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This Corona-Shutdown has been Bliss for me...it taught me, among other things, the joy of "renunciation" (sanyas):
1. Driving:
For all of twenty years I had been driving my Matchbox-Maruti 800, first five in Kharagpur, and the next fifteen in Hyderabad. Both the car and me grew old and derelict together. But we refused to give up...daily driving turned into a matter of prestige for both of us despite increasing tension, hypertension, breakdowns, and crashes.
This lockdown cured it all. It has been a year of peace for us both...no more driving allowed for me. The car is now in her peaceful graveyard and me on my way there.
2. ATMs:
Being as as old as the Ancient Mariner, I loved handling cash but never cards or smart phones as cash-substitutes. The joy of handing over crisp currency notes to shopkeepers and loved ones was too good to the old soul.
But that meant undergoing the terrific stress of facing the various tantrums of sundry ATMs with their 24 reasons for frequent failures and breakdowns.
All of it is history now...peace, sublime peace has dawned...I now handle neither cash nor cards nor Paytms...others do it for me.
3. Shopping:
I used to love a little bit of daily shopping, mainly in our friendly-neighborhood supermarket for a jar of coffee powder or a carton of fruit juice or a bottle of beer-shampoo.
But that meant standing in long queues shifting my weight from one leg to the other while the gent behind me breathes down my weary neck or the lady in front pushes me back with her ample bottom.
All that is history now...my son does all my shopping for me online...via big-or-small-baskets.
4. Newspapers:
I used to take two newspapers daily; DC & ToI. I got addicted to both. The void in life that weighed me down when their vendor went missing, or the rain drenched them, or the wind blew them away...was unbearable...like the withdrawal symptoms of a drug-addict.
And finding storage space for their back-numbers, their regular disposal, the cheating of their buyer-boys...all that was eminently stressful.
Gone is all that stress now...my good son installed the Flipboard-News-App on my phone that updates herself every five minutes.
5. Walking
That was a thing I hated, but my son, a health-freak, insisted on it.
For the past one year he doesn't let me go out even into my front-verandah.
Bliss!
6. Lawn-bench Sitting:
That was something I really looked forward to. But I wanted the whole bench for myself to enjoy sunshine in winter, breeze in summer, clouds in monsoon, and flowers in springtime.
But alas, that joy was never given to me. This Bihari fat buddy would sit close by me on my right and spit his blood-red stinky pan-juice right in front of me, while this Marathi oldie would slide on to my left with his body-lotion spewing nauseating aroma.
Not any more...I sit on my comfy portable chair in one or the other of our three balconies, and enjoy.
7. Tea Stall:
Driving to the crowded neighborhood-tea-stall thrice every day, drinking that hot concoction inhaling secondary tobacco fumes blown by software gents (and occasional ladies) was a pleasant daily ritual for me.
But then I had to suffer bouts of typhoid, pneumonia, hypertension, and their cousins.
No longer...I enjoy the two hot cups of tea my D-i-L gives, one in the morning and the other in the evening; and the occasional one I make for myself in our kitchen on the sly :)
Happy!
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Moral: Every dark cloud has its silver lining :)
By the way, what is the reason for that silver lining of dark clouds?
It has to do with Fresnel Diffraction mostly.
On the other hand, the halo around the moon is strictly due to Fraunhofer Diffraction.
The halo around our gods and prophets (like Jesus Christ) is an optical illusion...mental optics :)
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