All paths from the Top only lead you Down

All kinds of living creatures and species, except one, are constantly evolving into a 'higher' - a better, more adaptable and more intelligent versions of themselves, in every new generation that comes along. That exceptional species is the incongruously named Homo Sapiens.

Humans are the delusional ones believing that they are already at the 'top' of the hierarchy of living beings, some even proclaiming themselves or acting like 'Gods' of their own imagination. Logically, there is nowhere higher to go from the top of the hill. The only way forward is down, and we are seeing that happen as new generations of humans are coming along, with less skills to adapt to basic, raw nature and relate properly with other living creatures, even other humans!

It is only those that still believe there is a higher plane to achieve in our evolution - in physical, mental and spiritual, that have a chance of evolving to be better. The rest, inevitably are evolving downwards - less soul and spirit as compared to humans at their best and certainly less capable than the animals in living well in balance with nature. The simplest squirrel or a cockroach or an ant will have a better chance of survival in nature, than a teenager or middle-aged adult today.

What do you think?


Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2016
All rights reserved 

The Teen-N-Ties Lovers - Chapter 4 - First Get-Together

The mother and daughter showed up first and early at the mall in preparation for their first formal meeting with their love interests. They were at the food court by 6.30pm after spending a couple of hours at least each in the bathroom and bedrooms at home, with a lot of effort going into putting on make-up, trying on different dresses and finally achieve their desired ‘just perfect’ look of simple, minimal, barely-there make-up and elegantly ‘casual’ attire - as if they just put on some clothes in a hurry it all accidentally happened to look good.

Both mother and daughter had that Friday off. Preparations had already begun from the morning and previous night in applying and preparing lotions, potions,  using terms like exfoliation, de-foliation, skin toning, moisturising, conditioning, showing, shampooing. There were recipes made from the previous night from apparently the right foods to make their skins glow in the right way, to control the way their breath smelled etc. There seemed to be an extensive body of knowledge that the girls knew, rituals and procedures that they enjoyed and shared in a way that normally only two females can. It seemed natural to them.

“Aren’t we too early?” asked the daughter as they looked around at the seating area that had plenty of unoccupied tables to seat four.

She had wondered and asked the same question when they had set out from home.

“No, we have to attend to a few things at the mall before meeting them”, the mother had said.

As soon as they arrived at the food court, the mother went to her favourite stall owner, a friend of sorts, greeted her warmly, introduced her daughter and enquired a little bit about her family and kids. It seems they knew each other.

“We will come by later and order food then,” said the mother as she waved to her and walked away.

“She will remember and keep an eye on us this evening in case of anything suspicious,” the mother softly told the daughter pulling her close. She had the look of undercover detective on some mission, who had friends and spies in many places.

“Now to scout out the area before we see the men. Put on your dark sun-glasses and sit next to a group in the corner, against the line of potted plants, looking towards the escalator and that aisle. Then we wait and watch the man coming in to the area carefully, until about 6.50.  Then we leave here. If we spot him before 6.45, be watchful. See if he is accompanied by someone else we do not know about or anyone that looks suspicious. If we feel in our gut that something is not right, we just leave without being recognised. If he does see us, we just excuse ourselves and dash into the ladies toilet nearby. We need some time to make sure the coast is clear. Call for help from the mall security if we feel the person is still stalking us,” said the mother with the authoritative and serious tone of a police sergeant planning operation against a wanted criminal.

“Why should we wait until only 6.50 and leave? Are we not supposed to meet Mr. R_ at 7.00?” asked the daughter, puzzled.

“If the man is not here by 6.50, we leave this place, go into the women’s toilet, do the final touch ups to our make-up and hair. Then we slip into that shop nearby, and casually come out at 7.01pm and head towards these seats, carefully looking around to see if we can spot the man. You see, we don’t arrive early for the date, just a little afterwards. The man must be here first and wait for us. If he is not for some good reason, we will wait for 10-15 mins longer to see or hear from him. After that, we simply leave,” said the sergeant who had apparently given it a lot of thought and planned it thoroughly! The young girl was impressed.

