The Cancer and Karma

A scream penetrates the foggy air, not the first I heard since I got here. I jerk awake to her loud wailing. Turning to the side, I shut my ears with my pillow but to no avail. Her pain is too much to shut out.

I walk out as my ears now thump with the screaming and I look at my aunt in dismay. “Why have they brought her out? Her pain gives me gooseflesh.” “I don’t know, beta,” she replied and went back to doing her chores. Was she so used to the wailing that it didn’t affect her anymore? How was that possible?!

-----x-----x-----

“She cries so much, ma, and her shrieks don’t let me do anything. It is so painful to hear all day long. I wake up to her screaming and sleep to her crying. Is it wrong to hope she dies so that her pain ends?”

“No, it isn’t,” ma replied. “She is frail and her body has given up the battle against cancer. Her soul, however, is not ready to let go.”

“I am not able to take it. Her screeching is much too prominent and the helpless is driving me crazy.”

“You know? Her mother-in-law was in the same state as she is right now. She never treated her properly. In fact, she made her work. During the coldest winters, she used to sit out in the open, 

washing utensils and clothes while she screamed at her.”

I gaped. Karma?

-----x-----x-----

We were sipping our evening tea when we heard yet another cry. “The woman has been in this condition for 2 years,” I exclaimed. “Not 2. 4,” my uncle said quietly. I shrieked. “Yeah,” he continued, “Four years and no sight of reprise. She continues to suffer each day.”

The misery in this information is still too much for me to digest.

-----x-----x-----

“I want to go home,” I complained to my visibly shocked aunt. “Why beta, are you not happy here? Is something wrong?” I immediately felt guilty and dropped my gaze to the floor. “No, it isn’t like that. I just can’t hear the woman scream and wail round the clock. I am not strong like that.”

“Sweetie, I know what you mean and you may think we are heartless but you need to be practical here. She is beyond help. Her family is doing what they can but they can’t take away what the cancer has done to her.”

“Is it wrong to hope she dies and it ends for her,” I asked mom that night over the phone. “No,” she repeated her answer. “We have all hoped the same for her at some point but she has, perhaps, not paid her dues yet.”

“Karma?” I whispered.

“Karma,” mom repeated.

What goes around comes around. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. You can never, ever get away with misdoing. Whether you call it misguided judgment or cold disapproval, here’s proof that Karma has its way of making you pay for what you do. You can’t escape without paying for your deeds. What you do here, you pay for it right here. Hell’s right here for he who deserves it.

Mother Nature: Intriguing, Surprising, Fascinating

Oh, did you know, did you know

How beautiful Mother Nature is?

With a blue box-shaped jelly fish,

watching which, is simply a bliss?

With a mind controlling fungus

And a giant bird eating spider,

This world of wonders,

Just grew wider!

There’s also the Devil’s Worm,

That is the deepest living organism on Earth.

And the giant blue scorpion

Ready to snap at you in mirth.

Ever heard of a Night-Blooming Orchid

That works quite opposite to the sunflower?

It blooms after 10 p.m.

And closes in the wee hour!

How about the Spongebob Squarepants Mushroom

That is just so scant?

Or the beautiful Walking Cactus

And the invertebrate-eating ant?

Fascinating and intriguing,

Isn’t Mother Nature?

With so much to discover,

So much for the eye to capture!

A Penny

A penny I saw abandoned on my path,

A penny of no worth to me.

The penny I walked past without a second glance

But doubled up at a scream of glee.

I wheeled around in my spot

On hearing a little girl’s delighted cry

And my eyes were wide in surprise

For the valueless penny was the reason why.

Her eyes gleaming, her hands trembling,

She snatched it from the ground.

And, sprinted to her little brother

Teaching a lesson without uttering a sound.

Appreciate your possessions.

Trivial though they may seem.

For in the eyes of another, they are the world.

Cherish them, adore, esteem!

Teachers, Angels Reincarnations: A Tribute

“Don’t you ever get tired of talking?!”

“What is it that you talk?! Don’t you run out of topics?!”

“Is this a fish market or a classroom?!”

“Why do you even come to school/college and waste your parents’ money?! Rot at home, why don’t you?!”

“This is the worst batch I have taught!”

Did any [or all] of these sentences hit your mind with a splash of memories? Are you smiling as you recall the ‘n’ number of times that you heard these sentences/uproars/condemns? Good old days they were, weren’t they?

We were naughty, we were full of energy, we hated school/college point blank, and we hated our teachers the most. I mean, no. We didn’t ‘hate’ hate them. Hate is actually college slang for a competent teacher who grills students down and gets work done without having to even raise his/her voice. So teachers, if you were/are hated, know that you are doing a great job!

