I had a very interesting experience the other day. Someone asked me for advice, and perhaps that person didn’t care for what I said, possibly that person’s mind was already made up and they were just looking for a reaffirmation. Which was the problem--I had quite the opposite view. In the end the person did as they pleased. Quite interesting, this whole episode—taught me that people have already made up their minds about what they want to do when they ask for advice. One shouldn’t view this advice as a thing to give serious time and thought to, not more than superficial thought at any rate.

Somedays back I cancelled one of the newspapers I used to read. Added google alerts for specific journalists I liked to read and companies Added email subscriptions for several newspapers. Added email subscriptions for several GOOD blogs like dividendmantra, dividendgrowthinvestor, mrmoneymoustache. Have been A Simple Dollar loyalist for very long. And Subramoney, freefincal, 5 minute wrapup, Jagoinvestor, Moneylife, Morningstar and Onemint… among others for India.

Why didn’t I do this any earlier? No clue.

May not make a difference but sure FEELS good.

If this unwinding is the epilogue, the prologue was written in 2005. How prophetic that realization of what was to happen, would happen,  certainly come to pass in the next few years strike me right then-- that the sand under my feet was shifting and would leave me adrift—that occur right then in that historical trading room, the rotunda at the nation’s major s. exchange.

I will never doubt my gut feel ever again.

The indices inch higher. Only to fall someday I’m sure. But I am at peace.

I choose  the light… as the prayer goes, asamo ma sat gamaya… from untruth to truth, from death to light everlasting.

I want to get back to being what I was.

A peaceful  Sunday after long. A productive day, I get over a month/ fortnight? long translation block and feel elated at a page!

My sis-in-law visited, the first family guest  in this not-so-new house even if it was only for half an hour.  I feel blessed.

How does one wipe out the negativity that has been built over the years of making do, adjusting?  Gratitude for what one has…openness to the world around…and?  I’m working on it slowly, what a weight off my shoulders.

VODAFONE, in its infinite wisdom, has blocked all Loop users.

WHY?
Because Loop didn't pay up. But I did. Loop's problem is not my problem.

This means I cannot call my doctor, or my lawyer. Or the Police, if I have to.

What if there is an EMERGENCY?

What &*(((%%#$-- must be the latest business practice in the UK. 

Nasty PIRATES!

Try doing this in the UK, VODAFONE!

PS: To their credit, they replied to my mail to the UK CEO. Even if that was the fifth assistant to the big man.

PSS: Now I know why phones have dual sims.

So what do you say to someone close.  Just as one had foreseen the illness has spread, and every medical intervention merely a short term band aid. Plus the weight of having to put on a happy face. Life is so short, so beautiful…Life just IS …and yet.

Everything else pales in comparison. Life takes you by the collar, demanding to be taken seriously.

This first stage of monsoons, when one is grateful for the skies opening up…may the Gods be kind, we need the water… later of course one shall crib about the incessant rain and dark skies

What brilliance and kindness… looking at you, I can only imagine what Lord Rama must have looked like. May your life treat you well.

Clear skies… humidity 66%... waiting for the clouds to roll in and thunder.

This morning I got an armful of flowers from the garden…hibiscus and kailashpati … a fitting offering for the Gods.

So you put all your guts together and walk up and say what has to be said. What a relief. 

Goodbye Amby. At peace,GJK 6280. Hindustan Motors is ceasing production of the good faithful. Finally.

Yes, a solid car… but with hidden ambitions of being a truck. How else can you explain a 1967 model functioning and taking on long road trips in the 1980’s? Taking unheard-of loads—at one count we were so many I and a cousin sat first in the luggage compartment and then on the roof… what fun, we still laugh about those days… and when she began to get really old and worn the battery was the first to go, and all of us would be busy pushing her to make her start… and inevitably she would, a few paces down the road. GJK… first a rich jade and then silver-grey…but solid metal none of your flimsy ABS or tinplate... I had tried to drive her too, after my first lessons on a tiny fiat… had driven into the gate, knocking down a pillar-- which so mortified me that I gave up driving all together until the second license in 2010 and driving in my suburb which is a life lesson in patience , fortitude, compassion for the other so keen for getting his way....The Wagon R is light on her feet, responds to a feather touch.. but no way she will last a decade, alas, and it is unlikely that one speeds down a highway singing songs with her.

So humpty dumpty had a fall… didn’t notice the ripe fruit of the umber/guler that had plonked neatly near the office gate, and I slipped, and fell…I think the sunlight I soak in every morning on my walks is the reason I stood up, dusted myself and limped away… And yesterday I walked for an hour in the evening…Much gratitude to the Gods…

One advantage of old places such as the one I live in, are shortcut walking-only lanes that twist and turn, remnants of times when these were tracks that crept uphill through tangled forests… now that the said forests have been replaced by concrete, the tracks survive and cut short a 1.5 hr walk by 45 min.