Festivals

Every religion has its festival time. Christians celebrate Christmas & New Year with great fanfare. Muslims have Ramzan and Bakrid which they celebrate with a lot of religious fervor; Sikhs and Jains even have a few festivals coinciding with the Hindus.

But Hindus have more religious festivals than others to propitiate the countless gods and goddesses that they worship. India is supposed to have 25,000 Melas celebrated across the country. These Melas invariably coincide with local temple festivals in different States or specific religious occasions attracting thousands of devotees ranging from a few thousands to several Lakhs. The biggest among them being the Kumbh Mela which attracts over 10 crore people to Allahabad every 12 years!

Hindus also have a number of festivals celebrated at the family level. Apart from the mandatory New Year celebrations they have Krishna Jayanthi to appease Lord Krishna, the fun loving Lord whose advice to Arjuna in the battlefield in Mahabaratha gave us the Bhagavad Gita. Ganesha, the elephant god, very popular across India, has Ganesh Chaturthi dedicated to him which is celebrated with music and dance for 10 days in Maharashtra and many other parts of India. Similarly Navaratri is celebrated in different forms in different regions. While exhibition of dolls (Kolu) dominates the festival in Tamilnadu, it is Durga Puja in Bengal and Garba in Gujarat. Of course, Diwali the festival of lights is celebrated with firing of crackers across the country and in which members of other religions also participate.

When I was growing up in Mumbai, the children used to look forward to this festival because of the fun and excitement associated with it. Diwali used to be a special occasion which the locals, particularly the Gujaratis, used to celebrate for three days. For Gujarathis, Diwali also marked the beginning of a New Year.

In our family, as for most South Indians, Diwali is a one day affair. The night before Diwali; my mother would apply kumkum and turmeric powder on all the new dresses to be worn by every member of the family and neatly arrange them in the Pooja room along with some packets of Diwali crackers. In the morning, she would wake up the kids by 3.30 am so that all of them could have their Ganga Snanam (oil bath) and wear the new dresses before sun rise. Before the bath, all the children and elders in the house would be asked to sit in a row on the floor in front of the pooja room and my mother would apply a dash of hot gingelly oil, kumkum and turmeric powder on the forehead, hands and feet and then perform arati; before anyone was allowed to have his/her bath. While doing this she would also explain the significance of the rituals to the kids. Then there would be a scramble to get into the single bathroom; as the kid who managed to have a bath; get dressed and fire the “pattas” (electric crackers) first was considered a `hero` or `heroin` in the colony! Invariably the noise generated would wake up the entire neighborhood, if they were not already awake!

Then it would be time for tasting the special Diwali savories and sweets that my mother would have prepared with lots of love and keeping in mind the special preferences of different members of the family. Later on the family members would visit the neighbors to wish them for Diwali asking the question `Ganga Snanam Acchha? (Have you had the sacred bath?); and to exchange sweets. Diwali was also the occasion when youngsters would seek the blessings of the elders by prostrating before them wearing their new dresses.



It is sad that modern day kids are being brought up by the overstressed parents without exposure to several of the fun rituals associated with Indian festivals. When I ring up my children, who all have their own families now, to wish them Happy Diwali at 7.30 in the morning, I find that it is a wake up call I am giving them as the whole family is taking it easy being a declared public holiday.

Thanks to the propaganda against crackers which creates atmospheric and noise pollution, even the modern day children are not as excited about firing crackers as we were in our times! With many of the popular Sweet and Savories shops offering readily packed sweets and savories special for every festival, most of the young mothers take the easy way out, buying such packets, instead of spending time in the kitchen. It is the same story with most of the festivals.

I feel sorry that the modern day kids are growing up without any knowledge of our tradition and culture! But I suppose each generation has to live with the changing values and priorities of the next generation.

Home Away from Home

I am a hard core loyalist! Be it my favorite barber, tailor, grocery store, travel agent, medical shop or any one providing any form of service; I tend to be loyal to the one who gives me consistently good service. I have even been a loyal husband to my wife for the last 40 years!!!

When it comes to Hotels, I am fiercely loyal to specific hotels in each city. These hotels are like “Home-away-from-home” for me! I am sure many modern day executives, travelling almost 15 days a month on work would have their own preferred hotels, where they feel at home! Of course this is completely different from the several `Chinna Veedus` that many of our politicians boast and also unlike the proverbial wives sailors are supposed to have in every Port that their ship calls on!

