More kiddy talk. But with reasoning and maturity.

Some time ago, I had posted here about my niece Divya's interest in a power above.
Looks like she is quite serious about religion, which is not a bad thing. Irrespective of what religion we all belong to, it is always good to have faith in a power above and to spend some
time in conversation with God, be it in a temple or church or any other place of worship.

Inspite of my sister and brother-in-law's lukewarm attitude to religion, Divya somehow is
quite serious about the whole God thing. She drags them to church on Sundays, which they
had not been doing for a long time. She also started attending Sunday school (sort of Bible classes for kids).

As she learns stuff in Sunday school, she also gets more doubts. Sample this.

Last Sunday, she was told about the incident in the Bible, where Jesus feeds a huge crowd
of people (5000 or so) with just a few loaves of bread and some fish, that his disciples had
with them. It is supposed to be a miracle that Jesus did and I am guessing that the teacher
at Sunday school used this incident to bring out the miraculous power of God.

So, Divya comes back home and tells her Mom about what she learnt at Sunday school.

Divya : Amma, the teacher told us the story about Jesus feeding 5000 people with just a
few loaves of bread and a few fish.

Amma : Wow, that's good.

Divya : Amma, I know that God is powerful and it is easy for Him to do such a miracle.
Feeding 5000 people with such a small amount of food should be easy for God.

Amma : Yes, God is capable of miracles.

Divya: While I do believe in God and my heart accepts what I learn in Sunday school,
there is a small problem.

Amma : What is that ? (Oh, oh, trouble starting.)

Divya : Inspite of my belief, there is this Satan lurking inside me who sort of taunts by
asking how it is humanely possible for a person to feed such a big crowd with a few fish
and bread ?

Amma : Hmmmm.

Divya : And you know what? This Satan also asks how there could be such a lot of leftovers
after the people had their fill. (As per the Bible, after the people had eaten, the leftovers
collected were enough to fill many baskets.)

Amma: Hmmm. That is where faith comes in. You have to just have faith and believe.

I am sure my sister would have found it tough to answer these seemingly kiddy, but serious questions. I for one am happy that Divya understands the concept of good (God)
and evil (Satan) and the constant conflict between the two.

While I am happy that my niece believes in a power above, all I hope is that she also
grows up being tolerant of other religions and the people practising them. I would not
want her to grow up with any "My religion is the best. My God is the only true one."
kind of attitude.

May atleast her generation grow up imbibing the good things in all religions and avoid
fighting each other in the name of religion.

P.S. : I am sure my sister will have quite some explaining to do when the Sunday School
teacher tells Divya's class about Jesus bringing back to life a person who died. :-)

Walk the talk. And kids will follow.

An old incident, that happened in 2000 while I was at Gent (Belgium) on work.
Was reminded of this when I saw school kids helping the cops regulate traffic on the roads. Reinforces the saying that the best way of making kids lead, is to set the right example.
Walk the talk and kids will follow.

Its 8AM and I am walking to the bus stop near Sint Pieters to catch the bus to office. I had planned to be at the office at 8:15AM, but woke up late. I see a number 70 bus coming at
the end of the road and I don't want to miss it because the next one might be 10 minutes
away, for all I know.

But I have to cross over to the other side of the road to catch the bus. The signal is green
for the vehicles and red for the pedestrians. There is a guy waiting to cross the road with
his small kid (5 years old max). I see no cars on the road and the bus is approaching fast.
If I wait for the pedestrian signal to turn green, I might miss the bus and will be late for
office. I decide to make a dash for it as there are no cars coming.

I put a foot forward and then decide not to, because there is this guy near me and it does
not seem to be the correct thing to do in a country where people follow the rules. I decide
to wait for the signal to turn green, even if it means that I will be late.

The guy was watching me all through because he said something in Dutch to me. I told
him that I follow only English. Then he said in English "Please do not set a bad example
for the kids to follow".

Man, I was so embarassed. But at the same time, it really struck me why we in India
are a people who never follow the rules. Or why we follow them only if the cop is around.
I understood that it's because we as kids did not get the proper example to follow. If only
our parents/elders had respected the rules, we would respect the rules even if big brother
was not around, and India would have safer roads, to say the least.

I told him that I was sorry and crossed the road, when the light turned green. The bus
came in just after that and I reached office as planned.

Maybe we can't do anything about the present generation who bend the rules, apart from
trying to change ourselves. But there is still hope, as we can instill the right example for the
next generation to follow.

