kutty kutty things that make my day!!

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on."

-Robert Frost.

I strongly believe that its some of the smallest things in Life that make it worth living. Not everyday is bright and sunny. Some days can be so gloomy to the state of pushing you into hibernation, a state of mental absence. Even at such gruelling times, when we attain the heights of depression, its the smallest things in life that come to our rescue. We have all the reason and right to be happy. As I always tend to realise, Life is the same to every person, only the perceptions are different. Its left to us to enjoy this moment which is inevitable. As I was thinking about these " kutty " things that bring a smile to my lips, I was surprised at the number of things I came up with... Here are some of them..



1. Gobbling Pani puris at a road side shop, much to the annoyance of Mom.

2. The walk on the beach, playing running and catching with the approaching waves.

3. Meditating whenever possible, preferably in the peace of a temple, with the scent of agarbatis and temple bells chiming away.

4.Brave attempt at tasting something for the first time - Red wine,at my friend's place . Though it tasted more like a tonic and I hardly had a sip, it was enough to make me lift my collars and parade around telling whoever would listen that I had atlast tasted wine. ;-)

5.Meeting an old school mate at a very boring place, exactly at the moment when my hands are folded in desperate prayer, to send someone to rescue me from the boredom.

6.All the fuss people around you make, when you recieve a scratch from falling down. Only you would wear that secret smile on your face.

7.Going to school after years, meeting old teachers who all look the same, except for maybe a few grey hairs and bifocal spectacles.

8.Laughing and giggling in class , whenever possible, at all the "mokkai's" the girl next to me (sharmi)puts, at the "sight" of her many loved ones.

9. When someone in whose life you would have been a part of, knowingly or unknowingly, long time ago, remembers you. Eg : When a junior from my X-X-School came upto me and asked me if I remembered her. ;-) ofcourse I din't! but I had to say I did!

10.Listening to favourite music and lyrical wonders, musing over them again and again.

11.Buying "Kuchi" ice - Orange flavour, tearing the wrapper immediately, licking all the way home, sparing the stick and as soon as I reach home, checking if my lips have turned the right shade of orange.

12.Sharing dairy milk with friends in college and fighting for the "wrapper" waiting to be licked.

13.Missing college bus, on a dreadful , full theory classes day. A secret desire inside that no alternative buses should pass by the same route (like today..I missed the bus which made me so happy that I'm blogging about it)..

14.There's nothing more delightful than surprise parties - no matter which end you are in - the delivering or the receiving end ;-) . Recently it was at Domi's birthday. Me and Shara threw a surprise party especially for her with candle-lit cup cakes!! hehe.. not exactly a birthday bash with black forest chocolate cake, but it was her happiest moment in life, and that moment made our day! !

15.Relishing mom'a cooking during the week-ends, which is the only time I eat at home -thrice a day.

16. A cup of coffee, "I'm reading this at present" book, and the sound of music and rain in the background.

17.Appreciation from the most unexpected people and the least expected times .

18.Watching the kids on the street play cricket, their funny conversations, and chasing them when they break our window panes. Acting big sis, whenever possible, and scaring the guts out of them to pay for the broken glass.

19.Riding my bike all alone to class, without any escorts (Bharat and Dhivya), and successfully getting back home without meeting with any "major" accidents.

20.Observing people and letting my mind do all the talking, which turns out to be positive and negative as well.

21. Reading a diary after a long time and being transported to the memories of the past.

22.Glancing through old photos, wishing I could still have been a kid and regretting it the next moment thinking " who'll write X and XII exams again!!Jesus! "... ;-)

23.Writing an exam on the most darkest day of my life, which has been a catastrophe right from the moment I wake up till I step into the hall, but still, passing that exam by inches.

24.Getting through the Viva(Practicals) atleast on a 50-50 basis. I suck at VIVA- My greatest fear next to cockroaches.

25.Sitting right behind the driver( in the college bus) and cracking up with my accomplice , Domi, making the driver throw us weird looks in the rear view mirror,which would never go unnoticed by us. But still, we always end up in fits of laughter, for small things that we encounter, during our 40 minutes journey, on the rickety bus on an evenmore rickety, dust-filled, Old Mahabalipuram Road. *Sigh*.. Life is sure worth it!!



I started with a quote by one of my favourite poets of all times - Robert Frost. Now I end with another relevant quote I came across somewhere. Here goes..



"Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles, and kindnesses, and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort”

C-R-Y-!

If you're wondering if its a campaign for "Child Relief and You ", you are wrong. Though I would love to blog about it (maybe in the near future), right now I meant the literal sense of the word - "cry". Someone said "Smiles form the channels of a future tear.” I can see you nodding away, thinking to yourself "How true!".

Today, I fell down and hurt my leg.Actually fell into a sump.I don't want to elaborate on that.I luckily escaped with a scratch and a minor swell . I had to go to a hospital for a TT injection and coincidentally, one of the physicians was a paediatrician and that was the only clinic close to my residence. I reached the place and was greeted with the cry for help - mostly from kids. I was astonished as I had never seen so many kids at one go, and all "crying". It was faster than a nuclear chain reaction. What was even more amusing was that only one child at a time was injected.Watching that child triggered the one next to it to cry, and the next and next and so on, resulting in the fastest chain reaction in history. I was so amused that I forgot that all the mothers were throwing me daggers with their looks, as I was smiling at the crying kids. Gee..couldn't help it..! I went back in time to an hour back when I had turned into Humpty and had a great fall. Though I fell completely inside with my hands stretching out, and the depth wasn't much, my dad caught me in a jiffy. But still that shock sort of triggered uneasy emotions and I cried- sorry Wailed like crazy. I can laugh now, thinking about it. So sitting in the wooden bench at the clinic, waiting for the doctor, I was wondering what actually made people cry. What evoked the tears? What was the scientific reason behind it? After the injection, I came home and started searching about the science behind tears. Wikipedia and few other sites had the answers. Here's what I found..