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When I go to Mumbai on official work, I love to stay in Hotel Hilltop at Worli. A nondescrepit, unimpressive looking building; it appears more like an apartment complex. Started in the early Sixties, Hilltop became famous for “The Hell”; the first Discotheque in the country. At some stage it went into the hands of the Underworld and became notorious for its shady activities. It also got embroiled in a court case and was closed down for a number of years.

After a change in management, Hilltop is a mid-level business hotel today; very popular among pharmaceutical and other companies for conducting regular monthly/quarterly residential sales conferences. It has neither restaurant nor an attached bar. The buffet breakfast, lunch or even dinner is served in one corner of the lobby of the Hotel. The rooms; some with a sea view, are well appointed with all the modern facilities that a three star hotel offers. The room service is excellent and the staff is very cordial.

I have always felt like a special guest because of the friendly approach of the staff at the reception desk! Even when the hotel is full, I have managed to get a room allotted to me at short notice as I am a regular customer. In fact the roof top room (meant for the Manager) was allotted to me for a day on one occasion!

The icing on the cake, of course, is the beautiful Worli Sea-Face, which is just 2 minutes walk from the hotel. Being somewhat health conscious, I am addicted to my morning walks. It is a great pleasure walking on the footpath; running along the parapet wall separating the Arabian sea and the road.

Any day, my first choice of a hotel in Mumbai will always be Hotel Hilltop!

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When it comes to Coimbatore it has always been Hotel City Tower, on Sengupta Street located bang opposite the old landmark; Hotel Alankar. City Towers is a nine storied hotel with decent rooms and basic amenities to satisfy a business executive travelling on a budget. I have been patronizing this hotel from the time it started its operations in the early eighties.

There is an interesting story about the origin of this hotel. The owner of the hotel, a Kerala Muslim who had made his millions doing business in the middle East was on a visit to Coimbatore on work. He went to the most popular Hotel Alankar; at that time for accommodation. One look at the shabbily attired visitor, the reception desk refused to give him a room because he looked like a guy who could not afford the hotel.

He came out of the hotel in a huff and vowed that one day he will build a classy hotel bang opposite Hotel Alankar and give the Alankar management a run for their money. He realized his dream within five years of that episode. Hotel City Tower with the first ever roof top restaurant in Coimbatore and with 95 well appointed rooms opened for public in 1983. It also has a banquet hall, meeting rooms and two restaurants. The one located on the Roof top has a panoramic view of the Coimbatore City. Being a staunch Muslim the owner refused to have a `Bar` in the Hotel. Even today, customers who are thirsty for the glass that cheers have to walk across to Hotel Alankar or next door to Hotel Heritage Inn.

Like the Hilltop, the staff at City Tower is equally friendly. In the early days the owner himself would stand near the entrance and welcome the guests!

Incidentally, Alankar went downhill after the opening of City Tower and had to undergo a complete makeover to survive the competition from City Tower!

I remember, I was one of City Tower`s first customers on the day of their inauguration and I have continued to be a loyal customer since then getting a special discount and treatment even today!

City Tower is certainly a “home away from home” ….in Coimbatore!

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In Delhi I like the accommodation at India International Centre. Apart from the beautiful ambience, good food and decent rooms at reasonable rates, the place comes attached with my favorite Lodhi Gardens! What a lovely place to go for a morning walk surrounded by beautiful flora and fauna!

A meeting place for the intellectuals, it can be seen teeming with the who`s-who of Delhi in the evenings! You are likely to bump into some of them at the restaurant. It could be an ex-Prime Minister or just a minister, or well known names from the world of Art and Culture or even some famous “Babus” who run the Government. Of course, if you are the type who does not want to have anything to do with such people, there are enough restaurants nearby, where you can spend a quiet or a noisy evening with your friends!

Undoubtedly a good accommodation after a hard day`s work to relax and recharge; “A home away from home” is a must for anyone travelling frequently on work!


The author can contacted on 98403 92082 or email: rvrajan42@rediffmail.com

Dreams

There are two kinds of Dreams. The first one is the kind that one has during day time, when one is fully awake and conscious; the kind that our former People’s President of India Abdul Kalam extolled the younger generation to have. His advice that unless you have dreams about your future you cannot achieve anything in life, is so very true.

