Ever wondered why as kids we were taught moral sciences (that’s what its called in India)..….Probably to make sure that we grow up to be ethically sound, mentally strong, and morally proficient individuals. Would this theoretically based knowledge on moral issues make us better individuals is a question which is a different concern altogether and is left for time to answer!!!
As kids when we were enlightened about any topic, the strict/implied instructions so to say, would be to memorize and remember what was being taught…..not to look deep into the matter….just take what we were being endowed with, since, our reasoning power was close to being non-existent and YET during exams the questions would be so ludicrous that it would make us do exactly what was not insinuated (aka to analyze)! As a second grade kid, confused about what I was learning and what was to make and conclude out of what I was being exposed to and expected to understand and practice in life…I was once posed this question….the only question I vividly remember as the answer to it was considered to be the funniest and the most innocent answer by my family….WHAT IS A PRAYER? Now does this question deal with morality or with religiousness? Was the school trying to make us bend towards God or making us comprehend that only if we answer a basic question as this would we end up becoming true religious practitioners!!??? Unable to make any sense of the question I wrote what a second grade uncomplicated untwisted brain would have finally decided to answer…..A PRAYER IS A PRAYER!!! Isn’t that simple and perfectly explicable?? Probably I felt that my mentors were fools to have asked such a simple question that had no explanation whatsoever except for what I wrote so I was elated and confident that I couldn’t have made a mistake in my “Explanation” for a prayer…..alas….my family didn’t think so as they burst out into peels of laughter on hearing what I had to say and the news of my “Brilliant” and “gutsy” answer spread like forest fire to everyone possible. Was there something to have been swollen with pride about?? Well...looking at the reactions I received, I think I did feel a slight heaviness in my head which wore off the next time I unintentionally committed a foolish act….just 20 some years later though!!!
My close encounters with the American world….the word usage…..the implied meanings….the actual meanings…..the alphabet pronunciation….such as H which here is AEEEH ….sort of like stretched out like when u try and teach a kid who cant speak.....was something I had to adapt to as they would wear me down making me repeat myself endlessly if I behaved obdurate! Not only have I been fortunate in making my family roll in laughter as a kid but also my friends when I was kid + 20years!! Spelling out my last name which almost has all the 26 alphabets in it was torturous (considering it is Krishnamoorthy) with “K” as in Kate, “R”as in Robert…..blah blah….and then finally when it came to “T” I couldn’t think of anything and ended up spurting “ T” as in “TEA” …..HAH....that really helped the representative I was speaking to, to exactly interpret which alphabet I was referring to with my Indian accent to the hard core American ears!!!
Consider it a blunder....an OOPS situation when you end up acting silly after 20+ years of your life, especially in front of your friends coz that becomes your identity for years to come whenever such scenarios are reiterated.
Its happened once…..happened again….to complete the trilogy I am expecting myself to act foolishly yet another time after possibly another 20years.....or before??….a BIG gap for a BIGGER mishap!!!

Being a water sign by birth, my inherent attraction to water bodies not only endangered my life on this planet but also of others who cared about my survival and well being!!! Days when my older sisters went to learn to befriend water, oblivious about what lies ahead of me and enticed by the blue waters, I once sneaked past my parents’s roving eyes…..slowly walked towards the deeper side of the pool and took my plunge….what was I thinking?? That I would float or the fact that water god(dess) would come and save my life?? The fact that such life and death scenarios did not stop even after I risked my existence….am sure at some point would have made my parents wonder whether I possessed SUICIDAL tendencies….least did they know that I just loved water more than my own life and just wanted to test if my love would be reciprocated!! Sometimes I wonder if this was the reason that my parents decided to settle in New Delhi…a landlocked place….which has the “waters” of Yamuna flowing in its suburbs….if one would actually consider calling them the waters since it seemed more of a humongous sewer rather than a river….to make sure and be rest assured that not even in my nearest dreams would I consider jumping into the so called “River” even if I wished to….and probably this is the secret behind my survival and write this blog!!
The very first day when I set footage into Chicago and excitedly told my family that there is a huge ocean equivalent lake – Lake Michigan in the Windy city and numerous beaches, their very instinctive reaction was “Veena, please be careful and don’t go too close to the waters and please don’t jump without giving a thought since there is noone out there to save your life!!!”…Ironical that at times parents treat their kids as kids….who inevitably no matter what, are bound to act impulsively and foolishly and yet at other times we get upgraded to the level of being mature individuals who are expected to act wisely!! After having lived in chicago it seems like my life has circumferenced....my attraction for water as a kid….being deprived of my “Valiant aka suicidal” acts….and now back to a place which transcends all boundaries!!