SaptRangi

I was enjoying a ride on a 2-wheeler on a beautiful evening on a sunday, happy on the way back after shopping for my rider.... It was cool non-rainy evening at the end of the monsoons. I suddenly felt cold at a spot on my hand then on my forehead only to realize drops of rain were happily sayin hi-hello to us earthlings. I just raised my head to enoy the slight showers when Lo! Someone up der had painted the most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen in person! It went from the extreme left of the sky that I could lay my eyes on to the extreme right... It was just so breath-taking I couldnt take my eyes off it. I was speachless for a while.
Each of the 7 colors were so very distinct, it could be used to actually teach wat a rainbow looks like to someone unaware of this natural phenominon. I could so distinctly make out the Violet from the Indigo from the Blue from the Green from the Yellow from the Orange from the Red. I have mostly seen rainbows which are all blurred into a violetish-bluish shade merging in to a lemon yellow following into an orange tint... If what we generally see is a spray-painted rainbow each color smudging into its neighbour, this time it was a very effortful painting first sketched and then filled in with colors restricted to der own space... and the effort consistent from this corner to that very end. The beautiful evening blue sky crowned with this tiara....


As the evening progressed to sun-down nearing 7 PM, the rainbow slowly started blending into the sky, loosing its sharpness. I could see the clouds behindthe rainbow through it. Wat a sight ... colorful clouds along a rainbow.... something very novel for me.


As the sky darkened further, the rainbow lost itself in the evening, leaving behind golden clouds adorning the sky towards the west. This time the clouds had a golden lining.


I was sooo yearning for my camera during the ride, I couldnt click any pics to share but this has been left etched in my mind for a looong long time to come. Also I noticed one thing ... We have a lot of beauty around us, Just that we dont always notice it in our busy life, our heads full of thoughts restricted to us alone!

Strength

I was waiting for the train on the Dadar fast train platform - busy with people bustling, minding their own business, running around into their own world.... Just then this small girl catches my attention. She was descending the slope off the foot over bridge - a pack of deflated and folded cardboard boxes on her head, balancing with her hands. Must have been just 3 years or so... I noticed a man alongside her with much bigger bags full in both his hands. As they were approaching the platform, the lil girl slipped or lost her balance and suddenly fell to the ground. To my surprise, she aint crying, she doesnt even look hurt or sad. She just got up matter-of-factly, up on her feet. Tidied herself up and reached for her luggage. Picked it up and went to the man she was accompanying to hug his leg - thts where she could reach him. The man just gave her a pat on her back and then picked up for her luggage, adding it to the already full bags he was carrying. They they walked along ahead on their way...
I thought the girl would cry, show some discomfort, atleast crinkle her nose, twitch her face - but there was none. She just got up to her feet calmly and carried on. How strong! was my next reaction. The man, possibly her father or perhaps a caretaker - very lucky - he didnt have to calm her down or pick her up. But shes so young, so tiny, so delicate... how can she be so strong? Is the world around her so cruel to make such a small girl so strong?......

I woke up.. a Pirate!

Early morning, the koyal singing its tunes wakes me up. With only 1 eye open, I tear apart the morning scene around me ... The sun is already up the surroundings bright and happy. The palms in front of me sway with the wind. Birds chirp. Its a bright beautiful morning. Then i turn around to see myself in front of me ... in the mirror .. ahh alas i woke up to face the reality ... I was in my room n my right eye was swollen n stuck up due to heat ... There goes adventure for a toss!