The more ambitious your Dream, and the more challenging, certainly makes life more interesting. Relentless pursuit of one`s dreams will certainly help achieve success in life. As was proved by that people’s businessman; industrialist (Late)Dhrubhai Ambani, of Reliance fame. A man with humble beginnings, he went on to build one of the biggest industrial empires in the country. What Tatas & Birlas took a century to build, he did it in 25 years. It is another matter that he fully exploited the loopholes in our system and the avarice and greed of the `Babus` who run the country. The fact is that he had big dreams and he realized them in his lifetime! No wonder you will find signboards carrying the slogan, “If you can dream it, you can make it” in every corner and in every establishment his group owns.

For the second kind of dream (Zzz..); you have to be fast asleep; and you have no control over what dreams you are likely to get. The kind most of us have almost every night and forget the next morning!

I have regular dreams; some of them pleasant where my fantasies come true. But many of them, which keep recurring, are bizarre! Like the times I find myself flying in the sky, looking down at the earth below like a bird. It is said that, when a person dies, his soul hovers over the body for some time, seeing all that is happening around! I am also told that many of our Yogis achieved this status when they were deep in meditation. Whatever it is, I am happy that I am still alive and kicking in spite of the ‘flying’ experiences in my dreams!

Another dream which keeps recurring is the one where I am walking on the road and suddenly find myself without any dress- almost in my birthday suit! Everybody is staring and laughing at me. And I am running away from the crowd with both my hands trying to cover myself!!

The latest dream which has been haunting me repeatedly during the last couple of months goes like this. I am abroad visiting a new country or a new place and suddenly discover that my tickets and passport are missing. I am desperately running from pillar to post trying to locate them.

I don’t know what to make out of such dreams.

There are occasions when I am woken up by my wife asking me why I was howling in my sleep. Invariably it would be a bad dream- either a beast chasing me or somebody trying to attack me- what a relief to realize that it is after all just a dream.

I think I got the dream bug from my mother. Almost every day she would have some dream, which she would then describe vividly, to anyone who cared to listen. If the dream came to her early in the morning and if it was a bad dream, she would be tense the whole day. There was a belief among the older generation that the dreams you have early in the morning, will come true! She had many such theories for both good and bad dreams.

In her last days, when she was bedridden, she had a recurrent dream of a burglar entering the bedroom when she was asleep. Hearing her screams, we would rush to her, to find her awake and sweating with fear. She would complain that a burgler had entered the room through the window and was trying to kill her! We would laugh it off and reassure her that no burglar can ever enter the room through the window. Satisfied that it was just a dream she would go back to sleep.

But it is strange that years after she passed away, a burglar did enter our house on a Sunday morning through a window in the drawing room, by carefully removing the grill!

After all my mother’s early morning dream did come true!

The Family Doctor

As a boy growing up in the chawls of Bombay, when anyone in the family suffered from a health problem, be it the common cold, fever, cough or minor cuts / burns, the first person to be consulted was the family Doctor – the General Practitioner or GP as he was well known in the medical world then. Such GPs with an MBBS degree and an additional FRCS qualification were found on every street of Matunga, where we lived.

Most of the GP’s landed up converting one of the rooms in their residence into a clinic, with an attached dispensary manned by the ubiquitous Compounder; a breed which has completely vanished today. The doctor would sit behind a table and a long bench adjacent to him was used for the physical examination!

Every time, the patient`s weight would be checked; temperature, BP readings taken and the lungs or heart examined with the stethoscope. Invariably every patient would be asked to open the mouth (say aah!) and put his tongue out so that the doctor could check for tonsillitis or other throat infections. If it was a stomach problem, he would ask the patient to lie on the bench and physically inspect the stomach by pressing the different sections to identify the exact location of the pain or any growth. Then he would pull out a pad and write a prescription and ask you to collect the medicine from the Compounder, whose job was to `dispense` the medicines prescribed by the Doctor.

This guy would take your prescription and vanish behind a partition in the dispensary. He would come back with a standard vertical rectangle shaped bottle containing a `Mixture` (a combination of medicines in liquid form) and a brown envelope containing certain no. of paper packets with either tablets or medicines in powdered form. The bottle would have the dosage indication on a paper label pasted to one side. The label would indicate the quantity of each dosage and the number of doses in the bottle. Very rarely would the doctor recommend branded medicines back in those days!

The patient not only had to wait patiently in the queue for a consultation with the doctor but also wait for the compounder to deliver the medicines. I wonder if the word ‘patient’ was coined by some bright guy, waiting patiently at one such clinic!

