The merry month of March is a a week gone now, and my newfound mantra * (read last blog), seems to have run into something of a snag.. I got smacked by a monkey!!

Let me start at the begining. I was ALL 'gung ho' with the said mantra in action. The do-gooding ..., followed by rewarding myself with a plethora of FUN things... It was in this mellow mood that in the backyard, i was bent over, contemplating the readiness of my compost pits.. (read first blog...FTB)... Coming along quite nicely... was in my mind as i straightened up and came eye ball to paw with an Alpha Male monkey, who had been (ahem) eye-balling me so to speak!!!

I know better than to alarm alpha males...but a shock reaction took over, and i think i let out a 'YEgaaads.'\! To be fair, i must have startled him, as he had been sitting there on the backyard wall calmly chewing guava leaves.. AND watching me with natural born curiosity (never knew they ate 'em...) when my straightening up must have startled him.. And he pelted me. That was HIS 'fun thing'.

It was a lightish smack... Something like a harrassed teacher, telling her tots to SIT DOWN for the n th time. He was the first to recover , for he KEPT sitting there, now chewing again, eyeing me with elastic facial contortions.. That's why they call it 'monkey faces' i suppose.

To my credit, i recovered too in what must have been seconds, but SEEMed like Ages... I ducked, turned, and walked a few paces, and then turned around towards him and fumed softly W/O eyeballing him. " WHY did u DO that to me , you..YOU....APE!" Didn't have the resonance it does when used on people.

Anyways, for the next hour or so while i stood my ground in the backyard. said AMM (alpha male monkey) shadow danced around me trying to make overtures, even offering some guava leaves. Naturally, i refused. But i think we made our peace.

So now that i've done my 'good deed' by NOT over reacting and calling in the guards,/ alerting the RWA,/ screaming for the Haryanvi version of the MCD swat team (who'll put Ms/s Mengler and Himler to shame), Gotta go and find my Fun Thing for today.. Enough of bears, rats and monkeys .! This year is turning out to be a zoological Fun Fair.. And it's only March yet.

Took advantage of the quiet house that afternoon , to listen to Neil Diamond and Leonard Cohen after AGES.. One pulling at the heart strings with raw passion; the other cool , suave, intelligent.. Music is trulymy BLISS!.

Hope the rest of you are having some Fun too.

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Clears the cobwebs in the old attic (mind); Mends aching bones and souls; Smoothens ruffled feathers and egos; Adds insulation for further Damage Control.... and generally gives one that 'All's well with the World ' feeling! And in my case, gave me that 'LIGHT BULB' moment of pure clarity.

I GOT IT! Finally a mantra to live by. And if possible make Some SENSE living day to day. Too often we deny ourselves FUN in the pursuit of DUTY... More often than not, we ape GEN NEXXT in their obsession with INSTANT gratification; letting 'have tos...just SLIDE. Eventual pile ups posing a Superhuman task we naturally shie away from. Only serving to add to the problem.

So from now on, it's going to be ONE GOOD DEED , and ONE FUN THING a day ...., for me. The catch i suppose is not so much starting out, as MAINTAINING this, for any length of time.. But am all rested up and off on my new trail;

Shall keep you posted... And any of you OUT THERE, who should similarly venture forth, feel free to write in and we'll compare notes.

For starters , my good deed for the day was to give way to EVERY one of the hooting/ honking road hogs on the Sector road parallel to our Highway... It felt great to see triumph meeting beWILDERment in their faces as they flashed past. Made for a much easier ride (for me), to just follow them!

My FUN thing? Tried a new mocktail in between errands.. . called Othello... for no discernible reason.. A heavenly fruity blend of apple and strawberry juices, topped with ice cream.. All nestling under a colourful paper umbrella..Scrumptious~~!

Yes, February's been JUST FINE, thank you...!

The year started with eve teasing and molestation in Metropolitan with a capital M, Mumbai. Quite a damper to New Year celebrations...and so much fillip to treatment of women... and guests in the new Millennium.

F fff rrrree eeezing temperatures across the NORTH . And for hapless Haryanvis.... POWERless to boot.. Just makes it seem SO much c cc ccolder!

Highway/ Low way.../ No way.. After dragging on for years, the NH-8 finally opens WITHOUT any VIPs ... And yet chaos and road rage still remain, with mismanaged toll booths and cantankerous commuters.

On the national stage, Carnage Creator and bigot beyond doubt, N Modi is Back in the hotseat with a thumping mandate.. So much for our persuasive news media and Public Opionion creators...!

Just beyond the border, beauteous Benazir, hopeful of a comeback....has been bombed out of existence. Mealy mouthed Musharraf and his equally, UNfettered by any scruples, Uncle Sam utter platitudes..

