CORONA THOUGHTS

 Corona besides making all other horrible changes in our daily lives has added the trouble of sanitizing all things bought and brought from outside and of washing the vegetables etc before they find room in the kitchen shelves. I have not moved out from my home even before the Corona threat started so I have to order many things of urgent need online. Anticipating the need for a new mobile charger, I ordered one . It arrived and was delivered to me. The lady of the house वहम की मारी, the way she is, tore open the outer package, and placed the packet on a chair kept outside to expose it to the Sun for some time. Now monkeys are frequent visitors ,so I did keep watch for some time but smug in the belief that monkeys would not touch something uneatable, I became busy with other things. After two hours or so my wife saw the torn packet on one side of the lawn. The packet contained the plug only and plug was missing.Much against my otherwise cool and calm temperament , I gave a bit of my mind to her for indulging in so much fuss about Corona etc. Thinking that the monkey might have thrown the cable to the neighbour's courtyard , my asked a lady living nearby to look for the same. It was not an easy task to look for and find a black color bundled up cable in grass and I had lost all hope of retrieval. But miraculously, the lady found it and handed over. Both of us thanked the lady profusely.

Shimla Musings

 The journey  so far on the page of this group has been quite pleasant and rewarding.On a personal note, I must say that many hidden  facts about my  hometown Shimla, where I  am residing even today have become known to me, thanks to some very knowledgeable members of this group. It is sheer pleasure to go through some nostalgic accounts posted by some members who have lived in Shimla for long and short durations. That shows they must be missing out on certain things which are or were peculiar to Shimla only. Coming sometimes to Shimla from Kinnaur where I served for more than eight years in two spells , always filled me with joy whenever I reached the fenced portion on the left side of the road a few meters short of Dhali.Similarly  coming back from Delhi etc,  has had  me in raptures with the ascending journey that starts from Parwanoo upwards. Not the least rewarding has been the coming across of childhood friends, I grew up with, some Seniors in School , I looked upon as ideals for a number of reasons. Some juniors in school and college who went places and are  leading  happy retired lives , and some others who did not know me but were familiar to me.

There is plenty of writing and photographic talent visible among the members of this group.

Thanks again to the worthy Admin(s) of the group for bringing the whole lot together on this common forum !

Shimla Musings

 Thanks to the Remote Sensing  technique and devices available, we  now have near accurate weather predictions days in advance with sufficient time to prepare for and mitigate the disaster caused by storms and cyclones  by taking necessary precautionary measures. This was not so in the ' 50s, '60s and ' 70s when we grew up. 

The rains were quite unpredictable . Leaving umbrella at home while going to school on a Sunny morning had us caught unawares when it rained heavily  at the time of our returning home. That meant waiting for the rain to subside if not stop altogether. Similarly perforce  we had  to carry  Umbrella if it was raining in the morning and the same umbrella would appear to be an unnecessary burden if it was not raining at the time of returning home.

The same thing happened on a Saturday when I was in school. The school hours had ended early and it was Sunny . I stopped by at Ram Bazar near bifurcation  to the Ripon  Hospital ( now Deen Dayal Upadhyay  Hospital) to tie up loosened show laces . I hung up the umbrella on the railing. After tying the laces, I moved on. As I reached the Command complex, I realised that I had left my umbrella behind. I rushed back to the place and much to my relief found the umbrella there. The umbrella  cost Rs.6 or Rs.7 , quite an amount  at that time. I was afraid  of the scoldings I would get if I had lost the umbrella.

CORONA THOUGHTS

It is already four months and a half since the first lockdown happened in the last week of March. Contrary to the popular saying, much water has accumulated every where not in the ordinary sense of rain water causing flood like situation and water logging  at many places, which is for everyone to see and lament about, but also in the  daily increasing number of Covid infected persons, with no respite in view . The casualty number almost touching forty thousand is alarming enough per se. This brings to the point the fact that your life is precious for you and your next of kin  and for others whether alive or dead you are a damn figure .

