The father

The father is a doctor and so is the mother.  We live across each other on the same street and the first thing I see in the morning as I have my cup of coffee is the light in their living room - makes me feel happy to see that someone is close by.  

Every morning sees him clean his car and then his daughters scooter and bicycle.  At 6.30 when the younger one steps out, he is ready holding the bicycle for her.

A little later, the first one comes out with her backpack and he is again there pulling it out and waiting in front of the gate .   I seldom hear him say a word but the look on the face and caring in his stance, speak volumes on parenting.  The reassurance that I am ready and looking after you is priceless.

The lessons he is giving in caring will last another generation.

Against this, are the swanky cars and zipping bikes that I see on the road - all driving on the wrong side of the road - a threat to walkers like me who never can tell when they will zoom in out of nowhere.  These too are parents dropping children at school bus stops.  Do they even realise what lessons they are teaching their children ?

Like the milkman, these youngsters are learning that it is alright to break the law and even if you do, there is always an escape.

Stillness

Just be quiet, be still. Look at the trees, the birds, the sky, the beauty, the rich qualities of human existence. Just watch silently and be aware.  Into that silence comes that something which is not measurable, which is not of  time. 

LESSONS FROM A MORNING WALK

My morning walk is my 'me time' - footloose - I wander where I feel like.  Chanting my prayers.  Looking at the day as it begins in its many facets.

Some mornings I really see a group of women arrive with long handled brooms and packets of chips and other stuff.  They sit by the roadside, finish their snacks and throw the wrappers down. With handkerchiefs over their mouths By the time, I return, they have done a pretty good job and left.  But they are soon replaced by more walkers who create work for them - throwing food for stray dogs, munching on something and discarding the wrapper and undoing the work of the cleaning women.

Some mornings I also see that an unseen demolition squad has been at work - pulling down encroachments on the footpath.  The mangled remains of steel and boulders of concrete remain the only reminders of the edifices ( I fine myself thinking of Ozymandias - Nothing beside remains !) .

But just for a little while.

Soon, new structures come up in the same space.

Curious, I asked the milkman who has a store that is part of the encroachment about the break/build cycle.  His reply was classic :

Yes - the govt/municipality come and break our structures.  That is their job.  And then we rebuild - that is our right !

Stunned I asked him about respecting the law - his question, what law ?  It is a question of our right and their duty :)