Ok… that 107 steps on the pedometer ? That was an error ! I just discovered in the evening of today that the adjustment to the various complicated buttons on this little piece of machinery, now becoming a terrible threat to our existence, was indeed wrong ! How ? Ha .. ha …

It was actually, would you believe it.. 1.07 kms..

Thats 1.07 kilometers !! And translated to number of steps it reads 2131. I observed this gross anomaly because, today, even after a short visit back to the hospital for my friend’s check ups, it showed up at 107. So short of flinging the monster out of the 15th floor, or wherever it is that I was situated in this temperature checking, hand sterilizing, sticker pasting, building, I was ready to do anything to give it an indecent burial ! But, screaming Jesus, this OMRON HJ-113 3V, GWalking Style almond shaped, digital windowed, plastic clipped on contraption, by some magical intuition threw up the real numbers and … hey …

OMRON survives another day, within the calm and comfortable folds of my trouser pocket !!

Thats a 175 words of introduction to today’s post and I do believe that it has been an interesting enough beginning. Beginnings are the problem. As you open the MacBookPro and the screen lights up, the icons of varied shapes and sizes popping up on a bar at the top and the fast changing background theme of nature fading in and out, carrying desktop files, you begin to wonder what it is that needs to be written for the day. And somehow, as the first alphabets of the location and time get introduced at the top of the page and the return bar is pressed a few times to distance the text from the address, thoughts, topics, issues start to develop. And mercifully for the 463 rd day in continued succession, the connection has poured out to a vast hemisphere in cyber land. From some hesitant first timers, to the more sensitive and sincere elaborate views, the comments have poured in. Those that came in during the early days have not necessarily stayed on and those that did, have demonstrated deep devotion. Fresh and newer entrants have added glory to the blog and each day a valuable presence has adorned the pages of bigadda.com.

Beginnings ! They have a character of their own. Its the line up on the tracks in respective blocks for the 100 meter dash. The anticipation and nervous hesitation as you tense your body for that electric start at the sound of the gun. Its the exaggerated heart beat, as you sit at public function waiting for your name to be announced for an invitation to the stage. Its that conscious curious walk into a restaurant full of people giving you the look over. Its arriving late at a show or concert or film and the walk to your numbered seat, getting those already settled in, to give way to you. Its waiting in the wings for your cue as the band strikes up your introduction for the Unforgettable or the Jumma Chumma concert. Its entering into the party full of unknown faces and the wait till the host spots you and comes over to make you welcome and comfortable. It is those innocent school days and the first flushes of attraction to the opposite sex and the months and months of time it takes to be able to ask her or him whether a letter or a card could be exchanged. It is that desperate endeavor to catch the particular bus at the particular time so you could get an opportunity to ride along to the University on the same seat as her or him.

Beginnings ! They can be such an impossible barrier to cross and yet, once done, become the most comforting and attractive.

Today as one looks back, braced as it were through age and experience, it all seems so easy and at times frivolous, but the times then were different. We never had the confidence nor the strength to execute what we may have so strongly desired. Today, we guide the younger lot, the grandchildren and the youngsters on how to overcome those seemingly perilous moments.

We are battered and abused through life and circumstances to an extent that steels us for any eventuality. And yet somewhere in the back of our active minds, lurks the fear of the unknown and the uncertainty of life. Even after the many years of existence there shall always be that one day, that one moment, for which we shall still not have the right answers.

Uncertainty !

Navya Naveli settles down well without medication and some semblance of normalcy, but now her brother and the younger Agastya goes down with high fever. And thats not all. Word from the forests of Kerala and the sets of Ravana, inform us that Aishwarya is down too.

Uncertainty !

The West Wing still intoxicates us, as do its characters and story lines. Strangely though, you find yourself behaving and acting in real life like the characters you live with on screen. Their way of talking, of addressing issues and of wanting to adopt management styles depicted in the Oval room of the serial. Suddenly you become dummy Presidents of the United States of America and Chief of Staff and Press Secretaries at the White House. Ha ! Fascinating !!

” When the voice and the vision on the inside become more profound clearer and louder than the opinions on the outside, you have mastered your life “

~ Bhagvad Gita ~

Sleep well dearest ones, as must I .. the church bells in the distant stillness of the night, get ready to be pulled 4 times .. !!

Amitabh Bachchan