Weekend Humor: Rx?


Went to a local pharmacy to pick up a prescription. While I waited in the line noticed an elderly gentleman waiting behind me. I asked that gentleman to go ahead of me. He had received a notification for picking up prescription refill yesterday. The pharmacist did not find any prescription ready for pickup. After checking the computer the pharmacist informed him that it had already been picked up yesterday. As I stepped up to the counter I had to ask the obvious question: Was the elderly gentleman picking up a prescription for forgetfulness? 🙂 The pharmacist smiled and said no but he had quite a few other prescription refills 🙏

Tennis legend Roger Federer!

Tennis legend Roger Federer retired from professional tennis after playing his last match in Laver Cup couple of days ago, named after another living tennis legend of yore! 👍🙏

In an amazing career spanning more than 2 decades he has left an indelible imprint with his style of play and raising the bar for success at the highest level 👏 His game was characterized by athleticism, fluid grace and smooth strokes making it all look effortless👌 In addition his fluency in expressing himself articulately in multiple languages and his fashion sense and sartorial choices made him the perfect advert for promoting the game👍

He is like an adopted son at Wimbledon where he enjoyed the most success in Grand Slam tournaments. Known for stiff upper lip the Brits have not been shy of showing some emotion in the past two weeks with the passing away of their Queen and the King of Wimbledon announcing his move to the next phase of his life 🙏

Let’s relive the moments of Roger Federer’s success at Wimbledon one more time.

Chair Umpire: Quiet please. Thank you!

Chair Umpire: Game, Set, Match, Championship – Roger Federer 👏👍🙏

Full rainbow! 🥰👌👏

Amazing things happen unexpectedly at times.
Last evening I went out for a drive. As I stepped out of the car after parking I was greeted by an amazing sight: A full rainbow! 🌈
’twas a pleasant and very unexpected surprise 👌 as there were barely a few raindrops on the car windshield during my drive and when I parked. I set about trying to capture the glory of the moment. Couple of pictures of the rainbow and then I ran around to take picture of the other side of the sky. I was greeted by the bright orange of the setting Sun! 👍
Such moments can’t be scripted. Felt blessed as I enjoyed the sight of the full rainbow and the setting Sun. It was fleeting. In a minute or two the rainbow was gone as the sky darkened and the Sun disappeared.
In sum that’s life: Make the most of the memorable moments and count the blessings! 🙏😊

Weekend Humor: Señor Raj, what is love? 🙋‍♀️

Simple pleasures of life make for fun. One of my stupid, simple pleasures is popping bubbles in bubblewrap 😊 One night this week as I was cleaning and stuffing waste in trash bag in preparation for trash pickup the following day I noticed bubblewraps lying around. Some packages delivered recently had come wrapped in bubblewrap. My eyes widened and I said to myself “Forget cleaning, it’s time for some entertainment!” 😄 I started popping one bubble at a time. Found it would take too much time by the time I was done with all the bubbles. Then I decided a way to speed up the entertainment would be to use my foot and go about popping bubbles dragging my heel across the bubblewrap in a line, across and so forth! The dulcet tones of the bubbles bursting one after another in quick succession was like sweet music to my ears 👌😅 My wife who was in another room came into the room I was having fun in a little later and asked “What was that sound I heard?”. I responded “I was creating wrap music!” 😂 She cast a quizzical glance at me before she looked at the floor and realized what I was up to. As she turned to go back to a different room I added “I am working on my craft and if I keep at it I may even win a Grammy for the best wrap artist of the year!” 😉 She walked away shaking her head. 🤦‍♀️ The import of what I was doing hit me then! I am a dot-com bubble bu(r)ster and no ordinary one at that, I am Amazon dot-com bubble bu(r)ster. Ok, I will make it Prime Amazon dot-com bubble bu(r)ster if you insist. 😂 I think my show is ready for prime time and I don’t mean just Prime TV. I imagine lot of requests streaming in for my show. I love what I do, you can say I “act with love”! I am looking around me now and I see some bubblewraps around and some that are pillow shaped big ones. Man, I have a long way to go and hope my neighbors don’t make explosive allegations on hearing the big bubbles pop. I am getting stressed out. 😧 No worries, I just got to take a deep breath and carry on. Bubble popping can be a great stress buster too! 👍 Did you realize Señor Raj saved you the effort of asking “Alexa, what is love?” Providing new form of entertainment with opportunity to de-stress, that’s a public service act for sure. 👏
Wow, is there a better way to start the weekend? I didn’t think so either. 🤣 You are welcome 😊🙏

Ragamalika: S(w)inging in, S(w)inging out!

Ragamalika: S(w)inging in, S(w)inging out!

In Indian classical music a raga is a pattern of notes having characteristic intervals, rhythms, and embellishments. So, there is a structure to it and there is a discipline required to ensure any song based on a particular raga follows the defined pattern. However, even within the structure there is room for improvisation. Singers who are highly skilled and have a flair for improvisation can deftly move from one raga to another (and then another and so forth) and make it back to the original raga seamlessly. I call it S(w)inging in, S(w)inging out! Sanjay Subrahmanyan is one singer who has the vocal chops, mastery of the individual ragas and discipline allied with creativity and improvisation to sing ragamalikas naturally. 👍

As an analogy in a different context think of monkeys swinging on a tree, say a fig tree ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsotv_N2B5Y ). The way they go about swinging in and out of different branches it appears they were born with those skills naturally. Biting a fig from one branch and then swinging to another branch for bite of another fig is akin to singing in one raga, then moving on to another raga. Why am I comparing singing with monkeys swinging? Just as swinging from one branch to another requires physical dexterity swinging between ragas requires vocal dexterity. There is timing and decision making involved too. Swing has to happen between branches that are strong. If a monkey swings from a strong branch to a twig it can make for an awkward landing to put it mildly. Similarly, the results can be less than desirable if the transition between the ragas is not smooth and seamless. One more factor that needs to be considered is room and ability of those following the leader (accompanying percussionists in singing). Only the very accomplished can achieve that with relative ease.

On another note it’s been raining all day. I don’t mind it as it’s raining ragas too. Continuous supply of strong coffee or tea along with potato and onion fritters would make for a perfect combo for the music and weather. 😀 With wife wanting me to eat healthy, onion/potato fritters idea ain’t gonna fly though. 😢 Hey, improvisation is the name of the game today and I don’t want to fritter the opportunity. I can pop some corn instead! 😉😅