Ahamkaara: MY TWO CENTS

Showing posts with label MY TWO CENTS. Show all posts

Monday, October 29, 2012

Arrgh-uments

Sahana Rao Monday, October 29, 2012 25 Comments

Arguments. The unwritten rule in the life of people who live together under the same roof. Arguments can ignite because of one small action/inaction, word/no-words or frustration. Over years of marriage, I observed that some solutions which have worked for me in wriggling out of or avoiding arguments. There may be many more. I will learn them eventually.

Respond. Don't react.
There is a big difference. Reaction comes with zero-thinking unlike response. When he says something which cuts through your ego and it brings up equally hurting words is when you have to drown them down your mouth. Take a deep breath. Step back. Listen carefully. If you feel situation is just blowing your head-off. Choose some corner of the house. Refuse to argue, even if the person comes behind you shouting all the way. Switch on mute mode. Take refuge in a place where you can cool yourself. Take your time. Choose your words. Give it back in a nice but firm manner when things are cool. ;)

Accept Manufacturing Defects
In the initial days of living together, there will be many frustrating things, which you may not like. You tend to pick up battles on that. Shout. Argue. Sob. But, you see somethings are inherent. They do not change over time. Wet towel will still find its place over the bed, wrapper of the new toothpaste on the wash-basin etc. Consider them to be manufacturing defects of that human being and accept that gracefully. And more importantly remember, you are also accepted with some such defects. Relationships are too valuable to fight over petty matters. Arguing over the same matter again and again is insane. It is like doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.

What is right? Not Who?
You are frustrated, you pass some hurtful remarks and you get back hurtful remarks again. You are now offended. There starts a big chain of bomb shelling. Everytime, you are adding new layers to the argument, each trying to win and prove the point "I'm right!". Never have that urge to get the last word. Always remember, you are NOT arguing with your enemy. The other person may have a kernel of truth at their core in what he/she is saying. Take criticism positively. Be honest enough to see what is right, irrespective of which one of you is saying it.

Agree to Disagree
Watching old test matches of cricket has been an irritating issue for me. For BH, it is as enjoyable as those few minutes of a nail-biting finish. He tried explaining to me many a times, on how good a test match is, why it interests him etc. Finally, he understood, that I just cannot see through his perspective. Then he stopped explaining. Sometimes he gives in and sometimes he watches while I do something else. We just agreed to disagree.

POINTS TO REMEMBER!

Arguments may augment tension if not transformed into a discussion.
Let go of ego.
Don't use tears as a weapon in the arguments. It will be an unfair game when your partner is in the ring unarmed.
Ensure discussions do not become diss-cuss-sessions.

Wrote this post as I was thinking about ways of ending an argument I had with BH for not calling me or messaging me for 18 hrs when I was at my parents place! And there beeped my cell-phone.

"I now understand how empty God's house must have been, when He dropped you into your mother's womb. Missing you dear."

THERE! I realized. I missed an important point to end arguments. LOVE.

# MY TWO CENTS

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Mother's love is the greatest. Really?

Sahana Rao Tuesday, February 21, 2012 71 Comments

Mother's love is irreplaceable, forever and unconditional. I agree. Which kind of love can be replaced? The love gotten from every loving person is unique. For example. Fathers love. Doesn't it comply to all the three words above? Ofcourse, there are exceptions in both cases.

All forms of love whatever form they may assume, require, or at any rate, expect, some equivalent or less for it in return in the shape of affection, happiness, or pleasure. Is mother an exception? In some cases yes, and in some cases no. Chastise me as a bad mother if you want, I really don't know how I would have reacted if my child had not showed its love, affection back. I expected that. Do I become selfish? Yes.

The way a mother loves a child and the way a father loves a child is completely different. The logic beats me when they are compared. It is something like saying air is superior to light in nature. Both are different, but essential forces of nature. Can any of one of them be replaced?

When someone says "Mother's love is great". I agree. Greatest? I don't. For the simple reason that it cannot be compared. Neither does any other form of love merit comparisons.

