Roars of the Lion

I was away on vacation and it was a very peaceful time…

Waves crashing gently on the shore, the wind blowing through the trees, the rain falling softly on my face and a can of cold beer in my hand. I left heaven to come back to hell… or something close to it.

The fourteen hour drive was capped off by the wonderful news that a political party had closed down the city due to a statue of their leaders wife having been descecrated (it was a bit of mud). Personally I couldn’t care less if it was a statue of Gandhi. They have no right to shut down a whole city and start rioting due to them having a grieviance. The city lost hundreds of crores of tax payers money. The buses they burnt down and they public property they defaced will have to be replaced by our hard earned money. The worst part was that the police just sat there and watched.

We ran out of petrol when we got into the city and the petrol pumps refused to sell us any in fear of retaliation of the goons. Somehow we managed to get home. But the episode left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Two days later there were explosions… seven of them.

I still can’t believe it happened. In Mumbai…

Normally Mumbaikars are very reliant on our trains. They are cheap, reliable and a fast means of transport. Generally 250 people can fit into a compartment. During the rush hour traffic when the explosion took place the number is more closer to 300-350 people. Imagine putting a powerful explosive in the middle of the compartment that full of people. Now multiply that number by seven. Thats how much damage was done.

As I sit and watch the death toll go over the two hundred mark I can’t help but realize that two hundred people didn’t die… two hundred families did. They lost their breadwinners that day.

Seven hundred people injured… not just injured… but crippled. Their life will never be the same.

The lifeline of  Mumbai became the deathline in the space of ten minutes.

Its been a rather upsetting few days and its climaxed off with My mum having to go to the hospital and maybe having to undergo a minor operation.

She hasn’t been keeping well in the past few months, what with her Diabetes spiking and her back aches. And now she has this huge abcess on her lower back that is driving her crazy with pain. 

All in all it hasn’t been a fun week.

In other news i’ve tried to throw myself totally into my work and devoted all spare time to writing. I am quite happy with how much I have got written and some of it is stuff that I can be satisfied with.

Its also very heartening to see Charles and Tricia writing again. They both are great authors and I am glad to see this happen. It seems the writing Gods are smiling down on us.

Here’s to hoping it lasts. 

One of my favorite authors - Mugglemomma - has just updated her masterpiece, Pieces of a Soul.

I had the pleasure of glancing at it beforehand and I for one think she has outdone herself.

Everybody go read and review!!

Right now I am in the process of reading the sequel to Forrest Gump by Winston Groom.

The title of the book is ‘Gump & Co.’

It basically is a hilarious read where Forrest, now much older, gets into more scrapes and trouble. He now has to look after his son ‘Little Forrest’ and it adds even more fun to the mix.

So far I totally love it. It has me in stitches.

Well… I came back online after nearly a fortnight of being away due to shifting into my new house (Pics in the gallery) and I got the surprise of my life.

Trish and Charles presented me with this site.

I must admit that for a couple of minutes I was too stunned to speak. And I suspect that both Charles and especially Trish must have been thinking that I didnt like it and that I’m awfully rude.

But the truth was that I liked it too well and had never expected to deserve something so wonderful.

I hope to use this site to its full limit and I thank all you guys who signed my guestbook and were in the know of this surprise before it was sprung.

All you guys are wonderfu and I feel blessed to know you.

Thank you so much.

Ham 

Welcome to your new blog and website, Ham! I hope you enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed putting it together! Love, T.