Minor incidents

Rosa Parks died.
Sitting thousands of miles away, I feel the impact.
History will forget her soon. A minor incident sparked a major movement in the history of United States. Her stand, her defiance would continue to inspire me as long as I live.

Minor incidents sometimes lead to major events. Troy was destroyed just because some body was not invited for a wedding (Eris, goddess of discord ) This led to a chain of disastrous events.(Myth of course, just for fun)

Who would have heard of Hitler had not been for an unknown art teacher, who dismissed Hitler's work as unimaginative, and told him that he could never be a good artist. That comment pissed him off. A seed of hatred was planted right there which led to the second world war.

Gloomy day

Loss of life due to natural calamities, loss of life due to human folly, I am depressed since yesterday, two major disasters in a day, a train accident, more than 100 killed, which could have been avoided, and blasts in Delhi killing more than 70 people. Those who are behind the balsts must be having families of their own. They never stop to think, as they are possessed by hatred not by a cause, valid or invalid.

Natural Instincts

Moin was playing cricket on the beach when tsunami struck, he and his friends saw a 30 feet wave rising, they stood there and watched with wonder, they had no idea what it was, they never knew that it was a killer wave, they realised the danger only when it reached the shore and ran for their lives, while running Moin, my nephew, kicked the people who were still sleeping on the beach and told them to run, and he stopped his friends from going after their
motor bikes, they all would have lost their lives for sure, They escaped because they could run faster and ignore the loss of their motor bikes. An hour later Moin found his motor bike one kilometer away from where he had parked. It was completely damaged. Damage is of little or no consequence, people lost their lives on that fateful day I don't have statistics nor do I have confirmed reports. During natural calamities like earthquakes or the recent tsunami, there are no reports of any animal casualities. They sense the danger and escape. The entire tribal population in one of the Andaman Islands escaped to safety when tsunami struck, So did all the animals.

We humans too are equipped with the danger sensing
mechanism, but its not working any more.
Greed hatred religion and technology have taken over.

Monkey sense

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Do you risk your life to survive ?
I was in a forest, a couple of weeks ago, a tropical rain forest near Valparai, Tamil nadu I was taking pictures, my camera bag was unzipped but closed. Actually it was half zipped. There was no way you could see the contents of the bag.

This chap( female ) was watching me for a long time, I was afraid too. I wanted to move away, but I was lost in the beauty of nature.
I kept my eye on the bag.
She moved away, joined her family, I relaxed, continued taking pictures.
I saw her climbig down from the tree but she did not come near me. She just sat there deep in a thought, perhaps contemplating the chances of becoming a philosopher ?.
Peace and quiet.
No breeze, not even rustling of leaves.
All monkeys sitting still, no activity.

Suddenly I heard loud screeching noise, a couple of monkeys started to fight, rest of them started swinging on the tree branches. Sudden monkey business all over.
My attention was diverted for a second, next second I saw her sitting with my half finished biscuit packet
she was so fast.
I just saw her walking away. very neat job.
She came,slid her hand inside the half zipped bag and flicked the biscuit packet
ALL IN A FLASH, very neat execution.
The fighting and screeching stopped, silence again, rest of the monkeys looking at me.
This was a planned attack. I was angry at myself, then I was really annoyed at her, who was eating my biscuits all by herself, without sharing with her friends who helped her to steal.
I felt so inferior to these intlliget creatures.
After all we decended from them, and according to the law of natural selection, we are SUPPOSED to be smarter than them for God's sake !! Perhaps I am dumb, perhaps I am excluded from this process of natural selection. I have a sophisticated camera, and I check my e-mail every five minutes...... what for ?
Is the technology helping our natural instincts or destroying them ?
WE ARE NOT SUPERIOR EVEN TO AN ANT believe me.