Tears are a liquid produced by the body's process of lacrimation to clean and lubricate the eyes. The word lacrimation may also be used in a medical or literary sense to refer to crying.Tears may be classified into 3 types:

*Basal Tears

*Reflex Tears

*Psychic Tears

Basal Tears :

Tears are continually produced in small quantities by the Tear Glands, which are located on the outer side of each eye, slightly above the eye and underneath the eyelid. Tears, which are spread evenly over the front surface of the eye during blinking, clean and lubricate the eye. An important component of tears is lysozyme, a chemical that inhibits bacterial growth on the eye's surface. Some of the tears evaporate, but the remainder are drained into the nose through the Tear Duct, keeping the nose moist. Lysozyme from the tears prevents bacterial growth in the nose as well.

Reflex Tears :

These result from the irritation of the eye by foreign particles, or from the presence of irritant substances such as onion vapours, tear gas or pepper spray in the eye's environment. These reflex tears attempt to wash out irritants that may have come into contact with the eye.

Psychic tears :

These tears have more to do with emotions and hurt - both physical and mental. They are also caused due to depression and emotional stress.However the chemical composition of the tears in this case is different. An interesting discovery was made by Dr. William H. Frey II, a biochemist at the St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center in Minnesota.On analysis, they found that emotional tears contained more of the protein-based hormones, prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and leucine enkephalin (natural painkiller), all of which are produced by our body when under stress. It seems as if the body is getting rid of these chemicals through tears. No wonder we feel better after a good cry!

The discovery of facts from http://www.wikipedia.com/ and http://www.scienceiq.com/ :

#1. "The crocodile tears syndrome" is an uncommon consequence of recovery from Bell's palsy where faulty regeneration of the facial nerve causes sufferers to shed tears while eating.

#2.Keratoconjunctivitis sicca , more commonly known as dry eye, is a very common disorder of the tear film. Paradoxically, sufferers can experience watering of the eyes .

#3. Here's my favourite ;) . An insincere display of grief or dishonest remorse is called crocodile tears,from the ancient anecdote that crocodiles would pretend to weep while luring or devouring their prey.

#4. Chewing on gum while cutting onions can help a person from stop producing tears. Try it next time you chop onions. I don't know how far this is true. My granny says that the onion vapours increase the sharpness in sight . Same with the smoke from the flames while performing a "homam" during housewarming ceremonies.

#5. In space you cannot cry because there is no gravity to make the tears flow. HA -HA -HA...!

And nOW.. for my theory :

I think tears are a way of expressing helplessness. The reflex action arising out of confusion. Like when you suddenly meet with an accident, get hurt, there's a moment when you can feel pain at various angles. Like how I felt today. My stomach, legs, ankle, knee , elbow were all competing and when someone asked me where it hurt, I din't know where and I cried. Adding to the effect of helping me in my transformation into a child, was my mother, who said "Hayo evlo valikardho!" (meaning- Oh my God, How much it would pain") . That was the signal, and slowly the confused tears started making sense and became a wail and finally reached the peak of the vocal chords into the cry of a banshee.

AAA-OOO-MMM - peace!

It was the time when I was subjected to various complexities of the mind - primarily plagued with the fear of a six-letter word -Career. I had just completed the Higher Secondary, technically considered eligible to join College. I was a confused soul , unable to come to terms with what I wanted in life.I had ambitions (too big a word, desires would be appropriate ;) ) which were many in number, each making me go crazy,crazier,craziest. It was then that my cousin, Sowmya,who thought I was too "vetti" decided to act pioneer and pushed me into Pranayama classes. My mom and bro had already experienced the "Isha touch" before and so they had no objections. So I went along to Isha, to learn pranayama and "shunya" meditation,which sure helped to block out the building complexities in the head. It was a totally new experience. Very gratifying and it gave me a very new outlook to life. More than the exercises, it was the discussions we had everyday that really helped me. It was more to do with "self realisation". We enjoyed every moment and the sessions were very interactive. People, totally strangers, the previous minute, spoke freely, like they knew you for ages. It was a blissful experience. All good things come to an end, the course soon got over. It was the eve of the last day. At the stroke of twelve, me and my cousin,came up with a poem. Our experiences at Isha.....


THE LIGHTER SIDE OF ISHA…


For those brooding about the past
For those dreaming about the future
Bang came the knock on the head
Teaching them about the present.
Dumbstruck sat the gaping frogs
Accepting all that came across.
Adding colour to the place, with the clothes we wore
Opening our minds door, listening to Deepaji
Croaking and unfrocking the masks we wore.

Break the rules, we did it
Follow the rules,we didn’t.
OUR RULES,we followed it!!
Responsibility on ones shoulder,was like carrying a boulder
But the “ability to respond”,rolled the boulder,down the shoulder.
Out of temptation,we started meditation,
On continuation,we found that there's no expectation!
Man sowed the seed of conditional love
And eventually reaped the fruit of hatred…
Bygone days are bygone…for now its time to unweed…
And create a paradise of unconditional love indeed..!
Jesus said “love thy neighbour”
Isha said..”LOVE ALL EXISTENCE”


Note :
I read this poem the next day in class. Luckily didn't mess up much. Those who have been on the course will understand the poem better. 'cause every sentence is a lesson we learnt. our everyday classes dealt more with Life . Just in case you were wondering, Deepaji , was our guruji at the class. It's been like almost 3 years since we wrote this. I haven't modified it till now. I don't care if it sounds silly ;) . . About me in touch with the exercises..guess you'd know better - I tried,but I couldn't!!! I wouldn't mind enrolling a second time though.