To compare, one must analyze. Do we really know the depth of the person's love? We just analyze the way we perceive. Some people express themselves very well and others don't. Does this innate quality of being an introvert make one a bad lover?

Mother has an advantage of sharing a natural bond during gestation. Then delivering in the most painful way known to the world. None of us can ever think of the intensity, the depth or the expanse of the love the soul has.

Some fathers cannot even relate themselves to the child as soon as it is born. It is not natural for them like mothers, it grows on them. They become a different person altogether. And then the saga begins. For others, it begins as soon as he knows he will be a father. But, the important point here is "The Saga Begins". A father loves his child, puts the child first amongst priorities sans the natural/physical bond. Remains an unsung hero.

When I was a small kid, people asked me if I liked my mother more or father. Without second thought, I would answer "Amma!". Appa was a strict disciplinarian. He spoke very little. When he spoke, it would be very brief, to the point and direct. Such conversations often made me feel he is emotionless.

Slowly, as I grew up, all those "little talkings" had a big impact in my life. Infact, they were huge turning points in my life. Then, I started understanding the creature called father. One day, I was married, I had to leave home, I realized I would miss him as much as my mother. After Bunni, I witnessed the birth of a father, I remained amazed by the transformation a man has to undergo to father a child. I loved my father even more.

To hail the greatness of one thing, we should not degrade the other. More importantly, lets not compare apples and oranges.

# MY TWO CENTS

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Girl you'll be a woman soon

Sahana Rao Wednesday, January 18, 2012 97 Comments

My aunt called me up last month and told me her apprehensions about some physical changes in her 6 year old daughter. I calmed her down. I said, sometimes it is just a sign of the far future. Then, yesterday, she called me again and told "that which should not have happened" has happened. She was sobbing. Yes. Her 6 year old daughter had attained puberty! Otherwise called Precocious Puberty or Early Puberty.

I was actually devastated by the news. I behaved like a hypocrite by putting up a brave face. I told her "This is an inevitable incident in any girl's life and had to happen sooner or later. Anyway, visit a gynaecologist once."

Later, my memory indexed to the same chapter of my life: Puberty

I was 12 years old. All of a sudden my body was on a growth-spree. There were some drastic changes physically. My face and hair started getting greasier. At one point in time, I had disowned my own body because of all those stupid changes. I was feeling weird. I was so conscious about my body. Though my mother had given me some lessons on menstruation, it took sometime for me to come to terms with those changes. I superficially understood what she said. Nevertheless. I was in a state to recognize menstruation only when my life decided to have a tête-à-tête with it.

One fine day, I realize that my body had started functioning on its own without asking my permission! I had all theoretical knowledge on menstruation such as how it would be accompanied by acute mental and physical discomfort, cramps, back ache, mood swings, irritability etc. But, when it actually happened, reality hit me in my face. It was horrific to accept that it is PERFECTLY normal to bleed for 4 or 5 days! I remember asking my mother whether this would continue in my sleep too...

All of a sudden the world around me looked different. I started identifying myself more with my mother. I had to accept that boys are different from girls. Till then, I would have fought till my last breath to prove that wrong. I cursed God for giving women this. I got my sex-education. Once friends started whispering about it, I felt more comforted by the fact that I wasn't alone.

So, there I stood transformed from a girl to a young woman.

Coming back, to my aunt's call. My heart cried for the kid. 6 year old kid, has to accept that bleeding is normal and if seen her friends would shout "shame shame puppy shame"? She has to bear all the pain, mood-swings, cramps and other discomforts associated with menstruation? Not just that, the physical changes would make her stand out in crowd. How much of emotional distress can a 6 year old child undergo?

Why does this happen? While many researchers opine that obesity,consumption of adulterated food, family related stress, genetic factors etc, may be few of the reasons why early puberty occurs, there is no comprehensively accepted research that has broken ground in this aspect.

