Roadies type adventure task

I have been working at a primary health centre in a village called Saphale-about a couple of hours from central Mumbai. Amongst other things, I visit Anganwadis (nurseries) in smaller villages even more faraway from Saphale to examine and treat children. Usually there is a means of transport for the same. So when I was told to go to Vaadiv for an aanganwadi visit,I was sure it would be like any of the other three I had already done. Lets just say this one was slightly different.
I was told by the two healthcare worker that no automobile goes to this place and we will have to take the train to Vaitarna and walk from there. Grudgingly, I obliged and found myself on Vaitarna station.
The walk,it turned out,was no simple one.We were supposed to carry out the journey on the railway tracks,the two of them that were there. I hopped and skipped clumsily on the kilometre long stretch of the rock lined path,looking exasperatedly at my fellow-women as they completed strong,effortless stride after stride. The realization that I was actually walking on railway tracks made me shudder from time to time. Soon enough,I realized that traffic was heavy and that we were supposed to hop from one track to another dodging approaching trains,which we had to look for on both sides by squinting hard in the sun. As someone who is terrified of crossing roads and sometimes even dreads certain staircases (and height and water.....you get the picture),this was a phenomenal leap,sometimes literally.
Little did I know that the real adventure challenge was yet awaiting me. You see,there is a large water body called Vaitarna khadi (bay) over which the tracks run. The space between the two tracks is a huge two metre gap which is ~gasp~ interrupted by a one and a half foot broad and about half a mile long metal plank running parallel to the tracks. The space on either side is sufficient enough for a well built human being to comfortably slip through and fall into the khadi. Yes,you guessed it right,we were supposed to walk over that plank and get to the other side. I offered continuing to walk on the tracks-but soon realized the dangers. If a train approached we would have had to jump over the gap on the plank-more dangerous than walking on the plank itself. To say that I was scared was a gross understatement. Still,I half conceitedly-half dutifully thought of all the children waiting for me to examine them and began.
It was the most dreadful 15 minutes of my life. Things got too literal as I found I was on the edge and took baby steps trying not to look down and failing at it miserably. I could not hold sister's hand because of the narrowness,and all I could listen to was the gushing deep waters below me. The heat,dehydration and fear were working in tandem to make me dizzy and make the path even harder. There were people in front and the back,that was reassuring,but their steps caused the plank-and consequently,me-to vibrate. There were women who carried large,heavy looking bundles on their heads and looked as if it was a walk in the park for them. I started to think about the anthropological undertones of the attitude they have about Life and Death,but the plank and the bay below soon made me less philosophical and more primal. Concentration was key. I kept affirming myself with 'I can do this', 'I can handle anything life puts in front of me','I am a strong,calm,centred person'-a technique I have used throughout internship. An addition was 'If I fall,I will swim'. But I pretty much could no longer ignore 'If I cannot swim,I will die'. After a gruelling 15 minutes,Thank God,I was back on terra firma.
After another half a mile on the tracks again,this time on solid ground,I was at the Anganwadi wiping my brow.
If you thought my struggle was over,you are far from right. I was supposed to make the whole journey all over again to get back to Vaitarna station. This time on the plank,I managed to ask the Anganwadi worker who had so kindly accompanied me, whether it was dangerous to cross the khadi this way. In a trademark charming rural callousness,she answered 'Sometimes people fall. If they fall,they die'. I tried my best not to dwell on that and just keep on going to the rhythmic banter of her regaling me with tales of how her relatives are scared of this 'bridge' too.
Somewhere in the middle,she saw the tracks vibrating and shouted out loud to me 'Madam,memo gaadi aa rahi hai'. We were not on the tracks,so I was confused. I told her so. She said that if a train goes by while you are standing on the plank,you have a really,really,good chance of keeling over and falling! The solution,ladies and gentlemen,was to sit.That's right,she held my hand and we squatted in a taking-a-dump-in-the-woods way over the precariously limited metal strip with our backs towards the train. The worst part was that this forced me to look nowhere but down. So there I was,squatting on the plank,with a fast moving train behind me throwing gushes of wind enough to send me over,looking at what I had been avoiding looking at all this time. I had no clue if I would return.

However,I did,and was safely back on Vaitarna station,where I had to catch the Ahemdabad passenger to Viraar,and Life,curiously,went on as before.

status-goosebumpy and with really sore quadriceps.

Testing boundaries,

My eyes

travel across

the length

of your body

your face

your eyes.

Then,together,

impolite,

across Mumbai

take flight.

When they return

I come to learn

When I look at me,

my eyes

are no longer

my eyes.

status-Creeped out.I woke up at 3.30am today with a sudden jolt and the memory of a dream with a suggestion of these lines on a page. Except that instead of Mumbai it was Chennai. ???