On the International stage, Cricket takes a backseat yet again, with high drama over alleged/ imagined racial slurs.. Team India tamely draw a match that could've been won.. Politics, Selectors and BCCI ensure that tensions divide the team's efforts, affecting both morale and output.

Back home, again......Wildlife preservation be damned... The latest is 'beating leopards to death' after hounding them off their habitat.

Where do butchers parading as doctors, set up safe shop... rob the poor of their kidneys and sell them for a whopping profit to NRIs and tourists? In a seamless, brutally efficient operation ... ? For YEARs?!!! Right here in heartless Haryana's ...gut-less, gruesome, Grrrrrrrrgaon... (Didn't i always say so?) Where goonda raj rules ... and daily commodities like LPG cylinders (for kitchen use) have virtually disappeared from the market.!

Even the pomp, splendour and dignity of Republic Day has been sidetracked with high decibel /drama.............. pondering over whether or NOT the State VVIP Guest, and French Prez, would be bringing along his latest squeeze. Fortunately better sense prevailed .... Can't fault the French on minding their p's and q's , or in this case... C and B!

Hmmmm. I'm better off sleeping through this all. Till my ' 'light bulb' moment comes to me. BEAR with me please folks.... Tread lightly, and clad warm... all you who DARE to step out. Hope you find something to smile about. Do share if you do.....

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Of Winding down...&..Starting up again.... Of Endings... and Fresh Beginings... And ways to tide over from one to another.. Yes, possibly that. One of the BEST ideas i've EVER had was to Back OFF and Bear Down... Pun, not originally intended. And that's just what i've been doing .

Someone else puts it better than i ... and should like to share it with all of you.......

N......JOY !

This is funny...

Gonna Be a Bear. In this life I'm a woman. In the next, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a Bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but SLEEP for six months. I could deal with that. BEFORE you hibernate, you 're supposed to eat yourself silly. I could deal with that too. When you are a girl Bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) WHILE you're ASLEEP, and wake up to partially grown, cute , cuddly cubs. I could DEFINITELY deal with that. If you are Mama Bear, EVERYone knows you mean business. You swat ANYone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too, Hmmm. I could deal with THAT.. If you're a Bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling.. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat. Yup, gonna be a Bear....!

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NO sense of celebration at the arrival of the Festival / Wedding Season... Instead a strange fatigue, almost wariness of any invitation card...

News stories SCREAMING out horror after horror ... Day after blessed day ...almost having us duck at the very sight of the morning newspaper.. Let's see...

Nuke deal unresolved with all the parties still to sort out their agendas....

Nandigram a burning issue.... Left Front and Congress play it out for brownie points... Temporary appeasements...instead of effective solutions the order of the day.

Nasreen, Taslima adding her own inimitable, attention getting complications to the whole scene in Bengal.

Nithari murders still to be unravelled and the guitly brought to book. Crime goes on unabated in all corners ... Cases on girl child abuse/ incest, in a State that prides itself of 100% literacy, brings sorry sleaze to Front Page news.

Nursery admission procedures still UNresolved despite more than a year of dithering back and forth, Ganguly commission recommedations...notwithstanding. This is a Developing country where Education is the crying Need of the hour!

Non starter return to fame for 'sab ki pasand' Madhuri Dixit..... bar Mayawati, Her Aaja Nachle.... relaunch has been spooked by supposedly politically incorrect lyrics.. The dumbfounded ex diva claims she just wanted to dance... Didn't heed the lyrics......

NO thrills evoked by the Indo Pak ongoing cricket series. It just failed to rivet our attention or raise spirits... Some matches were almost missed.. Instead, BCCI's sorry back room drama over Coach recruitment / Selection scandals and suchlike taking precedence..

NCR, end of the month, quake in Delhi/ Haryana came almost as no surprise... Though it did underline how UNprepared we are to deal with any natural disasters.

Certainly makes me wonder if we are at the end of Kalyug, or still in Biblical times.....facing the 'wrath of God' in so many ways...for choosing to destroy the Earth and the lives of our Young Ones with rampant consumerism, junk food, yuppiedom, breaking of the Family system. And close to zero communication between family and friends....despite the mind boggling array of gadgets and systems in place...

NO time for family, friends, even health, Or helping others less fortunate than us.. The less said about forgotten animals and plants around us..... Who cares....? From top Govt official down to us and neighbourhood maali..... We couldn't bet on anyone..

Thought i'd wait out the weekend for SOME ideas , something positive to share....but ...........NOTHING so far.

Sorry folks.... But am NOT giving up.. Putting my thinking cap on , and retiring... NOw THERE's an idea...

See you later.... Any/ All Practical solutions welcome..

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Fresh from their September T-20 Series victory, our Cricketing Heroes almost had egg on their faces with the visiting Oz team's methodical, one sided slaughtering us, till a face saving, narrowing the gap, victory.... in the end.