“I wonder if she has done this before?” wondered the daughter staring intently at the mother, thankful for having her dark glasses on.

“No, I have not done this before, Beti, but I feel this is how we should do it after thinking about it and doing some research,” said the mind reading sergeant.

At about 6.40, the girls saw Senior pass across at a distance and at an angle away from them. He threw a casual glance towards the food court, but moved on. He seemed to be alone and headed somewhere with a purpose. The girls remained seated until he disappeared in the crowd. At 6.50, just as the girls got up and went towards the toilet, he emerged, heading towards the food court, carrying a small potted plant with a little bunch of bright flowers showing. The pot was quite tastefully decorated and wrapped. He held it carefully in front of him. He looked around and spotted an empty table, near the very line of tall potted plants that the mother and daughter had sat. He made his way to it, set the flower pot on the table, sat down and looked around, trying to spot the gorgeous K_.

Just after 7.00pm he saw her emerge from the crowd moving towards the food court. She had her daughter next to her. She had apparently spotted him too - she waved to him as she saw him looking at her.

As she approached, he stood up and moved forward, around the table to greet her. She stopped right in front of him, followed closely by her daughter. Senior did not notice much of the daughter then. All his attention was on gorgeous K_, who looked very elegant and beautiful.

Instinctively, both of them folded their hands together and said, “Namaste-ji!” There was a pause of what seemed like the longest couple of seconds, as they did not know what to say. They looked at each other. They liked what they saw. He looked smart and trim, with an obviously recent haircut and shave with a faint hint of aftershave, wearing quiet muted colours. He certainly looked like he had put in an effort to look pleasant. She had achieved the perfect, ‘spectacularly simple’ look that she had strived for. The man had no idea what all was done to arrive at that. He took it at face value. There was attraction and caution in almost equal measure on both sides.

“Accha, aap aye (Good you came).  Baithiye, Baithiye (Sit down, sit down),” said Senior gesturing towards the seats.

“This is P_, meri beti (my daughter),” said K_, introducing her.

“Namaste-beta!” said Senior in an affectionate tone.

“Namaste-ji” replied P_, surprised and a bit tickled at the seeming formality of a traditional Indian greeting between the grown-ups.

“Yeh, aapke liye (This, for you),” said Senior, offering the potted flower plant with both hands to K_.

She took it with a gracious smile and sat down opposite to Senior, with the daughter next to her.

“It is very nice. Pretty flowers!” she said as she smelled them. They smelled very good.

 The daughter barely but wisely suppressed a smile. It tickled her to see this quaint ritual of courtship of the old. This man seemed a bit culturally confused about it - giving a potted flower plant rather than just flowers. This seemed like a funny mix of eastern and western traditions to the young lady, who was growing up in a society that seemed ever more heavily tilting towards the western culture and practices, particularly in dating and courting. Her mother, however, seemed to be just fine with it.

“The flower vendor said that if you water them a little every day, it will grow and give more flowers. It does best in filtered sunlight,” said Senior.

The ice was broken. They all sat down.

“Would you ladies like something to drink? Chai, coffee, juice or soft drink? Shall we order something to eat? What would you like?” asked Senior.

“Main ek ice-tea mangaathi piyoong abhi,(I will have an ice-tea now),” K_ said, “Let us wait to eat though. We are waiting to meet someone else too. There is a boy who P_ wants to meet for the first time, just like you. We thought we would invite him to join us here at 7.30. What do you think?”

“Oh! That is OK,” said Senior, apparently not at all flustered. His cool equanimity earned him points from K_ and her daughter. “What will you have beti?” he asked of P_.

“Thank you. I will have a pineapple juice now. Let me get it while you two chat,” said P_.

“Oh, No,Beti.  You sit here, I will get it. Juice for you. I will have a Chai!” said Senior setting out to get the drinks.

“He seems nice. Sounds ‘normal’!” said the P_ to her mother when Senior was out of earshot.

