Midday Report

Got up this morning just like any other day in the recent past with the sun having climbed high enough on the horizon to start more intensely demanding my acknowledgement. As usual after the initial orientation in terms of who I am and where I am and the checking of the various movable parts of the body that happens every morning to ensure that the vehicle is running ok and the mandatory thoughts of special ones, I asked myself the usual questions. What do I really need to do today? The answer from my personal assistant was an evening drink with Naveen. Very nice, nothing to scramble around for and at the end of the day.. a drink with old friends.

Got out of bed, did the daily tasks and workouts , finalized the venue for the evening drink ( good old Akshaya), had my breakfast at lunch time and took up the day’s newspaper. Smoked a joint and decided to sit under the shade of the tree that covers my terrace and read the day’s paper. Nature blooming in April in Bangalore and looking even more fresh after the good rains last evening, ha what bliss!

Hmm.. what’s the world been up to? First article in the papers that caught my eye was about Mohandas Pai having quit Infosys since he presumably wasn’t offered the top job by NRN. Didn’t realize that there was more to this in the inner pages where there were stories about others as well who had quit from top management. Hmm.. India’s corporate flagship drifting?? Also found in the inner pages about how ICICI is rethinking its overseas strategy as the UK and Canada are demanding a share once again of Indian loot for their local businessmen. (Wonder what the terms are for their businesses here?) An Indian is in line for Nestle’s top job. Looks like Indian industry is in flux from within and without and corporations may after all be national entities and not the global entities we thought them to be.

Next thing was a Supreme Court statement (i think) that the state of Karnataka had been robbed naked of its mineral ores ( and of course its forest cover) in the past few years. Interesting observation but a little late, maybe the Anna Hazare effect?? There were further articles in the paper about Binayak Sen being freed on bail and the SC giving the Chattisgarh government a lesson on the definition of sedition. The Chatisgarh government hits back by saying that Sen cannot enter Chattisgarh which the SC overrules. Veerappa Moily says the law on sedition needs to be changed and that he will initiate this. Wow three way fist fight between state government (non incumbent?) and judiciary and center? Is this a response to the threat of an alternate legal entity called the Lokpal (Jan?) committee or a flexing of muscles to show who has power? Also in the middle of all this are photographs of members of the Lokpal committee with both government and non government members lined up against each other in true IPL fashion. Looks almost like a lagaan match up. Mouthwatering fare for a media and nation obsessed with cricket. Isn’t SC versus governments itself good enough I wonder?

Now for the inner pages.. Hindi answer scripts burnt in Mysore district forces re-examination for thousands of students. Any connection with strikes by staff for extra pay or some kids wanting to prolong the good old school years?? Has stuff like this ever happened I try to recall and put myself in the shoes of the kids who need to rewrite the exam. Not nice.. I hope this whole thing was an accident and suddenly answer scripts are not a powerful weapon for war games.

I wade through the nonsense on the science page.. Something about where language originated, how to prevent creasing on your cleavage at night with a wonder bra, the usual messages about what is good or not good for you in total contrast to what was said yesterday.

The next page caught me for a long time. The Allies are at it again. Hooray... war games for the blood thirsty. The dogs of war are busy fighting over the remaining meat. Russia protests, Gaddafi forces use Russian made weapons to attack rebels, NATO makes noises about innocent deaths while planning offensives, Gaddafi’s daughter screams defiance from her bomb shelled balcony like a modern day revolutionary, Al Qaida tells surrounding Arabs to devour the infidels who survive the current blood bath. All this alongside an article about how US organizations sponsored the protests and allegedly fomented rebellion against the regime. Close by is news about Obama raising record campaign funds and asking for his supporters to show their strength. Something going on here?? Is it white vs black America or warmongers vs peaceniks all over again? Is it Hillary vs Obama? Around all this are the thumb sized articles of political fires all around Africa. Somebody suggests using the stem cells of the workers in Japan battling radiation to regenerate parts of their bodies in case they are irreparably damaged. This is after more than 40 days of extreme radiation exposure. Real human bodies and reality for a nation obsessed with virtuality but a little too late? Looks like we are being presented with sufficient lab material to test out all our advances in medical science what with war torn bodies, radiation burned bodies, cancer ridden bodies and what not.

Beneath all this is a photograph of 13 year old girls crying at Justin Beiber’s show in Israel and a girl dressed as a bride wanting to marry him. Are these kids (possibly disguised Palestinians?) trying to escape Israel or is it the music industry’s very successful strategy of plying younger and younger audiences I wonder.

Finally the IPL maze. I try to go through the articles and decide I am not up to it. The battles going on and all the egos involved is too much for me. I could get easily lost in this world (as if the other worlds aren’t bad enough). I’ll probably catch up with the match..if i remember.

This is a summary of what the print media has updated me on in terms of what’s happening in the world. TV channels will be carrying identical images.

I put the paper aside and go sit down near the old lady. She looks more weary than usual. Says she threw up in the morning and hasn’t eaten much. She’s been battling with her day like all these years and working tirelessly to keep her near and dear ones nourished but mother earth is growing really weary. Looks like a longer day than usual for her today. I wonder what I can do to make things easy for her. Maybe wash a few dishes that she may have forgotten in the sink. I conclude that my absence may be the best medicine and vamoose like the coward I am to sit and write this and feel like I’m doing something she would be proud of.

Well, am done with this now.. my mid day report. Still half the day ahead,  guess I’ll go and stuff myself some more with my mama’s nourishment and then there’s still time for a nap, a joint and some ayurvedic tuning of the mind before the evening beers with the boys

Has the world changed or has it always been like this I wonder? Life and death on all levels in a constant dance, sometimes blissful, sometimes terrifying. The chaos of the external world and the disturbed calmness of the inner as a result of it. Glad with the rate of flow of time immediately around me. Enough time to calm the mind I guess and withdraw into the bliss that the babas spoke about.