Even as I walked out of my building towards the cab stop, I was thinking about the events that happened during the two hours that I had been awake. I'd sent my kids to school with their hot tiffins, chilled water bottles, and a wet kiss on each cheek. Then, I had gone into my typhoonic spin to get everything tidied up and get reasonbably presentable for office. All through the mad rush, I did not give up one action: judging! If I wasn't judging others, I was judging myself. Why does my son forget to wipe the bathroom floor despite numerous reminders! Why does my daughter spend eons in the bathroom? Why do I not iron my outfit for the next day the previous night? Apart from laziness I couldn't muster up another answer.
So, is that the only reason? Are we untidy, slow, rushed, cruel, ignorant, harsh, angry, stressed, fat, thin, hungry, unloving, and god knows what, just because we are lazy?
I returned to this post after nearly a month. I wonder if that is the way I still feel. Does laziness count as the sole reason for each of our faults? Or does laziness happen to be the major cause propped by the evil in us?

Lots of questions here. And everyone spends their entire life looking for their answers, to the extent that they get so lost in their wanderings, they forget their original question, easily distracted by somebody else's follies that allow them to question more comfortably.

It again comes around to judging. From questioning and judging ourselves, we switch to partly questioning, partly deciding other people's actions and lives. Simply because it's so convenient to do, and after all, there's the normal mundane life's routine to be returned to. You know, the one about waking up to your Monday mornings and spending the entire week at work to get to that elusive relaxing Friday evening. That relaxed evening never comes around, running like an invisible fugitive, making you question its very existence. But funny, how it so miraculously seems to reside in other people's lives. There! I'm back to judging again! Never too far from my thinking mind, is it?

Destination India

Destination India - Much has been written on how India has become the hottest destination for people seeking quality medical treatment, for companies seeking inexpensive labor…

Right, let’s take this one-by-one.

India - the hottest destination
A typical July day in office, ensconced in a jacket to ward off the Cadence chill that makes you forget the reality of NCR. 8:30 pm, you step out of the office, the sudden jump from 20o C to 43 o C, compounded by 87% humidity instantly blinds you. Night blindness? No, foggy glasses! Wipe them clean in the interest of your personal well-being; you cannot depend upon the quality medical treatment sought after by naïve foreigners for whom spiritual nirvana isn’t enough.

Driving home, you switch the FM to the hottest channel, Mirchi! The AC takes effect just as the song “Dilli ki Sardi” comes on. You narrowly escape the traffic rage to reach the parking space, taken by your good neighbor’s Aveo. Resignedly, you park 1 Km. away, and enjoy the trek back home. Reach home, switch on the AC; no reaction. Hallelujah! A power cut! The comatose AC and unmoving fan mock your efforts to cool yourself by fanning the daily news(paper).

A strange pain in your left arm makes you think of Angina Pectoris and your last will and testament. Blindly, you search for the car keys, stumbling and cursing the Gautier furniture. Drive to the close(d?)st hospital. The reception is uninvitingly dark and eerily silent. Following the snores, you locate the receptionist. An hour’s pleading stirs him to mumble into the phone. A nurse emerges from the black shadows holding a candle, reminding you of Florence Nightingale and Waheeda Rahman in “Kahin deep jale kahin dil”.

The quality medical treatment

After two hours of filling numerous forms, the doctor appears. You undergo a battery of tests, wondering at their necessity but the needle in the doctor’s jabbing hand silences you. Every tested nerve screaming in pain, you meekly ask for the diagnosis. Wearing the most somber expression, while you wonder if you should call your nazdiki rishtedaar, he informs you - “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome,” - the result of the nightly ritual of fanning yourself with the newspaper. You thank him for not being on strike and leave.

The inexpensive labor

You reach home in the wee hours of the morning and fall into the bed, not bothering to switch on the fan; you know you are down on your luck. The painkillers knock you out just until the shrill doorbell jars you. You fall out of the bed to greet the car cleaner for the first time in thirty days with the keys and a smile. Impatiently, he lets you know his real reason. It’s the last day of the month; his salary is due. Yours is still to reach the bank.

Inexpensive or non-working labor? The car cleaner, maid, sweeper, gatekeeper, guard, building fund, kids-entertainment club, swimming pool fees, and ever-increasing taxes! You are paying through the nose and it’s really beginning to hurt!

Welcome to India! Quality treatment (by fake doctors on strike?), Inexpensive (for whom?) labor (who does?), Hottest destination (soaring temperatures, raging roadsters, frequent power cuts forcing candle-lit dinners!)