Suji ka Halwa - A Lady's Act of Sincerity!

My Mother used to care a lot about people in the community. 
I'm biased, she was my mother, that doesn't discount the fact that she was a great human being, and unmatchable in her cooking skills. 

So, it happened once. One of her acquaintances, was in hospital. I am not able to recall the cause of Aunty's hospital stay but it wasn't major.                                                                 

My mother expressed her desire to pack freshly prepared Suji ka Halwa and visit the Aunty. My father wasn't particularly excited about the idea, as he had to go office.

So, what would you expect such a lady to do? Picture this! It's late 90s, small mining township, no mode of public transport. Only option my mother was left with was to walk few Kms with the Halwa.

Yet she didn't give up the idea!
She was like that!

There were ample incidents when she went out of her way to serve people irrespective of their social standing & whether her act would be considered as one of kindness or just go in vain.

The bottomline of her life would be : She went thankless & left her body too soon! 

Boon of Unanswerable Questions

I was a perennial problem to my School teachers. My stream of questions never seem to run out of supply. No amount of answers could quench my urge to ask questions. When it had started I was jokingly called the "जिज्ञासु" - one who is curious and asks a lot of questions.
This soon turned into a nightmare for the teachers.

In a class about Earth's Revolution, I asked why Earth revolves? Why Sun doesn't revolve? Once a teacher was explaining L.C.M. of 2,4 is 4 and H.C.F. is 2. I asked if L.C.M. is greater than H.C.F., why the full form of L.C.M. starts with lowest and full form of H.C.F. starts with highest?

My questions were not worth entertaining, it seemed.

After this harrowing experience with my questions, the teachers hatched a plan.
'Sharma Sir, Let's dispatch जिज्ञासु to the well of puzzles' said Mishra Sir.
''Well of puzzles'? That room which is full of questions in the form of puzzles?' asked Sharma Sir.
'Yes, and no one has ever come out of it' confirmed Mishra Sir.

'जिज्ञासु, you remember you wanted to know why Sun doesn't revolve?' 
'Yes, Mishra Sir', I replied.

I was then sent to a mysterious room. It was dark. It had one big Welcome button. I pressed it. A big screen of 10 questions popped and to the right a cage became visible.

Inside the cage, there were ~24 people. 
"These are the people who couldn't answer my questions", echoed a voice

"What are those questions?" I asked
"You idiot, can't you see the puzzles on your screen?"

"Ok, sir"
"Do you want me to answer them?"

"Duh!"

"Okay, Sir can I ask for clarifications?" I politely inquired.

"Of course"

"These idiots in the cage, never asked for any clarifications. They thought they are too smart. None of them could answer all the puzzles correctly" explained the Voice.

I started reading the puzzles.
I don't remember any puzzle, though.

I started asking for clarifications. The clarifications extended for hours. After every clarification, I used to ask follow-up questions. And, it went for 6-7 hours. It seemed that the Voice really liked talking and no one had ever asked him any questions ever.

The voice (of whomever it was) was extremely relaxed and became pleased with me.
"जिज्ञासु! I am elated after talking to you my child!"
"I would like to give you a boon and I will free you as well from this room"

"What is the boon, Sir?"
"Oh! Come on!"

After that I woke up in my bed. I felt like I was sleeping for days. I woke up and immediately went to my mother.

"Mummy! Why am I in home?"
She looked puzzled.

I changed my clothes and went out for playing with my friends. Everything was like before except for one.

Whenever, I used to ask any question, no one ever had answers to them. To my surprise, few hours later, few days later, I used to find the answers in a mysterious way.




Sometimes I used to find answers, while a flock of birds were flying in the shape of alphabets which formed an answer. One time, I was looking at my plate, the neatly arranged morsels formed an answer.
Other times, the answers were whispered in my ear, while I was sleeping.

So, that was the story of how I got the 'boon of unanswerable questions'. Hmm, not really unanswerable if you ask me!

PS : Work of Fiction, inspired by a mythological anecdote
PPS : Can you guess the mythological reference?
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How to Understand Death?

What?
Now, that you have put me on the pedestal, let me be audacious & sermonise.

Once every few years, keep changing your situation. Meaning, change the place where you live, change where you work, bid adieu to your favourite eatery, ... you get the drift?

So, this is what happened.
I went to submit laptop to my previous employer. While I was in the cab, this thought dawned upon me. Isn't this exit process & formalities similar to the death rituals or rather I would say, अंतिम संस्कार (Antim Sanskar)?

Once you let that feeling seep into you, it's no turning back. You feel drastically different about the same building, same security, same reception, ... everything stays the way it has always been. And, it will be like that for a long time to come. Alas! you would be no more. You would have bid your time, now it's your turn to spread your wings. Now, it's your turn to fly into the next phase.

I understand we miss our colleagues, and we soon find new ones. Ultimately, it all feels like a rite of passage. The less we were attached to our old friends in the old company, it has lesser impact.

How beautiful it would be if we could feel the same for our body, friends, family, belongings...One day we will die, leave all of this behind. 

Do you miss your old childhood school? Old childhood friends? College?
Of course, Yes!
And, deep down you know that you have grown up and grown out of those experiences & emotions.

Ultimately death knocks on all doors!

You are closer to death than you were before reading this blog post.
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Robot with Emotions? - The 5 Senses

Is it possible to make a robot which can experience your touch like a human being?

The allure of humanoids has kept scientists busy for decades. If we zero down on the 5 basic senses which humans have : touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste, we can ask an objective question and get an answer too.

Do we have humanoids/robots which can experience these 5 basic senses like humans? NO.

So, Is it possible, anytime soon?
To answer this, we would first need to understand how the 5 basic senses function in humans. 

Sound : Sound waves hit your ears and your body recognises the waves

Sight/See : Light waves gets inside your eyes and again your body deciphers the object's image

Touch/Smell/Taste : Most likely waves could be the reason for these senses as well

So, if we fully understand these senses, we could start building that first humanoid which starts to feel like a human.