പഴങ്ങളുടെ രുചി

വെള്ളിയാഴ്ച മക്കളുമൊത്തു മാര്‍ക്കറ്റില്‍ പോയതായിരുന്നു. ഫ്രൂട്ട് സ്ടാളിനു മുന്നില്‍ നിന്ന് വില ചോദിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ കണ്ട കാഴ്ച എന്റെ മനസ്സിനെ വല്ലാതെ പിടച്ചുലച്ചു.

പത്തു വയസ്സോളം പ്രായം വരുന്ന ഒരു പെണ്‍കുട്ടിയും അവളുടെ അഞ്ചു വയസ്സുവരുന്ന അനിയത്തിയും വേസ്റ്റ് ബക്കറ്റില്‍ നിന്നും കടക്കാര്‍ ചീഞ്ഞു പുറത്തേക്ക് എറിയുന്ന മാങ്ങകള്‍  ശേഖരിക്കുകയാണ്. രണ്ടു പേര്‍ക്കും എന്‍ടെ മക്കളുടെ അതേ പ്രായം..

'ചീയാത്ത ഒരു മാങ്ങാ അവരും തിന്നണം. പഴങ്ങളുടെ രുചി അവരും അറിയണം' എന്ന് മനസ്സ് പറഞ്ഞു.

Free Drive

The man was waving his hand and looked very desperate. I slowed down the car, rolled down my window and he asked me in Arabic if I go to placeA.

I am not good in Arabic barely know few words and since I have a gold fish memory I hardly know the name of more than five places in this city. I told him that I am going to placeB and I do not know where placeA is. He requested if I can give him a ride.

That is actually against the rules here also its not safe too. U never know the background of the guest. The police if caught you will assume that u r running a private taxi which is illegal. But saying no to a desperate face is something I need to practice more.

I nod and he hops in, we Salam each other and he immediately introduces himself.

മനസാക്ഷി ഉള്ളവര്‍

കുറച്ചു വര്‍ഷം മുന്‍പ് നടന്ന കഥയാണ്, ഞാന്‍ ദുബൈയില്‍ ജോലി ചെയ്യുന്ന സമയം, ഒരു മലയാള പത്രത്തില്‍ ഒരു പരസ്യം കണ്ടു. "മനസാക്ഷി ഉള്ളവരെ ഇതിലെ" എന്നായിരുന്നു തലക്കെട്ട്.

ഒരു കുടുംബം നിരാലംബരായിരിക്കുന്നു ഭര്‍ത്താവിന്റെ മരണത്തോടെ.
അവര്‍ താമസിക്കുന്നത് റയില്‍വേ ലൈനിന്‍റെ സമീപത്തെ പുറമ്പോക്കില്‍ ആണ്, ഉമ്മ രോഗിയും, മക്കള്‍ പഠിക്കുകയും ആണ്. ഒരു വരുമാനവും ഇല്ല.. സ്ഥലത്തെ കുറച്ചു പ്രമാണിമാര്‍ ഒരു ബാങ്ക് അക്കൗണ്ട്‌ നമ്പര്‍ എല്ലാം വെച്ചു കൊടുത്ത പരസ്യം. 

ഒരു ചെട്ടകുടിലിന്റെ മുന്നില്‍ നില്‍ക്കുന്ന കുടുംബം, 'കണ്ടാല്‍  ആരുടേയും കരള്‍ അലിയും' എന്നും എഴുതിയിട്ടുണ്ട്.

The Ball

Guess what my son is holding in his hands.!!

Its an Ostrich's Egg.

When are you Snorkeling

Snorkeling involves swimming on the 'surface' of the sea with proper snorkeling gears (a diving mask and a breathing tube (known as snorkel) that allows a swimmer who is swimming along the surface of the water to breathe normally, even though the swimmer's face is just below the surface, peering down into the water)

Snorkeling is great fun and you will never understand what you missed till you try it on your own. I bought the snorkel, the mask and smimming shoe. This was a boot shaped shoe to avoid contact with the sharp corals that might cut your feet. Trust me you dont want to go for snorkling without a proper swimming shoe.

ഉപ്പയും ജീന്‍സും പിന്നെ ഞാനും

എന്‍റെ പിതാവ് സ്നേഹത്തിന്‍റെ നിറകുടമായിരുന്നു. വളരെ തീവ്രവും ഭ്രാന്തവും ആയിരുന്നു ഉപ്പാടെ സ്നേഹം. 

സ്നേഹം വന്ന് നിറയുമ്പോള്‍ ആദ്യമെല്ലാം ഉപ്പ ഒരു കയര്‍ എടുക്കുമായിരുന്നു, അത് കൊണ്ട് മക്കളെ കെട്ടിയിടും പിന്നെ പോയി കയ്യെത്തുന്ന ഉയരത്തില്‍ നിന്നും ഒരു കമ്പ് പറിച്ചെടുത്ത് പൊതിരെ ഒരു സ്നേഹ മഴയാണ്, കമ്പ് മുറിയുന്നത്‌ വരെ ആണ് അതിന്‍റെ കണക്ക് അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ ചോര കാണണം.

Tossing out my best friend

I felt very uneasy, the letter brought too many memories. Bitter and Pleasant memories. Why now after all these years? I read his letter again.

