Xavier's cornucopia

The petty shop owner is only three houses away from my house and sells groceries and milk. A retired employee from Ashok Leyland established this shop three years before his retirement; was looked after by his wife when he is away for duty.  A charming personality knows how to deal with people.  A vegetable vender woman, slender carrying double her weight on her head used to park the load near this shop to have a little rest, also  to attract the nearby residents shouting in a shrill voice 'keere' 'keerai'. This is the time I go there for my two packets of aavin premium milk satchets. The woman will ask me with a cup of hot tea in hand, pointing her eyes downwards to the load of vegetables kept on the ground. I will reply with two nods of head shakes from left to right and back. There ends the bargain, but the dialogue of her ardorous journey in the wee hours by share auto, the procurement process etc continue. Sometimes feeling pity on her, used to offer her money f...

  We were watching the live telecast of homage to singer S Janaki, my neighbour's head appeared on the grill door.  She asked; is your water taps in working condition, and the water flow good? She was preparing for washing of clothes and suddenly water stopped from the taps.  Is there any message about the stoppage of water in the Mygate app.? It was 12 00 noon and my wife scanning the messages from mygate informed her that there is a warning for judicious usage of water, as there is an unidentified problem of pumping into the storage tank which is being investigated. By the time we checked the water flow for storing water into buckets for emergency use,  supply completely stopped.  Our anxiety had been, after lunch how to clean the utensils, and wash our hands and mouth. Yesterday's Hindu property plus edition became handy to clence hands and utensils until water is restored.  My anxiety was restoration of water supply after a compulsory brief nap(siesta)...

  Early morning a group of Wren birds descended from the golden shower tree in the yoga park. Three of them fluttered their wings in ecstasy and the male birds perching on the branches came down and hugged them. All together making twittering sounds took their wings and flew away to the nearby cork tree. Morning  walkers strolled through the streets hither and thither.  While one batch was walking towards the main entrance another batch was returning from the entrance.   A septuagenarian was seen speeding away in his scooty one leg on the pad and another leg kicking  the ground with astonishing momentum. He was later spotted in the basket ball court practicing net lying down.  Another slender man in his sixties was seen walking past, we named him 'invisible' as the thinning exercise will make him the vanishing act in the long run. Ladies who had kept something in the burner made short strides across the diagonal road where they can return to their duty at s...

  Going by daily activities I do not feel that I have reached mid seventies agewise, still keeping the vigour of youth in learning, reading and other activities in day to day life.  One of recently acquired skill is competing in the spellbee contest published by the New York Times.  Joined as an enthusiast some months back the puzzle attracted me. Initially it allowed me to fill the puzzle and as days progressed put conditions for filling, by withdrawing the facility asking me to subscribe by paying the news paper subscription annually.   The subscription being prohibitive I restrained myself by seeing only the synopsis given in the email version.  Later they started offering concessional monthly offer on trial basis and I opted for 3 months subscription and started filling the puzzles ritually.  Thus earlier practice of doing the crossword puzzle in the Hindu daily has become secondary. Daily hooking into the spellbee puzzle attracted my grandson Arya...

  An incident about the confidential note which Edison's teacher wrote about his son's performance in school.  It was written 'do not sent your child to school from tomorrow; he is mentally ill'.  After reading the note the mother was in tears and she told his son that the teacher had written that your son was a genius, and there is no teacher in school to his capacity.  Next day onwards she took the responsibility to teach him at home and he becoming  the world's greatest inventor is history.  Many years after his mother's demise, a folded note was found in the families belongings, which stated the real reason.  Many thinkers and historians have reacted and written about Edison's mind. But   at this point of time my mind and heart goes out to those noble mothers who have dedicated their life for the welfare of their children. Happy are those parents now who have invested their time and energy for the upbringing of their wards,  enjoying thei...

  There is no need to search my memory to unearth the most important friend in my life.  Also there does not arise the selection process,  to visualise the front runner at this golden age. I would like to go back to my primary school period where I came across a neighbour friend's relative who used to visit their house during school holidays.  Most pampered neighborhood friends name is P J Joy.  Evenings a baker used to visit houses with fresh baked items like cakes, biscuits and sweet buns.  At the sound of his cycle bell Joy and his younger brother Alosius would cover the metal tin picking their choicest eatables.  They could afford to buy as his father was earning well in a faraway city. The neighbour's relative who frequented their house was none other than their cousin Anto.  We made contact with him and played with tennis balls and marbles.  But these relationships could not last long as their mother moved to Ernakulam with their childr...