What We Fail to See

Today I went to coffee shop nearby my office, with a friend. We sat next to the glass window of the shop with ‘hot n strong’ cappuccinos in our hands. Pretty soon we got into busy conversation on movies, TV shows and the like. While all this was going on, I could feel that something else was happening very close to me that I needed to pay attention to. I had been staring at it for quite some time too, but failed to register the beauty of it. It was then that my friend unexpectedly asked me where all the leaves were falling from, outside our glass window, onto the railings. Suddenly I realized what the beautiful sight was that I had been missing.

The coffee shop that we were in, is located inside a petrol station, where there are no trees nearby the windows. So the leaves falling should not be a natural occurrence there. So where did the leaves come from? I knew the answer too – the leaves were being brought by a pair of sparrows, one by one, and dropped near the window so that they could build a nest between some gap in between the window and the parapet. The leaves were carefully plucked fresh out of ornamental palm plants that were grown near a distant wall of the petrol station.

We, human beings, are very busy people doing nothing great but stressing out. We have time for only us and just us. We preach about living in unison with nature, but we fail to understand what nature is made of. At that moment, I realized that nature is made of much more efficient beings like the sparrows that I failed to notice or the ants and bees that provide for most of the activities on earth. They are not as blessed beings as us, human beings, who have the gift of intelligence and the ability to think. We make use of our intelligence make the world a better place to live for our species, and we hardly bother about what the rest of the nature needs. And most of the time, we fail to realize that by ignoring the need of the nature; we are ignoring the danger of getting our planet destroyed.

I recently read a post by someone on a social networking site which goes something like this “Man destroys nature and deprive other beings of food and shelter to build his empire(s), and call it development. But when a natural calamity brings down his empire, he calls it devastation”. That is the paradox in our very existence. We develop but ultimately end up destroying. A recent survey says that the population of honey bees has come down by 33% or so in recent times; the major cause for which is reasoned to be the exponentially increasing number of mobile network towers being installed, the  signals from which resulting in wide miscommunication among the worker bees of a hive. This has brought about shorter lifespan for the bee community due to inadequate nourishment (Please read this article).

Honey bees contribute significantly to pollination for flowers and hence vegetation. I hope you see the depth of the issue here. It is ultimately affecting the whole food chain that includes the human race too unfortunately, in an alarming way. Sadly it seems to be too late to prevent this, as we know that going back to the age of no mobile phone usage is more than impossible for our generation. Technology is cool and greatly appealing, but ultimately we are being made slaves of the same.

I know this might not be an ideal read for many of us, and I am not pointing out a solution to anything here too. I happen to have these thoughts and hence felt like putting them down somewhere.

Life in a Box

Have you ever known this fact about fishes? The growth of fishes in a tank is confined by the total volume of the tank. If the same fish were to be brought up in a big pond, it would have grown double or triple the size in the tank. The major reason for this is the stress the fish has to endure due to living in a confined environment. Added to this, living in the same water for longer periods of time accumulates growth inhibitors secreted by the fish which inturn results in restricted growth and shortened lifespan.

The reason why I mentioned this here is that I want all of us to think… What is common between a fish in a tank and almost all of us? In a way, most us live in motion restricted tanks too. We are restricted by out aims. Many of us have similar life patters of being born, getting preliminary education, going to college, gaining professional education and gaining a reputed job with a good enough salary package/or doing own business that pays us well. We migrate to large cities to accomplish this dream of ours/our parents/near and dear ones…. But we do not realize that more than gaining, we end up losing…

We too are restricted in our growth by the confined life of going to office, coming back exhausted, sitting idly in front of TV, sleeping, waking up in the morning, going to office… And during weekends, we have no time to enjoy either… We hardly exercise, go places, spend quality time with family… And what is the result? All sorts of illnesses, depressions, premature births of babies (which by the way is something very common in our generation). We enjoy sports and games, but only on television… How many of us do regularly find time and company to play one game which involves physical activity?

We are indeed fishes in a tank… with hardly any space to breathe and constantly competing among ourselves to survive… I recently read an article about the island of Ikaria, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. This is called the “island where people forget to die”. There is a considerable number in the population who are well above their 80’s and 90’s leading very healthy and active lives than many of us in the 20’s in cities. This is just an example of what we can do with our lives, when we are in close relationship with the Mother Nature.

Please do not misunderstand me when you read this. I do not want to tell you to leave all your work and other responsibilities and migrate to some village so that you could live in unison with the nature. All I want to tell you is that the more advanced we bring our lifestyle, the more complicated it becomes, and we eventually end up forgetting to live… 

What Life is to Me

To me, life is like a game of volleyball (sorry guys, I can't think of any other game to illustrate this :D). It is all about teamwork, anticipation, alertness, concentration, communication, and always being on the move.


As you all now, volleyball is a game that is based on teamwork. Six members of the team take up six positions on their side of the court, to see that a ball that comes from the other side of the net does not touch the ground of their side of the court. The game asks for proper communication and understanding among the team members. The language used here is more than any spoken one. It is composed of words, symbols and body-language of each of the team members. Even without intending to do so, many a time players tend to set the mode of the game by the air they create in the team (which can be excitement, optimism, alertness, stress, distress, pessimism etc.).


