Kurta – Ramana's Musings

Questions.

I enjoyed reading Eclectica’s post on the same topic that I decided to answer the same questions here for a lark. I hope that my readers get as much enjoyment as I did at Eclectica’s post.

1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth? My afternoon mug of tea.

2. Pajamas or gown? Neither. Lungi and Kurta.

3. Worst physical pain you ever been in? Pre-replacement pain in my hip joints.

4. Favourite place you’ve ever been? Jamkhandi.

5. How late did you stay up last night? Ten pm.

6. If you could move somewhere else, where would you move to? Himachal Pradesh.

7. Christmas or New Year? Neither. I am not into festivals.

8. When was the last time you cried? I can’t remember.

9. What’s the last photo on your phone?

10. Two of your favorite movies? Spartacus and Guide.

11. What’s your favourite season? Monsoon.

12. Which famous person would you like to meet? Sean Connery.

13. If you could talk to ANYONE right now, who would it be? My late wife.

14. Are you a good influence? I am told that I am.

15. Does pineapple belong on a pizza? I am not much of a pizza fan. Frankly, I don’t know.

16. You have the remote, what show would you be watching right now? I don’t watch TV as a rule.

17. Three people who you think will play along? My friends SB, SS and KS.

18. First concert? Western Music – Duke Ellington in Chennai.

19. Favorite food? All kinds of sweets.

40 Questions.

Kylie has inspired me to do this exercise. She has already done so at her blog in two instalments.

1. Are you named after anyone?
Yes, Ramana Maharshi.

2. When was the last time you cried?
I don’t remember.

3. Do you like your handwriting?
Yes.

4. What is your favourite lunch meat?
I am a vegetarian.

5. Do you have any kids?
Yes. One. A son.

6. Do you use sarcasm?
Yes, but rarely. It often fails!

7. If you were another person, would you be friends?
You bet!

8. Do you still have tonsils?
Yes. In my childhood, whenever they acted up I was asked to gargle with warm salted water and that seems to have kept them under control.

9. Would you bungee jump?
No. Both my hip joints have been replaced and revised. Can’t afford to indulge in such adventures.

10. What is your favourite cereal?
Rice.

11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
Yes. I wear shoes with laces only for walking as an exercise. I wear pumps otherwise.

12. Do you think you are strong?
Mentally yes but due to my age and the hip problems, physically not.

13. What is your favourite ice cream flavour?
Cashew nuts and resins.

14. What is the first thing you notice about people?
Their eyes.

15. Red or pink?
Neither. Blue.

16. What do you least like about yourself?
My pot belly.

17. What colour pants and shoes are you wearing?
White pajama bottom and black flip flop slippers.

18. What was the last thing you ate?
Amul Dark Chocolate.

19. What are you listening to right now?
Sound of traffic on the road.

20. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
Blue.

21. Favourite Smell?

Petrichor.

22. Favourite sport to watch?

Cricket.

23. Who did you last talk to?

My friend Ramesh enquiring about his health.

24. Real hair colour?

Grey.

25. Do you wear contacts?

No. I however wear corrective spectacles for myopia. Another answer could be, I try not to wear them down, but sometimes it just happens.

26. Favourite food?

Tamil Brahmin cuisine.

27. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings. I don’t watch scary movies. The world is scary enough as it is.

28. Last movie you watched?

Parched. I have written a blog post on it,

29. What colour shirt are you wearing?

White Kurta.

30. Summer or winter?

Neither. Monsoon is my favourite season.

31. Hugs or kisses?

Both thank you.

32. Favourite sweet food?

Kulfi Ice Cream.

33. What book are you currently reading?

Theatres Of Democracy, Between The Epic And The Everyday by Shiv Visvanathan, Awaken Bharata, A Call For India’s Rebirth by David Frawley and A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

34. What is on your mouse pad?

It is blank.

35. What did you last watch on TV?

Crime Patrol. Dial 100.

36. Rolling Stones or Beatles?

Beatles every time thank you.