We spend most of our time in educational institutes, trying to gather knowledge just for the heck of it and creating a nuisance in the class. If we don’t like someone, we make sure we give him or her hell in one-way or the other.

If a teacher asks questions, he is bad. If he yells, he is bad. If he doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t have the nerve. If he says anything, he is mean. So no matter what the teacher does, he ends up being bad in the eye of the students.

But you know what the great thing about teachers is? They give their everything even though they are aware of the bitter truth. They are so altruistic that they don’t mind being cursed as long as their students do well. No wonder why teaching is the most respected profession.

After our parents, our teachers play the biggest role in molding our lives. We might despise them through our lives but they become an essential part of our memories once we grow up. We look back and smile at the times we were scolded, beaten up, sent out of the class, when we played pranks, got each other into trouble, so on and so forth. We realize only much later that our teachers – no matter how strict, no matter how annoying – are the reason why we are successful today. We may not excel in their subject but hey, teachers teach us much beyond the subject. They incorporate values in us that we take forward in life.

This is to all the teachers out there. You are truly angels reincarnated, sent to the planet to make it a better place to live. I am sure I’ll be speaking for everyone when I say that you are magical; you have been, are, and will always be placed next to God.

We salute you!

A Sweet Request to the Pleasant Weather

Weather, oh weather!

My dear!

Why can’t you be as such

All year?

Hair flying on to her face,

The girl acts coy.

Dancing his heart out

Is every other boy.

Together hand in hand

They walk in your drops of rain,

That very moment they hope

Comes over and over again.

You connect hearts,

You ward off the bad mood

You bring smiles and joy

Bidding goodbye to every feud.

Through the cool breeze,

You kiss away every tear.

Weather oh weather,

Please stay as such all year?

Gems Amidst Stones

“Dunno what I am gonna do tomorrow!”

That is the standard dialogue of every student one day before the exam. No matter how much they study and work hard, the dialogue remains.

“You will do well! Don’t worry so much! Just study well,” replied Gina.

“I am. I have been studying for 2 days for this lousy lab external but I am still not confident,” said Nate.

“That is fine. That feeling comes with the exam tension. You’ll do fine. All the best!”

“Okay.”

- After the exam –

Beep! Gina’s phone said.

She checked who the text was from.

‘Text Message from Nate.’

She opened it apprehensively.

“:(“ showed the text.

“Hey,” she replied. “How did the exam go?” she added even though she had figured it out.

“I’ll be happy if I scrape out a pass. I could only do one program right and the viva was an absolute disaster.”

“Aww! Vivas are meant to go bad. Don’t worry about that. But you had studied the programs well, right? What happened?”

“Remember I told you I wouldn’t study two because I was short on time? Remember I said I’d exchange if either of them came?”

“Yes, I do. You couldn’t exchange?”

“No, we weren’t allowed to this time. My rotten luck!”

 “Oh no! That is awful.”

“Yeah. You know? Everyone copied. Everyone! Except me.”

“You don’t copy?”

“I do at times. But for today I had studied well and worked very hard and I wanted to be honest with myself. Even though I could copy, I didn’t. Everyone else did.”

Gina’s chest swelled with pride. She was so overwhelmed. She was so happy to know that even at such troubled and nasty times there were guys like Nate who chose being truthful over cheating; chose honesty over undeserving marks. It is very easy to get tempted and copy or cheat during exams. But in the long run it is not the marks but the values imbibed in you that matter. However, that seemed like a lost value. That is why, as she heard Nate’s pained voice she felt very proud.

“I am so proud of you,” she told him.

He was befuddled.

“What? Why? My exam sucked!”

“Exams don’t matter, Nate. You are a beautiful person. Don’t let low marks or badly written exams tell you otherwise. Ever. Okay?”

“Okay. But..”

“Shh. No buts. Take some rest and text me once you wake up. You must be tired.”

“Yeah, I am,” he replied, still confused.

She smiled.

“Bye. You are a gem!”

“Bye! I am not.”

“Shh. Sleep.”

Indeed these small things make a person stand out from the crowd. Such small flashes of beautiful character make a person special. The world is not messed up yet. There are still many out there in this bad world that are so tender and pure that they can’t do bad even if they want to. There are so many such people; in fact each of us has one such character that makes us human. One such feeling or emotion that we feel makes us good; it makes us good people. We may have a hundred bads but one such good is enough to overshadow all of them.

Each person is special and ‘good’. You just have to be patient enough to realize it.