Short Take

Short Take – Gulf Today Dt. 19.03.2011 – Nature’s wrath

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Short Take – Gulf Today Dt. 19.03.2011 – Nature’s wrath

Life on a Friday usually is quiet and relaxed at home, helping with family and greeting and treating occasional friends. But, Friday March 11 turned out to be a different one. Switching on the TV casually around 11 am, I was alerted about the evolving news of the tragedy happening in Japan at that moment.
Japan experienced the worst ever earthquake disaster in its modern history followed by a deadly tsunami leading to massive destruction in the northern part of the country. All happiness suddenly vanished as we watched with awe the reality happening in front of us through available TV channels transmitting the tragedy — our helplessness in front of Mother Nature on fully fury.
Boats, ships and cars were floating like they were made of paper. There was absolutely no question of human power against that rage. Every witness remained silent without knowing what to do next. All available modern technology were used to forewarn the danger to its next destination and although it saved many life from other parts, what happened in those few hours in Japan will remain forever in our mind.
Several times we, mankind boast of our knowledge and technology power. This tragedy happened like a warning to us that Mother Nature is beyond our control. Our silent prayers, sympathy and condolences are with the entire nation. Japan will recover and come back from this tragedy very fast. They have the will power and mental strength to regroup from tragedies. They have proved it before and we pray silently for all those affected to rebuild themselves and their dreams once again.
Ramesh Menon
19.03.2011

To read it in original, please GULF TODAY online.

This entry was posted in Clicks and writes, Gulf Today, Letters to the editor, Opinion 2011, Short Take.

Value of money – Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 12.03.2011

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Value of money – Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 12.03.2011

Whenever opportunity and time permits, I love to do voluntary work, supporting various social causes. Recently on travel, I had the opportunity to attend and serve in one such union of equal minds. It was a huge event happening inside a university compound and there were many volunteers from various parts of the world. Students from the university were also actively participating in it.
Food for all was supplied at a canteen installed for the purpose and had very delicious array of vegetarian food items with various fruit drinks and milk products.
During breakfast time, I was waiting in line for my turn, when I noticed a group of four boys, whom I had noted before for their enthusiasm, rushing in. They were in an adjacent queue and I observed one of them ordering four milkshakes for them. The cashier at the counter told the boy that it would cost him Rs. 60/ for four glasses. Suddenly, the face of the boy turned pale as he searched his pocket and then looked around at his friends, and then answered quickly. Sir, I will order only one, as we love to share our drink and it will taste better. It was obvious from his answer that they had only fifteen rupees within them as luxury to buy anything extra.
Watching this, tears rolled down from my eyes instantaneously, and I tried to intervene with the cashier and the boys asking them permission to buy them three more drinks so that each one can have one glass full. They were so persistent that they refused politely my offer and went on collecting the one single glass of milkshake sipping one after another its content.
It brought back memories to my college days where I had very limited pocket money and survived on whatever little available all throughout. It also brought memories to my own little son and his innocent demand of a vegetable burger long ago when I had not even Dhs5 in my pocket.
Value of money is one thing children have to be taught whenever an opportunity arises.
Ramesh Menon
To read it in original, please visit GULF TODAY online.

This entry was posted in Clicks and writes, Gulf Today, Letters to the editor, Opinion 2011, Short Take.

Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 05.03.2011 – ‘Air’-ing it out

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Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 05.03.2011 – ‘Air’-ing it out

While travelling on a plane, we get to meet different people with different attitudes and approaches. Some get along very friendly and some act serious and remain like that throughout. On a flight recently, I was sandwiched between two gentlemen, who had all booked in advance and one even arranged his preferred meal choice.

As the plane took off and I made myself comfortable, I found my fellow passengers engrossed in a world of their own. There was an element of heaviness from both sides, which was not my kind of thing while travelling.

The stewardess came to serve us drinks and food. I found my co-passenger on the left asking for a Gujarati meal, which he had specially requested. The stewardess went in and brought him his special. It was the turn of the other passenger next and although not previously requested, he demanded for a Jain meal in an ‘I-must-get-it-or-else’ kind of tone. Although not available, the hostess said, she would try to get him one from the crew’s stock.

