Sunday 21 December, 2008

Money stolen from a bra strap????

Over the incident that u are about to read, our family has laughed a good number of times, through the years.

Introduction: Our family knew 2 irresponsible bachelor brothers staying in bangalore. The 2 bachelors had another elder brother who was quite a responsible guy and well respected, who also happened to be our neighbour. Among the bachelors, the elder's name was Rajan, who didnt like working. He whiled his time away smoking and looking at girls and women while sitting at his door step. The younger bachelor was vijayan who too was as irresponsible, but atleast he worked as a tailor, to fill up his stomach.

Our next door neighbour Mrs. Chandrika was also a malayalee. She came to know that Rajan (elder bachelor) was going to kerala in a few days time. She wanted to send some money (saved without her husband's knowledge, possibly) to her elder sister without incurring any charges. Once when Rajan came to our house Mrs Chandrika called him and asked if he could do her a favour. She asked him to give a consignment to her elder sister, since Rajan's native was quite near to her elder sister's. He agreed to the request, though he didnt like Mrs. Chandrika at all.

Mrs. Chandrika gave him a platic bag and asked the thing to be given to her elder sister. While Rajan was in the train enroute to kerala from bangalore, he remembered about the plastic bag given by our neighbour. He took it out and saw that it contained only old clothes. Why should anyone give old clothes to one's own kin. More than any else, the thing which caught his attention was a bra which was quite old. Whatever the situation, no one ever gives used inner garments to others, let alone a sister. He smelled something fishy. Rajan started checking the bra thoroughly, and he found something inserted under the strap. There was a slit made and Rs.200/- was folded neatly and inserted inside. He cooly took the money, pocketed it and kept the bra back.

Once in kerala, he went to Mrs.Chandrika's Sister's house and handed over the plastic bag. The lady took the plastic bag. Later she would have searched for the money as briefed by Mrs. Chandrika through letter. Alas, there wasn't any trace of money in the bra strap.

After a week or two, Rajan came back to Bangalore, and as usual he visited our home. Mrs Chandrika saw him and gave him a harsh loook, but couldnt say anything. The money was gone, but she couldnt claim it. Nor could she tell this to her husband, she was in total fix, and had lost the money.

(Rajan and Vijayan, still remain as irresponsbile as ever. Rajan still doesnt work, though its more than 25 years, since this incident happened. Both are unhappily married, with kids in their teens and early 20s)

Thursday 18 December, 2008

A little knowledge saved a life

In my previous story i had talked about a child who loved the word "Tata". This incident had happened to her grandmother.

This grandmother who was quite active and healthy, one day suddenly collapsed on the floor of her living room with no apparent reason. Her daughter-in -law rushed from the kitchen after hearing this heavy thud of a sound. The elderly lady lay there bundled and lifeless. Her daughter-in-law wailed and cried loud. Quite immediately the neighbours rushed to the spot and tried to revive her with little sprinkling of water. When she didnt react, someone placed a finger below her nose and found she wasnt breathing anymore. Her heart wasn't beating too. Everybody declared her dead.

This was apparently a cardiac arrest. The crowd swelled around this house, and there was lot of commotion & crying. These sounds alerted my mom, though we stayed 3 houses to the right of this house. She too rushed to find this granny on the floor, and it was a good 2 minutes after this happened. My mom was little well read and she had read about CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation). She immediately asked the crowd to clear the area to allow fresh air to flow, and then she placed the lady flat on the floor, and started rhythmically applying pressure on her chest. Within 3 to 4 seconds of this procedure, the old lady suddenly gave out a jerk and a shudder. She breathed back to life, while the crowd was quite surprised and spellbound to watch this happen. A life was saved.

It takes only a minute to learn CPR, but it can save a life. In the instant case, my mom hadn't done the mouth to mouth resuscitation, though the simple act of thumping her chest saved the lady's life.

Was on busier things

The past 2 weeks didnt allow me to have a leisurely time online. The anniversary of the Babri masjid demolition is always a time of uncertainty, and we were on a high alert, and left with no free time. right after that i proceeded on an official visit to chennai for 5 days and was back only this morning.

For all my friends who visited this page and found nothing new, iam really sorry. but i will be back with my old ways, hopefully after a few more days. Tomorrow i shall again be catching a train to bangalore for my 2 weeks of my planned leave. In the next 2 weeks, my blog posts wouldnt be regular. I need to catch up with my wife, and spend some time with her, who is my topmost priority and purpose of my leave.

Thanks to shyla who visited my blog and appreciated it, through other channel. And many thanks once again to other friends who follow my blog. My prayers and wishes for everyone. Lots of love and god bless.

Joshi

Tuesday 9 December, 2008

A child who loved the word "Tata"

This happened many years ago while we were dwelling in a colony, the very first house we came to in bangalore. A tamilian guy who was 3 houses away from ours earned a living selling fruits in a hand cart. With time, he had earned a lot of money and went on to employ atleast 4 to 5 other youngsters and gave a handcard each to them. His family consisted of his mother, wife and 2 kids (a girl and a boy). The girl child was mentally not sharp, a little loss of focus. This kid used to step into our home whenever it went strolling (it was all of 3 years, mind u) with the trademark yellow tamilian cloth bag slung over its shoulders.