I can suggest all theoretical plans to deal with such a situation like, telling your child it is perfectly normal and it is really OK to be so. Love thy body the way it is etc etc. Can I take the same things if Bunni is in that position? I fear not. A hypocrite I am, as of now. But sometimes situations give the necessary strength.

Fingers Crossed. Prayers.

# MY TWO CENTS

Friday, November 25, 2011

Does Life Change After Marriage?

Sahana Rao Friday, November 25, 2011 91 Comments

Hell! YES! (I did not mean it changes to hell) I always ask back a rhetorical question. Is there any 'time' in your life which has not changed?

Here, I consider marriage as living a life with a person under one roof . Some enter marriage with rose-colored glasses and some with yellow-colored glasses. Such colors prevent us appreciating the natural colors of married life.

No phase of life is a bed of roses. I am not here to paint a beautiful picture. As I understand life, I would vouch for my childhood being the best part of life. But, come to think of it, there were problems, fights, issues which were BIG THEN. If those problems and fights looks small now, don't you think we are doing the mistake of using wrong scale of measurement? I have grown up, so have the problems. Simple. Isn't it funny to expect the problems to remain small as we grow-up into adults?

BH is an aquarian. Highly unpredictable by nature. So, I did not have any expectations from him before or after. But there were certain things which I had to make a mental note of, once I started actually living with him.

1. How many ever times you meet a person before marriage, you do not know the person fully. Because, when you meet your beloved for a few hours, we try make that 'happy-time'. I do not call that pretense. (natural behavior to avoid pre-tensions). After marriage, you get to see the real people. So, there will be many bitter-sweet occasions.

2. There maybe many irritating habits (irritating to YOU) which you might not have not noticed, like snoring like a bear, wearing not-so-soiled clothes, drinking bed-coffee without brushing teeth etc. etc. You may feel that you cannot tolerate, but slowly mind starts accepting the person along with manufacturing defects.

3. No frequent telephone calls, sms-es, lesser kuchhie-mucchiee conversations DOES NOT mean that "you are taken for granted". It just means now your beloved has the privilege to be himself/herself. And that is a luxury! Accept him or her that way.

4. There WILL be fights and arguments. There has to be. Two different people, different ideas, different thoughts, different way of looking at things will end up having an argument sooner or later. But, as long as you do not get vindictive it is good. Arguing objectively will solve the current problem and deepen the understanding. Let the past ghosts remain in the haunted houses.

5. If you think you-two will be "two-body-one-soul", I am sorry to disappoint you, it will not be so. It is a fancy idea to think so. But, later at some point in time you will realize you have lost yourself trying to believe this thought. Couple should complement one another. Differ yet prefer. Celebrate the differences.

Change is eternal. Such things make life unpredictable, exciting and challenging. Let us face it rather than cribbing about "How life changed after marriage :("

# BH # MY TWO CENTS

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Dharma and Karma

Sahana Rao Wednesday, November 16, 2011 56 Comments

Two incidents on twitter made me write this post here.

Incident 1

It was 12.37 AM in the night, BH read a tweet and said "Sh*t! Someone is in great pain and trouble. Lets see how we can help out and ran out of the room." He looked concerned. I ensured Bunni is in deep sleep and closed the door behind me to understand what the matter was. BH showed me these tweets.

He looked for highway police-station numbers in Rajkot, many other police stations numbers in Rajkot. None of the numbers on the net were CORRECT! Damn! While there were other tweeples who were skeptical about this incident. There were many tweets going around. Like why is he trying to reach people on twitter instead of calling family and friends? How is he tweeting with that kind-of injury etc. etc.

BH cared about none. He tried reaching out to people who were into media, he thought that would garner some help. While few people on his time-line said, that it is a fake-accident and you are wasting time, energy and sleep by thinking of helping him. BH said "We should not miss wood for trees. What if he really needs some help? If he is faking, it is his karma. I will do what I can, that is dharma." I nodded.
By that time, we saw more tweets on the timeline of the victim.

"Ah. Someone helps. I could not have slept on such things. Come lets sleep."

