Fly me to the moon!

First and second flight trips ever, both to Hyderabad, taking my priceless solitariness with me!

Solitariness? And I am wrong, and it is a pleasure.

Both onwards and return journeys at night at 8:00 p.m., I didn't ask for any specific seat, wishing it were the window seats always. And, ahem, I did get.

And you know whom I got as my companions, never once intruding into my priceless solitariness. The moon! Looking at me from my window, as if I had more glitter than Him, wondering to ask me my secret! Left side onwards trip, right side return trip. What blessing! Can anyone believe?

The majestic A320 aircraft wing spread beside me like my own wing, one arm extended, yet giving the feeling of a full form with two wings. The moon, 3/4ths way towards being a full moon, shone its brilliant white light on the wing.

The plane lights dimmed, I had a grand view outside into the night. Blue color of the day sky replaced by greyish black colour of the night. I love midnight blue of the night sky as it looks from the planet earth. But in sky, it looked different. What a synergistic color combination Nature has made for itself, yellow sun and blue sky, white moon and black sky, a symphony making music each hour of our time.
In that hour, the sky was expansive, not constricted as the black color is generally thought of. The moon, steel white radiance shining, the rays coming and enveloping me in a milky white robe, nearly blinding me. Oh! I forgot. It was the concerto between the sky and the moon. How I came into the picture, I don't know. May be I myself have personalised, but I weren't writing this out if I hadn't. The plane wing spread out, absorbing the shine and the light of the moon, and so also into the picture! So, in that hour, we were foursome. And enjoyed each other's company thoroughly.

Within a span of another hour, the plane gliding down to touch the earth, the moon presiding over the glamour of innumerable, symmetrical yellow diyas below, never once losing its identity, I and the plane wing were separated. The sky and the moon remained. Congratulations to you both!

Wondering how the moon will look on a Diwali day from that distance between the earth and sky, bridal adornment of the earth vying to take its place!

Oh! I remember, it will shy away as always. Or may be, as John Galt says in Atlas Shrugged, the moon will speak the same lines, "...I was here, hidden by nothing but an error of your sight, as Atlantis is hidden from men by nothing but an optical illusion...".

**************

Extempore!

Questions posed by my third-grader kid to the eighth grader one in Q&A sessions:---------

1. Why you love cireyals (serials)? Explain.
2. Why Akshara and Naitik is crying? Explain? and  color and draw.
3. Why are you chirchiri?
4. The Lord Krishna is why smiling? Write? Explain?
5. Why you not not love oggy and the cockroaches?
6. Why your favorite color is purple? Explain.


Questions posed by my eighth grader kid to third-grader one in Q&A sessions and answers of the third-grader:

1. Who is Shah Jahaan? Explain.
Third grader reads and asks, kya matlab? Elder one says who is Shah Jahaan? Third one: who is he? Elder one: The one who made Taj Mahal. Third grader: What is Taj Mahal?

Elder one: O.K., I give up. I change the question to : who is Shah Rukh Khan?
Answers of the third grader: a. Shah Rukh Khan is a big actor. Shah Rukh Khan made the movie My name is Khan. Shah Rukh is a sweet boy. My mother and sister love actor Shah Rukh

2. Whom do you love the most in Billy, Mandy aur Life mein Haddi? Name anyone. Why?
Answer: Mandy because Mandy is so funny and strict.

3. Which sweet do you love a lot?
Answer: Gulab jamun, white color.

Rockstar!

Clicked by I, me, myself!!

Feel like John Lennon has come down to view this pic in my blog today. Or am I humoring myself, again this I, me, myself coming into the picture. Something missing? A dancing couple? Well, here it is again, clicked by I, me, myself. Come on, humor me again.

A song is going on in mind:

Bol baby bol, rock and roll;
Bol, bol, bol, rock and roll;
Mere sang dol, rock and roll;
Duniya hai gol, rock and roll,
Aankhon se baatein kar,
Bol nazar ki boli bol.........

You can get up from your prestigious seats and rock and roll. Come on, no one is eyeing you!

Cobwebs!

