Is This A Dream?

She passed away a few months ago. He was in bed but could not sleep. Tossing and turning. Finally went to sleep. He had a dream. Here are the details of that dream. 

She was talking to someone on the phone. He asked her: What are you doing. You are supposed to have died. If you talk to your friend, she will know you are not dead and she will tell everyone.

She replied my friend does not know I am dead. He asked how long we can hide that. When the truth comes out what will be telling our children. What we will tell the people who came for the cremation. What we will tell the people who came for the 13th day function. They all will think we put on a big hoax. 

She said children will be very happy to see me alive. And, I do not care about others. 

He said let’s move to an unknown place like Finland where no one knows us. And, we will not contact anyone. She agreed but said we will tell our children only where we are living. 

Dream ended. He woke up. Searched for her in the home. She was not there. 

PS: This is not a fiction. Real dream.

A Page from the Past

I was reading an Indian web newspaper the other day. I was glad to read that the passengers traveling only on domestic sector on an international route do not have to declare the customs declaration form. For example, if a passenger is traveling from Delhi to Chennai only on a plane that goes form Delhi to Chennai to Colombo, he/she need not fill up Indian Customs Declaration Form.
 

That reminded me of something that happened a while ago.
 

At that time we were living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. My company sent me there from USA on an overseas assignment. For the weekend, we were going from Riyadh to Chennai via Mumbai. We landed in Mumbai and took another flight from Mumbai to Chennai. That flight’s final destination was Singapore (I think).
 

We were traveling in executive class. After the plane took off from Mumbai, the flight steward took orders for our drinks. I ordered a scotch and soda. He asked what the madam would like to have. I asked him to ask the madam directly. My wife said she would like to have orange juice. (I have no idea why he cannot ask her directly.)
 

There was another passenger. He also ordered scotch and soda. But the flight steward told him he cannot give him alcoholic drink because he is flying only on a domestic sector (Mumbai to Chennai). The flight steward explained – in order to get an alcoholic drink a passenger should have arrived from a foreign country or must be going to a foreign country. So no drink for the other passenger.
 

I am not the guy to let an opportunity like this to go away. I called the flight steward. I told him “madam” has changed her mind. She would also like to have a scotch and soda in addition to her orange juice. The flight steward was puzzled.
 

He brought an orange juice and a scotch for her and a scotch for me. I took the scotch from my wife’s tray and gave to the fellow “domestic” passenger and said “enjoy the drink”.
 

The flight steward was witnessing this. He said nothing.
 

My thought is either give alcoholic drinks to everyone or do not give to anyone until the flight is cleared of all domestic passengers.  What do you say?
 

Karuveppilai (Kadi Patta)

There is a plant used in Indian cooking. In Tamil it is called Karuveppilai. In Hindi, it is is called Kadi Patta. In English, it is called Curry Leaves.

 

We use that in almost all our dishes – Sambar, Rasam, Kootu, Curry(poriyal), subji, chutney, thugaiyal, etc. etc. Those leaves produce aromatic smell. It has lot of medicinal values.

 

People normally think it is a waste to eat curry leaves. When we start to eat, the first thing we do is to take out the curry leaves from the plate and throw it out.

 

So we use it to enhance the flavor and taste of our food. But we throw it out once we think its purpose is served. Is it not happening in our every day life?

 

Political parties have alliances for election. Once the election is over, the bigger party gets rid of its smaller partners. These smaller parties have alliances with a different party in the next election. That different party does the same once the election is over.

 

Many people use friends the same way. They reach out to us only when they need something. After that, they discard us. Don’t we want to avoid that kind of friends? Yes. Once we realize that someone is using us we should put our foot down and say “no more”. We have to trust our guts. We should realize why someone is always smiling and flattering us.

 

But at same time, we should be helpful if someone is in real trouble.

 

It is kind of difficult to avoid people if they are family.

 

What do you think?