An extraordinary passage from an even more extraordinary essay

The end of imagination by Arundhati Roy.
When questioned about the only dream worth having.

To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength,never power. Above all,to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never,never,to forget.

............to dream that you will live while you're alive and die only when you are dead.

Recently I attended a classical/folk music event. Here's how some of the lyrics in the middle of one of the numbers went-

Chhaati se lagake tumko rakh lenge near
ab to aaja dear

Soulful and soothing are not words one would use to describe a bhojpuri song on a usual basis. However, it was a song from an era before bad taste and the film industry happened. What drew my attention most was the lyrics. It started to end with hindi words such as 'peehar' and then came the english ones 'near' and 'dear' for the rhyme. They were perfectly at home.

A fair example of the plasticine nature of language and culture. While human beings grow into more rigid,more stringent,more intolerant avatars,ironically (irony,as you will later see,is a staple), language and culture seem to follow the Darwinian principle of Evolve-or-perish enchantingly,and yet,tenderly.

We trivialize and infantilize both of them beyond belief. Whilst no one can deny the necessity of preserving certain fast disappearing languages and cultures,the basic nature of all of them is subtle,accumulating transition,for what it does mirror is a land,its people and the hands of time. The evolving complex compound does not show properties of any of the original elements yet somehow preserves its grace and history-the all important soul. It is as impossible to dig out the 'unwanted' matter-there aren't any sediments. May be the Dravidians were the first people. May be the Aryans came later. May be the Moguls came,saw,conquered and settled. May be the British colonized this country for more than a 100 years. May be as we speak now we are being covered by an opalescent veil of 'the west'.The truth could be that it does not matter. None is an addition to an already satisfactory mix-rather they're what make the mix and keep on changing and enriching it. Ironic, considering the fact that it is finally 'we' who create language and culture but are somehow slaves to homeostasis in a way they can never be.

It is for this purpose that we come across the numerous succulent ironies which dot our daily lives like capitals on a map. It is in a Ramdev Baba declaring that gays are physically ill in a country where the son who 'took birth' out of the union of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu-Lord Ayyappa-has his own temples where hundreds of people flock daily. It is in that Barber bridge in Chennai which was originally named 'Hamilton bridge' by the british,roughened by mundane tamil to 'Ambattan bridge'-ambattan being the tamil word for barber-and in a full circle coming back to barber. It is in all those tourists and Indians who see India symbolically in the Taj Mahal without being aware of the secondary citizenship that most Indian muslims endure. It is in all the Los Angeleses and San franciscos of the world which will not change no matter how America feels about its mexican immigrants.

Status:-Overwhelmed with all the effortless grace of the universe.

Ally McBeal-Grey's Anatomy

Things Ally McBeal and Grey's Anatomy mysteriously have in common.

1.) A female lead with her character's name featuring in the title.

2.) Progressively emaciating frame of the above mentioned female lead,making them look as much pre pubertal,and by extension bereft of all age appropriate feminine maturity as possible.

3.) Intelligent,highly paid people-lawyers and surgeons.

4.) The story encompassing dramatic lengths regarding these professions of which possibility cannot be negated but are obscenely absurd and idiotic.

5.) Both Meredith and Ally claim a married man to be the Love of their Life.

6.) One handsome soulmate-check-Billy/Derek
One stunning wife of handsome soulmate-check-Georgia/Addison
One womanizer-check-Richard/Sloan
One awkward misfit-check-John/George
One busty blonde-check-Nell/Isabel
One plus sized woman of colour-check-Renee/Callie
One Asian talent-Lucy/Christina

7.) Intense daddy issues transforming brilliantly into intense man issues.

8.) Both protagonists are shown to be restless,perpetually mildly unhappy,semi neurotic and in need of therapeutic help. Or a man. Or both.

(Ally has been shown to go a step ahead and go through actual hallucinations and 'baby hunger')

9.) Both are self obssessed-rendering their faux deep banter its actual superficial core.

10.) Meredith and Ally both look for and find a father figure in Richard and John respectively.

The fact that these shows are equally successful mostly amongst the young female demographic is a sociological phenomena.

Interestingly,some of these factors are also seen in the main character of another hit series- 'Sex and the city''s Carrie Bradshaw-except that the word 'materialistic' also features in Carrie's description.

Status-Someone make a show about me.

A five year old girl chooses a doll over all the other toys.
A people manufacture a religion for the luxury of illusion.
Grain is ground into flour and baked into bread.
A man swivels his head to better appreciate a woman of beauty while walking down the street.
Spring is awaited and its arrival celebrated.
When people are happy,they dance.
Poets write of Love,Longing and Loyalty.
A mother-in-law is always a pain.

If only the people of the world could see how much similar we are to each other than different.

status-elated. New beginnings do that to me.