Friday, March 9, 2012

Investment Gone Sour

I got up very early this morning and was done with my ablutions, exercise and walk much before my wife was up. I know by experience that a cup of coffee prepared fresh and invested in front of her by the time she is ready to face the world returns good dividends through the day. I took out the container of milk from the fridge, removed the cream, measured out a cup and was about to pour it into the small vessel we usually use for preparing coffee. I was holding the cup full of milk in my left hand, had just placed the container of milk back on the cooking platform, and was poised for pouring milk from the cup into the vessel when a mosquito casually flew in and settled on my left elbow. Whether it was just intending to rest there for a while or it was on the lookout for an early breakfast I do not know.

My right hand received a reflex instruction ‘HIT’ and started to act. The next split second my brain realized the disastrous result of hitting a mosquito sitting on the left hand which was holding a cupful of milk (just to clear a doubt, the hand was holding the cup, not the mosquito and even if the mosquito were holding the cup the result would have been the same anyway) and it reversed the order to ‘NO’. By then the right hand was already halfway through. It tried to obey the new order but could not reverse the momentum already gained. It managed only to reduce the force of the hit.

The mosquito thought that I was just nudging it to move out as I was unable to bear its weight for long and flew out dipping its wings in what I think was a ‘thanks’ for the landing right and courtesy offered. The hit, though not enough to squash a mosquito, was enough to upset a hand holding a cup of milk and as i turned I found myself looking into the angry eyes of a wife who had to begin her day clearing a cupful of milk spreading slowly on the cooking platform.

An investment gone sour.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Thought - Post Goa Assembly elections.

BJP has got majority in the Goa assembly and will form the next government. I am sure that the BJP leaders will claim this as their ‘Victory’, ‘Mandate for good governance’, ‘People’s faith in BJP’ and what not. Let me assure them that it is not a mandate ‘FOR’ BJP as much as it is ‘AGAINST’ the ruling party. BJP just happened to be in the right state at the right time and turned out to be the beneficiary. If there was a real ‘right to reject’ option available to the electorate, it is possible that both the congress and BJP would have lost. Any way BJP should be thankful for the ‘Citizens against corruption’ for creating awareness in the electorate and be thankful to the Congress for ruining themselves. I hope the BJP understands this fact, utilizes the god given opportunity to provide sensible governance and runs the state responsibly. In case they remember their manifesto, which is unlikely, it will be a bonus for the citizens. - My letter to the Editor (Published - Navhind Times 7.3.2012)


Clean Teeth - Clean Image - Clean Sweep

In one of my previous posts I had mentioned that one of the candidates contesting the Goa assembly elections got his teeth cleaned by me before starting his campaign. (For putting up a ‘clean’ image?) One of my cousins, Ravi, had put fear in me saying that he may demand the money back if he loses. Incidentally, he won and I am sure that the ‘clean’ image helped. My fee is safe in my pocket.

Now, I have heard that politicians are extremely superstitious. IF he remembers getting his teeth cleaned - by me that is - before starting his campaign (it is not getting the teeth cleaned that matters it is the hand that did the cleaning and soiled itself in the process ) and IF the word spreads amongst his colleagues, well , there may be a long queue of candidates in front of my clinic before next elections and maybe I will be able to charge as astronomical a sum as the astrologers. Don’t frown at my wishful thinking. Politicians are known to have displayed greater stupidity.