thief ?

Yesterday evening, I met a thief. And found her to be a thirteen year old child of migrant workers from Bengal.The mother, a domestic help has been in Bangalore for the last three years. The father, a construction worker, and three daughters have come here just a few weeks ago.This child, the youngest, had been put to work, just after that. On the third day, she picked up a mobile phone belonging to her employers, used whatever money she had for a sim card. Much commotion was made. The phone was returned and she has been branded a thief. The parents are traumatised. She is being thoroughly castigated. On meeting her, I found, that when she was three years old, she had been sent to live with her maternal grandparent's family. They had sent her back just a few months ago. It was them she had called, using the mobile phone.When I met her, she wept. I asked her where does it hurt and she showed her chest. She is afraid to go to school as she knows no language other than Bengali. And employment opportunities are dim as she is now a 'thief'

Legacy of Violence

This couple lived on my floor, both working in IT. Smart, well educated, friendly. I played a bit with their toddler, whenever I met them in the lift or corridor.Whenever his parents came to stay, I was invited for haldi- kumkum. A picture perfect, happy family. They left on transfer a few months ago.Yesterday, a friend who lives in the opposite flat, told me that he used to beat her, openly, in front of others. He once beat her in my friend's flat, held her by the neck and pushed her home. My friend said to me, he was not a bad man, did not drink or anything. This was just his culture as she had seen his father beating up his mother too.
I am saddened and disturbed by the sheer ordinariness of this abuse. I am haunted by their faces. I think of their little boy and wonder how long this chain of violence and humiliation will be.

Doing To Being

The movement from doing to being is the movement from head to heart, from the mind to the spirit. The mind seeks outwards. Tied to the five senses, it continually pulls away, seeking its rewards, satisfaction, fulfillment outside of itself. And in striving again and again to grasp the ephemeral, one is left to deal with the pain of empty hands.One learns , that in reality one possesses nothing but oneself. And then the wandering stops and one learns to be with oneself. Discovers that the treasure lies within, not without.That one has been holding the honey all along , carrying inconceivable richness within. And then the process of being begins.

Rainbow In The Sky !

Yesterday evening, when the rains stopped, they left behind a magnificent rainbow. My husband called me out to the balcony to see it and it was so perfect ! All seven colours clearly seen, arching across the sky. I said, "We have to take a picture." And rushed upstairs to call my son, who hurriedly readied his camera. By the time, he came down with his camera, the rainbow was already on its way out, fading steadily. And I then wondered what is it in us that cannot appreciate beauty in its transience.When we see or experience something exquisite, beautiful, precious, why does this desire rush in to capture, preserve, own it in some way? In doing so, usually, we lose that fleeting moment of beauty and are left empty handed. Or is it that we place more value on memories we create rather than the real experience? The mind plays its tricks and creates pain out of pleasure.