Instant Karma 2017

On 13^th January 2017, I experienced Instant Karma. Not the music band, but Karma in its purest form, delivered instantly, unlike the traditionally slow pace it takes.

On that day, my mother and I visited Vishranti, an old age home for destitute women. Every year, my mother makes a donation on her mother’s death anniversary and this year, we opted to do it here. We had made a prior appointment and the Home asked us to come there around lunch. We did and after completing the donation formalities, they took us around the campus.

It was quite an experience to meet so many old ladies coming from myriad backgrounds, housed in a good and calm environment. They had a dorm like setup for the elders who could take care of themselves and we were told that there is a separate area for those who need full time attendance. We even met a sprightly 102-years old paatti, whose claim to fame was that she worked in Vaitheeshwaran Kovil, as a kolam artist, till she was 80!

We were then asked to wait till lunch was served. And once all the ladies assembled a common prayer was chanted and the list of donors for the day was read out. Then, we were asked to partake in the serving of food. Now this was a little unexpected and I felt very happy doing it. It was a feeling that doesn’t really come, when we simply write a cheque as a donation. Not that it has changed me into becoming a “volunteer” type of person, but I think I can understand why some genuine people do it.

Now, during this lunch time, we were joined by a family of 3 comprising of a vociferous husband (they do exist), a wife and their gawky pre-teen kid. They had brought a box of sweets and they served it along with us. Turned out that they were quite regular in visiting this place and that day was the husband’s birthday. 

Then the same lunch was served to all of us as well and we finally came back to the office to say goodbye. The husband, we learnt, was an advocate in the Madras High Court. In the office, the caretakers asked for some feedback and the advocate’s wife was filling out something and I was awaiting my turn. The staff-in-charge was talking about events that took place recently, like some known Carnatic singer performing there, the Home arranging for some of the pattees to be taken to a concert etc. 

They then mentioned that only a couple of days back, fans of Vijay had come there and sought the blessings of the elders for his movie Bhairava. The Staff had requested them to arrange for a screening and these guys sent tickets the next day. They had also arranged for transportation.

Now, me being the usual quiet guy (at least in public with strangers), thought this was a good moment to portray a different image and decided to crack a joke, on the commonly accepted comedy-piece called Vijay. “After all that these old ladies have experienced in life, why do you want to make them watch a Vijay movie? Don’t you have any other option?”. Well, at least that was the dialogue I had in my mind and quite literally opened my mouth to utter the first syllable.

That’s when the advocate took over (his nature suited his profession) and told them that his son had acted in the movie! A gamut of thoughts ran through my head ranging from WTF to Thank God I am not a loud mouth. The advocate went on to add that even he had starred in the move as part of the villain’s legal counsel.

Now imagine what level of embarrassment I would have caused if I had said the dialogue that I wanted to. It may have even lead to unnecessary heart-burn and ruined what was otherwise a very peaceful and satisfying experience. I feel that all the punyam I earned with the donation and more importantly, the serving of food to elders, definitely came back as Instant Karma to save me.

A thief entered my parents' bedroom

On Tuesday, the 21st of April, a thief gained entry into my parents' bedroom. We are not very sure as to when he actually came in. But, the fact of the matter is that he was lying down under the bed, right below the side where my mother sleeps.

She had gone to sleep around just after 10:30 PM and within 5 minutes or so, she felt something move below the cot. She got up and looked underneath the bed expecting to see a squirrel or even a rat. But she ended up making eye-contact with a man stretched out in a supine position.

She immediately raised an alarm. I was downstairs at that time and by the time I understood that it was my mother calling for me, I also hear some footsteps from the floor above. I still thought that perhaps it was my mother having some kind of health related issue and ran upstairs.

On reaching the first floor, my first thought was to go towards her bedroom. But I saw her on the floor near the main door of the hall and she was shouting that a thief ran away towards the balcony. I rushed out to the balcony, but found no one there.

I gave a general "daei" shout from there. Then called the watchmen on duty in the house diagonally opposite ours. My mother joined me in the balcony by then and told me that a thief ran away from under her bed and out of the balcony.

She was, quite naturally, in a total state of shock. I was mildly shocked myself and checked with her if she had been hurt. She had tripped on her own when she tried to follow the thief on his way out and a tooth had moved out of its place and cut the lip. There was some minor bleeding.

The watchmen who were now at my gates kept asking as to what happened. I gave them a brief narration and asked them to look around the compound to see if anyone was there. After their quick search, I asked them to wait and went downstairs with my parents (my father was also in the ground floor when my mother shouted for help, but he was in the loo and joined us upstairs a minute or two later).

I let the watchmen inside. I left my mother with my father and went with the watchmen to the first floor. We looked around the house. All rooms. Shelves. Cupboards. Lofts. Just to ensure that there was no one else. After they gave us the "all clear" signal, we decided to call the Police.

My next door neighbor Mahesh who also came in by then, insisted that we inform the Police. I called up 100 and passed on this information. But it was almost 11:20 by the time I made this call and so a Patrol van came by around 11:35.

A lady S.I and a constable came in. We narrated the incident. Took them to the scene and gave a detailed narration there too. They asked us to relax and gave us a lot of assurance. The lady was especially very supportive. She gave us her mobile number and asked us to call her for anything anytime.

After all this dust settled, we all retired back to the confines of my room where all of us have been sleeping since that night (Thursday night is going to be third straight night).

I have just narrated the incident so far. The impact it has left on our collective psyche is unimaginable. My mother is very much in a state of shock/fear and so is my father. I want to write a lot of things, but I first need to calm myself. I thought it would be easy for me to write it, but I got goose pimples while typing some of the lines here.

It is just the prayers and good karma that has helped us come through this incident without any loss or impact, except the psychological one of course. We can only thank the almighty for saving us in this time and also my gratitude to all our friends and neighbors who have dropped in from last evening, once the news spread through the local grapevine.