How does it work???

I just don't get it!!.....

At Sweatshop...
I tread gingerly..
Lest I disturb a Reiki angel....hard at work!!!!!...
Break a feng shui flower pot!!...
Step on and muddy... a co-worker's carefully worked-up protective shield of coloured light!!!...
Or prick the edge of another's aura...
With the sharp end of my ball point pen...
Or pencil...
And puncture it!!!....
Inadvertently of course!!!!

I...
An ardent believer...
Often feel so unprotected...
And uncared for..
By angels, lights, auras....and the like!!!!!

So...
When my sister in law from Dubai...
Counseled me on the mysteries of these occult sciences...
I listened!!!!....
And with a global downturn about..
Who can blame me???
All over the world now...
Anything free is welcome!!!!....
Free feng shui advice included!!!!

And thus it was...that..
Under her expert guidance...
I shifted paintings..and artifacts...
Changed the colour of curtains...
And most important...
Put up pots of plants...at strategic corners in each room...
And waited.....
For the magic to happen!!!...
And it did!!!!

A few days later...
I got something!!!
????
Yes!!!!..
Believe it or not!!!

I got...
Mosquitoes in my house!!!
Swarms of them....
Breeding in the plants in each room!!!!
In fact up until now...
All I HAVE got...are mosquitoes!!!!....
But time will surely tell....if I get something else too...
NO...not malaria!!....or Chikungunya!!!
And don't you snigger now!!!!

Which brings me to my opening sentence: I just don't get it...
If it can work for THEM...
Why can't it work for ME???
Huh????
Especially since some of them may be hard at work......
Covering me up in black ..
Or purple light...in their minds....
Now THAT is bound to hurt me..I am sure!!!


Just about a hundred years ago...
Most of our vaashu consultants..
Pranic healing shamans...
Along with swamijis who claim to be incarnations of God...
Would have been burnt at the stake...
As heretics...
But now...
Especially in times of distress...
They flourish!!!

And I try to heed their advice...
But still...
No Reiki angel does MY bidding and fetches me my lost keys!!!!...
I have to do ALL that ALL on my own...
I assure you..

Could it be because I am not a witch???...
Or even the B word that rhymes with it!!!!

Matter of fact....
I think many things would work out if I were indeed one or the other of the two!!!!
Or even a little bit of both!!
Maybe then I wouldn't need
Miracles of any kind!!!..
The Universe or its minions would do my bidding...
Or forever face the consequences!!!!!
Think about that!!

Chins up then!!!
And Cheerio!!!

V Day woes....

Valentine's day's here again.....
Time once again..
For soppy cards...
And stuffed toys..
Red roses...
Weddings on the beach..

It's celebration time...
The world over...
Except in India......that is Bharath..

Here..
It heralds....
Face-off time...
Between the country's Moral Brigade..
Self-appointed preservers of our Ancient Culture...
Whose ranks seem to keep swelling...
And the rest of us...women...
And hopefully..
Some men too!!!

This year...
The goon brigade got a head start......
With a few resounding slaps on the face of young things....
At a Mangalore pub...

What next???
Honour killing???
A return to Sati???
Widows in sackcloth and ashes???

What is culture??
Surely..
Respect for the freedom..to choose...a way of life...
Regardless of colour, race or sex...
Is at its core..
Or should be!!

It is not about one sex controlling the other......
It is all about giving and getting space...
In our relationships with the other sex...and
In our interactions with them..
Within the walls of our home..
And outside it..

Its basic article of faith is..
Live and let live...or...
To each her own....
Obviously all our Senas....
Ram Sena or Shiv Sena...or whatever...
Just do not get this!

And naturally...women all over the country are peeved...
Especially since..
Betterment for women has not come easy...

Every woman who has tested the boundary...and
Stretched it a wee bit more....
Has played a part...
In raising the status of women...

In my own family...
I can think of
My Grandmother...
Who insisted that ALL her daughters were educated...as well as her sons...
Her daughter...my aunt...
Who insisted on a career...in medicine...at a time when girls were stopped from attending school when they reached puberty....
My mother...who got her driver's license in the early 1950s...
And zipped around town...
Leaving the men open-mouthed....
And zillions more like them...
Stepped forward....
Made our path a little easier...

We do it too...
When we stand up against dowry demands...
Fight and throw away repressive customs...
Do not tolerate..
Bad behaviour...
Fight at attempts to hem us in...
To curtail our freedom to choose...our own way...

Against..
Wife beating...
Abuse...
Cruelty....
We have taken a stand....
When others did not...
Or could not...

So many unsung heroes...
Have furthered the cause..

I remember my own first best friend....
A Chettiar girl...
An only child....
Her parents married her off at age 14!!!!
And by the time we had graduated...
She had become the mother of several children....
So many doors closed in on her...
I can almost hear them slamming shut...one after the other...
She had no choice...
And did not...
Or maybe could not...
Protest..

We have...
Insisted on the freedom of choice...
And we sure have come a long way baby....as the ad goes...
We cannot...should not...cave in..
To the lumpen masses...of ignorant chauvinists...
That make up these Senas..

So, let's just celebrate....
And raise a toast to our kind...

And as for the Moral Police..
I hope they drown in an Ocean of dirty, pink chaddis!!!!
The dirtier..the better!!!!...

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!