Mental Excursions

I caught a cold! The news does not merit a mention in the Finance Minister’s proposals for our health budget, nor is it that I have never caught a cold, far from it. But the distinguishing factor is that every time I get a cold, a scratch on the skin, a sunburn, a mosquito bite, a bump/cut/bruise, whatever small thing it is, the pain and discomfort are experienced afresh. It is not like narrating a fairy tale starting with ‘once upon a time…’ Everyone catches a common cold some time or the other in life unless it is a symptom of serious illness like flu, RSV, allergy etc., or even, God forbid, Covid in some new avatar. Yet, do not be surprised if you meet somebody who does not believe that common/head cold is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract i.e., nose and throat. All of us have heard our mothers and grandmothers warn, “Don’t get your feet/clothes/hair wet or wander in the cold, you’d catch a cold,” as if like the devil ever ready to enter your soul if you do not ...

Cheers to all auntyjis! He was polite, quite good at his job and loved to talk, non-stop at that, but Mani did not seem to mind. The third morning as I opened the door for him, he again bowed his head slightly and with folded hands, said – Namaste , auntyji . That took me by surprise. He was not being sarcastic or offensive. Waves of mirth rose in me. He had greeted me with  only  a ‘ namaste’ the first two days. He seemed to be of an indeterminable age. Short, bald, paunchy, with furrows on his forehead, moving with measured steps, he could be anything from 35 to 50. I am not good at guessing age and revelations about how long someone has been on this planet, generally take me by surprise. What is funny is that he still calls Mani – ‘ bhaiya’ (brother), yet promoted me, Mani’s wife, to aunty , one rank above, in relation. In India it is considered rude to address an older person not related to you by their name unless you are in a business environment. (Then too, it ...

A matter of body language? Watching all those FIFA cup matches, it struck me how we use the names of some parts of our body to express action or activity. That means we use them as verbs and not only as nouns. I am not a teacher of English, so I shall stay away from explaining about transitive or intransitive verbs and only stick to what I have found. I have made extensive use of  Merriam Webster,  Collins  and  Oxford dictionaries and borrowed some examples for easy understanding. Now, for the narrative. Ishan headed (led) the investment-promotion team in a multinational company. The company had paid the annual bonus, so he took his whole team to a nearby restaurant for celebration. Everyone bellied up ( walk to or toward something) to the bar and drank like crazy. Ishan was fine with it till it was time to pay and he was disappointed that although everyone had received bonus, he had to foot the bill (pay the bill) because he was the senior most. Nursing ...

51 weeks to go! Anyone you know who on the 31 st of December, didn’t want better 365 days ahead? People look for rejuvenation, reenergization, reinvigoration and everything else positive and noble in the last few hours of a year and in a fit of passion for renewal of life, make a resolution that when the new dawn breaks, they would emerge (or try to) a better specimen of whatever kind they have been so far. According to Cambridge dictionary, a new year resolution is a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year. You lived your life till December last year but wanted to turn a new leaf last week. Did you promise to be a better person/spouse/parent/child/professional etc.? Did you resolve to learn Zumba/ grammar/rug-making/mountain-biking/French cuisine in 2023? Maybe you pledged to give up junk food, smoking, drinking, gambling, wasting time, complaining, worrying, bad company, giving unsolicited advi...