Diwali, orphanages, and acts of 'charity'

If i was an orphaned kid living in an orphanage, and if a group of strangers decide to celebrate Diwali with me(and the other inmates), i'll start wondering "What do they think we are? A distraction available once a year to make people feel good about themselves?". But i am not in that kid's shoes, and cant begin to imagine his mindset.

Folks from my company celebrated Diwali last evening with the kids of a home for orphaned and handicapped children. I did not go because such acts look like sacrilege to me. I call it sacrilege because it is a one-evening-stand, an indulgence whose motive needs some more soul searching. The recipe for the kids' 'evening of joy' was crackers, chocolates and games. In the din of the ensuing Diwali our folks will forget the kids, the kids will forget our folks. Life will go on.

I do beleive in the idea of taking some social responsibilities. It is not a level playing field to start with. Some are lucky to have parents who think, educating their kid is important. (besides, that kid was plainly lucky to just have parents around to fend for it when it was a child). Some are'nt. There are organisations that make an honest attempt to show such kids a way. The idea of able people helping out these organisations monetarily and/or otherwise, to
carry on their jobs, appeals to me. I am not romantic enough to think that if a penniless, parentless kid is relentless enough, it would go from the streets to the banks without help. Such cases may exist, but that cannot be an excuse to shy away from what we could possibly do. But there is something about the idea of a bunch of strangers spending an evening with orphaned or handicapped children that does not ring right.

I might be totally wrong here. Folks from my company say that it was nice to see those kids laugh and play and burst crackers and do such rosy things. Such intermittent sun shines(?) in those kids' life is probably good for them. I dont know. I fail to be convinced though.

Casablanca

I am a little tipsy. And no, i am not talking about the Moroccan city. 'Casablanca' is this nice

restaurant close to where i work. It has this noisy pub (called Zanzibar) attached, that i dont enter. But the

restaurant is nice. Good food, not-so-loud music, and comfortable chairs..yes, comfortable chairs...and well Kingfisher

tastes the same everywhere.

They say, alcohol lets u be your natural uninhibited self. Going by that, i am a happy guy. Cos i smile a lot when i am

drunk...and i keep laughing out aloud when i am very drunk (today i was just smiling..actually, i am still smiling:). I actually

think ppl get very conscious when they are drunk, not abt what ppl think about them, but genlly about wat they do...walking back

to work, i was keeping track of whether my right foot was forward or left...now, you dont do that when you are sober, do you?

If this post sounds incoherent, i blame it on the alcohol...aadaab...

Muted

I think i've run out of conversation. These days, when i meet/talk to people, i simply wait for them to come up with something for me to respond to. If

they dont say anything, an awkward silence follows. At times i resort to some polite conversation and keep searching for a way to end

it and flee. The only exceptions are a few really close friends with whom there is no need to 'think' of what to say next, there's so much common

ground available. And ofcourse, there are the group-timepass-talk sessions which are fairly effortless. Its weird cos i used to be fairly garrulous and an

active 'company' seeker.

 

I think 60 is a very high value for human lifespan. 30 is more like it. Not too short. Not long enough to run out of things to say. But then, we should hit

puberty at 4, have an active partner from 8. Better sense should prevail at around 20, and you separate and spend the last 10 years as a gypsy, and

die an anonymous death in a beautiful place, with your desire to continue living still intact(Ofcourse, there will be serious academices/scientists who

invent, advance technology, for the betterment of people like me). I think that is important..to die when you still want to live. Everything has a shelf-life...

relationships, love, desire for existence, life. Being separated from something/someone when you still want to hold on to it/him/her gives it a profoundness

you can treasure.

 

Back to reality, and i keep away from prospective friends and phony conversations.

Kolkota eludes..

Intended to be in Kolkota this 'dusehra'. Had bought a kolkota road-map and a travel guide for that. Planned it too late, travel costs went beyond budget, so had to drop it. Ended up spending sizeably on maps, travel guides and the like (a generous part of it going to lonely planet - india guide). And am just sitting in chennai, in my room, typing this...anyways, would be going to Muliyangiri sometime this month...

Had been too busy to blog till a week ago...My work requires me to either move forward in full-throttle or turn my engine off and cruise along...am in the second mode now...

And yea, finally started posting in my travel-blog (http://jerknees.blogspot.com )...