Of dogs and golfers with soft hearts

What you see is the most expensive grass that a golf course would have - "The Green". No one, and I repeat, no one is allowed to step on it without special golf shoes. And no one (except the caddie) could even dream of hanging out there while a golfer is putting towards the hole. But at Tollygunge Golf Club in Kolkata, the rules are different. Here, stray dogs are allowed, loved and welcomed everywhere.

Meet Julie, supposedly 18 years old. I watched her with my heart in my mouth, shuffling with her arthritic legs to The Green, and lying down there, blissfully soaking up the sun. A group of golfers were all around, and one of them cautiously started approaching her. Just when I though he would tap her with his golf club and prod her to go away, he... bent down and patted her with utmost care and affection!!! Julie is also the only dog allowed within The Shamiana - the open air cafe at the club, where players and guests can have tea, snacks or breakfast. She has her own little food and water bowls in a corner, and is a permanent 'fixture' around. She was sleeping peacefully one morning, until a table of elderly gentlemen (the type I would normally assume hate dogs) was served hot steaming omelettes and toast. Almost blind Julie woke up, smelled the air, and slowly limped towards their table. She stood there for good 5-10 minutes, patiently. Until one of the men lovingly cut a piece of omelette and gave it to her, patting her on the head for dessert. The fact is, The Shamiana was full, and everyone's table was laden with delicious treats. Why did she go to this table?

The next day at breakfast, I saw a lady giving Julie her daily dose of vitamins (!). She told me that on days when the kitchen is closed, she comes especially from home to make sure the old lady is fed and happy!

It would have been hard to miss a horde of small puppies running around. In the evening, the club staff secures them in an old concrete tub, and covers them with cardboard, so that the jackals which abound around the premises, don't eat them up at night. Someone is responsible for taking them out at the crack of dawn. And yes, "a doctor did come around last week to check out their skin disease, madam". And part of the watchman's duties is to make sure the puppies stay off the drive in alley of the club (which he demonstrated proudly, gently using a short stick).

Only in Bombay...

... you can see "Shantaram", or ex-Australian convict and now a bestselling author of the book with the same name Gregory David Roberts, and the princess of Sweden, riding a beautiful black motorcycle on Regal Circle. Both in leather jackets, she, sporting oversized shades. Both in their late 50s, they are nevertheless gorgeous - tall, slim, fit and both with long blond hair.

Stayin' Alive

This is how thousands of Indians commute daily. In the bus picture, what I missed was the conductor climbing up to the rooftop from the outside, collecting fare from those sitting on the rooftop, and then getting back in via the outside ladder...

Yoga-ing my way to happiness

Well after I wrote about alcohol intoxication, let me elaborate a bit on what puts me down to earth. I have been doing yoga for about two years now. A lot has been written on yoga and the amazing way it makes you feel. I have no choice but add my bit to it, as yoga has really awakened in me feelings, qualities and thoughts that I have never imagined were possible.

I started yoga with a friend. I felt so terribly clumsy and bored, that from the moment the session started, I was already thinking of the moment it would end and I will go home. It was a disaster. I never thought it would last two years, and I never thought I would be able to sustain it. I still don't do it by myself, like I am supposed to, but I enjoy every minute with Rama Ji, my teacher.

She slowly and gently broke my body's resistance, and taught me how by simply breathing I can clear my head, bend a bit more, get a kick of oxygen in my brain to last me the hole day. During yoga sessions, I have had memories of early childhood, brilliant ideas, and many, many good thoughts. It has changed my attitude towards certain things - mainly taught me to let go. And it makes my face glow to an extent that Gurtaj claims that after every yoga session I look like a different person.

How can a series of movements combined with breathing can achieve all that, I have no idea. I sometimes try to imagine the ancient sages sitting under their trees and getting ideas of postures and stretches. It's a mystery how they created this science. But one thing I know for sure - nothing in yoga feels unnatural. And as you progress, the movements become an extension of your body.

I love the way my teacher makes me stop during a pose and observe what is happening within my body and mind. This is when I stop being a machine and actually listen to my deepest self, sense muscles that I didn't know existed, listen to my breathing, learn to "read" my body.

I just want to end up on that note: I recently found out that whatever she charges, Rama Ji gives to charity. She doesn't feel right making a commerce of something she considers her vocation and duty.

If you can't see this smile anymore, blame the system...

It was a shock to read about the man who drowned two of his daughters because they were a “shame” and a “burden”, since they were not “blessed” with a son. I know I am discussing an age-old issue and that probably I won’t say anything Indians don’t already know. It has been like that for thousands of years and it is going to remain like that? It is part of Indian culture to prefer sons. I have heard all that and tried to sink into comfortable apathy. I have grown to love India and made it my home… But each time I come across such story in the newspapers, I feel such a sinking despair, and so much doubt with my own judgment. How can this exist in the 21st century? Does this man realise that if it was not for a woman, he would never been born? And that he is married to one, for God’s sake! Or does he hold her in contempt every day of their life together? You might call me a naïve phirang and maybe this is what I am. A lot of people around us live in such unimaginable poverty, that I understand their despair – feeding 3 children (he had 3 daughters, one was spared as she was with her mother) and saving for three marriages, must have not been easy for him (why did he have three daughters to start with?????). But killing them?… You need complete lack of thought and logic not to understand that natural, or any evolution, is impossible without both sexes coexisting. That women are as important as men. But here I am stating the obvious!

I can’t help thinking that we, women, are somehow responsible for this. It is a woman who brings up the child, and if she instills in him that women are not a lesser species, something somewhere will rub off. And maybe this man will treat his wife, his daughters, his maid, the women he meets on the street and at work, with a little bit more respect. And maybe if we decide that we will never accept it, never sink in comfortable apathy, something sometime will start changing. I browsed the net and realized that many women have gotten their act together and started NGOs, resource centers, shelters, to support less fortunate women from men’s exploitation and violence. So I feel that if we, the fortunate ones, start spreading little doses of awareness, non-militantly, respectfully, so that we are understood, to our maids, drivers, by giving a little bit of our time, we might earn the right to protest and be appalled.