Dear ones, what does it mean when I write how much is enough. And the next one what are problems?

I will start with how much is enough. In my earlier life, I would tell my colleagues that if we saw an elephant on Wednesday, all our problems would be solved. We were struggling as an NGO and we were running three projects for which we had to report regularly. We had to deal with many issues, our runaway boys, the AIDS Hotline and the Voluntary Counselling and Testing HIV/AIDS Centre. The projects were in three different areas. I would tell my colleagues that our difficulties would be resolved if we would see an elephant.

Now at that time, the refuge for the elephants was on the banks of the Yamuna River. Elephants were allowed to walk on the main roads, with their mahouts, especially on Wednesdays. One could engage them for birthday parties and weddings. Initially my colleagues never believed me but we would always see an elephant when we were in distress and our issues would be resolved. I would then say that we would go to the Elephant Refuge and feed them. So of course, we bought the bananas and went carrying twelve dozen bananas.

And you know what happened when we started feeding them, one dozen bananas were polished off in a minute. Then the pachyderms looked up for more. One hundred and forty-four bananas were a mere bite. Since I had made a promise that every time our difficulties were resolved, I would treat them we started buying them in bulk, but it was never enough.

Now the elephants have been moved faraway and we do not see them on the main roads. You see, we had two problems, not enough bananas, and how much is enough.

Ma’s Maya

Currently my second problem deals not with elephants but with a resident field mouse. He has moved in and is unafraid of Lulu, my feral cat who also comes in occasionally. The other day, Lulu came in went downstairs and out, and the mouse was walking behind her. So, I have an elephant in the room, a mouse living in and a non-violent cat. This would be described as Ma’s Maya.

Aim Hrim Klim

Photo by Gautam Arora on Unsplash