Series of Accidents

The morning bus that leaves at 8.15am from our stop was not all set for a shocking picture that was waiting for us at that half-blind curve before we had another 2kms to cover the last lap of our not-so-F1'ish race to reach office that Tuesday.

It was a gruesome scene of a man lying right in the middle of the road with his head almost severed from the neck and squashed out on the top to bring out all the contents in the most grisly way possible. Lying by his side was a battered bi-cycle and a cloth-bag contents of which were strewn around languidly. It was all fresh and new – the food he had brought for his lunch and his slaughter as well.

Should it be the tanker lorry driver or should it be the cyclist himself who has to be held responsible for this brutal outcome?

I couldn’t digest the picture of this cruel accident that hit me hard; pulling out a strong chord linked to my heart and pushing out all the enthusiasm I had saved in for that Tuesday morning... IT was plainly disastrous!

Believe me I couldn’t have 2 of the 3 meals for that day and anymore than a glass of milk for that night. The same continued for the rest of the week as well..

The very same day while was traveling back to my home taking the last bus for the day which happens to be the one at 11.30pm – I was shocked yet again when I had to see an almost similar accident – but this time the victim was a calf, the horrifying sight of this calf being crushed to an extent that its innards were squeezed out and laid in an awkward position with its eyes half-open in the middle of the same highway, just a couple of kilometers away from the previous accident scene.

And it didnt end here either.... After getting down at my stop from my office bus, I had to get across the road to walk though an alley which would lead me to my home. There was hardly any traffic at that point of time and more so on that not-so-trafficked road that I was trying to cross. I would have crossed the first half of the road, when I suddenly saw a Qualis from nowhere speeding towards me at 80-90kmph on that deserted road, and for a second I thought I was dead.

Hell! It took me one full minute to assimilate the miraculous escape that I had from an accident that would have seen at least one of my leg severed!

I was still feeling the throb in my left knee where I got a close-contact of the Qualis brushing past me. I screamed behind the car with whatever swear-words I could muster-up at that moment, only to see the trailing tail-lights getting far & out of my visibility zone.

What’s with these late night and early morning drivers that they’ve taken for granted, the roads that they drive on is completely theirs and that they care the least for others who unfortunately happen to take the same roads to reach their earthly destination but end-up finding their eternal one!

"Please do not destroy lives even if you cant save them!"

Banana Leaf!

Food served in traditional banana leaf had always been delicious, mouth-watering and not to mention an all time favorite for food-lovers or gluttons if you may call in a mean sense.

Well, now there is a controversy, which would pull-up to denote, being a food-lover is nowhere related to being a glutton because for all you know a person who loves food may not necessarily be an over-eater or glutton, but just a person who simply enjoys every fraction of his time spent on admiring & taking-in his food...

Anyways all the controversies apart, the topic of the day is definitely not the one about the hubbub mentioned above but it’s about the scrumptiousness that would make you go crazy over the food that’s been served in front of you in an extremely heartwarming way, much more, to keep you connected to the ethnics that once sunk deep inside you and has now gone astray with the busy race of your (our?!) modern existence!

As a matter-of-fact I would say food always tasted much better than what it had been, when served with all the warmth & hospitability.

There really is a paramount difference in the flavor of the food, based on how hostile or how cordial it’s been served to you!

It's really strange how much one can accomplish by following a simple uncomplicated life. How complicated, needlessly we have made life for ourselves. It really does not matter I guess what you are as long as you are happy.

And to be happy with simple things in life is an art and learning alone wouldn’t suffice, you would have to master the art to live every inch of it!

The threshold of every July, back at home would chime in the arrival of a bunch of festive days to follow bringing in more joyous moments to slurp in the yummy, hot-sweet & hot-spicy food on the traditional serving leaf .

The taste I say is more, in eating that way because it’s more close to being in touch with Mother Nature; you feel you are still a part of the earth and its earliest inmates!

Unsurprisingly, it gives you the fulfillment of having had a good meal, let alone the extra appetizing effect that you get in as a bonus!

More often than not, it impairs the savory of the edibles in an awful manner on a daily routine whenever you are pushed into the trend of having to eat on ceramic plates having to perform a solo hockey or javelin match invariably in a crowd of high-society polished community, or the delirious inhabitants that queue-up with steel-plates in an ostensible middle class canteen/mess.

On that note, one must really be lucky to appreciate the aftertaste that he/she gains, upon eating one of the most sought-after food items of South-India, officially named as “Sugar-Pongal” and practically identified as the brown-colored rice, a residue we get when we boil the rice with milk & jaggery, drenched in ghee & festooned with dry grapes, cashew nuts, Pista and badam… served hot & sizzling on a lush green, garden-fresh banana-leaf , which would in turn cause the green leaf to go black cause of the intense heat radiating from the steaming Pongal – “Man its Heaven!!” is one simple line to explain the feeling on a much precise account!

At that golden moment of ecstasy with your eyes, nose and mouth watering when you take-in the first morsel of the most delightful food, prepared by the world’s best cook – Your Mom (of course)…Gushing out is the feel of paradise and fantasy – Unsurpassed !