a premonition..

A nerve suddenly twitched

I clutched my heart in fear..

Was this an attack...? Epileptic

Or that dreaded heart attack...?

I moaned and was slumping..

Hands were all o'er me. "Hello,

are you okay?"someone yelled..

There was silence. All still..

 

Then I heard 'em all whispering.

Pale-faced folks in white overalls.. 

looking lost at the noisy monitors

in that sprawling ICU...I was alone.

My folks knew my class even when sick...and so cared to treat me best;

That branded hospital's superior corner suite... spoke the rest.

At midnight they wheeled me out..

thought I was headed to the ward.

'Twas dark and none around there

That silence was eerie. Oh, did I die?

Of the Oohs and Aahs...!

How rapidly have our lives moved on… aided by Covid and by our own desire to spend time at the "edge-of-the-seat" as loudly proclaimed by all makers of 'a spate of web- thriller' series. Like a family of proven idiots again, again and all over again, we (I mean my family) watch all those OTT releases in the last couple of years (from several of them like Ashram, Arya, Human, Ye Khali Khali Ankhen, etc to the recent Fame Game) with the hope of knowing who was behind it all? Were these real whodunits? The story-tellers now get away with murder faster than the villain(s) of the piece we are made to suspect in the 8 long episodes. Despite our binge-watching, he/she is never found and exposed. The clever, strategic advisors (as silly and ridiculous as it may sound ) to these ghastly lot of producers decide to leave the loopholes unplugged in the last episode/scene with a subtle note to the audiences that there's more to come - a sequel which will soon address this in a year or so. 

So much for our intelligent, wise directors, story-tellers and actors and all their bandwagon of master strategists. And the audience like us yawn our way to bed in the early hours of the day tut-tutting to the rest of our stricken family with gestures that would mean... "I told you so!" Till they are misled again the following day...!

There has to be an ordinance banning tall claims made by these people. There also has be a sentence awarded to them of some non-baillable prison-time and an equivalent compensation of valuable man-hours spent by innocent families after being misled to watch their gory brand of violence, murders, sexual innuendos, rapes, and rotten, steamy bedroom scenes where all the so called actors have to use superlative expletives as though they are in a rush to complete what they so earnestly began. More importantly, we are forced to watch the bare behinds of all these characters with their female counterparts thrusting themselves on each other wildly in such wanton motion like beasts in the jungle, unmindful of being on camera... ooh-ing and aah-ing vulgar exultations.

They bans adult citizens' content in cinema theaters and have successfully ushered them home right into our family rooms....!

For family viewing...

Wah, family time folks!

Chandra....

 • Any minor or major event or accident that happens in anyone of our lives... one can surely expect the first phone call to be from her.

 • Anxiety and concern are inborn qualities that shape her....

 • And in striking contrast is her indefatigable love for mangoes....in any form or manner consumed in anyq private corner... be it in a train or in the secure recesses of a mobile Railway loo.

 • Lovable all the way from her leadership role as a model shopkeeper in our early school days where she helped us set up shop of all our tiny belongings like toys and little trivia we had ....and more importantly when she masterminded a Pooja of that trivia and distributed prasads of Kalyana athimber's sweets brought just that evening from his office.

 • The Star club...was another notable example of her creativity streak... full of skits, in which I acted too.

 • She is adorabl to say the least. Her most visible habit of twisting and clamping a sumptuous portion of flesh on the side of her neck with the tips of her fingers to smithereens...as a growing teenage girl...was an act medical science can never diagnose.

 • I have a hundred tales to narrate ...on her and her antics. "Dohba Dowry'....is one more.

 • Her a) quick feminine recoiling at any mention of some absurd passing profanity...b) her singing the one carnatic composition she learnt ( till her master lost track)...in all invited Navaratri homes......are all just a few of her very, very truly intrinsic qualities that bring back a treasure chest of hilarious and fond memories.

CHANDRA. Starry and wide-eyed. Engineered dramatically different. Embraced OCD as her second nature and loved it. Embarrassed and shamed the very Covid Hygiene protocol by her sense of flawlessness and spotlessness.

She will remain an enigma and her very persona wiĺl pale out all her peers who are in the race to living a contented, clean life.

Love her..all the way.

Chandra.

The Hygiene Warrior.

Vaithunna-Chandra 50 yes wedbliss

My first ever wrist watch, day n date, gold plated with a gold chain...was his and he gave it to me when I said I liked it. I was 14. 

40 Rs in 1970 for my first school picnic trip he gave me when all elders at home opposed and rejected it.

To my young brain he was an idol when he narrated how he had staged a walk-out from Crompton Greaves...in Chandigarh....with the words "Let Crompton Greaves enjoy by keeping my unpaid salary for the month. I resign". Green still...it rings in my ears.

He will turn around and shed quiet tears when leaving Kolkata after taking leave from my mother...every single time.

