How many are free from –
Anxiety, Betrayal, Debt, Dreams, Failure, Fear, Indignity,
Stress.......?
The compulsory ‘stay at home’
lock-down, forced by the COVID – 19 (Corona Virus) pandemic in the world, is
redefining the routines of the global civilizations.
People are again trying to
become human beings, having healthier lifestyles and better family bondages. Apart
from being informed upon on the developments of COVID situation, the stranded
people started helping in the household chores, bonding with old friends, group
prayers through various apps like Zoom and Houseparty, catching up on solving
puzzles, singing on Smule and so on.
Chennai (erstwhile Madras), the
city, where I reside in, used to be a conservative place where people were of
very high intelligence and exemplary discipline, who used to end their days
rather early and 9.00 pm every day to hit the bed rather quietly.
It is because of this
discipline, intelligence and also hard work that Chennai becomes a likable and
lovable place to live for many. Even today, Chennai is bustling with activity
from 5.30 am onwards. While most of the tea shops start their business from
5.00 am, many of the restaurants begin serving from 6.30 am onwards. Most of
the people take a bath, make their peace with their respective gods they have
faith in and start their work.
Such discipline has been
disrupted in the past few decades, betraying the faith of the people in
themselves and the age old systems and methods they were following. Today Tamil
Nadu is synonymous with protests of every kind. What happened to the wonderful civilization
of this city dwellers, whose intelligence was renowned? Why are they allowing
themselves to be lead by almost imbeciles? Protest for this and a petition for
that. Nothing goes without a protest. In the process, lot of anxiety, indignity
and stress is created.
Things have degenerated so much
that the cab drivers (chauffeurs of aggregators whom I engage for my regular
commuting) in the city whine and wince that it is the girls, whom they meet as
passengers, who appear to be more degenerated than the boys. Many a chauffeur
has shared his thoughts that it is dreadful to pick a girl or a lady in the
middle of a night as in most cases, they are drunk, badly dressed and also that
they use more abusive language than the guys! The drivers say that they cannot
refuse a ride and if they take them in, they fear the consequences.
A conservative Madras has
changed to a cosmo Chennai in the name of development and tech upgrade.
Yet, all these changed on the
23rd March, 2020, when the government tested waters with a one day
lock-down which was immediately followed by a 21 day lock-down keeping the people
in their homes to help them save themselves from the COVID-19 pandemic’s
infection.
Overnight, this made changes.
The colony, where I stay in now, used to be buzzing with activity till about
12.00 am with a few nocturnal owls like myself keeping the buzz on. Today the
colony is back to where it was some 30 years ago. Lights down mostly by 9.30 pm
and calm by 10.00 pm. I, who used to go to bed only around 3.30 am now close
shop with my last movie on the Netflix by about 11.30 pm and hit the sack to
work on Sudoku on my mobile app till I slip into sleep. I wake up around 5.30 am
and since I have nothing to do important in life anymore, I hit the bed again
to wake up at a leisurely pace. This is the time-slot I started dreaming in,
nowadays.
As always, I forget most of the
dreams I had, when I wake up. But then there are times when you have disturbing
dreams which have to be dumped halfway before a solution or an end is reached.
Yesterday, I was being threatened to sign a letter implicating someone who, I
know, was innocent. I refused and they advanced upon me in a menacing way, to
sort of ‘persuade’ me. I woke up sweating and in the process dumping the dream.
But more than the persuading torture intended for me to make me sign the
implicating letter, the torture of not knowing what happened thereafter, gnawed
at me the whole day.
Today morning, I was being
driven by someone in a BMW sedan with a left wheel drive. I don’t know why it
had to be a left wheel drive car as in India it is mostly the right wheel
drive. The car stopped at Rangarajapuram Main Road near the train’s level
crossing. There is no more level crossing there in reality, as it gave way for
a narrow subway. Then the car driver alighted without as much giving a hint and
walked away from the car while I was still in the car. The car started sliding
in the reverse as the road was a gradient and I couldn’t find the hand brake to
stop it. I never drove a BMW yet, so the unfamiliarity. At last, after quite a
bit of a struggle of removing my seat belt, crawling into the driver’s seat, I
could stomp hard on the brake and bring it to a stop. From there, I started
driving back, and oh what a smooth drive it was and again went to the
Rangarajapuram level crossing to take a left at Paraankusapuram only to hear
Gandhi, my colleague from the last organisation I worked in, and whom I now
recognised as the driver who left me, telling me to come straight and lo, I see
Seshachalam hills, the abode of Tirumala Venkateswara Swamy (Balaji). I was
giving way for the traffic and woke up. Don’t know what happened, after!
Thereafter, when I was going
through the morning ritual of wading through some 200 good mornings on my WhatsApp,
over a cuppa, I saw this message from dear V. S. Parthasarathy whom we all
refer to as VSP with love.
Yesterday, he had invited our WhatsApp
group members to solve a filmy puzzle he gave and very faithfully, I did my
best and asked him for the final answers. Today he responds that even he doesn’t
have answers but if I wish I may write a blog on orphaned puzzles such as this.
Now you know what triggered this blog. I owe it to dear VSP.
But talking of puzzles and
orphans, I don’t really mind what happens to the dreams that I had to dump, but
my thoughts are with those innumerous orphans on the roadsides of India who
must be puzzled with the developments and what moved their meager food away
from them. Here in Chennai, there have been quite a few good samaritans who
have been trying their best to feed these unfortunate homeless people even
against the odds of being beaten / caned by the police, for not conforming to
the lock-down dictum.
But the question is how long
and how much? A sad situation, indeed! Those poor people hardly had any dreams
and if at all they had, those must be too small. Even those are beaten and
broken making them face indignities and live in eternal failure, fear and
hunger!
Will God change that too with
this calamity?
Folks, what do you think? Do
let me know your thoughts!
Till then,
Krutagjnatalu (Telugu), Nanri
(Tamil), Dhanyavaadagalu (Kannada), Nanni (Malayalam), Dhanyavaad (Hindi),
Dhanyosmi (Sanskrit), Thanks (English), Dhonyavaad (Bangla), Dhanyabad (Oriya),
Gracias (Spanish), Grazie (Italian), Danke Schon (Deutsche), Merci (French),
Obrigado (Portuguese), Shukraan (Arabic), Shukriya (Urdu), Bohoma
Sthuthiyi (Sinhalese) Aw-koon (Khmer), Kawp Jai Lhai Lhai (Laotian), Kob
Kun Krab (Thai),Asante (Kiswahili), Maraming Salamat sa Lahat
(Pinoy-Tagalog-Filipino), Tack (Swedish), Fa'afetai
(Samoan), Terima Kasih (Bahasa Indonesian) and Tenkyu (Tok Pisin of Papua New
Guinea).
Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy
Chennai, India