Stick to just one if you can't treat them same

We recently had a family (my friend, his wife and their two boys aged 6 and 2) over for dinner.
This family is known to us for many years now, but we were meeting after sometime as they
had moved out of Chennai two years ago.

When they were in Chennai last, the family was only 3-strong as the younger kid was not yet born.
Since they lived in the same apartment complex, we used to see them a lot and would spend quite
some time with the elder kid Amit. He was like any other 4-year old kid then, a little naughty but
overall a good chap. He was pretty much an extrovert, with no hesitation in talking to even people
he was meeting the first time.

I shared quite some common interests with him - affinity for anything sweet, hi-speed biking/driving
and racing Remote Control (R/C) cars. We used to spend quite some time racing R/C cars on the apartment terrace.

But seeing him after a gap of just 2 years, he seemed an entirely different person. Though he did recognize me, there was not much enthusiasm. Not even when I brought out the latest R/C car that
I had got from abroad. He sort of kept to himself, sitting along with his parents, instead of joining me and his kid bro (Sumit) as we raced the car. I was surprised by this huge change in his behaviour and initially attributed it to the natural growing-up process. However, the actual reason was to be clear soon.

A few moments after Sumit took a fancy to one of the cars and moved to one end of the living room, Amit slowly came to my side and took the remote of the car that I had with me. I was happy that he was slowly coming back to his normal self and tried to make some small talk with him.

He had just about raced the car for a few minutes when Sumit rushed over to us and grabbed
the car from Amit. He tried to resist, very briefly, but gave up when his parents in unison said, "Amit, let your bro have it. He is a small kid, na". With a pained expression on his face, Amit
gave up and returned to his perch on the sofa. I was unsure as to what to do - console Amit
or get Sumit to part with one of the cars.

Similar instances happened during the evening, with Sumit staking claim to anything that big brother had and parents always supporting the younger one. I could see the pain in Amit's eyes,
the embarassment of having to always give up and the dismay at his parent's partiality towards
his brother. If left unchecked, I felt that this would lead to a serious lack of self-confidence in Amit and probably even hatred towards his bro.

Finally after dinner, when Sumit snatched the ice-cream cup from Amit, I had had enough and intervened to restore the cup back to Amit and gently but firmly chided Sumit. I then called my
friend out, as if for a smoke and impressed upon him the negative fallouts due to their always supporting and encouraging their younger kid at the cost of the elder one.

The fallouts could range from something as minor as anger towards his brother, to more serious issues like lack of self-confidence, becoming introverted and a generally gloomy outlook to life.
I think I have made my friend understand the seriousness of the situation. Meanwhile my wife
was busy talking to his wife on the same lines.

I sincerely hope and wish that the parents understand their folly and change their partisan behaviour, atleast from now on. I fail to understand how parents can treat their offspring differently. There is no rationale to doing so and I feel such parents are better off with only one kid.
Why take the trouble of having more than one kid when you cannot treat them on par ?

It's not just this couple. I know a lot more like them. In some cases it is partiality towards the younger / youngest one and in some cases it is partiality towards the son, while ignoring the
daughter. Either way, it is not healthy behaviour expected from parents. Such behaviour
will also result in problems for the favoured child. They get used to having their way always at
home and assume that it would be the same outside too, which most often would not be the
case, leading to disappointment and frustration.

All aspiring parents, if you think that you cannot treat your kids the same, stick to just one.

Tamilnadu through the eyes of a Belgian from Lokeren

Looks like email forwards do serve some purpose, after all.
Received one yesterday with the following link
http://www.pbase.com/oochappan/

It has the most awesome photographs that I have ever seen. The theme is mostly Tamilnadu
with special emphasis on Madurai. Did some investigating and found that it is the work of a Belgian (Lokeren town) who since 1987 spends the first three months of the year in Tamilnadu.

Oochappan is the name of an old person he met in Tamilnadu and which he uses as an alias/nick. Checked with my Belgian colleague who also is from Lokeren and it seems this person is a good friend of my colleague's cousin. It sure is a small world.

Each and every photograph is a gem. Well worth the time spent viewing them.

New unethical tactics by credit card companies to squeeze customers.

Got an email forward today which mentioned that action has been initiated against two multinational banks for violating RBI guidelines.

They seem to have come up with a unique scam. They would deliberately delay sending
monthly credit card bills to customers so that customers will get delayed in dropping the
cheque. Then they charge late fees, interest, fine etc. And in cases where customers do
drop the cheque on time, the banks would delay realising the cheque deliberately so that
they can charge customers for late delivery.