Watching all this, with a mischievous smile, I asked her, do you have a Menon meal. I will be happy to have one, as I feel very hungry and as you say, we serve homely food, so I can opt for it with all rights.

She knew, what I was up to, as did my co-passengers. Saying cheers to me, both started conversing with me, as the stewardess brought me a normal vegetarian meal available in her stock. The whole atmosphere lightened and we had a good flight and by the time we got off, we became good friends.

Ramesh Menon

To read it in original, please visit GULF TODAY online.

This entry was posted in Clicks and writes, Gulf Today, Letters to the editor, Opinion 2011, Short Take.

Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 05.02.2011 – Sweet life lessons

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Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 05.02.2011 – Sweet life lessons

Thursday being the week-end here, normally turns out to be hectic. However, there is one task which finds time slot somehow and that is writing a few words or thoughts for Short Take.

I am sure it has become a routine come Saturday for many readers, and contributors like me too.

It has also become a routine to run through the names of regular writers and not seeing some of them for a week or two create curious thoughts about their absence. It is similar to that of going for regular walks and meeting and missing some faces occasionally.

Recently, I was thinking of this fact more seriously, why not people who get a chance to mingle well do not get along. I have a parrot at home, which has been with us for about seven years. It came to us at a small age and by now, somehow, has picked up the art of repeating whatever we prompt it to. Once we identified its interest, we encouraged it and by now, it whistles whatever way we do and calls out in the same tune.

It is an interesting and integral part of our home and specially for friends and visitors.

However, we do have a regular visitor who always ignored its effort to get his attention whenever he passed by. I was hoping one day he too became a fan and friend of our pet.

It was waiting to happen and it happened. A few days ago, he came to our house, knocked at the door and also rang the bell. We were in the balcony and did not hear him.

Our parrot, Mittu, has special ways and means to alert us and hearing the bell and not seeing us, it started to whistle in the tone which sounds like “who is it!” It is special and by the tone we know it is someone who is not in his favorite or known friend list.

Not seeing anyone answering and hearing our parrot’s meaningful sound, he changed his mind and started whistling repeatedly as if answering his question. It too repeated in its own style.

We understood by then that there’s someone at the door and came rushing to see the “I don’t care for you” guest becoming a good friend of our parrot. Inside home, we found him taking a special interest in him.

Leaving our home that day, he said, how come I ignored such a wonderful living being all this time. In a way, through his words and interactions with our pet that day, I realised we have serious misconceptions about what we see around resulting in antagonising actions towards them.

A smile, hello or any respectful gesture can do wonders. After all, we live in this world only once. Why not live harmoniously each day?

Ramesh Menon

To read it in original, please visit GULF TODAY online.

This entry was posted in Clicks and writes, Gulf Today, Letters to the editor, Opinion 2011, Short Take.

Wired path – Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 29.01.11

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Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 29.01.11 – Wired path

My office is located in a busy shopping mall at the heart of the city. It gives me an opportunity to see different types of visitors to the mall.

Coming from various nations and places, they come along directly and indirectly with their culture and civilisation. It is an interesting subject to observe and study their interaction, especially when they come as a family.

Olden days, when we get to see a family going on holiday, the children mostly have story books with them. We could notice them reading along while the elders kept themselves busy shopping around. However, I realised, these days, children just do not have access to sufficient books other than those prescribed in their syllabus – which are generally not stimulating enough.

In addition, people have a different perception these days. Some people are opposed to the benefits of reading. A section of them want children to be a role model and may not allow them to read comics. Some are afraid of allowing their children to read novels because they think the characters will prompt children to fall in love.

Some other section of parents may want children to prepare for entrance examinations – MBBS and engineering etc rather than read novels or story books. Gone are the days when children enjoyed a read aloud story section with the elders in the family.

Now, looking at a family on a holiday, I get to see one child with a BlackBerry, the other with an Ipod, and one other with a tablet or notepad, engaged within their own world and connections. Interactions are reduced to a level of single words, nods and headshakes.

Are we as a society doing much harm by not encouraging our children to read more and read out more to our little ones?

Ramesh Menon

To read it in original, please visit GULF TODAY online.

