You have to learn to be like the turtle

Oh no I am not thinking of 'slow and steady wins the race' although that too but not today, not now.
I set out at 5.45 in the morning for my game of tennis on ECR thinking it will be wonderful to just cruise along at 60kmph and breathe in the as yet unpolluted air....than a tanker overtook me, I had to brake my thoughts and my car. Next I before I knew it, I was sandwiched between a TNST bus (those double buses chained to each other. Ok I thought to myself this is war! Sigh, out went the leisurely thoughts and early morning calm to be replaced by a battle-ready mind. I rolled down the windows (I like open windows as I can then peek out, make rude gestures and roll out abuses, but worry not, I never get into a fracas or fights) The bus finally decided to take pity on my and veered to the left to let me pass. Now the road was truly empty, and no sooner had I settled down than I heard raucous Tamil songs being hammered out of 4 giant speakers placed one on top of the other (these would put even the best concert equipment to shame). The songs I guesses were either paens to MGR/ Vijay/ Captain or Murugan, Gauriamman or Karthick. Same difference!
So its times like these I wish I knew the tricks of Yoga and meditation and withdraw within myself, to put my head down in the my own oasis of calm and not let these external factors agitate me. Believe the abuse that we put up with is phenomenal- noise pollution, air pollution, traffice violators, civic disruptions like Mandaps for some political meeting right in the middle of the road.
Folks, maybe its time to take sme lessons from the ostrich and the turtle and even the snail, I say. Anything that normalises your blood pressure and gives you time to catch your breath and return to sanity.

Camera is a vile word

My sister in law asked me..
“Did you go on this holiday under duress? Were you held for ransom?
“No”
At gun point?
“No”
Was there any pressure?”
“Oh absolutely none. I went willingly.”
“Then why are you looking so grim under this beautiful, blue, azure sky?”
That’s because my husband is holding the camera and he is as competent as a child with a gun who might have the wrong end pointed toward his quarry and he couldn’t care less!!!!
The eternal suffering of a person who is camera-happy is to be surrounded with equally camera-unhappy people, people who don’t care for 20MP happiness in all its digital, vivid colour grandeur.
“Will you take a picture please? Will you? Please take a picture? Picture please? Me and him (here I point frantically at him and me)? This is what I request perfect strangers to make up for my decidedly camera-cold family. My husband actually has the gall to say- well let’s go on a vacation- me, the kids and your camera. I worship my camera, It’s my third baby- youngest, cutest and what’s more it does my bidding and all it asks for is batteries- I am perennially beset by battery anxiety and memory card inadequacy. So when the family is in a 7/11 shop and the kids are going berserk filling up the shopping cart , I am moving along the aisles like a lunatic trying to stock up on Duracell, triple As. Once my better half had to literally wrangle me away from the camera, you see I had tightly wound the camera on my right wrist. He said that he will have to cut my arm loose to get me away from the little rascal with just one eye. I asked him if he will take a picture of my camera lying in my own blood. He just sighed but looked at me like he married a closet camchopath!
Well I am not so bad either. I can go for long periods on our holiday without the click click sound..like when I am in the washroom………..