"Innocent" Noble Sacrifice

My wife called,"How long will you be with that newspaper? Will you come here and make your darling daughter eat her food?"

I tossed the paper away and rushed to the scene. My only daughter Sindu looked frightened. Tears were welling up in her eyes. In front of her was a bowl filled to its brim with curd rice. Sindu is a nice child, quite intelligent for her age.She has just turned eight. She particularly detested curd rice. My mother and my wife are orthodox, and believe firmly in the 'cooling effects' of curd rice!

I cleared my throat, and picked up the bowl. "Sindu, darling,why don't you take a few mouthful of this curd rice?Just for Dad's sake, dear." Sindu softened a bit, and wiped her tears with the back of her hands. "OK, Dad. I will eat - not just a few mouthfuls, but the whole lot of this. But, you should..."

Sindu hesitated. "Dad, if I eat this entire curd rice, will you give me whatever I ask for?" "Oh sure, darling," I replied. "Promise?" "Promise."

I covered the pink soft hand extended by my daughter with mine, and clinched the deal. "Ask Mom also to give a similar promise," my daughter insisted. My wife put her hand on Sindu's, muttering "Promise."

Now I became a bit anxious. "Sindu dear, you shouldn't insist on getting a computer or any such expensive items. Dad does not have that kind of money right now. OK?"

"No, Dad. I do not want anything expensive." Slowly and painfully, she finished eating the whole quantity. I was silently angry with my wife and my mother for forcing my child eat something that she detested.

After the ordeal was through, Sindu came to me with her eyes wide with expectation. All our attention was on her. "Dad, I want to have my head shaved off, this Sunday!" was her demand.

"Atrocious!" shouted my wife, "A girl child having her head shaved off? Impossible!" "Never in our family!" my mother rasped. "She has been watching too much of television. Our culture is getting totally spoiled with these TV programs!"

"Sindu darling, why don't you ask for something else? We will be sad seeing you with a clean-shaven head."

"No, Dad. I do not want anything else," Sindu said with finality.

"Please, Sindu, why don't you try to understand our feelings?" I tried to plead with her.

"Dad, you saw how difficult it was for me to eat that Curd Rice." Sindu was in tears. "And you promised to grant me whatever I ask for.Now, you are going back on your words. Was it not you who told me the story of King Harishchandra, and its moral that we should honor our promises no matter what?"

It was time for me to call the shots. "Our promise must be kept."

"Are you out your mind?" chorused my mother and wife. "No. If we go back on our promises, she will never learn to honor her own. Sindu, your wish will be fulfilled."

With her head clean-shaven, Sindu had a round-face, and her eyes looked big and beautiful. On Monday morning, I dropped her at her school. It was a sight to watch my hairless Sindu walking towards her classroom. She turned around and waved. I waved back with a smile. Just then, a boy alighted from a car, and shouted, "Sinduja, please wait for me!"

What struck me was the hairless head of that boy. "Maybe, that is the in-stuff," I thought.

"Sir, your daughter Sinduja is great indeed!" Without introducing herself, a lady got out of the car, and continued, "That boy who is walking along with your daughter is my son Harish. He is suffering from... leukemia." She paused to muffle her sobs. "Harish could not attend the school for the whole of the last month. He lost all his hair due to the side effects of the chemotherapy. He refused to come back to school fearing the unintentional but cruel teasing of the schoolmates. Sinduja visited him last week and promised him that she will take care of the teasing issue. But, I never imagined she would sacrifice her lovely hair for the sake of my son!"

"Sir, you and your wife are blessed to have such a noble soul as your daughter."

I stood transfixed. And then, I wept. "My little Angel, you are teaching me how selfless real love is!"

Surplus of love give illusion of nothing

My husband is an Engineer by profession, I love him for his steady nature, and I love the warm feeling when I lean against his broad shoulders.

Three years of courtship and now, two years into marriage, I would have to admit, that I am getting tired of it. The reasons of me loving him before, has now ransformed into the cause of all my restlessness.

I am a sentimental woman and extremely sensitive when it comes to a relationship and my feelings, I yearn for the romantic moments, like a little girl yearning for candy. My husband is my complete opposite, his lack of sensitivity, and the inability of bringing romantic moments into our marriage has disheartened me about love.

One day, I finally decided to tell him my decision, that I wanted a divorce.

"Why?" he asked, shocked.

"I am tired, there are no reasons for everything in the world!" I

answered.

He kept silent the whole night, seems to be in deep thought with a lighted cigarette at all times.

My feeling of disappointment only increased, here was a man who can't even express his predicament, what else can I hope from him? And finally he asked me:" What can I do to change your mind?"

Somebody said it right, it's hard to change a person's personality, and I guess, I have started losing faith in him. Looking deep into his eyes I slowly answered : "Here is

the question, if you can answer and convince my heart, I will change my mind, Let's say, I want a flower located on the face of a mountain cliff, and we both are sure that picking the flower will cause your death, will you do it for me?"

He said :" I will give you your answer tomorrow...."

My hopes just sank by listening to his response.