It is 6:00 a. m. morning. Cool October breeze blowing, the bare arms feeling its first touch. Having brushed my teeth, I trudge outside to the balcony. Silvery expanse, the sum of all the rainbow colours. A guy walking his precious snowy (read spaniel) alongside. The white colored spaniel is at once camouflaged and obvious. I open the balcony door, peek out for newspaper. Empty space.

I go to the kitchen, make a cup of tea. Come to the balcony, peek out again. Empty space. Tea is getting finished without the hypnotic presence of a newspaper. Oh no, enjoy every sip of your tea, dear. Forget the newspaper and the world that comes inside it. Eyes wander outside the balcony towards the green trees shielding me from the wild road.

Cobwebs, I remember. Yesterday, I saw them. Here, there, everywhere. Now there is something hypnotic about the cobwebs too. You see them, you have an itch to clear them. All this while, you seem to be feeling cleansed, purified, spiritually as well as physically. How is that so? Over to the whole process of cleaning the home of the cobwebs now.

The maid is there, but she looks always downwards, not heavenwards, rooted as she is firmly to the ground. She will not clean the cobwebs for you. So, I tightened my waist with a dupatta, warming up for the action. I picked a broom that is not that long for me to be comfortable reaching the skies above. But I have tools, chair, a table, a dining table, a bed, a small bathroom 'peedha' to help me reach my goal. I chose one of these little by little as I go about exploring every possible nook, corner and crevice for the presence of cobwebs. Brooms swaying over these letting the spiders run away, dangling on the edges, I reached and with a whole sweep in two opposite directions, cleared an area. Again, I got down, pushed the chair to another area and started with the whole process again. The dining table is whole lot of fun, since it actually helps me touch the sky with my own hands. The fans above are also taken care of. Wherever the fans are too high to be reached, they are revolved and cleaned, revolved and cleaned, revolved and cleaned, though not thorough, that is the best I can do. On the bed, the sky is higher still, so I put a bathroom 'peedha' on it to reach. It helps. Wow! the walls are shining with their oil-bonded colors coming alive, biscuit color, pink color and mauve color. Some nooks, some corners and some crevices I cannot reach and I leave it to Mother Nature and often, it is magic, disappearing all by itself the day after. Or so it seems to me.

A feeling rises inside, I have cleaned the cobwebs. The home is shining. Getting up and down from the chairs, tables etc., I have exerted myself physically. Getting a dose of endorphins and awakening my kundalini shakti, I again peeked outside the balcony, and sure enough, the emptiness had disappeared. I sat down on my coffee table chair with the smooth feel and integrated senses on the newspaper......

