The MICE Collection & OW!: Gems of Thought & Humour

This book primarily comprises a collection of personal experiences based on true incidents in the Middle East, India, Canada and England. These 'chapters from life' are 'truths' as perceived through lenses of individuality and have also been consciously altered. Hence, what you find in this book is not a photographic representation of truth/s but is an artistic rendering that most people will find interesting and enjoyable. The Other Writings are either created to promote thought leading to thoughtful action or are from other parts of the world.Some of these 'gems' will make you smile or laugh; some are more serious in nature and will encourage you to think while the rest could make you do both. These writings are not meant to hurt or belittle any individual or community but could be considered gentle strokes that make the readers think about and laugh at what we all do, the silliness we are all capable of and the mistakes we make.We need to think and analyse to improve ourselves and society but must not take life too seriously even though it has moments of pain and grief that appear to be a lifetime...Excerpts from the book:1. We grow every moment so, despite the flow of our heart which moves in one direction, our views change. If they don't, like stagnant water, we tend to breed mental germs. 2. "Teacher, can I go out to bray?" "I'm sorry I couldn't get you, what did you say?" I asked. "Teacher " The burly, middle-aged student, spoke loud and clear, "Can I go out to bray?" I found it an awkward question and was, of course, a bit apprehensive especially as he appeared to be asking in dead earnest and seemed to be a man the least likely to bray.3. The epitome of universal beauty, the moon has its spots but that does not detract from its perfection; similarly, our faults or handicaps do not reduce our importance in any way or make us 'imperfect' which is like saying that 22-carat gold and steel are imperfect because we cannot make machines with the former and ornaments with the latter.4. Dollar pulls out plants if he is left out in the garden; inside, every room is his loo and the bed-sheets, he thinks, look better on the floor. If we tie him, he cries his head off. Don Quixote-like, he attacks everything from a plastic bottle to a ball, growling and barking when he can't dig his tiny teeth in them. Paper and clothes are his worst enemies but they are easy to 'kill'. In five minutes flat, the paper is in shreds and the clothes unwearable. His longest battles are with toothbrushes and trees 5. "Nowadays, of course, everyone accepts that all die of COVID and nothing but COVID but people die of other reasons as well. Corona or no Corona, we all die. My uncle died twenty years back, of a heart attack. Your grandparents, my grandparents, their ancestors all died before COVID 19. My friend, a couple of years younger than me died last year in an accident. None of them died of COVID. How many people do you know who died of COVID?" "Dad, do you realize you are meeting two young girls, your granddaughters almost every day and there is danger of them getting this dreadful disease? Do you realize you're behaving like a kid? That's why they say old age is like a second childhood." "Whoever said it must have had a daughter for it is daughters alone, and not sons, who mother their parents and treat them as new-born babes or, at best, like recalcitrant children." "Whatever..."6. Mother Earth is our true and only homeland, the rest are all political creations.