If the problem was serious, then the GP would invariably refer him/her to a hospital – private or public for further investigation and treatment by specialists who were available only in the hospitals. Unlike now, where we find specialists for every part of the body, in every street corner in all the cities and towns!!

Apart from the more common Cardiologist, Oncologist, Orthopedic, Nephrologist or even Dentist; we have today under Orthopedics doctors who specialize in specific limbs of the body! A dentist who only does extraction of teeth (Pal Pidungi as he is called in Tamil), while somebody else who is a specialist in root canal treatment.

The danger of going to a specialist directly is that you will be forced to undergo several tests (many of them totally unrelated to the problem under investigation). The specialist gets his cut from the laboratory or the Diagnosis Centre, to whom he refers the patients for tests. Such specialists refuse to accept reports from any other diagnostic centre . Ofcourse, there are good and honest specialists with impeccable reputations but they are exceptions!

An even greater danger awaits an otherwise normal patient who goes for a routine check up to a five star hospital. The check up invariably unearths one or two blocks in the heart and the patient will be offered a package deal; which includes a By-Pass surgery at a concessional rate and also a five star comfortable stay in the hospital for the patient and his attendee. Depending on the availability of rooms the patient will be detained for a few weeks or dispatched home within a couple of days. The poor patient will not be given a choice by the family who would have been already blackmailed by the cardiologist that if the patient walks out of the hospital without undergoing the surgery, he is likely to drop dead at the door step!

My advice to anyone who is willing to listen – please have a family doctor – a GP who attends to all the routine complaints and knows the health history of every member of the family. Even a specialist in your area can become your family doctor. Like my family doctor is a Diabetologist but looks after several families in the area and is available on call whenever a patient urgently needs him. Only if he suggests go for further investigation or consult a specialist referred to. Chances of your getting ripped off by a specialist, when you carry a reference letter from your family doctor are much less than when you go directly. It is another matter if your family doctor is the greedy type, in which case only God can help you!

But even God cannot help those patients who try to get more insight into their problems by `Googling` their specific complaint. They will invariably find that their specific problem could be the indication of some bigger problem connected with anyone or more parts of the body. Armed with the knowledge, the enlightened patient tries to directly consult every possible specialist related to the problem!

Well, you can`t complain against the present medical system, if today`s enlightened patients willingly submit themselves to the exploitation by specialists!


Author can be contacted on: rvrajan42@rediffmail.com

Divine Grace and Blessings

Divine Grace (Anugraham) & “Elders” Blessings (Aashirvadham) are two values which my parents taught me early in life.

My mother was a very pious woman, who celebrated every religious occasion with reverence and great devotion, with appropriate Poojas performed at home. Whether it was a simple `Kardia Nonbu` or the more elaborate ` Varalakshmi Vratham`, she would spare no pain to make the occasion an opportunity to appease her chosen God / Goddess.

While her favourite Lord was Rama of the Ramayana fame, my father always claimed that Guruvayurappan – little Krishna of Guruvayur in Kerala, was his chosen deity whose name he kept invoking whenever he felt happy or depressed. Like millions in the world, both my parents also believed that whatever be their problem, the Lord will always provide a solution!

They also believed in openly expressing their respects to elders. Any elderly person visiting our home was showered with genuine hospitality and made to feel like a VIP. No one left the home without taking the simple meal my mother served, with lots of love! Invariably before the elders took leave, my parents would prostrate before them seeking their blessings! The visiting elders more than touched by the gesture, would be generous in their blessings. Whenever we went on a visit to South on holiday, my parents would make it a point to visit all the elders in the family seeking their blessings.

As for me Lord Balaji of the Tirupathi fame and Vinayaka the elephant God are my chosen deities. Like my parents, I also totally surrender to the Lord not only during hours of crisis but on a daily basis whenever I have the time and opportunity. I am no good at pooja rituals, which are performed by my wife who is proficient in them. My belief is expressed in the form of invoking the Lord`s name, as often as I can, silently.

Keeping elders happy and getting their blessings is also something which I have believed in all my life.
Though old age and physical problems are preventing me from prostrating before the elders I do not fail to touch the feet of the elders in the typical North Indian; `Pai Lagey`style, even now! I feel thrilled when they bless me from the bottom of their hearts! I can say with confidence that my bank balance of
Elders` blessings is always overflowing.