In nearby Capital city. Blueline buses continuing their disservice to plying the public and bringing the death 'score' up to a century!

The more glamorous portals of Bollywood, also rudely shaken and stirred. The most apparently and UN-apologetically IN love couple , suddenly came UNstuck. Poor Shahid. What could he have done to deserve this.?. Kareena never did generate much sympathetic press with her 'in your face' spoilt rich girl image... In contrast their just released movie together seems to be going GREAT guns!! Or is even THIS, yet another publicity stunt??!

The Sensex continued its shimmying and shuffling up and down, sending both fortunes and blood pressures either darting, or diving.. Then zooming past the 20 K mark and still going strong!

On the National stage rebels going wild in two different states.adding untold violence to the daily grind. The Administration nowhere near workable solutions .

And on the international arena our PM sending shock waves thru US of A with his 'nuking' the Nuke DEAL . At home, his mood at an all time low. Looking visibly depressed........with news hounds tossing around the idea that he was ready to resign~~!

Enough. And these just from the top of my head.. Wonder why? It is widely known that full moons cause the natural order of things as it were to go.well, '.slip sliding away.'... And the full moon in October is the Mother of all Full Moons. Basic astronomy reiterates that in October the moon is closest to the Earth in its elliptical orbit.. Hence its giant appearance . and its enhanced / gigantic effect on all and sundry...More conveniently, a convenient scapegoat for all our madness....?!

In the spirit of things as it were, I decided to chuck hearth, home and dreaded duty for a change, and head to Capital City, where it seems some MPs were descending on campus, to address Univ students on the eve of their local body elections. Sitaram Yechury's name on the list was sufficient to have me hastily prep the homefront and head out to Delhi on Monday night, when other good wives were busy staving off hunger pangs, while trying to sight the elusive Ocotber moon.

What a good idea THAT turned out to be.. Eager young faces in a jam packed hostel Common Room. Heated debates/ some slogan shouting/ well prepared guest speakers ending with the traditional torch bearing 'jaloos'. But truly the the toast of the evening was Yechury's inspiring and informative talk just before midnight. Delivered in his inimitable informal style, completely devoid of jargon, and tinged with both humour and warm reminiscences.. Heartfelt, Lal Salaams to the Comrade. .The long drive back home on the fairly deserted highway was a rare dream!

Thank you, awesome October Moon, kindred spirit, and unleasher of myriad storms... Somehow know you won't hold it against me, if I blame my brief madness on you.!

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Nostalgia they say is IN. The continuing Bachchan/ Beatlesmania/ revival of Abba by Newage bands/ Remixes/ Retro parties/ Retro chic..even good old 'Gandhigari' is IN with Gen. Nexxt.. thanks to Munnabhai and his buddies. So a generation like mine, slowly slipping past Prime Time is suddenly 'with it' again!

It's not just all about getting SENTImental about one's growing up years.. According to Doctor, Lifestyle Guru (and ex- Delhi-ite) Dr. Deepak Chopra.., recalling or recounting happy, old experiences is rejuvenating. As we recall, we go back in time and reLIVE the experience. The heady RUSH one feels, is the mood lifting, pain quelling, endorphins releasing into the bloodstream.. Just as they did ALL so many years ago. We feel young and carefree; even reunited with friends and family now possibly distanced from us, by Time and Fate. .Most essentially, we are released from the routine that bogs us down, and feel ALIVE once more..

So, as long as we don't perpetually WALLOW in 'how things were', methinks a little bit of nostalgia never hurt anyone.. If we are able to get back to the routine/ schedules/ eXams/ targets/ building/ buying/ renovating/ creating] taking care..whatever it is we actually DO..Wonderful! Nostalgia beats nicotine, alcohol, drugs and worse ...every time around.. So let's try it People, getting together with old friends , and re-booting our lives.

With due apologies to the growing band of Psychiatrists , Psychotherapists, Card Readers and Newage Healers..and the long queues at their exalted chambers...! Simple remedies for small problems, not allowed to escalate, may save us from Big Bills and even more Depression...later.

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There's something about this month that has some of us almost dancing to the strains of 'Come September'. What a mood lifter it's turning out to be!

Exactly six months after the Debacle of the Decade at the ODI World Cup.. Team India does a superb turn around and clinches the 20/ 20 World Cup Series at South Africa this week.! And a Nation, still smarting from THAT shock, goes deliriously wild and takes to the streets, maidans, malls and airports with unabated joy.

Never mind that our hockey team just won the prestigious Asia Cup, or that football has had startling successes of late... It was M S Dhoni and his hungry young pack who gave India the "Chake de " feeling. So what if we won by just a whisker? Beating Pakistan in the finals, AFTER flattening the Aussies, only sweetened the taste of winning the Cup! Moreover, all this w/o our Holy Trinity of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid. The amount of fire crackers lighting up the sky on Monday night, made it seem like Diwali already~~!.