This entry was posted in Clicks and writes, Gulf Today, Letters to the editor, Short Take.

Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 22.01.2011 – Another Day

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Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 22.01.2011 – Another Day

I was reading a blog post of one of my friends. He has humorously commented on the numerous special days we celebrate. A few years ago, these were not there, but have now become an integral part of our lives. Expensive gifts, lunch, parties all followed along each of them. Thinking more about it, do we need these special occasions to remember our mother, father, children and loving wife? It is a daily affair and it should be the case.

Suddenly this thought came to me. Many are affected by recession and joining the “unemployed” group. Crazy about these “special” days, we tend to explore the width and breadth of our purse and credit/debit cards – just for the sake of it.

Why not “World Recession Day” to wish your friends, family and colleagues? It seems we need a special day for everything. We need a day to remember and warn the realities of things happening around and as a siren of the economically tougher days that we walked past and the days coming ahead till the global situation is accustomed and worked over by all.

It will be a day to remember the importance of diligent saving, the importance of efficient spending, the importance of long term and short term planning, the importance of educating our children the value of money, not getting carried away by plastic money, and many more financial principles that we learn on a daily basis.

Ramesh Menon

To read it in original, please visit GULF TODAY online.

If you are interested to promote this idea, join it’s Face Book Fan page and share your thoughts and ideas on how we can create a no Recession world.

World Recession Day on Face Book.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/World-Recession-Day/176262509076697

This entry was posted in Clicks and writes, Gulf Today, Letters to the editor, Opinion 2011, Short Take.

Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 15.01.2011 – Read and relax

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Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 15.01.2011 – Read and relax

DURING my childhood days in my native Kerala, we had very few options to read. Except for the local library run by the Panchayat, we did not have a bookstall or the shops that existed did not sell magazines those days.

The library was thus our main source to read various newspapers in Malayalam and English. It also received some weeklies that were coming from Russia as part of some government aid to improve bilateral relationship between the countries.

Both the newspapers and these news magazines along with the national and regional radio stations carried and conveyed different views of the bigger world outside our small village.

For little ones like me, to complement those available sources of information, whatever printed material coming into home or reachable places were of golden value. It may include even those old newspapers coming along as wrapping paper, or those newspapers and magazines we get when an outstation guest arrives at home.

He might have purchased it for reading during the long train journey from his work place to our village home. These long train journeys helped all to relax and read and blend with the nature and fellow human beings.

As days passed now, the new generation is flooded with options to update their information banks, mainly electronic sources and paperless. As it brought its advantages, it also came along with its own dangers. Children became addicted to more and more e-games and words and letters reduced from their vocabulary. For those who love to read, books are expensive and rare to get making it all the more difficult.

The Fourth Used Book Festival organised in the UAE by Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services is scheduled to be held in Palm Oasis, Buhaira Corniche on March 1- 4, 2011. This event aims at promoting reading among students, give them an opportunity to acquire books for a small fee and enable them to raise funds for the more vulnerable in our community.

Manzil, a voluntary organisation for challenged individuals is taking part in this Book Festival with a view to create more reading opportunities and awareness among children and adults alike. Noble task indeed.

Ramesh Menon

To read it in original, please visit GULF TODAY online.

Note:

I am happy to inform all my friends and readers that this is my 300th creative work (either a piece of writing, or a click) which is getting published in print, online and visual media. I am thankful to all of you for your continuous encouragement, support and prayers. Keep visiting, reading and invite and introduce your friends and contacts to www.clicksandwrites.blogspot.com

This entry was posted in Clicks and writes, Gulf Today, Letters to the editor, Short Take.

Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 08.01.2010 – Unpredictable life – a tribute to Levin Madhavan

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Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 08.01.2010 – Unpredictable life – a tribute to Levin Madhavan

DURING the later part of the ‘90s, I used to have a good friend here. He was a sound engineer and a good RJ working for a radio station that time. Due to his passion for music and arts, we became good friends.

It happened that due to some wrong relationships and moves in life and due to job loss, he had a disastrous end of residency in UAE and left to India for good.

I lost touch with him. It was after almost seven years, I got a call from him and he talked a lot about his life now and then and in between. He was still in love with Dubai and the life and friends and connections he had and was finding it difficult to overcome his huge losses and betrayals. We continued to keep in touch once in a while since then.