I for one think that I must live through the Corona crisis ,  not for my own sake that for my wife and kids, if not otherwise willed. I feel like a museum piece of some value to be preserved. 

No festivity, celebration has a buoying effect and seems rather transitory under the shadow of Corona .

How long will this last is nobody's guess !!

Sad Incident

In the aftermath of  Indo- China war of 1962, there was a spurt of patriotic fervour, with the entire country stood united as  this was the need of the hour in those crucial times. Poets and lyricists penned patriotic poems and songs to instil patriotic feelings at the same time preaching unity.There were liberal contributions to the National Defence Fund in cash and kind. The Government on their part had documentaries made which were shown far and wide across the country.
A senior officer of the Publicity department, GOI, who lived in the neighbourhood arranged to show the documentaries twice or thrice in the locality. The projector operator , a jovial , good natured  young  man endeared himself to all . The documentaries featured songs like Watan ki abroo khatre mein hai .....&  Aawaaz do Hum Ek Hain .
After some days the team accompanied by the officer made a tour to the tribal area. We were told the name of the place Chini. Though Kinnaur district had been formed in 1960, the name had not got so much known and the present day Kalpa was known as Chini . 
The tour ended on a sad note as the team returned sans the operator. The operators had died , only his clothes were found near the river side. It is not known whether he had committed suicide or had an accidental fall into the river. The sad news sent shock waves in the locality. I faintly remember his face and appearance as this happened  57 years back.
The memory makes me sad even today.

TO DYE OR NOT TO DYE

Corona or Covid 19 has  affected our lives in more ways than one . Generally it is the fear psychosis of one kind or the other that has taken in its grip all of us .
A visit to the barber to have a hair cut seems to me a thing of the past for obvious reasons. I donot bother about this as length of the hair hardly seems to matter due to the thin growth. Of course I shave daily as the prospect of growing a  grey beard around the face simply  puts me off. I try my best to live in my comfort zone but the lady of the house hardly digests this. Her sneers and jeers at my unkempt hair sometimes become too much to bear. It's another matter that  even if I wanted to ,she  wouldn't let me go out for a hair cut . At the same time she dare not  give  me a haircut with the scissors so fondly bought by her. But she must dye my hair periodically to feel better. The dark dyed hair hardly match with the furrowed face with crow feet forming on the outer  corners of the eyes.The fresh dyed hair do instil  a sense of well being only for a few days, after which the coming up new growth forms a hair band like silver ring around , that increases in width day by day. I envy the people, some of my friends included, who carry the silver gracefully on their head, not lacking in elegance.

Miracle

I have mentioned earlier also that  S.D. Higher Secondary School, Ganj Bazar , Shimla was  my alma mater for seven years. Most of the time our way back home was  by the side of St. Thomas's School , a Girls' School .
Once I  got issued a Hindi book of folk tales  from the School library . The title of the book was दक्षिण की मीरा or perhaps this was the title of one of the stories. Reaching home, when I opened the bag , the book was missing .The book had slipped out of my bag. This left me high and dry as this was the height of unintended negligence. This was not so much  about the cost of the book or the fine that I would have to pay , but about the fact  a library book changes so many hands and so many students derive pleasure  or benefit as the case may be. I had time to face the consequences. The  next day I told my friends especially Bharat Bhushan who used to accompany me half way through , as his residence was in another direction.
After 2-3 days , Bharat Bhushan, the said friend was too glad to hand over the lost  book, much to my relief . It so transpired that while coming to the school, he saw a girl from St. Thomas reading the book  and talking about it with another girl accompanying her. A word or two falling in the ear of my friend made him cautious and with a rare presence of mind he asked the girl to return the book. The well meaning girl had no reason to refuse when the library stamp on the book confirmed the claim. The book had slipped out of my bag and fallen into right hands.
Miracles , big or small do happen !