The entire news media.news papers/ radio/ and TV stations have concentrated on little else these last two days. Business houses and politicians alike are falling over themselves to OUT BID each other in prizes conferred on team members. Nothing wrong, we may say.. The boys deserve it. With all sports being equal, market forces decide cricket is a little MORE equal.

Two things bother this Mama though. Family members who decided who get to Mumbai AFTER the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations ended yesterday, were in for a rude shock this morning. Team India had landed there, and most of Bombay and half the hinterland arrived to greet them at the airport. To cheer them on their long way through town to Wankhede Stadium to be felicitated. It was the MOTHER of all traffic jams! All day long.

Maybe it is okay to lose a day's work for such a thrilling moment. No doubt it's fine to support one's Team, and cheer them on. But does anyone realize they are just happy, but bone tired young men who need to get back to their families and savour the moment with them. For in just over two days from now, they will be beginning another grueling tournament against Australia.. . who must be rooting for revenge.

The same fawning fans will most likely turn turtle, and rant and rave, if Young Team India does not keep up with the latest hyped up EXPECTATIONS of the masses. And their Advertisers. So in our own interests, People, just give the Boys a Break! They might do us proud again.

Probably totally UNrelated, the Sensex has been going wild too. In just 5 days after it crossed 16K, it has touched 17K. Mostly from FIIs, despite what the Brothers Reliance claim. Feels good to know, that our country. long renowned for its spiritualism, art and culture. is now getting 'in sync' with both sports and economics.. Sorry Uncle Sam, this just isn't your century! Now that the Big Picture's getting better, wish the Powers that Be, would work on the nitty gritty to complement it.. I'm NOT going to spoil the mood with details. Not today.

Finally, this morning's quarter drizzle managed to cool things down QUITE a bit. The partly cloudy day had a distinct Octobery feel to it. Brought Simon and Garfunkel's old classic (Cloudy) to mind. Less harried faces on the streets and in the parks. And a bonus full moon played hide and seek between the clouds this evening. Did it seem huger and gold tinged, or was that just my imagination? Hope some of you out there caught it too.

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Amazing the way days melt into months while one is on holiday. And there have been SEVERAL over the summer. Singly, and 'en familie'. Mostly South covering coast, plain and plateau of our glorious country..and even beyond. Plus meet ups here with returning natives from distant shores. Mostly catching up with family and friends then, has been the order of the weeks and months gone by.

One thing has become increasingly clear with every return to base, here in Haryana. In comparison to our Cow Belt , the Rest of India seems to be having it better. Or seem to deal with life's problems differently. They are a less 'in your face' aggressive, happier, chilled out lot. Not that they don't have problems , but either the climate and surroundings, ..OR some other special ingredient in their lives helps them evolve a mantra to cope better. Would like to make it my mission to find out what it IS!

Tales from folks and friends visiting from further shores only add to the gloom of life in heartless Haryana. Many invitations to visit or move to as distant as Oz and Canada, set the family thinking. With the ever flattening globe, is it REALLY so impossible to envisage a shift?

So South or further West or Far East...? That or those, have been the questions on our minds/ Getting this forever on the move,family to settle down and discuss, is another story. But I sense a readiness for some radical change. Can that ever be a bad thing? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile several dramas unfold on the National stage.., amidst an almost missed monsoon these past months. A brand new lady President, who NO one is excited about, but politically incorrect to pan. A Nuclear Deal that threatens to ShAKE up and almost break up the running Government! Xtreme politics, instead of sports ..in the ICL/ BCCI face off.. Good luck Kapil Dev, and kudos to you for even trying! Ever rising crime , more sadly teenage crime draws a sad reminder to us parents/ educators and policy makers alike... We are NOT doing our jobs right.. Why else would children be so Stressed, Depressed and Acting OUT on senseless aggressions?

The good news? Come September, the Weather Gods have been merciful and there have been a few cooling showers in the past week. Tempers have cooled and moods have lifted. Pre-emptive action with the RWA helped save three trees in the plots ahead of us from being felled by the building mafia. The sanction to cut one which interfered with a boundary wall, seemed to appease them, and help 'save face'

The most wonderful for all our spirits has been Team India's winning the UK cricket Test series/ Also putting up some semblance of a fightback for the ODIs. The Absolute cherry on the pie was Friday evening's 20/20 mini World Cup WIN against Pakistan. All credit to MS Dhoni and his boys. Our hearts and hopes go out to them for the rest of the series. Think I can speak for MOST of us, on THAT one!

Cheers! It's good to be finally BACK, People, . Have a LOT of reading to catch up on. See you by and by.

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