They giggled.

“We’ll see, how it goes,” said the mother, sounding a note of caution.

They both turned to see the Senior order the drinks at the stall. The waiter brought out a tray after Senior paid the cashier.

“Go and help carry the tray back,” the mother told the daughter, who promptly got up and was soon at Senior’s side.

“Thank you, Uncle! I will bring the tray. Aaap jao aur baithke Mumma se baathen karo (You go, sit down and chat with Mom),” said P_.

Senior was impressed! He thanked her and walked back to sit with K_.

“She is a very well-mannered child,” he said to her nodding towards P_.

“Oh, yes. She is a good one,” she replied.

Pleasantries and more information were exchanged briefly before P_ returned with the drinks tray.

Soon, an alarm went off on K_’s phone. It was time to expect Junior shortly, if he were on time.

“Shall we swap sides and sit on your side and you come around? I would like to see this boy as he approaches us,” said K_. It was clear she was a cautious, thoughtful and protective parent, even if a liberal one.

“Sure, sure,” said Senior getting up. They all shuffled over and took their new seats, K_ and P_ facing the only  way Junior could approach them. Senior sat across the table, facing them.

They sipped their drinks and chatted as P_ kept scanning the crowd at a distance.

In a few minutes, she nudged her mother while still sipping her juice.

“Oh! There he is. He has not seen us yet,” she said softly putting her drink down.

“Where is he? Which one is it?” asked the mother.

“The tall one with the helmet under his arm,” said P_, “He must have driven his motorbike over.” She sounded thrilled.

It promptly set off alarm bells in the mother’s mind. K_ then spotted Junior. He seemed tall, slim, dressed in the elegant simple style of modern day male clothing models.

Suddenly, Junior spotted P_ and waved. He seemed to bound over to them magically all the while looking at them and not bumping into anyone on the way, through people coming and going in all directions. Soon he was right there. He had a handsome appearance and moved with the energy and restlessness that only the youth are capable of and themselves unaware of.

Senior had turned around too, to see who the new arrival would be. He did not recognise Junior for a few seconds. Junior was not even registering Senior as he approached. All his attention was on P_ and her mother.

P_ had already come forward to greet Junior, who shyly came and said ”Hello!” to her and “Namaste-ji” to K_.

Junior extended his helmet towards P_ and said, “Something for you”.

She looked shocked. “I don’t ride motorbikes” she said

“No, there is something inside it, pick it up!” said the young man.

She reached tentatively and picked out a tiny little bunch of plastic toy bananas, with a monkey shaped key ring attached.

“Monkey-man!!” P_ screamed, thrilled. It seemed to be the perfect gift to win her heart. K_ and Senior watched with amused expressions.

It was when recognition of Senior hit Junior.

“Da-Uncle-ji, Arreey Aaap (Oh, its You!!)!!” exclaimed Junior with a slightly worried expression but great presence of mind, “Yeh, aapki beti hai kya? (Is this you’re your daughter?).”

“Nahin, Beta!  This is Mr. R_, a friend. P_ is my daughter,” said K_, interrupting before Senior could reply.

Senior had a stunned expression that K_ noted.

“Thum!! (You!),” he exclaimed with an almost horrified expression.

“Oh!  Kya aap dono ek dusre ko jaanthe ho?  (Do you two know each other?),” K_ asked, surprised.

Both Senior and Junior had the presence of mind to call a truce.

“Oh, we ran into each other last week, here in this mall, I don’t know him,” said Junior.

“Well, actually, this young man was the one who ran into me. He seemed in such a hurry then,” said Senior, more composed now.

They all realized that their future was going to be interesting.



Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2016
All rights reserved 

Walk Out Into My Own Life

The sun was setting.

"Dad, Dad! Can you please put this away in the rubbish bin?" asked the son, handing the old man the remains of the little meal that his toddler grandchildren had just finished at the park bench. 
"Sure, I will get it and clean up afterwards, you go on," said the old man.
The old man grabbed the bunched up mess and started to walk towards the rubbish bin that was a little distance away, at edge of the park, next to the main road.