Looks like these guys are not satisfied with the exhorbitant (30% p.a.) interest rates that
they currently charge for those that do not pay the monthly dues in full. It would be helpful
for credit card users to be wary to avoid falling in such traps.

Dealing with credit card companies is easy if you keep in mind a few things :

1. Pay no annual or joining fees for any card. Most card issuers today give fully free cards.
Remember that they need you more than you need them. And you have lots of banks to
choose from.

2. Pay your monthly dues in full - do not rollover your payments. The interest charged is
around 30% p.a. or more (though they will mention it as 2.5% p.m. to make it look low).
Also, once you start rolling over your dues, you do not get free credit even for fresh purchases.

3. Be aware that you have given no security / collateral to them. So control is in your hands.
There is no way they can make you pay any unjustified charges. Fight any unjustified
charges and just refuse to pay. Follow it up with a threat to close the card and go ahead
and do it if they do not relent.

4. Know that there is no free lunch. Buy on your card only if you can pay it in full when the bill
lands at you door next month. Avoid impulse purchases.

5. Credit cards are not evil. Infact they are very useful. It is just that you need to know how to
use them properly.

Speed Post or Shoddy Post ?

Imagine the following scenario.

Your family needs to have an important document reach you urgently and decides to send it via Speed Post, which is supposed to be fast. You are expecting it to be delivered at your door the next day (private courier companies do overnight delivery between Kerala and Chennai).

Nothing happens the next day and the day after. The third day, you are seriously worried and
haul yourself to the nearest post office, who direct you to a post office which handles Speed
Post for your locality and which is like 5kms away.

You reach there at noon braving the Chennai heat. The clerk there takes the consignment number and feeds it into his PC. You are like, "Wow, online tracking. Real cool." He then says that the document reached them yesterday and was also handed over to the postman servicing your area and that you should have got it yesterday itself. You clarify that if you got it yesterday, you would not be here.

He goes, "You should get it today then. If not, come back here at 7PM and the postman will be available". You go back home and even till 6:30PM, there is no sign of the postman or the document. You make another trip to the post office. You wait till 8:30 PM for the postman to come, fuming at your people for having used Speed Post.

The postman comes in at 8:30PM. You give him the details and he goes through the mail in his bag. No, your mail is not with him. Another trip to the clerk, who again enters the Consignment Number into the PC. The status remains the same - Undelivered.

They dig up yesterday's paper records and find your document details. Marked in ink alongside
is "Enquiry". You ask what it means. The postman says that he had a doubt about the address
and thus marked it that way. You tell him that your family has been mailing you for decades now and at the same address and there is no way the address could be wrong.

Now, the truth comes out. The postman says, he is seriously overloaded with too many articles
to deliver. So ? So, he sent it back without even attempting delivery.

Can you imagine such a stupid reasoning from someone. He returned back a document without even trying to deliver it because he was overloaded. Yes, this is not fiction. But something that I went through personally over the last weekend. I was both worried about the document not reaching me and at the same time angry about the stupidity being doled out to me. It was really tough for me to keep myself from hitting that stupid ass****.

I complain to the Post Master who says its a mistake and mistakes do happen. I know that mistakes do happen. But this is no mistake, it is stupidity of the highest order and intentional
dereliction of duty. If he was overloaded, he could have delivered it the next day. Or left it at the
post office and I could have collected it from there. But No, he had to send it back.

My people got it back yesterday and have now couriered it back to me via private courier. If only they had taken this sensible step instead of using the shoddy service rendered by the Indian Posts.

Keep away from Speed Post unless you want them to screw up. You pay a premium and end
up with such service. BTW, if my people had even sent it via normal post, I would have got it on
the 3rd day. So much for premium service.

Is Chennai saying no (albeit slowly) to plastic ?

With plastic bags in use all over the place and the old jute shopping bags fading into oblivion, Chennai is no different from other Indian cities in plastic abuse. However, I seem to be seeing
an awareness about plastic bag usage and the environmental damage caused due to it.

Yesterday I was at a Spencers Daily outlet and the two customers (pretty girls) in front of me
at the checkout counter politely declined the plastic bags offered by the staff. I was mighty impressed, given the fact that anyone selling anything today dishes out a plastic bag to hold
the stuff that we buy from them, and which we have come to expect as a right.

I have been trying to avoid using plastic as much as I can. For all my grocery shopping, I carry
a jute bag and politely decline the plastic bags. Ofcourse, it does look kind of odd to go
shopping with a bag, something that we usually associate with the elderly. But then the
satisfaction of having done your small bit for the environment gives you a high.

