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Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Friend Indeed!

There are acquaintances.
There are friends.
Then...there is Bharati.




It is impossible to be good to everyone; whatever you do, it is ceratin that some people will probably say unpleasant things about you.

The doctors start learning being a doctor by the famous oath "Primum non nocere"

We try to live our lives the same way.

Middle class, god fearing, upbringing coupled with a honest to a fault father in one of the most corrupt government instituitions possible, left an early mark on the value of honesty and integrity which continued as a guiding pole star in your tumultuous life.

When your father was held in greater esteem post retirement whilst his erstwhile prosperous colleagues were treated with outright scorn, it resolved the early mark into a lifelong practice.

It was rather easy, as the practice was not a performance to an audience but emanated from within.

A way of life, so to say.

Years passed. The father is no more. The chosen path did not give any material benefits.

Temptations were always abound.

But a steely determination held on.

Recently one of my recent colleagues moved places and happened to work with another colleague of mine from yesteryears.

It is impossible to be good to everyone;

Thus it came as no surprise that the earlier colleague from years gone by mentioned, in a cahnce conversation, an observation that questioned my character and integrity.

My recent colleague, ever the timid person, 11 times out of 10 demonstrating decorum, was left flabbergasted.

He was rehearsing proper statements that would convey indignation while not losing semblance of civil behaviour.

Elli Wallach famously quoted in the timeless  "The Good Bad and the Ugly". shooting from underwater from a bathtub

"When you gotta shoot, shoot; Don't talk"

Bharati, wife of my recent colleague, unknown to herself, is a disciple of Elli Wallach.

She stood up, bristled (it takes little to bristle her up anyway) and said

"We do not know if you know him well. But we know him. What you say is impossible"

And walked out gracefully.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. -- Bharati.

I am not basking in this as a show of compliment. It is a vindication of what my father stood for and managed to impart to me.

Thanks, Dad.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Right hand on shoulder while the left is delivering the haymaker !

Beware the smiling assassin
For there is no worse kind
The twist of the knife is
Oh! So painful
When the hand belongs to a friend!



Betrayal by an enemy
Is a contradiction in term!
Knowing this well, surprised are we still
When the killer blow comes
From the hands of a friend!

Et tu Brute!
Would not have been
A gut wrenching cry
If Brutus were to be an enemy!

The cry and its anguish
Stemmed not from the
Fatal stab, but, that it came
From the hands of a friend!

It is known that chemo
Is as painful as cancer
So is looking for a reason
When the hand that delivered
The killer blow belongs to
The hands of a friend!

Find the reason
You are left disillusioned!

Don’t find the reason
You are left miserable!

Can’t find the reason
You are left confused!

Won’t find the reason
You are blinded!
By the misplaced, undeserved love.

Catch word in
Unravelling this shamble is
Reason, the why of it and not the how!

Take the R out
And you see that
Your erstwhile friend is now a
Fiend !!

So, when reason
Takes leave, as it often does
For reasons unknown (😄)
Make sure that the
Burden of carrying the cross
Belongs, not to you, but to

The hands of your fiend.