37. Favourite sound?

Falling rain drops.

38. What is the farthest you have travelled?

Atlanta, USA.

39. Do you have a special talent?

Yes, lazing around.

40. Where were you born?

Dr. Patro’s Maternity Home, Bombay.

Ten Speed Bike.

Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use.
~ Charles Schulz,

Let me explain why I dug up that quote.

There is a bit of painting work going on in my home and I got some wet paint on to a favourite white kurta. I would have normally sent the kurta with my Jeeves to the local dry cleaner to get the stain removed but since I was going out for a pedicure anyway, I decided to go myself. To my surprise, I saw the establishment being run by a very smart lady, rather unusual for that business here. She took one look at the stain and said that it was hopeless and if I wanted to wear the kurta I should dye the whole garment to the colour of the paint, chocolate brown! I was taken aback and exclaimed that I could not very well wear a brown kurta as I would look weird. The lady promptly suggested that if Amitabh Bachhan can wear coloured kurtas, I could too.
I hemmed and hawed and suggested that I was not in the same league to which, the lady said, that it was the Big B who was not in my league!

What speed gear should I have changed to?

PS. I took her advise and have arranged for the kurta to be dyed. I shall wear it and take a photograph to publish a follow up post to this.

Risk.

Welcome to the Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium where Anu, Ashok, Conrad, Delirious, gaelikaa, Grannymar, Padmum and I write on the same topic. Please do visit the linked blogs to get five different flavours of the same topic. Today’s topic has been chosen by Grannymar.

Communication being the difficult thing that it is, the topic chosen by Grannymar offers me a chance to be a bit different than I usually am. Had I rung up Grannymar to find out the topic, instead of reading it in Conrad’s blog, I would have ended up writing about “Risque” instead of “Risk”.

I am normally risk averse but, I have taken a risk now in trusting that Grannymar’s sense of humour will prevail over her despair or indignation. But the risk is there nevertheless, that I may face some music from her. Let us wait and see. She knows that I am not risque averse!

As is the case often in my life synchronicity came up again when I read Cheerful Monk’s blog post “Optimist Or Pessimist” earlier this week when this post was on the drawing board. CM, this is my response to your question. I hope that it amuses you.

I am Panglossian in my belief that I already have the best of everything possible in my life and do not wish to take risks to jeopardize that status quo. Despite that however, I also accept that I cannot live a normal life without taking some risks. I know that every time I step out of my home, I risk being hit by one of the millions of two wheeler riding maniacs , who is quite capable of mounting a footpath to do the job. Every time I step into my very cozy shower, I risk slipping and falling and having to be rescued and perhaps hospitalized.

I am also practical in the sense that when I predict something in the future, the expectation will be strongly influenced by my present experience or value or emotion or whatever. This understanding enables me to minimize risks in day to day living by being realistic about the results that will follow taking such risks.

I have already written about the big risks that I took in my eventful past in my post “Taking Risks” and my views on the subject are, I hope, by now well known to my readers. Apart from those risks, I also took the big risk that almost all of us take without considering all the consequences – getting married! That is one risk that all married people take, based on a presentism projected to the future and discover that we have to make a lot of adjustments to a completely different set of parameters, nowhere near to the euphoric pre-marriage stages. Now that I am a widower, will I take that risk again? I don’t know. I would like to experience the pre-marriage euphoria first, which in turn will entail taking risks with new relationships and my panglossism may well kick in and warn me to be wary!

Let us now take a different view of risk. Here is my house guest Jay, all the way from California, USA in our native dress of a dhoti and a half sleeved kurta. Very comfortable to wear in our climate.

Now, don’t you think that Jay is taking a big risk wearing that combination? Unless you are quite used to wearing it there is always the possibility of the dhoti coming undone at unexpected times. So, the local lasses will hope that Jay takes a stroll in our park and hope for the best. Very risque is it not?

Now let me take another huge risk and be risque. Imagine Grannymar in a sari!