We slept. Next day, he completely forgot. I kept track of this incident. There was a person who believed this was a fake accident. He worked day and night to find out a few things. And tweets from Ramesh Solanki, Mumbai Secretary, and Gujarat Rajya Sampark Pramukh BVS/SHIVSENA cleared much of the doubts. Here is the snap shot.

I was shocked! Why would someone raise such false alarms? Just for some attention? Followers? (Ofcourse, his follower count raised from 93 to 270 during that incident.) But, I really wanted to believe that the world is naive.

Many people including BH had called 100 and 108 to reach out to this "supposed" victim. Complaint has been lodged to the cyber police with some proofs and official reports by a person on Twitter. I told BH the whole story when he came back.

BH: As he sows, so shall he reap. Why bother?
Me: Will you help someone like this again after knowing this?
BH: Yes. Certainly. There are 100s of requests for blood. I RT (Retweet - Twitter lingo - a form of sharing in twitter.) them faithfully, if mine does not match. I have known people personally who have really wanted help. So, I will do my bit by sharing. What happens next, is left to their destiny.

So, this matter did end. For us at least.

Incident 2

18 year old high school student Ashley Billasano tweeted 144 times, in the span of 6 hours before commiting suicide. She had 500 followers! NONE took her seriously?! I do not know the handle of the girl, to paste the tweets. I read this article online. You can read it here.
Why did nobody help her? If people like Sachin raise false SOS calls. Many would ignore such tweets. Probably.

In the ending note, world is a curious mixture of people. So, difficult to take a call on social responsibilities.

# MY TWO CENTS

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Prenatal Yoga

Sahana Rao Thursday, October 20, 2011 52 Comments

When I got to know about a contest in Women's Web on Passport To A Healthy Pregnancy, I decided to plunge in. Writing about that delightful chapter of my life is a gratification by itself.

That unfortunate moment you announce your pregnancy to the world, monsoon sets in for the next few months for the mom-soon (person who will moan-soon). Why? It will be raining with wanted/unwanted information, advices and suggestions from ….ahh probably you cannot guess that. (Advices have come in public places as well!) I would use smile-and-nod umbrella.

The ante-natal class I attended with BH helped me get complete information on the journey to create life. The obstetrician and her team conducted this class for us. Many mis’conception’s about pregnancy were wiped-off. One important factor which helped me physically, emotionally and mentally was YOGA!

Healthy body, mind and attitude of the mother are critical for the growth and development of the baby. Yoga helped me achieve all these with ease. The first thing that registered in the mind was ‘Pregnancy is not a disease; it is the time to say Cheeese!’ I resolved to give the best I could do, for my baby to develop and grow in my-own-cocoon.

Physically

o 9 whole months of pregnancy is all about wait and weight. (Don’t you think so?)

o I did not gain more weight than required.

Image: 123rf

o The asanas helped me keep myself flexible, and tone up my reproductive muscles to put up with the stretch and changes (The uterus grows almost 500–1,000 times its normal size – ouch! Other organs, bones and muscles need to accommodate the change right?)

o Some exercises did help me loosen the pelvic floor muscles which was supposed to mitigate the pain during the labor.(read here) (if that pain was LESS!)

o Asanas were the astras (weapons) I used to beat the common discomforts like backache, swollen legs, calf-muscle cramps, gastritis and many more.

Emotionally

Image: DepositPhotos

o In this go-go-go world, when worries, tensions, apprehensions are so common. Meditation was a real stress-buster.

o Breathing techniques helped me during the labor to concentrate on the rolling out the red carpet for my baby rather than the pain (*Inner voice* ‘Big deal!, She rolled on a red carpet like thing inside too’.)

Mentally

o I have read some where that, excruciating labour pain is akin to 40 fractures on a single spot, at the same time. The most important preparatory factor in facing up to this pain is ‘Inner-Peace’, which is bolstered by meditation and yoga. (Yoga to bear pain? Did you remember Yogi Bear-cartoon? Meee too.. :P)

Image: RealBollywood

o It is a huge reprieve from fear and anxiety that we face during pregnancy.

