Musing Reminisce

  It was the sixteenth Friday. Urvashi had observed a vrat for sixteen consecutive Fridays. She had followed all the rules.  She was on the verge of completing her Sankalpa (vow). It was quite stringent with a long list of do’s.  It had quite a few don’ts as well.  Some devotees even avoided wheat, rice and lentils -- She did the same.  It allowed consumption of a meal only once during the day -- She had opted to have the only dinner on all the Friday’s. The main don’t however was,  ”Do not eat anything sour. Also ensure, you neither cook anything sour nor consume it in any form.” Walking back to the kitchen she lifted the plastic lid of the black round dustbin to throw some banana peels. She was alone here in the kitchen.  She was suddenly in a hyper state of panic She had just walked into the kitchen after serving the eight boys a meal including kheer, puri and banana. As a part of the routine, she had offered them cash as well. It was the concl...

20 March 2020  From his apartment window, Bomi Khambata watched as the special plane flew low and approached the Japan Air Self-Defense Force Matsushima Air Base in Miyagi Prefecture. All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines Co (JAL) had worked together on this aircraft which displayed an Olympic torchbearer pictogram emblazoned on the front of the aircraft running along the side of the plane via an ochre-coloured emblem to the Olympic Torch Relay emblem on the tail. The livery featured a runner with the torch at the front of the fuselage and red strokes representing the Olympic flame. The livery had the words “Hope Lights Our Way”. This plane was transporting the flame from Greece to Japan. The flame was placed into a specially designed container for flights. This looks a bit like a miner’s lamp. The Olympic flame had been lit at the historic site of Ancient Olympia in Greece and was handed over to the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee by the Hellenic Olympic Committee in the Oly...

” Spare some change.   Spare some change ”  The words that started as murmurs would increase in volume as the passerby’s neared. ----------////---------- Once upon a time, Suzan had a home. That was history.  She was born  in England in the county of Surrey.  Being from an affluent family she had a warm bed, a roof over her head and a caring family. However, her misdoings spoilt it all. As a teenager life was honky dory. Mixing with the wrong group of friends she got introduced to drugs. Now drawn deep into her addiction she refused to be helped by her loved ones to kick out the habit.  One fine day she just left home and came to London. She had moved in with a boyfriend. Attempts by her family to contact her were snuffed off.  This was now her world. She was independent. She was free.  Good Times came to an end in a few months as she broke up with her lover and ended up on the street.   She was given a place in a hostel, but she became ...

  Achoo Achoo Achoo Achoo Now, this was bad luck.  It was in his head.  He had heard it.    ’If someone sneezes before you’re about to travel or do something important, it is a bad omen.’ He had heard of this superstition since his early Khandra village upbringing years.  Elders had always insisted that a sneeze taking place before the start of any work was a sign of impending bad interruption.  He tried to ignore these suggestions as he grew but the impending fear stayed even when he was in the army.    Today he was on his way to do something important. Armed with his spears he had travelled here to do battle. He was convinced that today would  be a bad luck day for him.   He got out of his house in the global village.  A cat had just crossed his path.  He  cursed under his breath. It moved about athletically. He recognised the taby cat. Normally he would have admired this cat as he appreciated its feats on the idiot...