I woke up the next morning to find him gone, and saw a piece of paper with his scratchy handwriting, underneath a milk glass, on the dining table near the front door, that goes....

My dear, "I would not pick that flower for you, but please allow me to explain the reasons further.."

This first line was already breaking my heart. I continued reading.

"When you use the computer you always mess up the Software programs, and you cry in front of the screen, I have to save my fingers so that I can help to restore the programs. You always leave the house keys behind, thus I have to save my legs to rush home to open the door for you. You love traveling but always lose your way in a new city, I have to save my eyes to show you the way. You always have the cramps whenever your "good friend" approaches every month, I have to save my palms so that I can calm the cramps in your tummy.

You like to stay indoors, and I worry that you will be infected by infantile autism. I have to save my mouth to tell you jokes and stories to cure your boredom. You always stare at the computer, and that will do nothing good for your eyes, I have to save my eyes so that when we grow old, I can help to clip your nails, and help to remove those annoying white hairs. So I can also hold your hand while strolling down the beach, as you enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful sand... and tell you the color of flowers, just like the color of the glow on your young face...

Thus, my dear, unless I am sure that there is someone who loves you more than I do... I could not pick that flower yet, and die.. "

My tears fell on the letter, and blurred the ink of his handwriting... and as I continue on reading... "Now, that you have finished reading my answer, if you are satisfied, please open the front door for I am standing outside bringing your favorite bread and fresh milk... I rush to pull open the door, and saw his anxious face, clutching tightly with his hands, the milk bottle and loaf of bread....

Now I am very sure that no one will ever love me as much as he does, and I have decided to leave the flower alone...

That's life, and love. When one is surrounded by love, the feeling of excitement fades away, and one tends to ignore the true love that lies in between the peace and dullness.

Love shows up in all forms, even very small and cheeky forms, it has never been a model, it could be the most dull and boring form.. . flowers, and romantic moments are only used and appear on the surface of the relationship. Under all this, the pillar of true love stands... and that's our life... Love, not words win arguments...

lover's angle

New year

New year brings new hope, new aspirations and new found joy. It gives reason to smile like every other celebrated occasion. On same occasion I remember my mom saying " the way you behave on first day will be reflected in whole year".

Guess..what I have done, O'buddy I slept till 2pm and relished every moment of peace in chilling winter in my bed covered with rajai & blanket. No words can define this comfort in dilli ki shardi. Took breakfast at 3.30pm but before that I took bath, ofcourse I want to be clean & look better everyday. Already I have disadvantage of being dark complexion and my wandering from east to west India, starting from Northern part caused my ascent not to be of typical northern Indian, and I get perplexed in fusion of Identity. Yesss...people on first interaction are always sure of their guess that either I belong to Tamil nadu, kannada , telugu etc. and then I have to broke their heart that I am from Lucknow.

"Really" is obvious reaction on their face with long pause & ample exclaimation from my esteemed friends who had bet on my identity with someone who knew me earlier. Okk..Enough reasons for taking bath..Someday, I may able to demystify my identity to others by taking regular bath!!

A good breakfast or lunch means good sleep and I had till 6 and then some chai wai some namkeen along with good gossip with my friends. The clock ticked 9 and my stomach asked for some things to go inside. No one was in mood of Full Food ( If you are from north India, it means rice, dal, chapati , sabzi and few add ons like pickle, sweet dish etc.) and then we had junks, crux and coffee. Well I thought of having some healthy toppings to my body on new year and it came in the form of "a cup full of horlicks milk" courtesy my dear friend ( I can't name else all in hostel will take advantage of his kindness) who took pain to make Jan 1, 2010 to be supplemented by nutrition. Finally Some movies and another day night is gone, be it 1st day of new year.

If mom's saying is true then surely I will enjoy luxurious life with surprised package and if not then this was best way to bring new year.

wo to suna hi hain naa, kal kisne dekha hain, jeelo aaj jee bhar k, agli subah kisne dekha hai.

Just wait,I forget to tell about my new year resolutions (you are right, New resolutions is first mandatory thing which comes to mind for living new year), actually for me it remains same just got recharged with new packages to make NEW. Sorry my dear friends, I can't divulge it..its secret of my success and your happiness. Once it is out, both things will be lost and I don't want to lose either. Just one hint, Belief & faith is my resolutions' core. Have a rocking year ahead. Every second is yours, live full but don't forget to enjoy the moments. These special moments make life special!!!

Young Doc's feeling: A tribute

I am a doctor who is soon going to be 25. I am proud of myself of achieving what I have done, the only problem is I am not there fully yet. Medical is long and a strenous course involving hours and hours of studying each day. MBBS being only graduate degree which doesn't hold much in this profession. PG or specialisation becomes prime requirement for earning even a decent living. To add to our woes, getting into PG with all reservations & making hellish of effort is not easy job. Every day of preparation, every moment of cramming, every second of reading and continuing our intern or resident work is too exhausting and then sitting at home or in hostel room just preparing for entrance becomes daunting when people of your age around you are getting married, having babies, taking vacation and being promoted. And here you are barely graduate & broken, fixed in studies. People assume you have no right to live because you are doctor, infact sometime you also feel that your life is webbed. You are thrashed many a times in hospital for no fault of your. Losing a patient hurts a doctor as much as relative but just we are not god and sometimes things are beyond control is not criteria to criticize us.

