hari sadu

H A R I S A D U

I managed to reach home the other day from my work place feeling very low. I did have a couple of encounters with known and unknown people. I could not figure out the reason whether I was physically exhausted or mentally drained. I also knew that I had to attend to many other jobs at home and I had to cheer myself up at the earliest. I decided to keep to myself for some time and watch TV for a while to elevate my mood. Casually I was flipping through channels and Lo!! I happen to see the same advertisement in at least five channels.  Your day can’t be better that this, I told and closed my eyes. What an advertisement to see when you are feeling so low in life. H for Hari..,A for A for Arr…R for Ras.. I for Id…

I started thinking of HARI SADUS I met in my life that day.  Probably they were six of them at different times. My thinking started going in a different track altogether. If a meet five Hari Sadus’s a day I met one hundred and fifty of the month and scores go beyond thousands in a year. Oh God ! Quite a huge number I thought. My imagination went wild and I started seeing only HARI S… whom I met. Just imagine! All of them standing in front of you and reminding you of the victory over your helplessness. The list was like the Bank manager, TC of railways, manager of airlines, the bosses, security guards at religious places, personal assistants and drivers of politicians, police personals, students who hit your car and damage their vehicle, and many more. I did not dare to open my eyes to see them. Am I surrounded by so many HARI S.. or they had to act in front of me was one thing that was not clear to me.

Suddenly I heard a thunder like sound around me as though some body is waking me up from a deep Trans. That was my inner mind asking me an explanation on how many times I had been HARI S…  M..mm.. mm..me! Yes you dear. Now that you have counted number of them in your life, better be truthful and come with number times you had been HARI S…

A confession box I am in, I thought. I started counting my role as HARI S…  as though I had been hypnotized to do so. I must have been a big time  Hari S… duing childhood days of children. At one point of time or the other I must have been the same with my husband and other family members. I must have been like that when I saw postmaster having tea instead of clearing my bill and I had only five minutes to reach my work place.

I..I do not remember being a Hari S… at my work place. Never the less, I too had crossed a score of thousands of tens.

Lord! What a day I thought. At the same time I started feeling good to pour in front of zero audience. I was feeling a bit better. I came out of trans and the first thing I wanted to do was reframe HARI SADU. H for humble, humorous, A for accommodative, R for reasonable and rewarding and I for I am with you all the time

about roots

ABOUT ROOTS

Back home, I am not able to sleep. Pin drop silence scares me. I am guided to think more about India, my parents, old age and I am really feeling lost. These were the words of Priya, a cousin of mine who came for a short visit to India. Her main purpose was to visit her old parents and in-laws. Ten days of her stay gave her so much to think that she is not able to sleep back home!!

She spent her first two days in adjusting to time zone, climate, visiting malls, eating home food and all that. Her parents had planned a nice outing for her for the next three days. Fully air-conditioned taxi could not make her feel wow about the whole trip. On the way, she appreciated some developments and at some points she took a deep breath to gulp in status of some places that remained the same even after 20 years. She spent two more days watching her parents getting busy with daily rotinue.  She sees them as two fairly heathy old couple doing their part of the jobs at fixed timings.  There were visited by their friends and relatives, some with prior intimation and some without it. She saw that her parents had time for themselves, immediate neighbors and even for those who visited on a very short notice. There was a constant activity round the clock. She observed that there was less of formality and more of how you can help others also to be independent.

Her last destination was a two day visit to her in law’s place before she took off her to her home –USA. She was given a warm welcome by the maids who looked after the oldies. These oldies, over the years had come to terms that they cannot depend on their children for petty things. They were very comfortable with maids. In fact, they had more to share with them rather than the daughter-in-law who was a mere guest for a short time.

With all these mixed feelings, memories and a void in stomach, Priya boards the flight.  She has ample time to analyze her trip to India. She looks inwards for an answer. Lot of changes have taken place. Journey seems unending. She sees something like a motion picture. Life style of senior citizens keeps flashing in front of her screen.  She gets to see many more oldies whose children are abroad. It was like pages of book flipping on its own.

Senior citizens have adapted to changes. They have come to terms with ongoing system of working around them. Almost all of them have  stopped cribbing, they do not complain, do not have any demands and so on. With open arms they embraced many more things for survival. Their main focus is to remain happy and healthy for today. They want to be of some use to someone. Big smiles flash when someone gives them their time. All pains, loneliness and fear for future are forgotten.  All they require is the time and the precious time of their children. In return, they shower blessing and wish good for the entire human breed.  Thinking of roots is just natural for anybody. At a particular point of life, roots flash in a big way.  I feel that giving time to roots today is the bonus earned for tomorrow.

Mrs. S. L. swamy