It was in April 2010 first week, he called me last and I promised him, next time when I visit India, I will make it a point to travel via his city and meet him.

Although I visited several times after, due to conflicting and hectic schedule, it never happened. However, I kept on writing him mails and was hoping that he was busy but reading my clicks and writes, as he used to tell me and appreciate them whenever he calls.

He was not a regular on email and his schedules were also not easy to reply and hence I thought he must be extremely busy. Last week suddenly, I received an email from a common friend based in Saudi Arabia, asking me about my friend’s or his family contact details back home. In his letter, he wrote about his demise in the first week of April itself.

It was a shock for me when I checked my diary. I found it was exactly after a day he talked to me. All throughout our friendship, he never asked me anything, but that time, he had asked me to enquire about a recording instrument, which may be obsolete now, but may still be available in Dubai second-hand market.

He told me that time itself it may be difficult to find, and even then I searched for it and never found one such unit and had written to him in one of the emails. My emails continued till I received this shocking news.

We meet people strangely in our life’s journey and some remain with us, some move away. Some even though they move, still remain in many ways in our memories, thoughts and deeds. Levin Madhavan was one such person, who will remain in my thoughts and prayers throughout my life.

Ramesh Menon

To read it in original, please visit GULF TODAY online.

This entry was posted in Clicks and writes, Gulf Today, Letters to the editor, Opinion 2011, Short Take.

Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 01.01.2010 – Magic Words

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Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 01.01.2010 – Magic Words

Magic words

A New Year comes with lots of expectations and renewed vigour for all. It is a time to think for a change. Many of us come out with new resolutions and make promises to keep those new options permanent to benefit for the days ahead. As we progress, we tend to stray away from them and fit into our old scheme of things. Life goes on as usual. Make sure, all good things planned remain in your focus and action scheme for the next 365 days to come.

I have a friend who told me this incident. He is struggling these days due to various problems happening in life. His job is good and work environment is good too. At office he has a senior manager, who asks him daily with a beautiful smile, “how are you doing today?”

He says, this is one question that keeps him optimistic and forget all his worries and look forward to a productive day ahead. It is like a vitamin to instill enthusiasm, optimism and energy. We may not find many managers like the one my friend luckily has with him. It is an example worth emulating by those in senior positions to motivate their sub-ordinates. A smile, a kind word or a casual query to cheer up and motivate. If not already practised, why not we try to follow it and make it a practice to stimulate the capabilities of those surrounding us.

Let it be an addition to our list of new year resolutions.

Ramesh Menon

To read it in original, please visit Gulf Today online.

This entry was posted in Clicks and writes, Gulf Today, Letters to the editor, Opinion 2011, Short Take.

Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 25.12.2010 – Pleasant Journey

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Short Take – GULF TODAY – Dt. 25.12.2010 – Pleasant Journey

Short Take: Pleasant journey
December 25, 2010

WE have reached almost the end of 2010. It was an eventful year considering the economic situation and progress made with limited resources. Those who held on to their hopes and dreams and progressed even an inch have to really congratulate themselves. It requires lot of determination and self-motivation. I salute all those who did it.

I was at a HSE campaign recently. We were segregating waste materials and each one had his own task to do. I was observing a little boy and his father. The boy was very particular in not mixing plastic with paper. He was saying, “Dad, if we mix it, it is not good for the environment. It has to be properly recycled. That’s what my teacher has told us in our class.” I was happy to hear him promoting HSE in his own small way.

Christmas and New Year have brought lot of visitors to the UAE this year. It is a promising sign to see the tourism industry and the business in this region flourishing. It brings hope to all that the economy will revive in 2011 and all those who suffered in some way or other due to the impact of recession will have reasons to smile in the new year and days ahead.

It has been an enjoyable journey for me with Short Take. Each week I had a set objective to look forward to, identify a small happening around and describe it in a friendly way for the benefit of those who love to read.

Ramesh Menon

To read it in original, please visit GULF TODAY online.

This entry was posted in Clicks and writes, Gulf Today, Letters to the editor, Opinion 2010, Short Take.