Paulo's Inventory of Normality

1] Anything that makes us forget our true identity and our dreams and makes us only work to produce and reproduce.
2] Making rules for a war (the Geneva Convention).
3] Spending years at university and then not being able to find a job.
4] Working from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon at something that does not give us the least pleasure, so that we can retire after 30 years.
5] Retiring only to discover that we have no more energy to enjoy life, and then dying of boredom after a few years.
6] Using Botox.
7] Trying to be financially successful instead of seeking happiness.
8] Ridiculing those who seek happiness instead of money by calling them “people with no ambition”.
9] Comparing objects like cars, houses and clothes, and defining life according to these comparisons instead of really trying to find out the true reason for being alive.
10] Not talking to strangers. Saying nasty things about our neighbors.
11] Thinking that parents are always right.
12] Getting married, having children and staying together even though the love has gone, claiming that it’s for the sake of the children (who do not seem to be listening to the constant arguments).
12ª] Criticizing everybody who tries to be different.
14] Waking up with a hysterical alarm-clock at the bedside.
15] Believing in everything that is printed.
16] Wearing a piece of colored cloth wrapped around the neck, known by the pompous name “necktie”.
17] Never asking direct questions, even though the other person understands what you want to know.
18] Keeping a smile on your face when you really want to cry. And feeling sorry for those who show their own feelings.
19] Thinking that art is worth a fortune, or that it is worth absolutely nothing.
20] Always despising what was easily gained, because the “necessary sacrifice” – and therefore also the required qualities – are missing.
21] Following fashion, even though it all looks ridiculous and uncomfortable.
22] Being convinced that all the famous people have tons of money.
23] Investing a lot in exterior beauty and paying little attention to interior beauty.
24] Using all possible means to show that even though you are a normal person, you are infinitely superior to other human beings.
25] In any kind of public transport, never looking straight into the eyes of the other passengers, as this may be taken for attempting to seduce them.
26] When in an elevator, looking straight at the door and pretending you are the only person inside, however crowded it may be.
27] Never laughing out loud in a restaurant, no matter how funny the story is.
28] In the Northern hemisphere, always wearing the clothes that match the season of the year: short sleeves in springtime (however cold it may be) and a woolen jacket in the fall (no matter how warm it is).
29] In the Southern hemisphere, decorating the Christmas tree with cotton wool, even though winter has nothing to do with the birth of Christ.
30] As you grow older, thinking you are the wisest man in the world, even though not always do you have enough life experience to know what is wrong.
31] Going to a charity event and thinking that it is enough to put an end to all the social inequalities in the world.
32] Eating three times a day, even when not hungry.
33] Believing that the others are always better at everything: they are better-looking, more resourceful, richer and more intelligent. Since it’s very risky to venture beyond your own limits, it’s better to do nothing.
34] Using the car as a way to feel powerful and in control of the world.
35] Using foul language in traffic.
36] Thinking that everything your child does wrong is the fault of the company he or she is keeping.
37] Marrying the first person who offers a position in society. Love can wait.
38] Always saying “I tried”, even though you haven’t tried at all.
39] Putting off doing the most interesting things in life until you no longer have the strength to do them.
40] Avoiding depression with massive daily doses of television programs.
41] Believing that it is possible to be sure of everything you have won.
42] Thinking that women don’t like football and that men don’t like interior decoration.
43] Blaming the government for everything bad that happens.
44] Being convinced that being a good, decent and respectful person means that the others will find you weak, vulnerable and easy to manipulate.
45] Being convinced that aggressiveness and discourtesy in treating others are signs of a powerful personality.
46] Being afraid of fibroscopy (men) and childbirth (women).
47] And finally, thinking that your religion is the sole proprietor of the absolute truth, the most important, the best, and that the other human beings in this immense planet who believe in any other manifestation of God are condemned to the fires of hell

-By Paulo Coelho

The Perfect Heart

Republished From Paulo Coelho's Blog: Reader's Story

A young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it.
But an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said,
“Your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.”
The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly but full of scars. It had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in … but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. The young man looked at the old man’s heart and laughed.
“You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine … mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”
” “Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking … but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love….. I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them … and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges.
“ Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away … and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges … giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too … and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?”
The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man.
The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart.
It fit …. but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.
The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since lovefrom the old man’s heart flowed into his.

Hey Gorgeous!

Move over all ye stylish star moms: Angelina Jolie, Katie Holmes, Jennifer Lopez and the likes. Here is the very real, quintessential Indian beauty.
Smiling with abandonment, the jet black hair waving synchronously with the waves, skin shining with the pinkness of health, polka-dotted dress hung stylishly over her slender shoulders with the dark-blue straps caressing her shoulders softly. Figure the right amount of slimness and voluptuousness, will give any unaware mom a run for her money. The boys held close to her heart up, close and personal, absorbing the magic of the great Indian 'Jaadu ki Jhappi' lending their closeness the form and outline of a human heart. Watch for the outside contours of the trio united and you will know. Everything about this pic is mystical, even the large balloon (Oh, I know it is called a parachute) like a mini-rainbow in the background. The waves come running to her to touch and feel her, but in a slow, gentle motion. Am I also as gorgeous and mesmerising as you are? the mighty ocean wonders.
3 cheers to gorgeous Ruchi at Turks and Caicos Islands!!

We are Hi-touch, but C U L8rR!

"We had the railways, the hawkers, the coolies, the rickshawwallahs. We tried to recreate both the order and chaos of India. We could have gone hi-tech, but we didn't. China is hi-tech. We're hi-touch. We're a tactile nation. It was all about touching lives, bonding."

