Precious Pearls

What she said went viral and evoked spontaneous responses because she was no other than Angelina Jolie! Who’s who, being in the limelight, is a subject of scrutiny. I beg to differ a little in this case. To me, though she is ‘the’ Angelina Jolie, ‘what’ is more important than ‘who’.  Her decision to undergo a double mastectomy (removing both breasts) to reduce the risk of breast cancer is certainly courageous as a woman and indeed inspiring as an Oscar winning actor. More than undergoing a surgery, her conviction to go public about it through New York Times ‘Co-Oped’ page is praiseworthy. She could very much keep it a very personal thing and there couldn’t have been any debate. Yet she consciously decided to announce it. Her mother being a victim of cancer and Joile herself at high risk, she has seen the dreaded world of cancer from close quarters. That could be the reason perhaps, she wore her heart on her sleeves. To quote her, “I have been able to keep this private and to...

It is said that you become what you think. Take it a step ahead and you know you become what you are told! For a few years, I preferred to stick to a definite schedule because I ‘thought’ it was good. I frequently heard from others though that it was a little boring. For those ‘free-spirited’ folks, following the same routine could be tedious. They felt it spoke of a conventional mindset and advised I needed to add a little spice to my life! I didn’t pay too much heed to them but I found their comments interesting. When the need for a break is unanimously imposed from all quarters, we tend to take it for real and do things differently. If you are an early riser and someone tells you need to sleep well, the next day, nothing can arouse you out of slumber. Maybe, you would find yourself too ‘fatigued’, home food would taste ‘mundane’, serious stuff could appear ‘uninteresting’ and the routine drive too ‘taxing’.  I had one such odd day when I had drastically deviated from my rou...

It spreads like wildfire or even faster when you try to conceal. It seems many can maintain anything but secrecy. Every family, office, or society has some ‘top secrets’ widely spoken about! Interestingly, anyone sharing ‘highly confidential’ matters doesn’t always have ill-intentions or loves gossiping; it seems a natural human tendency to speak out what is supposed to be hidden! The more you keep it under the wraps, greater the curiosity. After all, it’s never too easy to keep things to yourself. It’s a common experience in joint families where everybody talks about everybody else. Most of the times, it looks as if people are just waiting for a possible opportunity to target someone and make it a ‘hot’ topic of discussion. Of course, one thing needs to be mentioned that there is never any ill will here. Rest assured, they will all join hands and fight any adversity as one man. No matter how single-handedly one can handle things, it has to be a group activity in a joint family....

Neither exceptionally outstanding nor anything astounding; this is how I can describe myself. I am like most of you, a normal person. Of course, being ‘normal’ is very relative. Everyman’s concept of normality depends on the background one hails from and more importantly, on the expanse of one’s thinking and experience. Anything beyond one’s expanse could appear ‘abnormal’ or ‘shocking’. People, whose idea of leading a normal life is all about education, job, marriage and kids, not only love to go through the set pattern but also live to see the same cycle being repeated by their children and grandchildren. This is ‘normal’ for them. When they happen to meet persons who don’t believe in the social institution of marriage, they would be flabbergasted! They simply cannot imagine there could be a person who doesn’t want to get married or a couple not too keen on having kids. The later lot, on its part, would wonder how people could tirelessly go through set patterns generations after...

Can there be a day without a conflict? Sounds difficult, perhaps impossible! Conflict could be too strong a word to describe this state of mind but minor differences of opinion are part and parcel of our day-to-day lives. It’s very difficult for two individuals to agree in totality always. Be it social, domestic or even professional, all interpersonal relationships work on the uniform principle, “Let’s agree to disagree.”  When you can’t agree and not argue as well, all you can do is to agree to disagree. Forget with the other person, it’s even tough to agree with oneself. However hard you try to agree, mind will always put you in a conflicting situation! Once it seemed happening to me. One fine day, I found it hard to agree with people. Everything was as usual. No specific disturbances to play a spoilsport, neither was there any reason to disagree every time. Nevertheless, it appeared that all I had to offer to others that day was an opposite view! Of course, I didn’t sound i...

Sometimes, you are not on a holiday yet you take a break! A tad tough, it may sound, but I can say it does happen after I worked it out with myself. Here I am, back writing after a gap of a few days, close to a month. I had never decided to give my writing a break. I didn’t require one either. It started happening for some reason or the other and later on, I extended it for some more days. Let me mention that I had not stopped scribbling but like I said, I had taken a break though I wasn’t on a holiday!! I knew it well that neither would life stop nor would heavens fall if I didn’t write! Mind you, writings are more original (self-praise?) once you keep in mind that you are not doing anything earth shattering. Still I found the gap bothering others more than it did me! Some asked why I was off the scene. A few thought I was unwell. A few felt the workload was too much or I was perhaps outstation. I was okay with all of them. Interestingly, a friend of mine called to enquire if a...

A bagful of books! This is what the owner of a nearby library brought for me while closing it down. He told that me it was a loving gift for a regular and honest visitor and he had personally chosen the books. While leaving, he asked me to let him know about the book I like most. Thanking him for the gesture, I opened the heavy bag. Looking at the giant volume, I thought it would take me at least a year even to go through them. As soon as I opened the bag, I came across some brand-new and some rickety books, a few in shambles! Oh, he had given me the books which people had donated to his library! So, it was third or the forth hand!! I laid my hands on a half torn diary….I wouldn’t dare touch anyone’s personal diary, I opened it with a view to return it to the person to which it belonged. There was no name. As I moved on, I realised the diary of anonymous comprised only some figures. Someone had maintained an account of daily expenses. Just debit, credit and total, nothing more f...