Poor lil flying creature

I was traveling to office in a regular 2nd class ladies compartment of the Mumbai local. Happy to have got a comfortable seat I opened up my novel and started reading it. In a while, I noticed sum ‘hulchul’ in the compartment. Wat do I see… The women near the door were all looking down at the floor of the compartment. Somebody must have dropped something. But their focal point kept shifting as if something was moving. And no1 wanted to reach for it. Instead they were all moving away! There were hush and heys all over. I realized in a while there was a biiig bug in the compartment. Must have flown in through the door and landed on the floor. It started walkin in seeing that there is quiet some place in the compartment this morning. Probably was looking for a window seat as in continued its trail inside… Ladies started makin way for the creature, being cautious that it does not land on them or they don’t land on it … Thankfully no 1 yet had tried to kill it or stamp it. As it neared me, I saw it was walkin at ease not hurrying through the compartment, as if not wanting to make any1 conscious. It was similar to a cockroach, though much bigger in size… say 3 to 4 inches in addition to its 1 –2 inches long antennae. Wat struck me the most is that the creature had 2 wings in 2 different colors! 1 was a shade of gray. The other had beautiful patterns in green-blue. May be it was injured or sumthing… how else can u explain 2 wings so very different?? This might be just the reason why it came in to rest. It was not even flying. Just walking peacefully… hmmm. While all these things were going on in my mind, the bug continued its tour of the compartment; unaware to the scare it had spread to its co-passengers… There were girls that gave up their seat so that the uninvited guest does not harm them. I just kept my feet up staying put at my seat. Among all the ladies, then came this smart young Samaritan. She asked others to calm down and pleaded not to kill the unusual commuter. She got a paper she had in her bag to try pick up the bug so she can put it out. But alas the paper was too small n light. Lookin at that another woman was carrying a wedding invitation. She promptly gave the thick envelop to the lady. As she stood there calculating her next move, another aunty came in, took the envelop and opened it up to hold it near the bug such that it could just walk into the cover. The bug, when it saw this big white bright corner in front of it, initially hesitated. It just put 1 foot inside to check on the cover. All of its senses mighta been in action to assess whether it should walk in or not. It then found it safe and happily walked in without any push or external force. The envelp was big enough to keep the bug in safely. All of this was goin on in the last corner of the compartment. By this time many women had moved to the door to avoid any interaction wid the bug. Aunty then carried the cover towards the door and again the women there were going helter skelter to avoid contact now even with the aunty … Fear - it makes otherwise sane people behave in such wonderous ways… Aunty just poured the bug out of the envelope, out of the train and returned the envelope back to the owner. Wonder if she hung on to it or threw it out right at that moment. This brought back peace in the compartment. And people then resumed their journey. Aunty got a place to sit and was definitely thanking the bug as only it had emptied the seats. I hope the bug had found a safe place to land. Hope it didn’t hurt itself further. Hope its now healing and off to a healthy life ahead. I wonder if it were a female bug to get into the ladies compartment in broad daylight :) hehe Happy journey everyone.
- May 2008

Wat can I say ... I came across another similar incident today ... 2 years after the initial incident. This time i was armed with my cell cam to capture what had made the otherwise calm ladies in the compartment go helter-skelter - a praying mantis. Looks like these bug(gers) can get the same reactions out of ladies every single time :D Take a look at the star of the journey today :)
- July 2010

Peace on the roads

The rickshaws declared the strike... Man! .. The first thing that came to my mind - now that sooo many people are sooo dependant on these rickies it will complete havok on the roads! What will poeple do?? In fact, I myself get into these situations sometimes, when i have to reach my pick up point and I am late. N guess what .. it happened exactly the day of the strike - I had to literally run to the stop... But what do i see on the roads? It was so peaceful- no traffic, no honking, no drrrrrr sounds of the noisy riks! It was so lovely and you could actually see the roads raher than jush the traffic moving at a snail pace. Reach office and most people have the same opinion .. Much peaceful travel to work... Reached so soon... N most importantly .. less pollution! U didnt need an oxygen mask on the roads that day! Wow!! Hurray to the rickshaw strike! :) Even people depending on the public transport were happy. One of them said "Lets support the Rickshaw Walla strike for whatever the cause; something good has come out of it."
I know Rickshaws are required. We cant do completely without them. But the amount of rikkies on the roads in the city today has gone up too high I realized that day. N we can easily do without that big a number grrrrring on our roads, making it difficult for us to breath. I think the authorities need to take another look at this. What say guys?

Bring on the color!

We had a painting competition in our office. Very excited, I gave my name, thinking I cud revisit those fun times – not that I excel in painting… wait … excel?? Do I even know painting? Yup … wats in painting… All u need is a paper, a brush n sum fun colors n u r done :) Dip the brush in the paint n get it on the paper in the pattern u desire… hehe Well when the workloads not too much I think tryin ur hands at some things new is definitely the way to go…. :) Never know … u might get a hidden treasure within u … Hidden talent … that’s wat I found der that afternoon … not in me as such but in all the wonderful people that I spend my day with….

