Comedy

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The 10 Commandments of Blogging

1.  Thou shalt not judge thy fellow bloggers on their individual style, stance or perspective

2.  Thou shalt not make a nuisance of thyself in blogdom by being a source of negativity & useless heckling

3.  Thou shalt not misuse thy freedom of expression to spread discord; be ye tolerant to many a diverse point of view

4.  Remember thy blog, to keep it clean of spurious elements

5.  Honour thy fellow creatures by using thy blog to build-up rather than destroy, to share & entertain positively on this journey called life

6.  Thou shalt not slay another – be it person, religion, institution or business through vicious gossip, slander or character assassination

7.  Thou shalt stay humble & not get carried away by thine apparent success, blogfully speaking

8.  Thou shalt not steal ideas of another or give room for plagues … errrr … plagiarism, but give credit where credit is due

9.  Thou shalt not bear false witness in blogosphere

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s life or blogging success – wish them well, there’s plenty of room for all !!!!!

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Thus shalt ye call to mind & recall these Commandments when thou bloggeth.

I hope I’m given the grace to follow it too.

Amen.

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The birthright of every Indian

It happens only in India.

It is one of the most sacred questions of our land.

It is a question where anyone not even remotely close to you can come up boldly & ask.

It is a sort of consitutional right. It can be asked of anybody.

The right to information. The right to ask. Even if it’s none of our business.

THE sacred question – “Any good news?”

*  *  *  *  *

If you are going steady, I  want to know if you will get married.

If you say yes, I want to know when.

If you get married, I want to know if there is any good news of a child.

If you have the first child, I am deeply curious to know about when to expect good news of the second, &  third…

*  *  *  *  *

I may not know you too well, but I still want to know. I need to know.

I appear in many forms.

I am your neighbour.

I am your second cousin’s aunt from her father’s side.

I am your co-worker.

I am your elder sister’s mother-in-law.

I am your maid.

I am your distant relatives step-aunt you never knew existed.

I am your driver’s wife.

I am the father-in law of your co-sister.

I am your best-friend’s colleague.

I am you.

*  *  *  *  *

You meet me everywhere.

You have to tell me.

I have the right to know.

Though I don’t know you. That hardly matters.

*  *  *  *  *

Either ways, this is how we love to keep updated about good news in everyone’s life in India.

Which is neither our concern or chief joy.

Just some gosssip to make our boring days more entertaining.

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If you think it happens elsewhere with the same measure of scrutiny, let me know. I am open to being corrected.

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Hey, you been married awhile, any good news? 🙂

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Raven-ous

We have a bunch of daily visitors,thanks to my Mother.

They drop in for early breakfast,some for a noon time snack & a few come by for dinner.

No formalities here – they find whichever place they can to plonk themselves – swing on the branches,hang out by the gate or stare from the wall.

The fare is generally served warm (no cold food is a rule of sorts – for example it has to be warm milk, not cold… I of course take the short cut if I ever happen to be on serving duty,which fortunately is rare) & added on is the occasional eggs,fish,meat for the carnivorous friends.

Sometimes, if there is a delay in food arriving, the visitors know how to create one helluva ruckus (special mention goes to the crows) &  it would be fair to say they sound like a thoroughly disgruntled orchestra !

I have personally observed a visitor on few occasions, when food had not yet been laid out on time by Mum . This audacious crow would take the empty plate in its beak & bang it hard on the platform ,while looking towards our house! The word Raven-ous comes to mind! 

Incidentally,this landing platform on the tree happens to be an old upturned table fan tied on a branch & on which a plate is placed- reuse,reuse,reuse!!!

It is a daily raucous party that serves as a sort of natural morning alarm especially for me ,as the tree is in front of my room!

The visitors during the day are of all types & temperaments –

Four stray dogs –
Miki – the arrogant!
Riki – the brooding brother of Miki,has to fight for his bites!
Blackie – the ever grateful & mother of the aforementioned rascals Miki & Riki
Brownie – the dignified (also boyfriend of Blackie)

The winged ones – crows,pigeons ,mynas

Squirrels – the origins of cheek & sheer survival can be traced back to these creatures

Rats – who sneak in from under the tree or the garden for some remaining tidbits

Mia – the kitten,our latest addition,to add more confusion.

Our aquarium is placed outside…amidst all this drama, the fish have a ring side view of the goings on.

The reader may be interested to note that Mia the kitten was originally brought in to catch rats in the garden. The dogs are desperate to catch her . So,she is currently in a special protected zone called the back of the house enjoying a healthy diet of rice & fish,served in private quarters!

Watching all of this has given us a great glimpse into the world of animal behavior – aggression, cunningness, dignity, pretentious power, survival, sneakiness…

For example,who would ever have thought that pigeons are aggressive ? I didn’t for sure.

I figured that crows have sharp beaks but pigeons can easily bulldoze them into submission & have them evicted from the platform!

The silly crows have the ammunition of a sharp beak but have no idea of its power…whereas pigeons just inflate their wee chests, thrust their wings in combat mode & scare the crows. Pigeons as you know have small beaks.

This is daily drama for all who care to watch. I do.