The daughter-in-law was already halfway to the parking lot carrying a couple of large bags and pushing the pram at an angle away from the rubbish bins. The granddaughter, who would soon be five years old, had just put her own rubbish in the bin. She would soon follow her mother to the car. The little grandson was throwing a tantrum and resisting going home, as his father tried to gather him in his arms, lift him up and carry him to the car, while carrying a few bags on his shoulders. 

With small children and a modern lifestyle, it seemed parents always appeared to be packing for a mountaineering expedition on every outing. The old man smiled as he saw the little grandson break free from his father's grasp and land on the grass covered ground. He quickly got up and ran away from the reaching hands of his father who was encumbered and almost tripped up by the large bags he was carrying. The little tyke ran straight towards the old man.

"Dada, Dada!" the child called out with his arms outstretched and dashing towards him. The old man quickly made a decision. He took a couple of quick steps to reach the rubbish bin and dropped his load into it. He then turned around quickly, just in time to catch his grandson as he crashed into his legs. He bent, lifted the little boy up and held him face-to-face while standing up straight. The little boy kicked his legs in the air and rubbed the stubble on the grandfather's face with his tiny hands as he got a kiss on the cheek. He bussed the old-wrinkled grey-stubbled cheek. Both loved the feeling.

The boy's father was trying to get him to come with him so that he could put him properly into the special car seat for the drive home. The little ones hated their restrictive car seats and it was perhaps the reason the boy was trying to escape his father's grasp.

The old man knew a trick. He gave the boy a quick swirl, turned him around, facing away from himself, pointing towards the approaching father and set him down. Instinctively, the little boy, having just descended suddenly from the dizzying heights of adults and finding himself on the ground, took his first steps to steady himself, straight towards his waiting father, who scooped him up!

Just then the old man picked up the granddaughter, who was standing nearby and gave her a swirl as well. He remembered her as his first grandchild. She loved to brush her cheek against his stubbly chin. She hugged him tight, kissed him and then walked behind the father towards the car park.

As the kids were buckled-up in their respective car seats, the parents put away all the bags, folded the pram, put it in the boot and were preparing to leave, the old man went back to the park-bench and cleaned up the remaining mess. The son started up the car engine, set up the favourite music for the kids to listen to and waited for the old man to finish up and join them. He could see the old, slightly bent figure of his father walk towards the rubbish bin again. He dropped the stuff he was carrying into the bin. Wiped his hands with a wet tissue and threw it in the bin as well. Then he turned around and stood there. He could see the tiny face of the granddaughter at the window, the little boy was in the middle seat at the back. He could barely make out the son in the driver's seat. He blew a kiss towards them all, waved to them, as if in goodbye and walked out of the park.

The son and daughter-in-law could see the old man too, from the distance. For a moment they did not register what was happening.

"Where is he going?" asked the daughter-in-law.

"I don't know. Perhaps he wants to have a quick look at something interesting that caught his fancy. He is like that sometimes," said the son.

"Dada, gone bye-bye walk," the granddaughter explained to the little boy, who immediately waved his hands in his 'bye-bye' gesture.

"I hope he is not late, I am tired and want to get home soon and rest," said the son in a mild tone of annoyance.

"I know, long day tomorrow, Dear! Ready for your new job?" asked the daughter-in-law understandingly patting his arm.

"Yes, look forward to it, but it will be taxing," replied the son.

They waited a few seconds, their eyes tracking the walking figure of the old man. He started to walk along the side of the main road, in the opposite direction to what they would take going home. He seemed to be walking steadily, purposefully even if slowly.

"Where IS he going? Where is he headed?" the son wondered aloud, looking a bit puzzled. The old man did not once turn around to look back at them or indicate that he was aware they were waiting for him.