And of late, I also see some shopkeepers asking if we have our own bag with us. For all I know,
he might be trying to save a few paise due to a plastic bag saved, but ultimately it reduces that much plastic going to the landfills. So, at the vegetable/fruit shop, I am able to get away with my tactic of avoiding the plastic bags offered by them.

It is only at the fish market that I usually fail. The plastic bags favoured by the fish sellers is the
real thin and low quality black kind, which I am sure would not be even food grade. I have tried taking my own plastic bag while buying fish, but they would nevertheless ignore me and smilingly use the yucky plastic bag.

Must try some more innovative means the next time, to avoid that plastic bag. :-)

Energy going waste instead of being harnessed.

Inspite of the almost all-year-round hot weather and occasional water scarcity, one thing that is awesome about Chennai is the un-interrupted power supply. Power cuts happen very rarely
and even when they do, the Electricity Board (EB) ensures that things are back to normal ASAP.

Compare this situation to say in Kerala, where apart from the official 2-4 hours of daily power
cuts (load shedding, as the EB calls it), there are unofficial power cuts that leave you sweating
and fuming.

With summer already setting in, nights are kind of hot and most people have started activating
their air-conditioners, though as of now, a ceiling fan is kind of enough. Yesterday night, power went off around three times for some 5 minute duration each time, which was surprising as it
was very unusual. Though power was restored fast, it made me think of how much of easily and freely available power we are wasting in Chennai and most other parts of India.

This comes in the form of solar energy, which in Chennai is freely available almost throughout
the year. The sun in Chennai is like a blazing furnace directed downwards and if it were not for
the sea breeze that we are blessed with, life could be hell.

The good thing is that this can be harnessed and used for a variety of applications. The traffic police had started an initiative some time ago to power the traffic booths with solar energy.
The solar panel on top of the booth would be enough to power a light and fan provided inside
the booth for the policeman on duty. However, from the looks of it, it seems this has been
ignored. I am not sure though.

As Chennai becomes a concrete jungle with more and more high rises (both residential and business complexes) coming up, isn't solar energy a viable and cheap option ? The terrace of these complexes should provide enough space to put up the panels and the energy could be
used for lighting purposes, thereby resulting in lessening the load on our thermal power plants
and also provide savings for the users in terms of reduced EB charges.

Our apartment complex consumes electricity worth Rs.4500 every 2 months. Of this, the bulk
of the usage (approximately 70%) is for powering the 4 water motors that pump water from
the underground sumps to the overhead tanks. I am not sure whether solar energy can be
used for energy-intensive applications like driving water pumps. However, it definitely can be
used for lighting up the complex which currently consumes the remaining 30% of the energy
drawn by us.

Ofcourse, the usual obstacle would be the initial investment for setting up the solar energy
system and for re-wiring the lighting system to be connected to the solar energy source.
This would require each flat owner to contribute some amount. Ofcourse all of the owners
are pretty well off and can easily afford this amount. However, they would look at this from
another point of view - what is in it for me ?

Well, to be frank, the only owners benefitting from this would be the ones staying in the flats, because the savings on power will be reflected in the reduced maintenance amount that they
pay monthly. So, those that have rented out their flats do not stand to gain much. And would therefore not be willing to fork out their share.

The tenants would ofcourse benefit due to reduced maintenance rates, but then they are there
only temporarily and thus would not be willing to contribute. So, finally it will be like running
around in circles, with nothing really happening.

One option is for the Govt to insist on new projects to compulsorily use solar power for the
exterior lighting. Just like rainwater harvesting was made compulsory.This would ensure that atleast new projects would make use of this huge source of energy, benefitting not only
themselves, but also lessening the load on the electricity supply system.

Bite the bullet

Another campus shooting in the US of A. Tragic, considering the number of lives lost.
Young ones at that. India also has reason to grieve - two of them were of Indian origin.

But does it surprise anyone who knows of the gun culture in the US and the easy
availability ? Years ago when I was in the US for the first time, Wal-Mart was to me
a shopper's dream come true. A shop that had everything under one roof - groceries,
toys, medicines, clothes, electronic items, white goods, and so on - you name it, they
had it. What could be more convenient ?

But I was surprised to see a section for guns too. That was new to me - never saw one
in India or even Europe. The only sighting of a store selling guns in India was a shop I
saw somewhere on Mount Road in Chennai years ago. Don't know the exact location,
but I guess it is somewhere near Wallajah Road signal. Never had any need to go to
that shop. And anyway I don't think we can just walk-in and buy a gun in India.