A handful of us gathered in r recreation room – normally called the TT room … very often the meeting venue of r company … It’s the BIIG room of r office that easily camouflages the way we want it too. :)

The TT table served as r desks… A collection of pencils, erasers, sharpeners, brushes of various sizes, wide range of water colors– tubes n bottles, palates, water n tissues sat together comfortably. Each of us was provided with a sheet as we entered the room. All of us enthusiasts took r places to start. At that moment, my mind went as blank as the sheet… Wat do I draw?? People were all prepared! They instantly started with their pencil work. Some drew beautiful Disney characters. Some others started sketching beautiful nature on their sheets. As I sat there, I remembered the pillow cover my mum had made for me when I was a kid. It had a beautiful phrase surrounded with colorful flowers that wud get me ready for the day. I decided to do the same here on my sheet of paper. Not that it was the best thing to do for a painting competition but I was der to have fun :)

Having done with the lettering with the pencil, it was time to start with colors. But looking around I found out that people had already reached too far … n I had a long way to go… As I took the brush in my hands, I realized how long it had been I had dun this… Well let’s begin with the base color for the pillow color. I chose a light shade of orange. Dabbing the wet sheet with a tissue gave it a beautiful pattern. Sumthing unplanned gave such a nice effect. Wow! I was already enjoying this so much. I shud b doin this more often yaar! Being a computer professional, it’s so difficult to just write some words on a piece of paper neatly and beautifully. Now doin the same with a paintbrush!! oooohh. But I managed. It didn’t turn out very uniform but nonetheless, very colorful n readable :) hehe. Now all I needed to do was to adorn it wid flowers. So wat pattern, size? Ahh just chuck it… all I did was take the brush, dip it in the color n place the brush hair horizontally on the paper in a circular pattern. 4-6 petals made a beautiful smiling flower :) wow. Now these beauties went all over the sheet in different colors. N voila! I was done. Satisfied, I submitted my entry.

In the meantime, the people who had started with me were also either all done or almost done, giving it their final touch. Cinderella running away leaving behind a shoe as the clock struck XII... A happy yellow tweety flying over some bright beautiful flowers... A branch of a fully bloomed red hibiscus... The outside of a house with amazing rose pots n other creepers... Butterflies flooding over blooms... A pigeon carrying the message of peace on the earth... Great! The afternoon really turned out to be really colorful n imaginative! I shud b doing this more often. Art brings out so much…

Now n again, the room was filled with all r anxious colleagues to check wat v had been up to… Some of them, unable to contain themselves, took up a sheet themselves n started painting. Wow! Onlookers who were now participating … That’s just great. Trapped in art... thts wat id say ;) One just simply started directly with a brush n made a beautiful scene. I wud just love to sit there under the shade of that tree on the cool green lawn on the bright day. Then there was an appu among green trees... There were more flowers and birds… There was a nice twilight scene with pink sea n palm trees n a couple of boats away from the shore… A modern day tiranga like on the cover of A R Rehman’s Vande Mataram. Wow man!

While all this was happening, I just cudnt keep quiet or go away from that fun zone. I took up a small sheet of paper, folded it right in the center and used the tube colors to get the mirror image like outcome. It was a hot favourite during school times. N fun to do even now.

Finally it was time to end the session. The judging would soon start. I had no tensions no expectations … but definitely wanted to get to know the results. Vande Mataram was the winner, with other nature scenes n Disney characters to follow.

The colorful event is over but has given me sumthing to look forward to when I have sum time to spare n some batteries to recharge... hehe Happy Painting…

Romance the majestic moon

My friend was dropping me home at night on his bike. We were on the eastern express highway. Smooth traffic God weather (As can be in Mumbai in the hot and humid month of April!). It was so cool. I just took my eyes off the road to look around. Instantly, I wished I had a cam! On my right up in the dimly lit sky, the moon was as if hiding behind a veil of clouds fluttering in the air. A strong ray of light from that majestic light emitting body came down to meet the city lights. Very close to being full, the moon was all big, round and bright. Whatever of it was out of the veil was clearly visible. The makeup with the craters, the shades… it was all just too romantic. Just like no common man is allowed to go close to the Majesty, there were no stars in that part of the sky. All u need at a tome like this is a pro cam wid a tripod to get a great shot of the heavenly body OR the love of ur life next to you holding ur hand! I was just lucky to have seen that beautiful scene…