                        - Prasoon Joshi on Commonwealth Games 2010 Opening Ceremony

"Thumbs down The result of two million years of evolution: C U L8R.

The great biological watershed that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom and puts us on top of the evolutionary heap on this planet is our opposable thumb: our ability to fold our thumb against our fingers which enables us to hold things. Things like tools, and weapons, and paintbrushes, and pens, and screwdrivers. Other animals don't have the opposable thumb. That is why no animal other than man could have constructed the wheel, made spears and knives (and, later, AK-47s and nuclear bombs), written the works of Kalidas and Shakespeare, made the Taj Mahal and sent rocket ships to the farthest reaches of our solar system. The story of human civilisation is the story of our opposable thumb. No opposable thumb, no human civilisation. And no text messages on our mobile phones.The great biological watershed that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom and puts us on top of the evolutionary heap on this planet is our opposable thumb: our ability to fold our thumb against our fingers which enables us to hold things. Things like tools, and weapons, and paintbrushes, and pens, and screwdrivers. Other animals don't have the opposable thumb. That is why no animal other than man could have constructed the wheel, made spears and knives (and, later, AK-47s and nuclear bombs), written the works of Kalidas and Shakespeare, made the Taj Mahal and sent rocket ships to the farthest reaches of our solar system. The story of human civilisation is the story of our opposable thumb. No opposable thumb, no human civilisation. And no text messages on our mobile phones...........................................By now my thumb is sore with all the effort. But the game of SMS ping-pong isn't over. I get another message: WHR? I look up the SMS dictionary I've bought and confirm that WHR? means WHERE? Where? Where - or rather, what - is the shortest location to text? I steel my thumb to one last effort: HRE. And let the other guy figure out which HRE (HERE) I mean when i say - or rather, text - HRE (HERE).

Why do we do it? Why do we SMS? When it's so much less effort, and less costly, to just phone up and talk to the person instead of all this back-and-forth SMSing? We do it because telecoms, which make more money on SMSs than on calls, have convinced us that SMSing is KEWL (COOL) while calling is UNKEWL (UNCOOL). Besides, what else but to SMS with do you (U) think Darwinian selection gave you (U) your (UR) opposable thumb?

Putting an ice pack on my traumatised thumb, I reflect that a medieval instrument of torture was called a thumbscrew. Are SMSs the 21st century's thumb screw?"

                - Jug Suraiya in The Times Of India

This all published in the today's edition of ToI.
The Horizon is always there waiting. Touch the Horizon, please!!

A place in the sun

6th October is the prestigious National Institute of Immunology's Foundation Day. Alumnis remain as alumnis. And memories remain.

NII is a real beauty, may be scarred occasionally. It is beautiful because it is the kind of workplace where you can see and feel the pinkish-orange sunset and listen to the pitter-patter of raindrops and smell the musky smell of the damp earth while you go about doing your experiments to discover exactly what Nature is. The cool breeze envelops us tight and secure. The undulating roads inside curving gently let us know that life's curves are gentler still. Architecture is to be seen to be admired.

Countdown to Foundation Day. Dumb charades, nukkad naataks, musical chairs, treasure hunt, rangoli, badminton matches, carroms among others weaved the fabric to drape on the D-day itself.

Over to the D-day. The regal auditorium looked resplendent. Scientists and students and families alike wore the colors. Rahul's drumming was electric as is his persona even today. Him sharing the stage with Ayub, students and others, I was awestruck seeing Rahul, the scientist, take over as Rahul, the drummer. Beats bang on blowing in a full-blown symphony synchronized with a student's voice or dance, the curls of his frizzled hairs his crowning glory, an elegant beard on his kind face, he would revel in being the master of the drum. Not even the orchestra players who came later on could match his magic.

Students sang, danced, did skits. Familiar? But mesmerising and full of clarity. Families were there in full force, not just as attendees, but participants as well. Kids, adolescents danced their way to Western beats beating even Shimak Davar in originality and movements. Dr. Majumdar's wife and daughter were regulars, his wife on the harmonium and young cute daughter dancing to the song of Holi.