"There is nothing but bushland on one side of the road and a housing estate on the other side for a long, long while. We don't know anyone living nearby. Wonder what he is upto? This is not like him," said the daughter-in-law who knew more about the old man's circle of friends and acquaintances. They had lived together for many years with him since his wife had passed away. He had been a reliable rock for their family - an unpaid help around the house in everything that needed to be done, a father to his son and daughter-in-law, a babysitter, a tutor, a cook, a driver, a handyman, an accountant, errand boy, alarm clock and counsellor. He was a loving, giving father, grandfather and friend. They had had a wonderful relationship.

As the old man's figure became smaller and smaller in the distance, suddenly, it hit the son that something was not normal. He did not know exactly what to do. The kids had started to sing to the music and little one would soon be likely asleep.

"I'll go, check and bring him back," the son said, turning the car engine off, removing his seat belt and jumping out of the car.

The son started to walk briskly across the parking lot and out on to the road. He then saw the figure of his father almost fading into the shades created by the sunset. He broke into a run. He wanted to shout out, but decided against causing any drama or drawing attention to himself near other people. He steadily gained upon the walking old man. 

When he was just about twenty yards ahead, the son called out,"Dad!  Dad! Stop!! Where are you going?"

The old man heard him and stopped. He turned around. He waited for his son to catch up to him. Soon, the son stood panting and a bit out of breath, in front of him. The old man stood with a slight smile on his face, patted his son affectionately and signalled him to pause to catch his breath.

"Where are you going Dad? We were all waiting for you at the car. Its getting late and I have a long day tomorrow. Did you plan to go somewhere and not tell us? We can give you a lift!" said the son.

"No, No. That is OK. You go on home. I will come home later. I am going to Kamu's place. I have been meaning to visit him for sometime. Since speaking to him yesterday, I have this urge to see him and spend some time with him," said the old man, starting to walk slowly again.

"Which Kamu? The only Kamu I know as your friend is in the USA!! He is the one you spoke to yesterday, did you not?" said the son, quite puzzled and confused, and continued to walk alongside, turning sideways to see his father.

"Yes, the very same one, son. Yes, he is the one I want to visit," said the old man.

"But, Dad, He lives on the other side of the world...thousands of miles away...ten thousand miles," stammered the son with a dazed expression. It seemed surreal that his normally cool, rational and logical father had suddenly, without warning, gone stark, raving mad! He was himself not feeling quite good and had a great urge to hold his father and shake him into reality. He resisted.

"But, Dad! It will take you many days to get to Kamu, you cannot walk there to him," said the son, hoping that some logic would persuade his father to pause.

"Of course, son. I am not going directly to Kamu. I have to fly there, silly! I am going to stop at Raghu's place tonight and book the flights from there. I have been meaning to chat with Raghu as well. I have an open invitation from him for a long time," said the old man kindly, continuing to walk slowly.

Hearing this, the son did not know whether to believe his father was starting to sound more logical or more crazy. He thought it better not to challenge his father's totally bizarre sounding goal, but to tactfully work with him and persuade him to return home with him so that he could plan how to deal with him, while they were all safely at home and with perhaps a psychologist or psychiatrist present. The names of many terrible mental afflictions flashed through his mind. It sure seemed like he had a longer night ahead than he had wished for. At this rate, he was not sure, he would make it to work tomorrow.

"Dad! Listen Dad, Raghu's house is 50 kilometers away, on the other side of town. It is too long for you to walk. We can give you a lift. Come with me," said the son walking backwards, facing his father.

"Son, you have a long day tomorrow. You have had a busy, tiring day today. The kids need to get home to bed and rest. You and Anjali need your rest too. You have your hands full. Of course, I don't intend to walk 50 km to Raghu's place. I will take a bus or cab from a little further down. I feel like walking until it is dark. I enjoy the sunset and dusk whle taking a walk," said the old man, sounding quite calm and rational.

"Dad! What is the matter? What is happening? Is there something wrong? Did I or Anjali say or do anything to offend you? You know we would never mean to. Come home and let us talk it over," pleaded the son, his voice starting to crack.

