Santhosh's ramblings

How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly Before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist Before it is washed to the sea? And how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesn't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Yes, and how many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? And how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind   Bob Dylan   We shall overcome, we shall overco...

 Don’t cry for me my mother The mother of my motherland  The mother of democracy Mother who has forgotten her children  I was once like my siblings  Today I am to be abused and beaten  My sisters raped and dishonoured By my siblings with your silent consent  You who tell your children  Stories that are new to us Stories that create enmity To dehumanise some of your own Don’t cry for me, with your crocodile tears Tears shed to promote  A falsehood that is evident to us But camouflaged to others  The tears of our pain seems in futile But our tears of pain are heard By the mother land and her Creator Tears that will not be wasted   We know truth will prevail  Truth will set us free Truth that will rise  From the margins of motherland Uprooting the falsehood  Changing crocodile tears Into tears of compassion and empathy  Or blown away by the torrent of tears We wait for that day….

We have a plant in the house that cranes its neck towards the sun, catching a glimpse of it for about 2 hours each day. The rest of the day, it remains in the same position, seemingly waiting for the sun to rise again. It eagerly awaits the next morning to enjoy that fleeting moment of sunlight, even though it quickly passes away from its horizon of view.  Sunflower gardens are a breathtaking sight. The whole group or field of sunflowers keeps craning their stems (necks) to follow the sun, capturing its light. When the sun sets, they droop their heads, eagerly anticipating the next morning when they can behold the sun again. In today's world, we are bombarded with lies, half-truths, and manipulated media. False news and perception management through outright lies have become part of our daily life. To find the truth, or even catch a glimpse of it, we must crane our necks and search carefully, like finding a needle in a haystack. There was a time when we could find some truth in cer...

Recently, I spent 2 weeks on a campus where humans coexist with a large population of monkeys (Rhesus). On the night of my departure, we counted about 25 monkeys in one group, comprising fathers, mothers, grandparents, children, and grandchildren. They roam freely in the campus without any issues. Interestingly, the humans in the campus seem to be more afraid of the monkeys than the monkeys are of humans.  ‘ In conversations with friends on the campus, I realized that people tend to stay inside more due to fear of monkeys, almost feeling caged in. On the other hand, monkeys are least bothered because the green campus provides ample food for them. Humans, particularly men, walk around with sticks and catapults to protect their women from the monkeys.   A similar peaceful coexistence was observed during a recent trip to Tanzania. Different animals coexist with each other harmoniously. Animals come close to safari jeeps, almost as if informing the humans of their presence. They h...

Can one become weary of doing good? Yes there are many times, personally I have felt weary and wanted to give up. I suppose this is not an uncommon feature for others too. Paul knew this and that is why he wrote to Galatians - “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9NIV Three common reasons why people (including me) feel weary of doing good, are considered here.  One, the drudgery of the mundane and routines. Though we want to feel passionate and engaged actively always, there will be times, when the routines of the day to day work and engagement seems to push us into weariness and wanting a rest from doing good for a period of time. Re-reading the book of Joshua it was interesting to observe that most of his life except for the initial years of war, would have been spend sorting out the allocation of land and settling the petty squabbles around those probably? How did he manage these mundan...

8.00 AM - I did not sleep well. So as the saying goes got up on the “wrong side of the bed”. So got out late to work traffic was impossible!  Another car cut across in traffic and almost hit mine.  And the routine was disrupted. And that impacted the emotional well being much of the morning hours. Unnecessary disruption impacting my well being…. 4.00 pm. “I am a cop. I along with my wife and children were caught by 20 men. They took us to a small room and beat me and my wife up. Wife and children managed to escape. I continued to receive beating. Our house was burnt. Somehow I managed to escape. We have lost everything. Our lives have been disrupted totally.” “Any loud sounds I get up and get palpitations. I don’t sleep at night. I have lost everything I owned”.  Many more such stories…. My morning disruption pales as I listen to these stories…

The car was not really smooth to drive, and I knew something was amiss. I glanced at the fuel gauge, which was hovering in the 'E' region, indicating low fuel. I thought this might be the reason, but there had to be something more. Even at the 'E' region, the car still had about 4-5 litres of fuel. This alone could not explain the issue. Additionally, there was an occasional red light indicator whine that would come up transiently.   After filling up the petrol, I asked them to check the air as well. It turned out that the front tires had too little air, which probably contributed to the problem. However, I was not fully satisfied. The car was due for a service, so I sent it in. After the service, the car came back as smooth as before. The service engineer mentioned something about an alignment that needed to be done and some short circuits in the electrical system. It didn't make much sense to me, but those issues had been taken care of. These things can prevent a ...