A TALE OF SALT AND SUGAR…..

                                     Once upon a time in a land right here…


By  Anjali Mehta



It all started with a promise and a series of wails. The promise was to my daughter to get her brother and her a little pet dog . However, astonishingly, getting a white pomeranian home did not result in smiles. Instead, it generated a lot of wails. Sugar, the puppy, wailed the whole night as he missed his mother and siblings and my daughter wailed the entire next day as she felt sad for Sugar. My son wailed in affirmation. Overwhelmed by the increased tear levels all around, we went and brought Sugar’s brother to our home too . Peace was restored. Somewhat. A friend asked me recently what bringing up two small pomeranians was like. My reply is that it is rather like a fairy tale. Here’s why :


The elves and the shoemaker :  This story is about a shoemaker whose work was finished by industrious elves at night. In our home too, there is tremendous nocturnal activity. However, our two little elves seem to have a different brief - instead of fabricating things, they disfigure anything they can lay their little teeth and paws on by tearing it down into its constituent parts. They are quite relentless in this mathematical pursuit of subdivision. Almost everyday we wake up  to find the room strewn with small bits of paper and little pieces of once identifiable objects. One of our daily morning chores is to see what all we can salvage from the mess and to determine if we are still financially solvent.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Sleeping beauty: A princess is woken up from her sleep by a health and life-giving kiss from a prince : Ever since our dogs have acquired the ability to jump up on the bed, we are subjected to sudden early morning kisses. I am not sure of the quality of royal kisses but the ones we get are dribbly, slurpy  and delivered by hairy jaws teeming with  germs. Though the good intentions of the little princes are never in doubt, the combination of the sight of sharp teeth and the foul breath make for an electrifying kiss, especially in the slightly defenceless state one finds oneself in the morning. We leap up wide-eyed and put  the princes down back on the floor , all the while encouraging them to save their kisses exclusively for each other.


Rapunzel :The princess used to let down her hair from the tower for the prince to climb up: This story gets enacted out when I am sleeping with my head near the edge. The dogs creep up nearby and pull at my hair by the jawfuls. The end objective is not clear here though. I am not sure if they want to climb up or just make me bald.


Beauty and the beast: Belle, the merchant’s youngest daughter is given daily gifts by the beast in an effort to win her over: I, the beast ( devoid of advantageous assets like fur and whiskers, what else could I hope to be ? ) find small gifts near my pillow when I wake up in the mornings. One day the little beauties left some soft coir they had pulled from the mattress near my pillow. When my hand sleepily felt it , I naturally assumed it was my hair and imagine my horror when I discovered it was not connected to my head! I put on the bedside lamp and the horror intensified as I discovered that the colour was also different !In my not yet alert state I thought I had acquired some dreaded hair disease during the night. It took a cup of bed tea to clear the fog, identify the coir and put life back in a happier and truer perspective. Other, less alarm generating gifts have included half chewed artificial bones and filthy treasures from dustbins…..


Hansel and Gretel : The witch in this story lives in a house made of chocolate which is completely edible : Salt and Sugar suffer from the delusion that our house is edible in totality. Right from the chair, carpets, mattress to our clothes and belongings -they simply like to sample everything. All I can do is play the role of a harried witch rather than a hungry one !
    

All in all , we are in a strange and messy wonderland….with Tweedledum and Tweedledee keeping us guessing what their next scheme is going to be…..

Letter on Corruption: from the Common Man to the PM June 10 2011

Dear Dr Manmohan Singh,

You are one of the few persons we still trust, hence this letter. The matter of black money stashed abroad affects all of us citizens in one way or another. The desire to see justice done is near unanimous, with exceptions being those who actually have the ill-gotten money in overseas accounts.

Much has been written and highlighted in the media and followed with a keen interest by most. As a concerned citizen, I would like to speak out and share my thoughts on this with you.
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The two people who are seen to be leading the anti-corruption movement are Mr Anna Hazare and his able team and Baba Ramdev and his supporters. I find Mr Hazare’s work commendable in that he has actually taken concrete action (fasting and protesting peacefully) rather than just indulging in semantics. His team has a well| thought out plan on steps to be taken and have tried to proceed in a decent  ,organized yet firm, manner. They are trying to engage meaningfully with the government.

Other people have also tried to make a similar point as Mr Hazare but in a different manner. Sadly, things have degenerated into a bit of an incoherent mess. The way Baba Ramdev and the government have engaged with each other makes for a bizarre tale. Everyone is debating the legitimacy and qualification of Baba Ramdev as the frontman for the corruption campaign. He has been irresponsible in some of his proclamations and the Government in some of its behaviour.

Sir there is no doubt that the man best qualified for the job is you. Please wrest the initiative back from the Baba and reach out directly to us citizens. The Baba woukd not feel compelled to tread in your domain as he and also all of us would be secure in the knowledge that you have taken over. Baba Ramdev could go back to his area of expertise; his contribution has been immense. Never has the nation taken its breathing or health as seriously as it is doing now and a huge share of the credit for this goes to Baba Ramdev.

What we expect from you sir, are the following simple steps:

1.    Declare that you are attending to the matter of black money on a priority basis and convene an urgent meeting to formulate an action plan. Set a time target for this matter to be sorted out. Invite some eminent opposition members and non-political experts as discussants in this meeting.

2.     Outline to the public the action plan that you have now formulated.

3.    Engage meaningfully with foreign governments and Interpol on this issue. India enjoys a fair amount of clout and respect in the world . Use it.
4.    Give transparent monthly updates to the public through your press spokesman as to where the process has reached in that month.
5.    Have a respectful dialogue with Mr Anna Hazare and his team and give them a patient hearing. Try to move beyond one or two sticky issues. Realise that both sides are acting out of concern for democracy. The issue about the PM being under the purview of Lokpal stems not from a disrespect for you but a genuine fear of what will happen if an elected person with a criminal record gets your chair in future. After all, even presidents can be impeached should circumstances deteriorate. Convince or be convinced. Either way, move forward!

We are priviledged to be led by a charming, affable Prime minister with a brilliant mind. The fact that you are a good man is well established. Please sir, be a good leader too. We, the people, are with you.

                                                                                    Yours sincerely,
                                                                                   Dr Anjali Mehta, citizen