For some days or even weeks, we will have the media making a big noise about needing
gun control. Like in the past, these will stay in the media and in the public consciousness
for some time and then people will move on. Till the gun strikes next.

Ofcourse the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the arms lobby will come out in
defence of the gun culture. As in the past, they will use the argument that "the right to
bear arms" is enshrined in the US constitution.

Yes, the constitution has it. But remember when the constitution was drafted? Like 300
years ago. At that time, it might have been relevant. Then, might was right in the States,
with personal security being the responsibility of the individual. With a good law enforcement system in place today, citizens need not be personally armed to be safe.

And ofcourse, it is not like the constitution is something sacrosanct. It's just a guiding
framework drawn by a few guys and mainly relevant to the time when it was created.
When any part of it becomes irrelevant, it needs modifications. That's why we have constitutional amendments. Atleast in India, we do.

They will also say that "It is not guns that kill, it is people". Yes, morons, we very well know
that a gun can't go off by itself and needs a human to trigger it. But then, without guns
available easily, does it not make it that more difficult for a person to go on a shooting spree ?

Ofcourse the really determined criminal will still find a way to get his hands on a gun. But,
atleast it will limit guns from getting into the hands of school kids, due to Daddy getting a
gun easily and not taking care to lock it up safely.

There is no easy way out here. Control guns if you do not want things to spiral out of control.

Akshaya Trithya - start something new.

A brilliant new scam by jewellers to get the gullible public flocking to them to buy jewellery,
goes by the name of Akshaya Trithya. For the past few years, jewellers have managed to
build an aura around this annual event and given it an auspicious image, going to the extent
of implying that it is lucky to invest in gold (in recent years they extended it to silver, platinum etc) on this day.

Now even banks (ICICI etc) have joined the bandwagon to sell their pure gold coins and bars
and advertise heavily during Akshaya Trithya. I would not be surprised if they soon add
stocks, mutual funds, real estate, cars, bikes etc to the list.

Some 4-5 years ago, no one had even heard of this supposedly important day in the Hindu calendar. If it was such an important day, how come we never heard of it till a few years ago ? So, what is this day all about ? I did a check on Google about this and got the following info :

Akshaya Tritya : (Jain) This day celebrates the day when Lord Rishabha broke his first year-long fast by drinking sugar cane juice. To begin anything new is considered very auspicious on this day.

So, basically it is just about starting something new and not really about stocking up so much
gold resulting in a shortage in other parts of the world. :-)

We Indians (atleast the 50% that are women and some of the men too) are anyway gold
crazy and don’t really require any special day to go gold shopping. If you have a doubt,
checkout the crowds in any jewellery shop in Kerala or TN. Inspite of this, there might
be some periods of the year when sales lag and some bright guy (of World Gold Council)
came up with this whole Akshaya Trithya story. And to avoid you inconvenience / disappointment, they even take orders much in advance of Akshaya Trithya and let you
collect the gold on the big day. How about that for customer service ?

Buying / selling jewellery is anyway a big scam with the jewellers adding overheads
(wastage, craftmanship etc) when we buy and deducting the same or more when we
sell to them. To sum up, we get a bad deal either way.

In short, base your gold buying decisions on need and not on the basis of advertising spins.

If you really want to start something new, how about starting that exercise regime you
have had in mind for years. Or a visit to the local orphanage to spend some time with the
kids there and maybe even do a small donation. Or funding the education of a less
priveleged youngster in your neighbourhood. Or setting up a local Exnora to keep your neighborhood clean.

Lots of ways to make a clean beginning. Just the will is required.

The Malayalee's obsession with elephants.

Yet another temple elephant on the rampage in Kerala. See link, courtesy Kairali TV.
The video is gory to say the least. A young guy (the mahout ?) is thrown around by an
elephant, like an old rag. Once it is done with the guy, the elephant turns its attention to
another elephant, which it pushes to the ground and then tries to roll it over with its tusks.
Finally it pushes the poor thing into a building barely tall enough for the animal to fit in.

Elephants are an integral part of the Kerala psyche. And most temple functions cannot do without them. The Thrissur Pooram has quite a few of them lined up, amidst a big crowd of people and loud fireworks. BTW, the Supreme Court has recently banned fireworks at the Pooram, citing noise pollution issues. Not sure how exciting the Pooram will be sans the
fireworks.

It is a common sight in our town to see an elephant led along the streets with people offering
it coconut leaves, plantains etc. It is quite a sight actually with most of the small road blocked
by the majestic animal and even the biggies like buses, trucks etc giving way. The bell around
its neck can be heard from a distance and we would come to the gate to see the animal.

However, everytime an elephant runs amok, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Fingers are pointed at the drunk mahout who ill-treated it or who made it walk for miles to a temple function or overworked it etc.

Maybe it is time to take an hard look at whether we really need to have these majestic animals lined up in the temple grounds, standing for hours in the hot sun and amidst the din caused by loudspeakers etc.

I am not sure whether the rituals really call for elephants to be present. If not, it would be sensible to excuse these poor animals from our prayers to the Almighty. We would be also saving some human lives in the process.

The best Easter wishes I ever came across.

Got the following Easter greeting as SMS from a friend.

He had no servants, yet they called him Master;
No degrees, yet they called him Teacher;
No medicine, yet they called him Healer;
No Army, yet the kings feared Him;
He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world;
He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him;
He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.
Happy Easter.

Incidentally, I received this from a friend who happens to be a Hindu.
Which set me thinking as to how he came up with such a nice composition
which sort of sums up almost all that Jesus Christ stood for in a few words.
It would be tough for most Christians to sum it up so beautifully.

The chances of his having received this from someone are remote, because
Easter holds no direct relevance for him due to his not being a X'ian.
You won't wish a non-Christian on Easter, would you ?

So, chances are it is his original composition and if so, it is a brilliant piece of writing.

With this kind of understanding/tolerance/acceptance of other religions, no wonder
India is still in one piece, inspite of the rare Babri demolition or Gujarat carnage ?

Fire, Earth or Vultures ? Take your pick.

The last time I was in God's own country, a close pal's Dad expired and our group
of friends went to pay our last respects to the departed soul. I usually avoid both
funerals and weddings, ofcourse due to different reasons.

With funerals, it is the overall gloom, the crying of relatives which saddens me and
thus I avoid them. With weddings, I hate waiting for food and then the jostling to
get to the dining area etc. More importantly, I hate people watching me when I am
eating. So imagine my discomfort when not only am I sitting to lunch/dinner with
hundred others, but also being videographed !!! So, unless it is unavoidable, I attend
just the wedding ceremony and skip the food part.

But there was no way I could avoid attending the funeral as the guy involved was a
childhood friend. Also, his Dad was a nice, reasonable guy with whom I always had
small chats whenever our paths crossed. So, we went to his home and as is expected
are greeted by the normal crying and breast-beating. His daughter was the one most
distraught by her Dad's demise and was recounting various instances involving her
Dad. It was heart numbing to say the least.

After an hour or so, the elders decided that it was time to move on. Some of them
looked around the parambu (yard) and identified a mango tree which will be cut
down to provide wood for the funeral pyre. Hmmm. That was a new one for me.
Never knew the significance of mango trees in this context.

Anyway, some guys got onto the task of bringing the tree down and then chopping
it into logs. A pyre was made with the logs in the yard itself and after some rituals,
the body was placed on top of it. The son lit fire to the pyre, all the while crying and
everyone moved away due to the heat and dense smoke.

Having been mainly brought up in cities, which either have their cremation grounds
or electric crematoriums, this ritual of cremating dead in their own yard was new to
me. Infact this was the first time I even saw a cremation. Have attended some
Christian funerals where the body is buried.

Another city-slicker friend (and a X'ian) standing near me whispers, "Man, ain't it
strange that people burn their loved ones ? It looks so odd when compared to
burying them."

I gave it a thought. Yes, it does seem odd to burn your loved ones. But then how much
better is it to bury them 6 feet under the earth with tons of soil weighing upon them ?
Given the fact that I am claustrophobic, I feel suffocated just thinking about it.

My thoughts turned to the Zoroastrian way of saying goodbye to their dead - leaving
the body in an open elevated place (the Tower of silence) for vultures and the elements
to feed on. They consider Fire and Earth too sacred for the dead to be placed in them.

Different religions, different practices. To each his own. What remains in common is
the void left by the departed person, the memories associated with them and the
absolute fact that they are gone for ever.

P.S.: One practice followed in Chennai (or is it all of Tamilnadu?) that outsiders find
very odd is the ritual that happens when the dead body is taken to the cremation
ground in a procession with young men dancing, bursting crackers etc. Almost as if it
were a happy occasion. Inspite of spending half my life here, I still find it odd.