv perhaps now learnt to accept criticism without malevolence.

whats happening next??
:(

this and that...

shalini threw a tip-off yesternite.. unarguable...undeniable..and absolutely revelatory..
fidgety knocking at the door...

'even if it takes you an entire life ..its worth it ; but you need to set out on the road'....
i hvnt felt the need of an echo command today....trust me!

work beckons big time.. am going crazy..
c_r_a_z_y!

" But every time I look at you, no matter what I'm goin' thru, it's easy to see
And every time I hold you, the things I never told you, seem to come easily
'Cause you're everything to me

I never really wanted to let you get inside my heart
I wanted to believe this would soon be ending
I thought it wouldn't matter, if it all just came apart
But now I realize I was just pretending ...."

this song (by KISS) totally rocks !! :-)

Force * Distance = Shit !!

• Work's hectic - loads to learn.
  
• Skipped lunch for the 3rd day in the week.
  
• Windows machine crashed.
• No YM. (damn!)
• No mails.(damn damn!!)
• Phone is conked off. (Damn damn damn !!!)
• Ubuntu is not getting installed. Got a bloody messed up system.
• Colleagues in office tripping me with the CDROM man. He keeps calling ALL day!! shit!!
• IMS test coming up.
• No time to blog.
• The almighty Bizz Quiz to be solved.
• Prepare the next set of Bizz Quiz for Kau.
• Maid's not turning up on time in the morning.
• The newspaper man faltered yesterday.
• My watch's not working.
• Mom dad not coming in the near future - so guitar's gone for a toss. :(
• Have to buy Mortein Cockroach spray - else Shal will kill me (with the -9 option)
• And they say - its all in the Present Continuous. :-(

Man- Life's a mess.