"Son, No! It is not you folks, it is me.  I am sorry this came about suddenly like this without warning or notice to you. I just felt and realised this as I was cleaning up at the park bench. You and Anjali are now fully capable of taking care of yourselves and the little ones. Go on, they must be waiting and ready to turn in. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself," said the old man, kindly. 

"Dad! I know something is not right. You are never like this. I am sorry if somehow we hurt your feelings. You should know we love you and would never want to push you away. Whatever the issue, don't do this. The kids and Anjali are in the car waiting. All of us are tired and need to get some rest before tomorrow. Let us talk it over at home calmly tomorrow when I get back from work. It will give us all time to calm down," pleaded the son.

"No, Son. I have got to do this. I need to set out on my own. Don't worry or fret. Just go back and get back to your schedule. I will come back after my wanderings," said the old man once again kindly but firmly.

"Dad! Why are you doing this to us? Tell me if something is wrong, Why all this? Why all the fuss..," the son stammered as an obvious tone of frustration and exasperation crept into his voice. Normally, he could well imagine how his father would feel about it but he was slipping now. He had never, ever been in such a situation with the old man before. 

For just a second, the look in the old man's eyes would have frozen rampaging Vikings in their tracks. The son realised that he better not proceed in that tone and wreck something important between them. His father had shown great restraint in dealing with him since his childhood and never reproached him for all the drama or fuss, he would only counter his reasoning with patience, even if exasperated.

The son looked defeated. The old man's look softened.

"That's OK. I can understand how you must feel or what might be going through your mind. I will tell you again -  Yes, something did not feel right to me, within me. It is not because of something you or anyone said or did today or just recently. It has built up from deep within me, over a long time. It just clicked suddenly. I need to be free for a while," said the old man calmly.

He stopped walking. He held his son by his arms on each side, looked at him steadily, into his eyes and spoke with a firm determination and resolve that surprised the son. He had never seen his father like this ever in his life.

"Look son. I hope I have been there for you when you needed me, until now. I have to be there for you and for all in the family. I put that above anything else. I may have not been perfect, but I can say I never put my wants or desires or fancies above anything I felt that you or the family needed. Now, today, I realised that there is nothing that you, Anjali or the kids absolutely NEED me for. You can take care of yourselves. You are all healthy and well-off. Sure, you will all have to do a few more chores at home without me, but you can and should be able to manage. 

If I hear that any of you is not well or need my help, I will turn right back and get to be with you ASAP. There may come a time in the future when you will need help and I will be there to help in anyway I can. But perhaps there is a small period of time when you dont need me AND I am well enough to be able to do what I want do do, go where I want to go, see what I want to see. There will certainly come a time when I will not be in a position to do anything like this. There may also come a time when I might need your help and I hope you will be there for me too.  Let me take this time and give this a go. 

Go home,son! Go without worrying about me. I hope you feel happy for me, because I have a chance to try this. Not everyone in the world gets to be in my situation. I have not walked out on you, I have only just walked out into my own life," said the old man in the most calm, quiet and determined tone the son had ever heard him speak.

"What about your change of clothes and stuff? Why don't you pick them up from home and go later tomorrow after you have packed and planned properly?" asked the son desperately hoping to point out the obvious, logical and calm approach that his father had taught him for so long.

The old man smiled to himself and it showed a little on the outside.
"I have my money, my credit card, my pension and savings. I can buy what I need. The night is still young and Raghu lives right next to the mall. I need very little, son," he said confidently.

The son stood dazed. He did not know how to make his father change his mind. He stood quietly for a few seconds. Anjali was watching them from the car. She saw them hug each other and saw her husband turn back alone, as the father-in-law waved again in her direction, turned and continued to walk away.

"It must be something important and understandable," she said to herself, puzzled nevertheless. They were both such normal, rational folk in her experience. She saw her husband walk slowly with his head down in deep thought. He looked back a couple of times to see his father walking away into the distance. The sun had just set and the sky was spectacular.



Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2016
All rights reserved