Category: Blogging

Surrogacy.


This article explains surrogacy as “is a legal arrangement in which a woman agrees to become pregnant and bear a child for the benefit of another person who will become the kid’s parent.

I am inspired to write this post as a friend, let us call him SMV,  contacted me earlier today to share a family secret about which I was not aware.

I have his permission to write about this, as he hopes that there would be others who may benefit as he and his daughter did due to surrogacy.

His daughter, who I have known since she was a babe in arms was married when she was 21 and was unable to conceive for many years. After investigation, it was found that she had a medical condition that made it impossible to conceive in her uterus, and the couple were advised to get a child via the surrogacy route which is legal in India.

I have met the grandchild who is now a strapping young lad full of beans and good cheer and I never knew that he came into their household thanks to the surrogacy programme available in India.

So, what inspired SMV to share this information with me after all these years? He compared the surrogacy process to the Koel in my blog post Invasion, begetting its chicks via the surrogate route using the Bulbul as the surrogate mother!

Strange how one innocuous thing leads to another!

Flood Alert.

Monsoon should have withdrawn normally last week after our Anantha Chaturdasi.

My regular readers will remember my writing two years ago about our local river being in spate. You can re-read it here.. Due to my current health issues, I have not ventured out to see the river as I normally do every year but, have been receiving news about it being in spate from others.

Yesterday’s local newspapers came out with flood alerts in all the rivers running through Pune.

Today, I have been receiving videos of some parts of the city under flood water and here is one of them.


I will keep my readers posted of further developments.

Tammy Is No More.

I got news of Tammy’s passing away two days ago but, was searching for a proper obituary before I wrote about her.

From the time I started my blog more than a decade ago, Tammy was a regular visitor and commentator. Her comments were pithy and often humorous. They were always welcome and I missed her comments if she failed to comment.

Her blog Peanut On The Table, sadly no longer in existence since she took it down during the Covid lockdown, was amusing and always full of cheer and optimism.  A peculiar feature of her writing whether her blog or her comments was that she would never use capital letters.

Two of her other admirers, Jean and Catherine have also written about her departure.

I could not find a better Obituary for her than this:

May the wind carry her spirit gently,
May the fire release her soul,
May the water cleanse her, and the earth receive her,
May the Goddess rock her in loving arms,
And may the wheel turn and bring her to rebirth.
(Starhawk)

I will miss you Tammy.

What’s In A Name? Post 3.

The phone has not stopped ringing since yesterday. People who had not been in touch with me for long suddenly remembered that there is someone called Ramana that they know who lives in Pune and have been calling me to check if I am alive or not. Quite natural to wonder at my age and also theirs!

This is because a Rock Star like figure, The Chief Justice of India Shri N V Ramana retired and has been in the news since the last few days. Here is an article which will give you some idea. I doubt very much that there could be a news paper anywhere in India which would not have covered this important event.

People reading this remembered that there is another Ramana in their lives and so the sudden burst of phone calls and WhatsApp messages.

One “collateral benefit” of sharing the name with a celebrity.

Has anything like this happened to you dear reader?

International Dogs Day.

My day started with a message from a friend greeting me for International Dogs Day with this image included.

Till then, I did not even know that there was something like this in existence despite having been a dog lover all my life.

My friend did not know about my recent loss and I had to send him a link to my post on Chutki.

I am yet to get over the loss and that message and a few more later only made me more maudlin. I miss her terribly.

I Am Alive And Kicking.

I just thought that I should make my presence felt before some friends start missing me.

I am very much alive and having fun and have fully recovered from the excesses of out 75th Independence anniversary celebrations as well as Janmashtami.

I haven’t just had the inspiration to write blog posts. I will try and generate some enthusiasm the coming week which promises to be quite unusual from two days down the line with a gang of old reprobates landing up for lunch at my place.

In the meanwhile, Hello Sandeep!