My two cents finally (or four I should say)

o Say yes to Meditation, you may avoid Medication

o Yoga during pregnancy? YO! Ga-Ga over it!

o Don’t eat for two, it is too-much! (Remember the size of baby, rather its’ stomach)

o Go to a professional trainer. Do not experiment yourself.

Yoga is indeed the 'passport' to healthy pregnancy, helps the baby to 'pass' through the 'port' without a hitch (*wink wink* )

PS: I believe being mother is just a ‘state of mind’ for any woman. Just physically bearing child does not make any woman complete.

# MY TWO CENTS # Pregnancy

Friday, September 23, 2011

Damn Him!

Sahana Rao Friday, September 23, 2011 93 Comments

I had to work late, so I stayed back at my parents’ place. It was 10 PM. The door bell screeched. Amma opened the door, a man in early 40s entered.

My face turned cold with the anger. His sight had fanned the dormant flame of ferocity. I stood there staring in his face! ~~Bloody~~! He did not have the cheek to face me. My body language did lay a guilt trip on him. He lowered his head as he walked past me. (His head was so much bent that he might have licked the floor as he went)

A rush of memories came back to me.

We lived in a rented house. We were the only family who lived in the city. So, any soul from the family who visited the city would find an accommodation in our house.I was an eight year old girl.

I came back home after playing cricket. (yes, you read that right)

Amma had gone out to bring provisions and vegetables. Then, a man in late twenties came home.A so-called relative. I used to hate this person. During earlier visits, he took me and my brother out to get us juice and chocolates. Then, he used to send my brother home and he tried holding (read touching) me in a wrong way. His grip was too strong for me. I used to shout, or find some other way to run away from him.

I was scared to tell this to my parents. What if they don’t believe me? I did not even know what his intentions were. (There was nothing like sex education then. It was a taboo.) I just knew that I was feeling uncomfortable. Whenever he found me alone, he asked so many questions of which I remember a few like “Do you know the part of my body which can turn hard with your help?” “Do you know why saree is removed in rape scenes?”

I did not know the answers to the questions then. I skedaddled literally.

That day, when he came I ran into the room; started reading some class notes. My brother was also coloring something in his drawing book. He came in, he said, he is the heaviest person there. Both of us ignored his comments. Then, he said he can prove it, he just put me down and fell on me. My brother was just 5 years old then, I don’t know what thoughts came into his mind, he just lifted a small iron chair and he hit on this man’s head! He cried in pain and ran into the bathroom. We both were shit scared, and we ran out of the house and landed in my neighbors’ (we thought he would die :D)

By the time my mother came, things were normal.

In the later days, I somehow managed to keep away from him.

After we moved into our own house, I rarely saw him. I did not attend any of the social gatherings which had a probability of him coming. Years rolled. He has two kids now. Girls!

Now, things make sense. I can comprehend his questions and intentions. I am sad, that I did not tell my parents then. But, I was really scared; of what? I don’t know. But, I am happy, that these incidents did not bear an impact on my innocent brain;to brand the whole male clan as sex-maniacs. I told Amma about the dirty man when I was in 15. She was extremely angry that I did not tell her at the right time.

After thoughts

I really wonder how many girls went through such abuses in mute helplessness. Now, that I have a daughter, I don’t know how and when I should start sex education. I really fret.

Some ideas which I can think of are,

1) Train her on self defense.

2) Tell her repeatedly that getting scared or acting like you are scared; is NOT girlish.

3) Tell her to keep distance when she talks to men. Not to encourage touch and talk.

4) Encouraging her to share the most embarrassing moments also with you, may be then we can take them into confidence. (this did not work in my case)

5) Never let your girl child alone with men (sans really trusted ones like her father)

What else can be done? What do you think I should do that dirty man?

# Chilhood # IT'S MY LIFE

Friday, September 2, 2011

Who does the baby look like?

