PAINTING THE SKIES

Dear Friends.. I am sorry for yet another long break. I know.. I have been doing this quite a bit recently. Anyways.. am back with something interesting again! Okay... so tell me friends… What would be your idea for a lazy Sunday afternoon? I see a lot of hands. And I guess there are a lot of refreshing recipes for a relaxing weekend afternoon act. A good heavy meal, is it? It certainly helps if a Saravana Bhavan or a Punjabi dhaba is round the corner. But it will be even more special when a loved one cooks that heavenly meal for you or you make his/her afternoon special by becoming the master chef. Okay… I hear you are on diet. A movie perhaps! Check out the latest blockbuster that is showing in the multiplex nearby. Ahh.. Mixed reviews you say!

Hmmm… How about sitting back on that recliner and checking out anything the idiot box has to offer? Coziness and entertainment all at one place; with a refreshing dash of ginger tea and bliss is yours. Chaos in the living room, huh!! What to watch: Debate on economics or a movie or an Ekta Kapoor soap opera!  Gosh, can’t decide!! Okay okay.. stop that fight for the remote. Let me think of something else. Wait wait… don’t go to sleep! How about a long drive into the woods? What woods you ask? I hear someone yelling “Traffic”! Hmm.. This is getting tougher than I thought. How about a silent and pleasant walk then?  Did someone say cricket? Oh oh…There goes the afternoon for most of you now! I will leave you alone. You guys can fight in peace now!

Well these are all very viable options for lighting up a dull Sunday afternoon which were in my mind too. But the skies had other plans (literally). How is that you ask? Glad you did! It did start out as a dull, peaceful and serene Sunday morning as it went by in slow motion. A little bit of TV, some chit chat and coffee of course made it soothing and relaxing for me, mom and dad. And then it was lunch time as I debated the different options for lunch with mom. We settled on Pav Bhaji as the weather was in perfect synchrony for that and also because mom had never tried her hand at that before. So the chef hat and the apron were on as we went about the task at hand with enthusiasm and panache. And voila… Pav Bhaji was ready. Or so we thought!

But we had one small technical problem: there was no Pav. A quick trip to the grocery store solved that minor obstacle and lunch was upon us. Each one of us gulped down enough Pavs (not to mention the generous stuffing of Bhaji) that our eyes were fading out as we were ready to go into la-la-land. And that is when I just stepped out to the balcony to take a peek at what nature had in store that day. It was a fine day with the right mix of warmth and breeze, color and shade, blue sky embellished by cream clouds, birds chirping, squirrels fooling around (oh btw.. I do have to tell you something about squirrels but that would have to wait), cars (and men) giving Mother Nature a break, trees sveltely grooving to the winds and autumn leaves adorning the sidewalks. This abounding spectacle sent the idea of a nap cart-wheeling out of my mind.

Mom has always been an ardent admirer of nature herself and she joined me in the balcony as we listened to nature’s sweet chimes. And that was when we saw the sky’s white magic. It happened all of a sudden that we were left dumbstruck and pinched each other to ensure it was not a dream. Before you decide (for the umpteenth time) to kill me for holding you hostage with my impending suspense, let me let the cat out of the sky. The reason for our blissful commotion was that letters all of a sudden started appearing in the sky. Yes, you read it right. A magical invisible pen with the help of a precision stencil was etching out letters that were literally appearing out of thin air. We could recognize the letters but the words made no clear sense. And then in a minute or two everything disappeared. Now we were really curious about this mysterious turn of events. The afternoon nap was certainly out and we waited in anticipation of more wizardry from this mysterious wand. In other news, the curiosity bug had infected my dad as he too joined us in the balcony.

About 15 minutes had gone by and we were beginning to lose hope when a déjà vu happened. In another direction, in a different part of the sky, different letters made their appearance one by one to create new words but the one thing that remained the same was the fact that we couldn’t make out what the heck it meant. And then a minute later, it was all gone. Now I started speculating about these seemingly mysterious happenings and quickly made up a few preposterous theories. Was it some evil spirit’s handiwork? Were those writings somehow connected to some holy scripture? Was it warning us of some impending doom? I even thought about trying to research those words and try to find some patterns when my mom said that I was trying too much to be Sherlock Holmes (or Ramanugem rather).

In the meantime, another message had appeared in the sky teasing us with another riddle before fading away surreptitiously. Now we were proposing the theory of an alien attack (come on, we wanted to have some fun) and that over-abused prophecy of the world coming to an end in 2012. Seriously, an alien visit rather an alien attack would surely have been fun. But then, all good things have to come to an end. With some googling and research, I finally traced this to a Ryder cup gimmick. Now what is Ryder cup, you ask. It is a golf tournament between USA and Europe that happens every 2 years.

I know.. Golf is boring. Tell me about that! But this time it provided more fun even if it was unintentional. Apparently Europe made a historic comeback to retain the Ryder Cup. And I guess they had a little help from above. Well, not from that high up as you are thinking, but from at least above 50,000 feet. A European bookie hired a team of sky writers to create pro European tweets high above the country club where the tournament was going on, which by the way is in Chicago close to where I live. But to make them visible so far on the ground though, the planes have to make the writing really big. Each tweet was 400 meters high and 5 miles long and went on to break all skywriting records. That meant even people as far as 20 miles away could clearly see the writings on the sky and we were among the lucky ones.

