NANOWRIMO PAGES 8 TO 11

YOURS TRULY, SOMEONE


The introduction starts with a blogger who is a live character.

Born in 1958, this blogger is still carrying a wonderment about life and his longevity, whatever it is, seems to be full of life, that gets richer by – to borrow his poetic expression – that every drop of the rain of now. In a way, most of the characters in the story have got something or other to do with him.



This witty, emotionally charged character, very grateful to the Almighty for that every drop of the rain of now, himself a huge reservoir of energy that he is – calls himself, Srushti which in Sanskrit, means creation. Srushti is almost always in the joy of Now. He is highly inspired by the Power of Now and is now engaged in his endeavours to Practice the Power of Now.



Usually vulnerable to inspiration by anyone with good vibes, Srushti indulges in blogging and tweeting. A blog of Srushti is a revelation of how much he cares for the common man, wherever on earth.



Every character is given space in the novel with intent to glimpse the purpose of her life, more than the events in her life. As we trot along, you will have met a few people whose purpose of life was understood by them through their hardships. It is the purpose of life that made them live for values that far outweighed their life.



Readers, you may not be liking this experience in case you had expected the flavour of a usual experience of fiction. But if you expected something novel, there is a fair chance that you may pick up liking it.



The author is not a novelist by any standard. He was crazy enough to be a googler, yahooer, hotmailer, blogger and tweeter, like many are across the globe. His heart, over the years, has grown to beat for the common man, wherever on earth. A death anywhere in the world causes him agony. There is a story in that every drop of the rain of now. There is a melancholy in that every drop, when one expands to his universe beyond his family, friends and neighbours. It is just not possible for any socially conscious person today to be impervious to the agony mankind is putting itself to one way or other. There is so much of fiction happening around us.



But anyone can trace human agony through one's own family tree. One can examine whether the agony was avoidable and if avoidable, who was responsible or what was responsible by containing whom or which, the human agony could have been reduced to an extent. Every family with lesser burden of agony, is going to be lighter for the earth and humanity. Every individual counts. Every moment of every individual is so precious, so inevitable, as a source of joy and as a mitigator of agony. The individual like any other entity in the society can ill afford to waste a single moment, a single opportunity, a single truth and means of happiness. If an individual misses that opportunity, there is a huge social cost attached to it. Is he aware of it? Was he aware of it? Which generation was aware of it? Or no generation was aware of it? Was life always complicated by people, family, relatives, friends, society and the world? Or is it a new phenomenon?



There are hundreds of questions that pour like torrent on the head of a poor novelist like me. At the same time, there are quite a few characters asking to come forward, share their experience and perceptions, in high decibels and in hissing voices, from near and from far, from now and from then, from past, present and even future.



It is a most complex situation in my life, as I start allocating time and attention to the characters. If I allow all of them to come at the same time, there is going to be a stampede. Everyone is having the pent up feelings to ventilate and the bottling has been there for centuries.



If I allow them to come one by one, there may be a huge cost in terms of time, the novel or whatever name that can be given to this crazy concept, will not be over even in a dozen Novembers.



I do not want to mislead the characters. I do not want to mislead the readers. I cannot handle excesses of expectations. While I need some expectations to motivate all of us, I am just unequal to all expectations put together.



I invented a solution to the problem.



I will tell you that tomorrow. In the meantime, why don’t you take a flavour of the mind of this one character introduced to you today, the blogger, Srushti. This was one of his recent blogs.











MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2009

YOURS TRULY, SOMEONE

I heard this story during my childhood - if you grew up in a similar geography,

I am sure you would have heard it many a time too.



A community decided to contribute to a Temple in so many ways on the occasion of

the sanctification and inauguration ceremony which is known in native parlance as

'Kumbhabishekam' which literally means 'immersing the pyramid of the temple in holy water and auspicious substances such as milk etc'.



The community divided itself into various groups one of which was to contribute milk. This group was extraordinary in its collective years of experience and wisdom in handling all such events. Each member exactly knew as to what to do. So after great deliberations about the milk, where to source it from, quantity and quality etc, the members were unanimous that each family will contribute 10 litres of milk. And there were 10 families to contribute a total quantity of 100 litres which was thought to be adequate for the Kumbhabhishekam.



As this group was extraordinary at the level of individual member, each member by telepathy thought the same way about the logic of the contribution. The members thought that if it is going to be 90 litres of milk from the remaining 9 members, 10 litres of water should not make any difference for the proposed immersions, after all, when the liquid reaches the repositories for distribution to the devotees, it is better the milk is lighter and that much better for consumption. A noble thought in deed.



The story ends with the Kumbhabhishekam happening in absolute water free from any

contamination of milk as such! This happens with intellectuals of equal ability, experience and wisdom.



I would liken the current intellectualisation of the great recession in various economies to this story. This is a great event to carefully cope with for improving the economy. The whole community of intellectuals has to set about various priorities and see that the event goes through without hurt to anybody and the economy steers through the exercise. Everyone knows exactly what to talk on business channels, how to speculate and theorise.



And everyone believes that the contribution is going to happen from someone else!



I have a pet theory for the intellectuals, arm chair philosophers and the overarching tribe of the fortunate employed as such.



My theory, to put it simply is, be yours truly someone!



Be that someone who can help the economy turn around by being more alert to the grave situation and doing your bit - forget the 90% of others and care to belong to the 10% of someones.



What does yours truly someone do and how does it help?



Let me explain this in terms of choices that yours truly someone can make:



i. If there is a small technical maintenance kind of job that can be done by hiring someone or by yourself, please hire someone and pay him up. Do not try to save that money.



ii. When you are hiring auto or taxi, avoid a hard bargain. Remember, in the current situation, there is an impact on the topline for these people too. Try and accommodate them so that they can absorb their costs. Most of them do not own the vehicles and without a reasonable passing on the cost they cannot survive.



iii. If you usually shop once in a month, try to do shopping more often. One visit tires you, try and distribute your shopping into fortnightly or weekly visits. There may be decent bargains and improvements to be done at home. It is worth your while.



iv. If you are a movie buff try and watch more movies in cinema halls, rather than economising with the help of pirated CDs.



v. You wanted to upgrade yourself by way of a good two wheeler - go for a car which is fuel efficient.



vi. If you are not fully engaged in your job due to lower business confidence and lesser travel, try and invest yourself either in professional education or in tourism, depending upon which propels you better.



vii. In case, your servant or driver hailing from village needs an advance from you for helping their dependents suffering from the ill effects of a bad monsoon, be liberal and deduct the loan through easy instalments. This may be a contribution to mitigate against the increased risk of suicide.



viii. If a vegetable vendor or a fruit vendor or a flower vendor is after you for

buying the fresh arrivals, try and see how much you can buy. They are not asking for charity, they are just seeing how they can survive the onslaught of bad time in the economy - they do not have a roof over them for their shop - they are just at the mercy of your attention for a fraction of a second. It makes a difference to their lives.



ix. If your children want something outside the curriculum like art or game or whatever, please be liberal. Every shopping by them is an incremental benefit to some cottage industry somewhere in the country.



x. Avoid a hard bargain with street vendors - assuming they are exploiting you, think that that is the only way you can help them carry on their life, without becoming a naxalite or terrorist or a criminal. Compared to the exploitations you have gladly accepted from various forces, these are too trivial to react to.



xi. See the brighter side of life during bad times - get connected to nature. Go places. Take the long postponed holiday and