I believe that God’s grace and elders` blessings have played a major part in my leading a fulfilling life apart from my relentless pursuit of my dreams and goals. I have even named my home and company invoking the Divine Grace; ANUGRAH!

Coming to the younger generation, judging by the turnout of youngsters in places of worship and other spiritual get-togethers of modern day `Gurujis` of all shades, I feel that belief in God is certainly growing among the youth of the country.. Whether it is Rama, Krishna, Allah or Christ, every young man has his chosen deity or a `Guruji` whom he regularly invokes for moral support in his hours of trials and tribulations.

I also find the practice of paying respects to elders, by touching their feet is prevalent among all sections of North Indians, wherever they are located,, even today. You can see an ample display of this fine gesture among the younger generations at Railway stations, Airports, other public places and of course at family functions. It might look perfunctory to some but I always admire at the spontaneity with which the act is performed by North Indian youngsters, even in Chennai. Whereas in the South, particularly in Tamilnadu and among Tamilians, the concept of prostrating before elders, the traditional form of paying respects is slowly fading amongst the younger generation. It is especially difficult for the Vada Kalai Iyengars (a sect of Vaishnavites sporting the `U` Namam on the forehead) because they have to perform the act of prostrating- four times, each time they meet an elderly person!

It is quite a punishment, especially for the newly married couple at Weddings, when they are forced to go around the wedding hall prostrating before every elderly person in the crowd. Of course, a wise young man found a solution to this problem by requesting elders to assemble in groups so that he could perform a `one for all` ritual to get their blessings. Saving effort and time!! The idea is catching on even at homes where families get-together on occasions. The fact is today`s younger generation in the South has to be persuaded to pay respects to elders in the traditional way. It is also true that the stresses and strains of modern life have made them physically unfit to perform this arduous form of paying respect!

I suppose that the present day parents and grandparents should feel happy if their children or grandchildren or nephews and nieces express their love and respect in whatever form they choose- if at all they feel like expressing their respects!


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Who is Weird?

In life we come across all kinds of people, good & bad, tall & short, handsome & ugly, grumpy & friendly. The list can go on…but this article is about people who are known for their peculiar or weird habits – which set them apart from the rest!

The first person who comes to mind is my boss of 12 years in the advertising agency where I was working way back then! A very handsome man with an attractive moustache, which he would keep twirling whenever he was in deep thoughts working on a campaign or when he was in a serious discussion with his colleagues.

Since his marriage was on the rocks, living at home, facing his forever nagging wife had become a daily torture. To escape her, he decided to change his office timings. He would walk into the office only around 5 pm, have a brief meeting with his secretary to catch up on the day`s events and work the whole night in the office. He would return home around 8 am next morning by which time his wife would have already left for her office. After catching up on his sleep during the day he would return to the office in the evening. This became his routine.

He would dictate all his letters into a Dictaphone and leave it on his secretary’s table for typing the following day. People used to comment that he had virtually become an owl, active only in the night, probably also because his wife had the hobby of collecting miniatures owls in all forms!

While there was no problem for him with this arrangement it was hell for all his colleagues, who had to follow regular office hours! They could get appointments to meet the boss only after 8 pm. Branch Managers like me, on a visit to the Head Office, got our appointments with him only after midnight. This weird habit cost him both his wife and eventually his job!
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My own father displayed certain peculiarities. He had an obsession for cleanliness – he would wash his hands, his dinner plate and the stainless steel tumbler which was exclusively reserved for him (nobody dare touch it even by mistake!) several times, even though they might have been already cleaned by my mother before he took any meal. He was a gregarious soul, very popular among friends and relatives outside the home, but once he entered the house he would turn into a ‘Rudra Moorthy’ (angry old man) who kept bawling at his wife and children for all that they did or did not do.

He also found a great companion in himself! Whenever alone, whether at home or on a walk; you would find him talking loudly to himself. The moment he became conscious of somebody approaching him, he would stop talking.

He was also well known in the colony where we lived, for his loud sneezing! Every time he sneezed “Haa… Choo!” the whole colony would reverberate with the sound. I know of visiting relatives, who could not locate our house – identifying the same on hearing his sneezing noise!
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Another copywriter colleague of mine (in Chennai) was addicted to drinking, a bottle of `Hewlett Mixture’ daily. This tonic was supposed to be good for ulcers; which he had acquired handling a tension ridden advertising job and dealing with an equally demanding wife at home! A knowledgeable and erudite writer he was also well known for `beating about the bush’ in any discussion.