Well… so ends the story of an intriguing Sunday afternoon. It was no Apocalypse but still a memorable and enthralling experience. For the first time I came to know about this concept called Sky Writing. It is the art of using an aircraft that is capable of expelling smoke, to fly in certain patterns to create writing readable by someone on the ground. Fascinating, isn’t it? Now this message could be anything, meaningful or less, advertisement, celebration or even a birthday wish or a marriage proposal. Now how many of you would want the heavens to broadcast your proposal to that special love of yours! I sure see a lot of hands again. 

WHAT WE ARE

“ZEPHYR” is a name that needs no introduction and “CYBERNAG” is a blog that would fascinate and stimulate you beyond description. She is a brilliant writer who blogs on a variety of pressing yet common place issues that anyone can identify with. And she paints such a vivid picture that everything comes alive in front of your eyes. You will get to live and feel the issue and her thoughts breathe fresh air into our minds. I have not seen anyone write about social issues so comprehensively and insight-fully with a unique and strong perspective. On other occasions, she transcends down the memory lane rekindling nostalgic memories in a way we all relate to and feel related to as they are so relevant in every household. And all along the journey she makes you laugh, cry, smile, reminisce and celebrate along with her.

So I was really thrilled at the opportunity to write a blog post for her. It was indeed a privilege and honor. Thank you very much Zephyr. And what I chose to write about is the simple but magical reason of our existence: two souls who had no idea what they were getting into!

“Life is something that fascinates us in every dimension: physical, spiritual, philosophical and biological. Life may have been created by God or Science and evolved by chance or by design. But our life and the world as we know, is designed by two individuals who meet by chance. They introduce us to the world and they are our world until we develop wings and set out to shape our destinies. We do not see them become the man and woman they are, firsthand, but somewhere between our ears, heart and brain, we know it all. There is an invisible life thread inside us that is interwoven with their fabric that helps us document their lives into us and establishes a psychedelic connect beyond cognition. Their lives are biographies that portray how our lives would have been in a different era. We come to know us as them!”

Read the entire article at: http://cybernag.in/2012/03/what-we-are/

PARALLEL UNIVERSE

“Conversations” by Sujatha is one of the first blogs I started reading. The first thing that strikes you about her writing is that it is so simple yet very elegant and you feel an instant connect. She has that uncanny knack of making her topics so intriguing and keeps readers engrossed through her exquisite and intelligent writing. There is not a topic she cannot write on and she makes you feel and think about it. Her writing is thought provoking, meaningful and fulfilling at the same time which is why it makes such wonderful reading. 

So I was really thrilled at the opportunity to write a blog post for her. It was indeed a privilege and honor. Thank you very much Sujatha. And this is how I came to think about a "PARALLEL UNIVERSE"!

“Almost every one of us has a thing for legacy! We dream of seeing our names in tabloids and billboards; our heart pulses up on every mention of our name. We all like to outlive our time in this world in some philosophical form unless your idea of mortality is to store a few of your skin cells in a Petri dish inside a robot programmed to live forever. But half way through our lives, we are smart (or foolish) enough to realize that greatness is destined to a select few who go on to change this world for good (or bad) and thrust their legacy into history books and their neighbors alike. So what do we do?”

To find out, please read my post PARALLEL UNIVERSE at: http://sujathasathya.blogspot.com/2012/01/parallel-universe_4474.html   

RAINY DAYS!

What does rain mean to us? Well, different things to different people and nothing to a select few. I think rain reminds us of our very existence. No, I am not trying to be dramatic or poetic here. It detaches us from our frenzy lives and makes us enjoy the smaller joys in life to which we have become ignorant of. It makes some of us bunk school or work to sit next to the window and gaze for hours. It makes a few of us (the crazier bunch) go out in the rain, come back absolutely drenched, change and then head out again.

I knew I was missing something. Filter coffee! (Okay… the not so lucky ones can go to Coffee Day or Starbucks). Sipping filter coffee on a rainy day is pure bliss. And it is damn simple. All you need is a coffee filter and some finely ground fresh coffee roast (45% chicory!). Put 3 spoons of coffee powder into the filter and add 1 glass of hot boiling water to it. Once it filters, add the decoction to a cup of milk and throw in a generous dose of sugar. (Diet watchers use sugar free and diabetics make sure that your spouse is not around!) And voila! Elixir for a rainy morning is ready. For people in love: make one cup, head to your balcony, hold hands, sip some coffee, experience rain and celebrate life!

When rain comes, the earth wears cologne, sun takes a nap, clouds clap to celebrate and trees dance in joy to a composition of the wind. A rabbit makes a run to its hole. Then it changes its mind and slowly pops its head out to enjoy the rain in installations. A peacock shows its moves. The deer looks impressed. Flowers turn greedy and try to collect as many rain drops as possible. Leaves beneath them take the left overs. Everybody seems to want a piece of rain. So, why exactly do you hide in your living room or run for an umbrella? Come out and watch the leaves share a kiss with the rain drops.

I cannot tell you enough about rain. Nobody can. But I just have a few parting words:

Rain lovers, have you tried having ice cream in rain? It is divine. Try it the next time Mr.Rain comes to visit.

And skeptics, try the 1 minute rule! Shed your fears or inhibitions or whatever it is, go out in the rain, close your eyes, spread your arms and let the water droplets shower you with kisses for a minute. I am sure you will thank me after that. You may think it is insanity. I agree. But trust me; it is the most beautiful form of insanity you could ever imagine!