My Take on Talk or Speak up-44

My Take on Talk or Speak up

Scraping the seeds of a ripe papaya is the most slippery task while cutting the fruit. The seeds look so black like staring eyes that express anger at being ripped off the family clutch. Then slicing the fruit is tougher too, they keep slipping off the fingers as the fruit is in no mood to amuse the eater. All in all the despicable fruit which is offered to patients with less immunity to diseases is comforting and the only redeeming feature being its colour—yellowish orange.

A tropical fruit  recommended for  tropical diseases from Malaria to eczema, is a wondrous creation of nature. This fruit was once served to my son recovering from Malaria made me wonder if the disease or the fruit made him reticent.  Did you like it ? I asked him…he replied,‘No’ and stopped there. The reticent nature in him is inherent, like his father but bears no grouse on the fruit. For me, as a teacher who has lectured 40 to 45 minutes at a stretch for years, a monosyllable is like a slap on the face or breaking a rotten egg on the head.

Ambrish the speed talker

The boy was qualifying to be an engineer,  always liked to participate in  group discussions; now who is Ambrish ? the younger brother of Meena my school and college mate. She often invited me home whenever Ambrish was in a mood to talk, as nobody could tolerate his gibberish. Once in a way I butted in with a statement and from there he took off like a bullet train. From those days I liked people who argue  for hearing their own voices. What a sacrifice to strain one’s own vocal chords. The only souls who rarely spoke or argued should be great singers who treasured their voices or vocal chords.

Talkers in the PTG mode

Those who keep wagging their tongues are constantly inviting listeners, often plunge into the PTG mode (Playing to The Gallery), occupy the centre stage and are ever ready to scatter pearls of wisdom. This breed  later  graduates to become self-anointed MCs, RJs, TV comperes, politicians and the like. Oh What a flourishing career even if you are scatter-brained.

Then comes those cocooned hard workers, in office or at home,who suddenly stir out of their rooms imagining  as if they are being presented with a garland of ‘ears’. Mr.K was deservedly glued to the plum post of ‘Project Manager’. Every morning within an hour of entering his room , would stir out and call for his assistants (four of them) to listen to his instructions though often he sounded like a pastor. The bait would be –Talk with Tea and Biscuits . That’s right, tea and biscuits were to be savoured for a big price, serve your ears to Mr.K.

To wind up my rant on Mr.K, on his farewell party he was given ample scope to write the longest speech. I miss him.

Speak up do not Talk

The kind of ‘dermis’ that gets pasted or layered on you sometimes grows on you like the bark of a tree. At least  the bark can be chipped off by a botanist who has to note down  the  age of the tree, for propagating the species, I mean the tree. On the other hand there are persons when provoked to talk just blurt out--* Hmm*, *Yes* OR *No*. One should shun such individuals. But if this trait is found in Children, do not encourage this habit. It has been instructed by adults – Not to speak unless you are spoken to. But I would say - Not to speak out of turn -which sounds more civilized. Children must speak up when with their peer-groups, They Must, as it (speaking up) moulds their personalities. No, I don’t recommend it to the likes of Ambrish (para 3).This guy just overdid his jabbering.       

Two Budgets too fast too confusing

The past two or three weeks did see the budgets churned out from the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Finance for the year 2015 -16 Both did some excellent research , a maiden venture for the five-year period of development. The research was to hit the bull’s eye, not the stock market,  I mean it was done to seize the attention of the populace. The first was a ‘Quiche’ and matter-of –fact budget to din it into the commuters, ‘No fare hike’. The second was a painstaking affair for the Minister of Finance who presented a patch work of glossy fabric here and there that made the banks twinkle with joy, not the RBI. The prospect   of laymen stepping into the bank and being assured of insurance.Wow ! So death is no longer a ‘fear factor’. Die and be happy or is it the other way round? Borrowers get on your toes…a novel way for the middle class to get poorer.

Work at the Ministry is tougher than earning one’s bread. A drudge that is hard to digest.

Somebody was caught napping

That reminds me the previous week did expose some loose strands of governance  on the part of the government, when a popular TV channel decided to air a documentary about a gruesome rape and murder of a young woman in 2012.The documentary opined the mindset of Indian men as expressed by the rapist himself. Now call it horrendous on the part of the rapist so it created a storm in the house of lawmakers and the media too taking sides to fume, all smoke no fire, whereby opinions kept vacillating--- to air or not to air .The government had to stall it from being aired.A perfect divide that separates Govt- the law -the convict--- is required.

Another incident of rape and the subsequent lynching of the rapist in the Northeast of India, after a fuming mob gate crashed into the jail, again created headlines, questioning the audacity of the mob that led to the tense-ridden situation. Inhuman acts and beast like reactions are getting widespread not only in India but also other civilized countries.  The general sense of well being,  peace, civility and composure have become mere words.
 To introspect may not have an answer but collective soul-searching is the need of the hour. How do we show we are different from animals?