DA COVID CODE

DA COVID CODE!

This damn virus has infected all of us – with gullibility. Never have we hung on every word, every Forward, every reported way to beat Covid. We watch videos, posted by the self- proclaimed ‘experts’, the jobless, the bored and those simply seeking their two minutes of fame. We hit our pressure points that according to one ‘expert’ activates our immune system and we end up with a sore body just because that idiot on a self- shot video told us it was a sure fire thing.

We are on an immunity enhancing diet which plunges us into a deeper funk than we are already in. I mean a turmeric latte over a good old butt kicking cup of caffeine? Nobody won a battle or a Pandemic war armed with only immunity boosters. Get real folks and stop believing every viral post – we have to beat this delusionary virus more infectious than Covid. I hope when they do crack the vaccine they will also discover an antidote for the herd mentality to boost our brain immunity.

Instead of keeping it simple we twist and complicate every damn thing. When bona fide scientists tell us to wear masks that is when our few remaining brain cells not hijacked by Whatsapp or Tik Tok videos, kicks in and rebels against proven theories. If the diktat had been “Cover your chin and throat with a mask” it might have saved the lives of those rebels whose masks dangle over everything but their nose and mouth…

Life has changed – deal with it. Immunity building has been added as the latest fitness fad – never mind that it has been trumpeted by our grandma’s good old cooking ages ago. Hand sanitizer and soaps have become numero uno in our shopping list toppling hand creams and lipsticks.  In addition to a shoe rack, a hat rack, a clothes rack we now have a mask rack – near the front door hangs our designer masks to ensure we do not forget the one accessory more important than house keys, car keys or wallet when you step out of the front door..

How you choose to wear it will determine if your genes are passed on or if Darwin’s law of Evolution or Extinction comes into play. Newton got it bang on with his law – “Every action has an equal or opposite reaction” Mask up and carry on living folks – this is our Brave New World….

Nimmou Nilakantan

 

A PANDEMIC SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE

The word Pandemic has struck terror in all our hearts. Corona, Covid 19, Covid hotspot have become words that we dread to hear. What if we were to think of the Pandemic differently- give it an imaginary Avatar or defang it with a milder alter ego? Change its character and give a good spin to this droplet of mass destruction…here is my take…

Think of the Pandemic as a ‘TEACHER’. For years our mothers taught us to be good humans with basic values and principles to lead a virtuous life. We did not listen. Our teachers in school took over. We did what we had to do to pass and flee those hallowed portals of hell called centers of higher learning – or school. Our jobs taught us nothing but how to crib in a million different ways on how our bosses sucked.  And then along came the Pandemic – the Teacher from hell with a skull and crossbones in hand instead of a ruler. And we learned quickly…we learned to adapt, we learned to be brave, we learned resilience and we learned how to survive and remain human. We learned more in four months of lockdown than we learned in our lifetime – not withstanding all the B schools and A+ jobs. The Pandemic became the teacher extraordinaire and gave us immortal credos to live by much like Buddha, Aristotle and other great philosophers…

Think of the Pandemic as ‘EMPATHY TRAINING’ for those who had no empathy or sympathy for the old and infirm. We are now experiencing firsthand their world of isolation, loneliness and pain. We watch hours of T.V which has now become our lifeline to sanity. And, the more we watch, the more isolated from reality we get and become depressed. The worst is the isolation in our little islands of misery. One day, this will end for all of us and we will return to our normal busy, productive lives. Let us never forget the lonely and isolated old people for whom there is no parole from their lifelong sentence….

Think of the Pandemic as the ‘BESTIE’ – the one you never discovered up till now. The ever present one that lived inside of you – not the one on social media or the one you got wasted with when “life” became too much to bear. This one is with you night and day – the one who never outgrew you or left you. And when words like social distancing, sanitizing and self- isolating became the jargon for a modern day malaise that infected us long before the Pandemic raised its ugly crowned head – turn to this bestie for comfort….

Think of the Pandemic as a ‘TERRORIST’ – who tried to hijack your life and end it. Only this terrorist spread terror with a crown on his head while you cowered in a corner with a mask over most of your face. No terrorist has held the world to ransom indefinitely before we triumphed. With every attack, we humans emerged stronger, wiser and better prepared. Whether it was 9/11 in the States, 26/11 in Mumbai or terror in the form of a virus like Ebola, Sars, Mers, or Corona, this too shall be overcome and relegated to the bin where it belongs…

Think of the Pandemic as the ‘TIMEKEEPER’. Before Pandemic you hid behind “Busy”, “So Busy” and finally “Too busy”. You yearned for more ‘me time’ to be still with no obligations or needless distractions. Well now you have it! What are you going to do with it? You can take the time to change your perspective and humbly accepting this unique gift where the whole world is in the same boat, on the same page and the only connection that matters is the human one. Not the digital, not the social and certainly not the superficial – just the real in all its naked ‘gory’….