Padma Shri Prof. S. E. Hasnain, mentor and guide at my Eukaryotic Gene Expression lab at NII, is an amalgamation of a courageous scientist, a good human being and most of all, a jovial persona and a ghazal listener, creating harmony at the workplace and at home. Nasreen ma'am, Sir's wife, is the divine complement of Sir. And oh! what a melodious name she has. I remember I saw her first in a photograph in the lab and thought she was a student! Blessed with youthfulness and elegance!! I admire this and wonder. And their leitmotif of life is caring, akin to God. Time to time, in my life, I have been told by people, even by strangers, that I am blessed indeed.

 I remember my lab full of  individuals who stood for everything that is nice and good in life, sharing yet finding their own little peaceful space. Sandeep and Bipasha, cute couple and my first teachers in Ph.D, are childhood sweethearts, travelling together through their kindergarten, school, college, Ph.D years further on. Amazing! They are thorough individuals with all the requisite humility of true scientists. I remember Sandeep giving me his own paper on a protein PPBP, and the very next day, he wanted to know my doubts on it!  It was a pleasant surprise to see that there was Saman too, my dearest friend, whom I had befriended much before in the RSH, and it was delightful to work with her. Irshad, Anjali, Akash, Parimalda, Venky, Natty and so many others all made the small lab a very energetic and congenial place. And wonder of wonders!, we worked listening to ghazals on the tape-recorder in the lab, absorbing the music and soothing our working minds. It all seems like a happy-go-lucky dream...

Know how Prof. G. P. Talwar, the Founder, connected with students. He would go all the way to RSH mess and check out the food that was being prepared for the students, the workforce! Nutrition first, work later was his fatherly touch.

Payyoli Express

The child in me reminisces the glee, the rising spirit, the surge of energy whenever Padma Shri P.T. Usha came centrestage.  Nicknamed very appropriately, Payyoli Express. Surrounded by a humble grit and boundless energy radiating, P.T. Usha made me feel secure.  Unflinching on tracks, eyes straight ahead, the athletic, lean body seeming to be in action even when waiting for the signal in that unique position of hers, the moment she would just catapult herself on tracks, every definable feature I would capture and absorb. I felt, I was catapulted so that while sitting on the sofa watching the sport on TV, I would start forward. Then come to senses. Watching every sprinting step of hers catching up on those ahead, I never felt a sense of failure. I knew she would win. And win she did.

I remember, at relay races, she would always be at the last position, final leg, on the track. Her team members would start, albeit slower than the competitors. I would see the team members falling way behind others. But I had an unflinching faith in P.T Usha. If she is there, no matter what, India will win against all odds.  Just as the baton came in her hands, she sprinted and sprinted running faster than the wind, or so it seemed. I transfixed all my senses on her. Faster, higher, stronger, she ran. And I run too, with my feet tightly bound at the small space they were in. Can Newton or Einstein explain that how I could run? And then I saw her feet on the finishing line, a split-second ahead of her nearest rival. And what I did? I shouted aloud that my mother would come running out of the kitchen. And jumped and jumped, not my mother, but I.

Masterpiece!!

This one is an enigma as it is! Click in the middle to see the vid..

Hum along!!

Opening with Commonwealth Games and Keshav!

Keshav! Another name for Lord Krishna!!
Commonwealth Games 2010, the first one in India!
My blog, the first one!

Keshav! What better way than to start writing my first post spiritually, much like a hymn chanted at the beginning of a day at school, at home, at work.

The seven-year young child prodigy who played Tabla at the opening ceremony of Commonwealth Games 2010. First glimpse, and the kiddo stole my heart away!!

Breathtakingly fresh, wide smile covering his entire face, perfectionist easily, infectious joy intermingling with rhythmic body and hand movements. An aura of being Himself, amidst the orderliness of men. His eyes dreamy; but the dreams were real, not abstract.

To me, he was, without doubt, the soul of the entire show.

Watch the links for the sheer joy and lightness of Life: