The Monk and The Red Bull

World is a funny place.

I was in a mall recently.

Now before I write further, just so you know, I don't go to malls too often. In fact, it's a monthly visit to the mall to check the new books in the book store and maybe look at some people. There are lot of people in malls these days. I guess there always were a lot of people in malls and there will be more in future.

There are lot of shops in the mall and many of these shops have very very expensive things. There are oxygen bars where you can pay money to breathe in oxygen through tubes that are inserted into your nose. And you thought air would always be free? Ha! There are small pools for some kind of foot treatment where little fish nibble the dead skin off your feet. There are chairs where people sit and other people rub their feet, for a payment. I find that thing particularly strange, paying another human being to rub your feet. Of course, anyone can give me an argument that it's a job too, but that won't change me feeling strange about it. I'd never do it for the life of me.

I have digressed.

Again.

I was in a mall recently.

There, I saw a monk drinking a Red Bull, which is an energy drink, in case some of the readers are not in the know of that. And the monk was talking on an N97 cell phone. A can of Red Bull costs 75 Rs and an N97 phone from Nokia costs upwards of Rs 30,000. What a monk was doing in possession of such a cellphone is beyond my guesswork and it's not something that I should be bothered about. But I have a soft spot for monks in my heart. These people give up a lot to live a simple life, meditating and trying to find god, and other cool things that monks do, maybe doing Kung-Fu to bandits in the hills of Himalayas. Just saying. I am not a know-it-all.

It was disconcerting to see the monk drinking Red Bull. Just that.

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P.S-- If this was any other blog, I'd have written something of general interest, but the fact that you bothered to click the link or type in www.pallavsehgal.com in the address bar of your browser and hit enter, I can safely think that you have some kind of interest in reading what I am writing.

Hello, in that case.

Things I've lost and things I've remembered

As a kid, science always interested me. The inherit sense of wonder that is a part of childhood was too much in me. It was not that I was always taking toys apart to see how they worked but there was a genuine attraction towards gadgets of the most simple to the most complex kind.

I remember a magnifying glass. It was made of white plastic, a cheap toy, but I remember it had a thick glass. It was one of my favorite toys. Later in life, i saw magnifying glasses made in iron but that first piece of plasticy magnifying glass had its own charm. I used to get some carbon paper, not the blue one, the black type, and I would stand in the sun, focusing the rays on the black carbon paper making holes with the concentrated rays of the sun. The paper smoldered and sometimes it burned, that was always very exciting.

I've always liked fire too. I almost set the set the small house temple on fire when I was playing with matchsticks once. I don't remember who, but someone once bought me a lighter, it was an amazing thing. Purple in color and a flame that was bright yellow and Tall! In the evenings with power cuts, the lighter was a thing of pride and joy.

I also had two big magnets. I always wanted the magnets that were in the speakers of an old stereo in our house but I never got the chance to break open the machine. I was sleeping in the afternoon once with the magnets at my pillow, when I woke up they were not there anymore.

I lost the magnifying glass, I lost the lighter, and I lost my favorite piece of magnets too. But I remember them.



P.S- Some people are getting "baffled" reading the things I am writing here. Come on people, I have not even started yet ;)

Of Thanks and Welcome...

Maybe you're here for the first time, maybe you are her after reading some posts, maybe you are traveling through time and found this post. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, take this moment to breathe and say a thanks to yourself.

 

(A Mirror I saw on a recent trip to Shimla)