Vimala

There was a threat of cyclone 'Vimala' a distant cousin of hurricane Wilma. Hope she doesn't visit Chennai.
Why I have posted so many pictures of the rain ?
Well I love rain, I love walking in the rain, I love taking pictures of the rain.
Whats the big deal ? Its just rain ??
It IS a big deal for people of Chennai.
My friend's wife was nagging him to buy a couple of umbrellas, but he kept forgetting. One day she warned him that he would not be allowed inside the house if he comes without umbrellas.
In a fit of anger he bought 5 umbrellas and dumped them all on the table " Take , go dance in the rain, with all the umbrellas.
The umbrellas never got wet
There was no rain for next 3 years.
We used to beg him not to buy any more umbrellas.
visiting friends borrow umbrellas and forget to return, we don't really mind and we forget too
as we don't need the umbrellas for the rest of the year except for pretty girls who use them to protect their skin
Hope of sunshine today, people get busy, putting clothes to dry. There was no disconnection of
telephones, power or the internet, perhaps I was lucky, there are complaints in the other areas
All trains leaving Chennai are cancelled, schools colleges are closed. Streets are still water logged.

More Rain

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A minister of a farming parish convened a prayer meeting to pray for rain during a serious drought. Noting that on that cloudless morning the church was full to overflowing, he came to the pulpit and posed a single question to his flock.
"You all know why we're here," he said. "What I want to know is, why didn't any of you bring umbrellas?"

We have done the same in the past, tried different tricks, scientific un scientific, faith, music
Some musicians played a particular tune. a rag for the sky to open up, If any musician makes any claim this year, his house would be raided and his music instruments would be smashed.

Sunshine on my shoulders

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high
.............. ...... John Denver song

' I wish you all the sunshine in the world '
This is my sincere wish for my all my friends..... But here in Chennai this is not quite a blessing
My Friend lets out a shriek when exposed to the sun, but today it is taken as a blessing, its been raining from past 4 days, roads flooded, water everywhere no sunshine.
we can wait, no hurry
the sun is not going away any where, it stays here with us for the rest of 361 days

Rain Rain Don't go away, stay for just one more day

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America America Here I come YOOHOOO

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They are a determined lot, People standing outside the US consulate here at Chennai, hoping for a better future, Rain , Katarina, Rita or Wilma, nothing can stop them, I wish them all the best.

Raining still

Here in Chennai we still haven't reached a point where we stop thanking the rain god
but in some parts of south India if the rain god makes an appearance, he'll have a tough time
answering questions, I will not be surprised if he is arrested by the police and thrown behind bars, and made to appear in a court. Such things happen here.

Rotten Job

You are not happy with your job ? Now you would not complain, took this picture in a sweet little town Kalpetta, wynad, kerala. He is always there, morning till night, holding the board, that is his full time job. Visited the same town after a couple of months, yes he was still there, felt sorry for the chap, decided to have a meal there, for the sake of the chap standing outside, I will not write a song on the food I had, but I felt happy, probably he couldn't get a better job, or he owns the place ?? highly unlikely.... don't be surprised.. there is a road side eating joint here in T'Nagar, the man made such pile of money that he owned a couple of big restaurents and yet he continues selling food on the road

Rain

The houses in Chennai ( old, like mine ) are designed to allow as much light and air as possible
very open and utterly unsuited for rain, it hardly rains any way, rain god is not very kind to us
but this year we are overwhelmed with his kindness, pouring cats and dogs now, badly needed rain for the city. Thank you rain god... I really don't mind my leaky roof and messy floor, wet towels, its fine, we can manage, in fact I am enjoying. Feeling lazy, my kitten is trying to catch my fingers running on the keyboard.

Force

The same force is often misdirected largely by the politicians and the purpose turns destructive. Just imagine a billion people with right sense of direction and purpose. One billion is a force, not a weakness of the country, one billion demands, and those demands have to be met, this flood of business oppertunity would wipe out poverty for ever

Purpose

I took this picture on my way to Jodhpur, this is not a rare sight in India. People perched on top of the train, risking their lives are on their way to a religious festival in Ram Deora, near Jaisalmer,Rajasthan. They just want to get there .... no matter how, they don't give up, they have a purpose, That is the strength of India