He would never come straight to a point. If someone asked him for direction to a place, his typical response would be, “you don’t take bus A, but take bus B. don’t get down at ‘C’ stop but get down at ‘D’. After getting down don’t take a left turn but a right turn. When you reach the end of that road, you will find ‘Y’ shop. Ignore it and look for ‘Z’ shop and take a left next to it and enter;…etc. etc`

By the time he finished, the person who had asked for directions would be so frustrated that he would be left wondering why he ever asked the question in the first place. He could be really exasperating!

It does take all kinds of people to make up this world. I wonder what peculiarities I have about which people talk behind my back!

The Intruders

We all have guests visiting us from time to time; Friends, relatives; wanted and unwanted. People who come with appointments, and others who like to give a (little) surprise by landing without prior notice! “I was passing by, so thought I will just drop in” or “I was getting bored at home, so I thought of visiting you”. Such people are not bothered that they may be upsetting your pre-planned programme. However, in the true spirit of Indian hospitality, we welcome all with open arms and make them feel comfortable.

But I am going to talk about the visit of three totally unexpected visitors to our house. Let me elaborate.

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One day as is her practice, after her morning ablutions my wife was standing before the Puja Room, adjacent to our bedroom, paying obeisance or to put it simply saying good morning to the variety of Gods on display; when she felt something amiss in the puja room. Actually she found a lot of things missing – like the silver lamps – a silver idol of Lord Krishna and few other valuables. She also found the radio-transistor kept on a stand nearby missing!

My first reaction was that some petty thief must have walked into the house, through the front door which is often kept open by my wife during the day, when she is busy in the service verandah at the rear of the house or lost among the hundreds of potted plants she has nurtured around the house.

While we were blaming each other, my wife who was going around the house to find out what else was missing, noticed a whole window grill missing in the study room adjacent to the main hall. A burglar had obviously entered the house through the window! It was a pre-planned burglary the previous night, by some one who knew that our window grills were just screwed to the wooden frame without any extra safety mechanism. What shocked us was the audacity of the burglar who had entered the house when we were there; and what made us shudder was the realization that he could have walked into the adjacent bedroom, which was not locked and relieved us of all the jewellery and other valuables in the house, even probably threatening us at knife point! The Lord in whom I have immense faith obviously saved us from much greater loss! It was as if the Lord told the burglar: “Take whatever you want from this puja room but leave my devotee alone!”

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On another morning, when my wife was busy reading some prayer books, sitting inside the puja room, she heard a hissing sound and to her horror realised that she had illustrious company inside the puja room. Yes, it was a 3 ft. snake (mildly poisonous Sarai ) curled around one of the dozens of framed pictures on the wall.

A courageous person, she quietly got up and closed the puja room door and called my son for help. She was ready to kill the snake with a broom stick. (The number of creepy-crawly beings she has killed with a broom stick is legendary!).

My son had better ideas, and contacted the local snake park and requested them to send someone to catch the snake which was held captive in the puja room. The whole process took more than two hours but the snake was captured alive and taken in a bag by the snake catcher from the Irula community, who are specialised in this art. Though we had to pay a small price, it was better than our family getting a ` `Sarpa Shabham` (snake curse) if my wife had killed the snake as she had originally intended!

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The third intruder in my house – hold your breath – was a cow! On a Sunday morning, I was totally immersed in reading the morning newspaper lying on the easy chair in my bedroom. Hearing some commotion followed by screams from my wife, I looked up from the newspaper and realised that a cow’s face was staring at me and saying ‘Hello, I am your special guest this morning!!’

By the time I got up from my chair to handle the uninvited guest, the cow withdrew from the master bedroom and moved to the adjacent guest bedroom. It took a lot of coaxing and gentle pushing to get rid of this special guest.

Investigating the mystery of the ‘cow guest’, I learnt that the young cow ( not a calf nor a fully grown one) had walked into the compound of our independent home through the open gate, with the intention of having a breakfast of the delicious potted plants located all around the house. When my wife, who was busy tending to some plants noticed it and started screaming, the cow ran behind the house, and on finding the door of the service verandah at the rear of the house open, it had entered the house, walked through the kitchen and reached my bedroom to say ‘Hi’ to me!

While all of us at home were intrigued by the special visitor, some elders in the family had this to say: ‘Cow entering the house is very auspicious’. Auspicious or not, we had an interesting story to narrate about our special guest for the next couple of weeks!