I can’t imagine its more than a year since my previous Ten Thought Tuesday post. Better late than never, as the saying goes. So here goes:

1. Keeping to the old pattern, new regions (of my body) are going on strike. This time it was my right hip which went on strike, adopting a I-have-had-enough policy, stopping me in my tracks having to rethink strategy. Stop walking for a week, ordered the doctor. And if that wasn’t enough the physiotherapist followed it up with ‘rest for ten more days’. Am I glad to be rid of the restrictions and be back to my slow walking? You bet!

2. If anyone has been watching me on my walks recently they’d probably be wondering what’s so funny about morning walks. I mean who goes about grinning while walking, right? It’s the book, people, the one I am reading, or rather listening to, while getting my quota of fresh air. It is called Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide and is by Richard Dawkins. No, it is not a funny book but his observations on humans and the nature of their beliefs do make me laugh.

3. Recently I ticked off someone for suggesting that some sort of bad luck was the reason few of the youngsters in my extended family remain unmarried or are divorced. Like, really! What does marriage offer young women (in the Indian context) who otherwise are leading carefree independent lives? And of those who have freed themselves, why should they have remained in unhappy marriages? Why can’t people let them be? What I cannot understand is why those older are still plotting to creating caretakers (for men and their families) out of the next generation of women as well. If I had my way, these old-timers would be locked up or at least banned from opening their mouths ever.

4. It is amazing how meeting old friends can throw light on aspects of your personality you were unaware of. They also remind you of long forgotten incidents from your past of which you have no memory. I am going through just such a phase right now having come across classmates from my graduation days. In addition my ears and throat are working overtime, but I am not complaining.

5. The ‘forwards’ shared so enthusiastically by so many are meant to hook the gullible, to suck them in and make them fall for whatever the particular ‘forward’ aims to achieve. But does anyone see that? Very, very few do. Recently I read one that warned people that those who complain of the national flag being disrespected by those who carelessly throw them in rubbish heaps after the Independence Day celebrations are ‘anti-nationals’. Read that again. And then again. Yes. They used the term anti-national for those who raise the issue of disrespect to the national flag, but no such name-calling for those who actually do the disrespecting. WTF. How can people not see the irony of it? Beats me!

6. I am slowly getting used to the noise that surrounds me in my new place. Not happy one bit, but am resigned to it. One can’t have everything in life the way one wishes. In my previous house silence was the norm broken occasionally by some vehicle or other, but more often by winged friends. Here there’s a constant background noise of distant traffic, the honking of horns, the phut-phut of mobikes whizzing past, not to mention the music/prayers played on loudspeakers. Add to that screaming children and their excited chatter from the playground below, particularly on weekends and holidays. I have too sensitive ears and need noise-cancelling headphones asap. Sigh.

7. Has monsoon abandoned us or is it biding its time for the next onslaught? Two days of sun and I am already missing the rain. But the blue sky with fluffy clouds dotting its vastness is so very lovely that I am not complaining.

8. Which book should I listen to next? Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Smith? Or Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardino Evaristo? Pachinko by Min Jin Lee? Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan? India: A Million Mutinies Now by V.S.Naipaul? Decisions, decisions, decisions!

9. Will I ever be doing an all-month long blogathon any time soon? Looks like those days are behind me. Nowadays I am wont to come online and write A LOT in one single post and then disappear for the next fortnight. Note to self: Nope, this won’t do woman!

10. I don’t know whether it is a coincidence. In the last two days, two people have asked me if I have a copy of my book of poems at home with me. Answer: I don’t. How did that happen? Why don’t I have a copy of my own book? True, I have it on Kindle, but how about a paper version? Gotta rectify the lapse pronto.

And on that note I sign off. Hopefully I shall return sooner than later ….to do what I do best, bore you all. 😉

© Shail Mohan 2022