We give ten years (at least) of our life to study just surviving on meager stipend. Many a time resident are harassed for getting married. We end up becoming parent at an age which is medically unfit ( most of us get in age of 26 to 32). We are accused of being bookworm (like we have chosen), selfish, money minded (someone explain that to me) and of course negligent!! Missing family functions is something not we like to do but we get to hear is. you chose that profession. Yes, We did, and we are going for greater height. But we are human too. We would like to live life, enjoy life and being on same platform as you are. Give us break!!

Courtesy:A doc's feeling

My doctor is nice; every time I see, I'm ashamed of what I think of doctors in general.

Lust of rank

Pink Floyd’s “we don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control; no dark sarcasm in the classroom; teachers leave us kid alone”

"you have to get 1st rank" mom yelled at her son who barely managed to keep his books in bag. No word came out of his mouth. He felt like there is no life beyond 1st rank. Mom was so angry because she wanted his best. Lot of crosswords were impacting his brains.

He studied hard, toiled day and night. Even mom worked harder than him. Mom said revision is key to being best in studies. He took all tolls, awake at 5am ( 6 yr old child...gosshhh..i will not able to manage even I have to run for life), carried more weight than roadside labor and learned, crammed the answers. Finally on exam day, he was anxious more than the patient who was running for life in OT and filled with fear which is comparable to relatives who were standing outside for news of successful operations. Somehow god gave courage to hold his nerve, remembered the face of Mom and wrote exams. Every exam day was superlative of previous day. Finally those were over. My hero tried to enjoy life but expectations, fear, scolding & what,if prompted him to somehow entangled in results.

Day of result: He was first one to get awake in home, took bath, prayed heartedly to god as if this is last chance. He tried to cry but could not able to as wanted to hide his fear of result in front of family & to self. Contrary Mom's face was compassionate while but he was scared of any untoward outcomes and couldn't able to share his feelings to Mom.....

"All d best, son"

"thank, you" was meek reply!!!

Ohh god, help this poor child. I don't want CEO post, make one demotion to me but give him first rank else his life aspirations will end here. Finally, Great news, nothing untoward incident happened, expectedly he got first rank. He was filled with joy, tears rolled, voice stammered, leg was not in tandem and heart was throbbing. His adrenalin said he had achieved the world. The yellow report was firmly secured in little hand. He ran like lamb to reach home and saw mom waiting for him at door. Our little child gave his report card and held head high for completing the task assigned by mom. Mom saw the report, and first time smiled at him and said good work beta, now you have to maintain it. From that moment, he lost the life and got the rank. His life became book. He lived books, juggled numbers & plated with ranks but somehow missed the life.

The parent shadow in this guy thought that he will not allow such thing to happen to his offspring. Today at the age of 30, he got blessed with child. The rank was the first thing came to his mind. He wanted to demolish it from new generation in his family, and again we thought things will change!!

But the legacy continued: courtesy "greed of being father of ranker". Another creativity & innocence was lost!!

Shanti Sena

This all women sena (army) raised in the remote area of Bundelkhand region is fighting for the rights and dignity of the rural women who bore the brunt of drought and poverty. The women majority of them housewives and semi literate follow the Gandhian path of satyagrah to get their demands fulfilled, no doubt they have named their organization- Mahila Shanti Sena (MSS). In grip of drought for seven years this region has witnessed large migration. Men have left the villages in search of petty jobs to the far away cities including Mumbai, Indore, Surat and Delhi leaving behind women, old and children. The women who used to remain within the fore wall of the house suddenly found themselves at the center stage with the responsibility to run the family and to take care of the dependents- old as well as children. Challenge was not only from within but also from outside, as the landlords and contractors found them an easy target. As the incidents of sexual harassment as well as exploitation of the women increased the women decided to form an organization to fight jointly against the atrocities. The movement that started in Godaya Kala village located around 80 km east of Chitrakoot is spreading fast as more and more women are joining the sena. The head of Mahila Shanti Sena, Savitri Devi (50 years) told HT that the foundation of the sena was laid by nine women in January 2009. "Now the branch of sena is working in 50 villages and over 500 women have joined the rank. There was no assistance from the government or the administration to the women whose husband is working as migrant labourers", she said. "When it came to our survival the Bundeli women decided to pick up the cudgel and fight for their rights and honor. The lone women are vulnerable Savitri said and added on December 14 finding a woman alone in Kol Majra village some miscreants entered in the house forcibly and raped her. Instead of taking action against the culprits the police protected them and terrorised the victim. The volunteers of the Mahila Shaniti Sena gheraoed the police station and organised dharna. The senior police officers assured us that culprit would be taken into custody Savitri said and added since the cases of sexual harassment of women had increased the MSS have urged the women to move in groups.

Now the MSS is also focusing on the self-employment and health issues. The pregnant women are taken to the hospital for regular checkup and volunteers are present during delivery.

Source:HT