Hi Thahir,

Why all the fury with me. I believe we were and are good friends. Cool down a little bit. I don't want to sound philosophical, "friends forgive". I apologize for not informing/inviting for my marriage. I have very few friends and don't want to lose any.

I don't know your whereabouts for the past 4 years. What is happening and how are you doing. Let me know of what you have been up to. I hope to hear from you and do let me know your phone number.

Best Regards,

Hurting your loved ones

This is one of the letters that I wrote to my non biological daughter. Recently I came across this and thought that it was a nice one to share.

Love n Hurt - I feel they are directly proportional. You cannot love someone without hurting them. I think love itself is hurting, the one that shows "happy everyone" exists only in movies.

If love hurts and the more u love, hurts you more then should u love someone. I guess one could compare it to taking a bath everyday. Bath makes u clean and refreshed that gives you energy to run more, the more you run, the more dirty u become. So to avoid being dirty dont bath so that u dont feel like running and u r less dirty.

Single Day Trek Kit

I came across this post from the site 'Nature Knights' and thought I should share it as a reminder.

Basic Check List and preparation for One Day Trek.

Essential Survival Kit for Outdoors

I came across this post from the site 'Nature Knights' and thought I should share it as a reminder.

Survival Kit for Outdoors

We have made this checklist for survival based on our practical experience and has not come out of a diploma course on survival. Too often we think of ourselves as separate from nature, forgetting that we are just a part of it. We would not spend much time waxing lyrical about our experience in nature; because you must have your own. So till you develop your own survival kit; here is one that may serve your purpose as a basic survival kit for outdoors; built on it based on your experience with nature and to suit the needs of your eco-adventure.

Clothing
Clothing for the outdoors must be practical. Choose carefully, and don’t swallow sales-blurbs too willingly. In our experience, once someone has settled on a favorite garment they use it for many years. No single garment will do all jobs – you need a versatile system of layers that can be arranged to suit all weathers. Your clothing will need to cope with hot dry conditions as well as cold, wind and wet.

Pinch your pain away

"Let's have a surgery on your back. Nothing to be worried of, it's so common now a days. But I should tell you that the last patient limped after surgery since they accidently cut a vein, u know there are thousands of veins in that area, one needs to very careful…" I listened to the doctor in utter disbelief.

I had a rough encounter with my back, to be medically correct, I had a serious disk prolapse at L4,L5 and L5,S1. This basically means that the disks (rubber washers that allow movement of the spinal column) slipped from between the spinal bones or 'vertebras'.

The day shame died

What was in his little mind at that time? Maybe he wanted the sun to disappear and its pitch dark so nobody notices him, or was he thinking 'how will I ever look up again in front of these people', or was he mad at his mother for this humiliation cause he was too scared to be mad at his father.

The child in his early ten's was remorse, did not dare to lift his eyes, he knew his father was behind him. People in that little town watched with mixed reactions a young topless boy carrying a heavy dirty basket on his head and his dad walking behind him with a cane.

The boy was more like his mother, always smiling, always there to help anyone. His dad had to struggle during his early life and that had made him a tough man who did not take a 'No' for an answer.

Aurevoir Teacher

Let me show you a card trick, said my brother. I stopped what I was doing and looked at the three cards in his hands. He had an Ace of Diamond and two black aces. He said 'u need to touch the Ace of Diamond' and slowly he turned the cards face down. It was so slow that u cant even fool a kid with that move. The card obviosly was now on the top but before I could select the top card he told me 'let me simplify it for you. I assure you that the top card is not the Ace of Diamonds so now you only need to worry about two cards'. Clever. My bro is fooling me and I decided to play along.

I reached for the other cards one by one and found that they were the black aces. I turned the last card and found it to be the red card. He smiled and told me 'You are not watching, that is NOT the Ace of Diamond, its the Ace of Hearts, the Ace of Diamond is HERE' and he dramatically pulled the ace of diamond from the top of the deck that he never touched. I couldnt belive my eyes. The red card I saw had been transformed TO an Ace of Hearts. But I DID see the ace of diamond among the three. How can he do this, he knew no magic before!!

Kindling My Reading

I had been reading a lot about Amazon 'Kindle' for a long time now. They introduced the eBook reader during Nov 2007. At that time I took it mostly as hype. I was not convinced to pay a dearly 400$ for reading books.

I use to read a lot of books when I was young. I had membership in many libraries most of the time, brought home thick books and read thru them without sleeping. Books talked to you, took you to wonderful dreamy land that was lots of fun.

The Vanishing Cycle

He could still feel the tinkering in his feet after those long peddling. He had plans for many places to go, friends to meet and now it looks like it's over. He looked into the open vastness with his sad eyes. We watched him in sadness as well. A sweet dream was crushed and there was nothing much left to do.

The picture in the ad looked beautiful. It was a red sports cycle. Even though it was used it looked brand new. The asking price was 175. We called the guy, one philippino called Ray, and agreed to meet at his house. Akky I guess was not very positive, cause a second hand cycle was not exactly he had in mind. He had eyed a cycle in the shop, a kind of designer bike and he knew that his dad was not going to get him that for 400.

King of Kerala

How did I become a King. I am not sure how it all started, some 200 years ago or was it 300 years, I was their leader, did they call me King or did I ask them to call me a King, I am not sure. Well it does not matter anymore, it was long back, very very long back. What matteres is that I had been their King, a very good King.