Sahana Rao Friday, September 02, 2011 52 Comments

‘Your baby has not got a thing from you! She looks completely like her father’

This was the remark made by a person who had come to see Bunni during early days of my post pregnancy. I was very happy with the second statement. (I still am) But, if someone is going to tell me that my baby who shared my flesh, who got all the nutrients required for the development of EVERY cell in her body, has not got ANYTHING at all from me. I am not taking it.

Come on, it is easy for someone to say that I should ignore such statements. After carrying the baby for 9 whole months, after going through hours of painful labour, if one has to take such a statement, it is disgusting. I am not a saadhvi to overcome the emotional attachment or to abandon the worldly ties.

First of all, I do not understand why people make insensitive proclamations on a sensitive issue? If the mother is going through post pregnancy depression (courtesy: hormones) then the effects can be horrifying. I cannot even draw comparison to the hurt or the annoyance the mother experiences.

Second statement was not a problem at all. I had guessed that people would say that the child looks like his/her father. Because I had read a report that said 95% of the time, if asked, people will say ‘The baby looks like his/her father’. That is because everyone knows that the mother has popped out the baby, so to secure the father in the family. This is a social thing. This may be true, may not be; But the veracity of this case maybe quite unlike. But, I was prepared for that. More over, I wanted my baby to look like BH.

On the closing note, instead of making such stupid idiotic statements, people can just SHUT UP! We will at least be happy that they came to see the baby.

I always believe

“If I can’t make someone happy, I will at least not make them sad.”

# BH # Bunni

Thursday, August 4, 2011

A farmer's bride

Sahana Rao Thursday, August 04, 2011 60 Comments

In the billowing green paddy fields, my daughter was jumping with joy. I climbed up a coconut tree to pluck tender coconuts for her. She was eagerly waiting with her mother. When I got down, she pounced upon me. My wife was laughing. I saw her face, there was contentment and joy. Right then, it started raining. I took the sickle lying on the ground and carried my daughter on my shoulder held my wife’s beautiful hand….

This was my morning dream I was reminiscing as I walked through the dusty dirt road. The sky was displaying its fury post sunset.

‘I am a better than average looking guy. I have a B.Sc degree in agriculture. My mother has worked her fingers to bones to bring me up after my father’s death. Our land holdings are neither too great nor too meager.

They are enough to lead a comfortable life. We may not have a lot of liquid cash flowing in all the time, but we grow our own food, we get milk products in the purest form. We own a beautiful ancestral home with all modern facilities. We lay emphasis on human values and we have a loving warm heart. What more does a girl need?’ A trundling bullock cart made me realize that I was lost in thoughts.

I walked past a leafless tamarind tree, the sky had turned grey. I reached home. My mother was busy heaping the cow dung. After freshening up, I stood next to her, cursing my fate. ‘She has to deal with all these chores in her old age. She doesn’t complain about her blurring vision or about her health which is on its last legs. She is not too old, but the decades of hard slog has taken a toll on her body’ I touched her head lovingly. She smiled.

‘Go and rest for a while. I will get coffee.’ she said.

I sat on a bench attached to the house. Staring at the unstained moon, the leaves from the Beech tree stirred a light breeze which was caressing my hair. Mother came out with coffee. Sat next to me and spoke;

Mother: Son, you work really hard.

Me: Learnt that from you mother.

Mother: The marriage broker had come today.

Me: He said the same thing? Nowadays girls don’t want to make a life in villages…

Mother: (with a gloomy face) I had been to an orphanage today as well, to look for a bride.

Me: (My eyes lightened up because I felt girls in orphanages would not have experienced relationships like us. They may value emotions of people like us.) And?

Mother: Girls there say that they want don’t want to live in villages. They want to get drenched in the colors of city life. They want to marry a software engineer. It seems some rich people from the city, who want house-wives, come to orphanages and pick them.

Me: (frustrated) I don’t understand these girls. They want to sit and eat what we grow here. At times, they even throw the food. We break our bones in growing it. All village girls want to go to city and all city girls want to go out of the country.