And finally, the Pandemic became the Death force that taught us to find our life force – within us. Breathe, live and love and yes, adapt! Embrace your inner pandemic before you set out to conquer the one outside…

Nimmou Nilakantan

Pandemic -2020

In the time of Pandemic

We discovered the world within our walls

We looked into the mirror and said hello

To the stranger within…

Good relationships became the currency

For purchase of all things invaluable

Our fingers and thumbs had no voice

To compete with the comforting sound

Of a hello on the phone…

Husbands whose fingers flew over the keyboard

Hung laundry on the washing line

While getting to know the child

They last saw as a baby in the crib…

Cooking became a pastime of instant gratification

As wives sampled delicious recipes

Dredged from their mother’s and grandma’s cookbooks…

Sons long silent and indifferent daughters

Re-discovered parents relegated by the lure of social media….

Social distancing repaired the fissures

Deeply embed in the family fabric

And brought us closer while renewing bonds…

The earth healed and birdsong sounded louder

In the deafening silence of crippled industries…

The oxygen in the air outside increased

As the disease kept us prisoners in a world

We had forgotten existed

Within the four walls of our home…

Nimmou Nilakantan

CORONA KUCH

Zindagi mein kuch na kuch mushkil hona
Ab aa gaya yeh bhigadna Corona
Yeh samay heh bilkul na rona
Par zaroor hath ko teek se dhona!

Aur bacchon, buddai ma baap ko telephona
Chod do ab Facebook ka anjaana
Yeh heh mausam ek dum suhaana
Ghar mein bet kar khana pakhana!

Suno radio peh achhe gaana
T.V mein dekho nachna manana
Pustak pado aur jo bhi lana
Bahar intezar heh kumbhakth Corona!

Bhaghwan se hath jod kar na poochna
Kyon bheja yeh rog ka samna karna
Uttar aayega unse “Beta samajna,
Hum sab ek hain, dikhaya yeh Corona….”

Nimmou Nilakantan

OUR CHILDREN

OUR CHILDREN

Our children are not our future. They are our past and present but not our future. A wonderful loving past and a present of happiness, fun and sharing but a bygone era is a bygone era – let it go…

 If you are looking for love in your old age then grandchildren seem like the second chance. Unfortunately, with all of us living to an overripe old age that love too has finite possibilities – with each passing year the grandparent has less relevance. And with a rival as omnipotent and omnipresent as technology- there is no competition to claim their attention or time. Your grandchild would any day choose the latest I-Phone over his grandparent. And granddaughters, though more expressive and empathetic – one phone call from her bestie and you are as good as ashes scattered like memories.

So, which love holds true and steadfast till the end of our life? Spousal love, if you are blessed to be in a true union of souls, is a good prize but it is the consolation prize and subject to both of you living the same duration of time. Also, your spouse comes with his/her own baggage and as you grow older you can barely lift your own! Sharing is all very well but like a three legged race you are best balanced when you are on your own two feet.

The ultimate prize is- “Self-Love”. For centuries our philosophers, poets, visionaries and Saints have gone blue in the face trying to din this fact into our numb skulls. From Buddha to Gibran, Rumi to Vivekananda – the essential message is the same – all love comes from within. Love yourself and the world is a better place. But like the magpie that covets another’s nest our happiness is based on pursuit – usually of the unattainable or in today’s world – the unavailable!

Just as mountain climbers feel that Everest exists to be climbed and conquered, we have made it our life’s mission to be loved and cherished by others. The day we stop looking for that elusive feeling of being affirmed and accept that contentment and love resides within us that is the day our flame shines brightest till our last breath blows it out…

Nimmou Nilakantan  

THE BAROMETER OF HAPPINESS

THE BAROMETER OF HAPPINESS

It has to be set within ourselves – it cannot record happiness based on the conditions outside. Setting our happiness based on an objective like ‘World Peace’ works only as beauty pageant rhetoric. That is why so many of us flounder in misery. Our happiness is conditional and the condition is an impossible or improbable criteria. 

“If only my husband were more communicative”, “My children more obedient”, “My waist thinner”, “My family more supportive”, “The oceans plastic free”, “The Amazon would stop burning” – you see how this list for our happiness grows? Like a virulent bacteria it multiplies our unhappiness and like the Ebola virus it mutates into the incurable. From being unhappy with your spouse to the plastic in the ocean is just one small leap for that mutant gene of dissatisfaction…

Chuck out that external barometer that has unreasonable parameters to record contentment – a slimmer waist, a fatter bank balance, a communicative partner, plenty of non-Whatsapp friends, lustrous hair… Record nothing. Everything turns to dust (now that would be a household mantra to escape that chore) so why bother about anything but this moment?

Right here, right now, this is a good day. Just live it. And that thing called happiness? It cannot be measured – it is a variable. And, like all variables it is based on one constant – your happiness lies within you.

Now go find your bliss….

Nimmou Nilakantan