All encompassing as is his wont... we all know how Vaithunna had seen very tough times and his state of being jobless at some point in his long career, clearly explicit in one painful expression (in that Andheri Railway Station that day when I saw him breakdown in a complete giveaway of his innermost trauma) stirs me no end. I had gone to send him off to Ramagundam I think. I cried all the way home. Can still do if I recall that incident.

His allegiance to his family he NEVER made an exhibition of. Distinguished, distinctively different from the rest, composed and markedly restrained.....he could swallow his words in one long, drawn-out state of endurance.... when faced with an acutely embarrassing family encounter. Oh how many can I recall...! 

I enjoy the freedom to drink and indulge in the presence of mostly all elders in the family. BUT he is an exception. His presence instills respect not fear. He doesn't demand but deserves attention.

Difficult to find another simplistic human with such clean virtues and also a subservient husband who could take hygiene to a new level egged-on by Chandra. 

Gentleman, though shalst can only be Vaithunna. 

The Chandra-Vaithu combo like long nurtured wine has stood the test of time...and turbulatuons. For 5 decades of such quality existence 

(sorry co-existence) we bow austerely to this duo and seek their good wishes and blessings.

Wishing them a Long, Cool, Healthy life in Perpetual Mirth. 

Cheers! 

Ravi Sandhya Prat.

O Dad...

Yours is not another portrait Dad..

For an annual review and remembrance..

These words, forwards don't serve,

save a brief, fleeting recall,

a glimpse of....

Your glorious, spectacular,

now buried past...

A Mastermind now IMMORTAL...

the KEY to all our current comforts and wellbeing! This Clan is super- cool as a result.

How more explicit can our gratitude be shown when a vast memorial is in our minds?

Bless us all ...you are always in our midst,Dad!

PRATical

You stormed out of all storms...

each worse than the other;

You survived 'em all....

pulling yourself together.

And as you brazen...

to face the next in store;

Now adept enough to 

duck the rest and more.

It's never been a joy ride ...

Yet never seen you despair;

Never know if you were misled...  

nor if all your friends were fair.

Baffles me when you make... 

your moves like on a mission;

devoid of flak you manouvre... 

get set for your next edition.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRAT....

Criss-Crossroads...

While at the crossroads....which some of us reach more often than most others do in our careers....I have been accosted with a whole lot of suggestions from a host of sympathetic people ranging from my equally languishing neighbourhood friend... to the ever so warm young wise men I stumble upon who perhaps feel stealthily good to note my discomfiture at being currently a general nuisance at home.

They tell me why not I get into the world of online training, consultancy and mentoring. "Consider your special attributes, sir..." they say.... "with your repertoire, exposure, experience etc. you should be doing a number of online sessions and earning a few lacs in under a month...and in the process build a brand and have everyone eating out of your hand while you keep raking it in...." 

Mmm. Then they talk to me of webinars. The 

'in-thing' now they vouch. They go on to talk of every Ajay, Azhar and Alex....Ann, Aruna and Afiza doing it effortlessly and laughing all the way to the Bank, pooh-poohing the drab Covid season.

But I, for more reasons than one, seem to resist this because to me a webinar is a dull orchestration of all your histrionics and articulation that gets wasted and spent over a flat, dumb screen. And with no certainty of whether you are being seen or heard at all clearly and consistently . .. due to perpetually error-prone Wi-Fis in most houses... while you risk talking and doing all dramatics in front of, for all that I know, a plain straight-wall. 

"Where is your audience?" I ask. "Virtual? Virtual where? Who's applauding? That deliberate remark I made wasted? Why is there no excitement? Zoom in and out. How many there? Only 6 so far? What kind of promotion did we do...? Sunk our monies there for six infernal blighters ...that too virtual? Or were they the few cronies who generally attend and make their presence felt...by commenting, as in an fb live Karaoke session, ready stuff like "Amazing, Wah Wah, 10 on 10, You Rock" etc etc."

Yeah, I admit there may be exponents in the art of conducting webinars and there also maybe online superstars who carry and display their skills so effectively while netizens all over the world stay glued and follow them all to the last word...and also benefit in good measure.

If i still put in all those efforts and then get to see a very limp response I will begin to rue the day I took my first step. "No" says my daughter. "You have a class which you will never know and you will overcome all these initial hiccups easily. You will easily master this game Dad and this is right up your alley..." Maybe she would have added, "And you have no better choice now Dad,"... but she didn't. She is more confident than most of my followers ( er....from my dreamy past tho' ) about my online success and stardom.

Any which way it looks like I cannot ignore this. Not again. And I don't think there are enough avenues for a real senior like me because at my age, which is just a number I know, you either do or you might as well DO. 

I shall soon begin my net practice...throw in a cork ball ...and begin to bat as whimsically as I can into the nothingness called the web. 

#Webinar ...here I come...!