Mother: (identifying with my emotions) They don’t understand, though there is hardship, there is contentment. We know how much mortal effort goes behind every morsel. But don’t worry Son. It’s not that all girls are shallow. There will be someone who will love to live here with a man such as you.

Me: (resigning myself to hope) Hopefully.

This was a brief insight into a farmer life of an Indian village.

Do let me know your opinions.

# Fiction # MY TWO CENTS

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Tuskers 'in charge'

Sahana Rao Thursday, June 09, 2011 18 Comments

Place - Mysore, Karnataka.
Time: 5.30 AM round-about.
June- 08-2011

The traditional City, Mysore woke up with people taking morning walks, buying newspaper/milk. And what they saw! The scenes like these!

People tried alerting the forest officials. But, the run-riot had already begun. This behavior of elephants is totally bizarre! they do not enter cities usually. The skirmishes with the humans in the elephant corridor are quite common. But why did they come into the city where they do not find any food to eat? Were they enraged because they were chased off by the farmers? God only knows!

One of the elephants encountered a cow tied to pole on its way. It started charging at it violently. Poor cow was tied to its destiny.

Cow fought valiantly. Each time it was rammed by the tusker, it gathered on its feet. Till the final blow came when the tusker pierced it's body. It fell. People who were witnessing the scene were whistling, making sounds, clapping etc. probably to divert the elephant. It only maddened the elephant.

For people, it was just pell-mell.

The younger tusker went deeper into the city. Where people would not have expected an elephant (of all the animals) on the streets. There stood an innocent security guard who was watching this elephant with amusement( like many other people ). I really

wonder what went wrong, the elephant just ran into him, threw him on the ground, pierced him.

Many attempts of people to divert, did not work again.

I can quite possibly understand, if a mahout is killed by an elephant because he might have ill-treated the elephant sometime.
But, what did this security guard do? What about the Cow?
The person who had tied the cow to the pole must be feeling miserable at its gory fate.

Later the elephants were tranquilized and left in the forest.

As I saw in today's news paper, the headlines says "1 man killed" and the cow's death takes a corner. That is the respect we have for the animals!

-----------------------------------

In the same light, I remembered an incident. This happened when we went to a wild-life safari in a jeep. On a rainy morning, we spotted a herd of elephants. This herd had 2 baby elephants and 4 adults.

Our idiotic driver wanted to make the elephants charge at the jeep. He deemed it to be a thrilling experience. He was honking like crazy, and accelerating with the brakes pressed just to irritate the elephants. Yes. They were scared. They ran into the forest trumpeting, choosing to go away from us.

But, what if the elephants had really charged?

1) There was only one route, backwards into the sloppy, muddy roads. The only way to go was in the reverse gear. If we had got stuck (high possibility) no one would have survived. Let me remind you, there were 4 adult elephants.

2) Elephants are even more dangerous when they have calves with them. They are very very protective and can get easily infuriated.

That day, we were really lucky to have escaped.

In case, you are chased by an elephant. What can you do?

a) If a man chooses to run, one should remember that elephants can easily outrun a man. The only way to escape can be, to run in a zig-zag path. The path traced should be zig-zag for the elephant not for the man. :D It takes time for the elephant to shift weight from one direction to another.

b) If one decides to hide, one has to make sure that the wind direction is not towards the elephant. Because elephants can smell people out.

Respect animals, Save wild life. Sad when such incident happen. Man v/s Wild :(

# MY TWO CENTS

Ahamkaara

Monday, October 29, 2012

Arrgh-uments

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Mother's love is the greatest. Really?

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Girl you'll be a woman soon

Friday, November 25, 2011

Does Life Change After Marriage?

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Dharma and Karma

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Prenatal Yoga

Friday, September 23, 2011

Damn Him!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Who does the baby look like?

Thursday, August 4, 2011

A farmer's bride

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Tuskers 'in charge'

SAHANA RAO

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