Getting this kid out of our home posed the biggest challenge, after it had entered without any invitation. My mom used to lift the child and place it outside our door, and it would start crying like all hell broke loose. Anyone might easily mistake that we had harmed the child badly, such kind of commotion the child used to make. My mom would immediately take the child inside our home, helplessly. It would only go out on its own volition, which we never were sure when it would happen. This kid's ways went onto become my mom's achilles heel. she was quite frustrated. This tiny tot was holding her to ransom.

One day when this girl child entered our home, my mom was fraught with distraught as she was quite busy. There was no way the child would go out. My mom thought of an idea. She waved her hand to the child and said "tata". Voila, it had worked. The child returned the wave and said "tata" and started walking back, homebound. All through the way to home, the child kept smiling and waving its hand. This trick was repeated by my mom quite successfully for infinite times just as the child came near our home. "Tata" became the favourite word for my mom as well as the child. Both were more than happy uttering and hearing the word. It worked wonderfully well, and my mom could return back to her daily chores, not worrying about the child's safety. All it took was a tata.

Ingenuity had won her her day, i mean countless days. :)

(Wait for another story from the same house hold, in my next episode.)

Wednesday 3 December, 2008

A Ghost's Hearty Laugh

All my rationalist friends, this is a real story and u will agree with me at the end.


My childhood was spent in a rather humble colony, which had 8 houses in a row. Television was a much sought after thing during the period my story happened, and only around 3 houses in that colony had it.


Among the 3 houses which owned a TV, a mallu's family who were our next door neighbour, owned a colour TV. They were known to hire VHS movie casettes & play it clandestinely, in low volume. They hated other children entering their house to watch the TV and infringe upon their privacy. The colony's children were little rascals in their own right. If they knew movies were being played in a particular house, they would gently knock to gain entry. If it didnt work, one thing is sure, knocking hard on the door and running away would continue by the colony's children, endlessly.


One child while passing in front of our neighbour's door had heard tell-tale signs of a movie being played. Suddenly the child could hear loud laughter blaring out of the TV, eventhough the door of our neighbour was closed. News spread like wildfire. A Horror movie was being played clandestinely, and only when the Ghost in the movie laughed hard, they could come to know of it. All the children got together in front of our neighbour's house and knocked gently. Our neighbour was kind enough to open the door and the stream of children pushed their way in, ruthlessly. They were shocked to see that the TV was off, and then suddenly once again they heard the laugh of the Ghost. They turned their head and saw my Dad was the person who had attracted their attention with his inimitable laugh. Actually he was laughing over a joke that he himself had cracked and shared with our neighbour. The children all broke into laughter too. Once I and my younger sis came to know of this episode we too had a hearty laugh.

My Dad still continues his laughing ways, and though he has raised many eyebrows over the years with his unique style, one thing is sure, he makes everyone happy like no one else does. I am so proud of him.

*** Prem, i enjoy ur comments, but let me see if i can include one story from our school days too. Well, i did my training in Jalahalli (East). Thanks to Mehr, Smriti and others for their interest in my blog. Wishing Smriti a fast recovery. My prayers.

Love

Joshi

Monday 1 December, 2008

A Robber's not so good day

Before i get into my story telling spree, i felt a pressing need to appreciate all the comments posted by my friends. Your views whether positive or negative are all welcome and it keeps me anchored for more active blogging. Thanks to each and everyone.

Now, over to the story thing. Ennjjoy.............

Circa 1994: I was undergoing training in Airforce, along with other batchmates in our intake. Among all the trainees, i was quite close to one trainee named Eshwar, who also belonged to bangalore. This story belongs to Eshwar & another character who wasnt quite lucky that day.

During training days we were allowed to visit the city only on holidays that too in uniform. Ofcourse in uniform, one was always recognised and had to conduct fittingly. I and Eshwar used to jump the compound together and roam around in civvies so that we will be one among the crowd. That particular day eshwar was alone when he was coming back to the camp.

It was around 9.30 or 10pm when he was returning, and suddenly he was confronted by a robber. The robber wielded a knife and asked Eshwar to part with his money. Eshwar wasnt short of courage, but didnt do anything. He instead warned the Robber that he too was a localite and shouldnt be mistaken for a north indian. The robber wasnt ready to hear anything. Eshwar gave away all the money he had in his purse, and started walking empty handed.

Once the robber got all the money, he too started heading home. Quite unusually, Eshwar started walking back fast and cautiously followed the robber. He found the robber's house and then returned back to the camp.

At the camp, he shared this story to all the young trainees. There were atleast 3 to 4 trainees who had had the same experience but hadn't reacted. They had lost their money and kept quiet. Consensus was formed and few of the bold guys decided that the robber should be taught a lesson. Around 15 to 20 trainees jumped the compound once again, led by eshwar and they went straight to the robber's house. One of them knocked the door of the robber's dwelling, and when it was opened, they barged inside, took the robber by his collar, told what the matter was to his family members, started bashing him and carried him inside the camp (like always, through the compound & not before retrieving the money back). Once inside the camp, they bashed him black and blue. In his wildest of dreams the small time robber would never have thought about such a consequence.

This whole episode got known to the airforce authorities, and as expected they didnt approve of the way we conducted. The robber was left to go and the trainees were reprimanded and as expected group punishment followed the next day. Everyone took the punishment sportingly too, but were quite satisfied with their action.

Fortunately or unfortunately, i wasnt available on that day to be with Eshwar, my most dear friend among all the trainees.