While playing, each of the players have to have anticipation. By anticipation what I mean is that the players should be always thinking that the ball from the other side of the court is going to come to him/her. It does not mean that this player should encroach another player's position to save a ball, but be ready to save the ones that come near his/her playing position. For this, he/she has to be on the move at all times, and this is a key to victory in any game. Standing at one point, and waiting for the ball to come to him/her contributes to inertia of rest (thanks to Sir. Issac Newton), which is very difficult to be overcome. On the contrary, being on constant move will reduce the player's reaction time in turn will quicken the player's reaction, which ultimately pays.


Same is the case in every field of life. Nobody in this world can live alone. All of us get into one or the other team knowingly or unknowingly. Just observe around us once in a while. Be it work, home, grocery shop, or mall; everything about a team, as I've described in this post, can be identified in the activities that we engage ourselves in. When we are on the constant move, alert and ready with a positive attitude, we reap excellent results, and when it is the opposite, we end up failing.


It is as simple as that. :)

The Beauty of My Village

The term village brings to me only one image; that of the little place where I grew up. Till I came to stay there (I started staying there at the age of 10), I never liked the idea of going there. My grandparents stayed there alone till we joined them. We used to occasionally visit them before that.

My house is in a hilly terrain in the district of Kottayam in Kerala. The place is called Karikkattoor. Those of you who have heard about Kottayam will know about the rubber plantations there. My village is no different. The highlight of the place is acres and acres of rubber plantations. But that’s not all that the people in there do. If you take a trip round the place, you will get to see all sorts of vegetation in there like jackfruit trees, mango trees, coconut and other palm trees, tapioca plantations, little bit of vanilla cultivation, coffee,  pepper, ginger, other vegetables, many flowering plants, etc. Almost all houses there have cattle sheds with cows or buffaloes or goats and poultry sheds for chicken.

  

Most of the households around there are self sufficient in vegetables and fruits and milk. Almost all people, irrespective of whether they are men, women, or children, know to work in the fields. People there live pretty much in harmony with nature. The best part is that everyone in there has at least primary or middle-school education which enables them to read and write Malalayam as well as English. Education is given the highest priority in every house in there. Many of the families there have some or all of their kids as graduates or post graduates and higher in all possible disciplines.

One important aspect of a village is that everybody there knows almost all other people living in there both by name and face. It is kind of a boon as well as a bane for you. It is a boon because you have many friends around. It is a bane because rumors both good and bad spread around like wildfire in the whole village. People tend to know all about you in no time even before you know it.

Keeping that one factor apart, life in a village is to be cherished lifelong. A village in Kerala is never a bad place to live in. My childhood was filled with new experiences every day. My school was around 15 kilometers away from my house and the trip to school was scenic. The route was through the banks of a famous stream named “Manimala Aaru”. During winter times, I could see bushes of fog formed over water in the stream while going to school in the morning. One could see small hills covered in greenery on either side of the road.

In a village like mine, you can drink water from anywhere without second thoughts. At my home we have always had water from the well dug in our backyard, and I can confidently say that water from nowhere else has tasted so great to me.

All my memories of the village are filed with colors, and interesting activities. My life there was filled with enthusiasm, joy and creativity. There is always some sort of a positive vibration going around me when I’m there. I tend to be happy there whether I’m alone or in a company of friends and family.

Story of my HERO IMPACT

I was one of those kids whose parents would get them stuff even before they got a notion about those. I got my first tricycle when I was 2 and half years old, if my mom’s claim has to be believed. When I was 6 years old, I got a small bicycle, which had side wheels fixed on the rear-wheel. This cycle had the name “Daasan” written on its seat (it was a local brand). I was in high spirits when I got that. I was engrossed on gaining balance as soon as possible and so I made my mom take those side wheels away within a week. And in a week and a half of getting that bicycle, I could ride it without any support. I was elated, proud of myself.

Every evening, I would yearn to reach home so that I could take out my bicycle and ride it; so that I could show off my riding skills in front of my friends. But, Daasan was just a small bicycle. My importance among my friends vanished, when my best friend started riding a full size bicycle (his uncle’s), even though he wasn’t even as tall as the bicycle and had to ride it in a standing position.

So, at the age of 8 years, I lost interest in my Daasan. That was when I started bugging my parents for a bigger cycle, full sized one. My parents could never understand me. Indeed, why would any parent approve of an 8 year old child’s request for a huge bicycle? But I never gave up. My parents must have had a tough time on deciding whether they should buy one for me, but finally one day they decided to surrender and mom took me with her to the bicycle shop. I think she thought that I would withdraw when I come close to my object of demand, due to its size, but it never happened. And so I became the proud owner of my Hero Impact. Hero had just launched that model a week before my purchase of it.

I couldn’t wait to ride it, so as soon as we reached home, even before getting inside the house, I got on the bike. Obviously I was scared, but my desire to master balance on it overpowered the fear. I couldn’t ride it that day. But next day my mom asked me to go and get milk from the shop nearby, and I took my Impact with me. I was walking with it, but it was very enjoyable. And soon enough I gained balance on it, and rode it pretty efficiently. I would ride for sometime while pedaling in a standing pose, and when I gained enough speed would sit on the seat, feet released from the pedals.

Life was exciting with Impact and friends, and it went on like that for one year. My life changed when my parents got transferred, and we shifted to our grandparents’ house, the next year. This house is in a village, and the terrain is hilly and the population scanty. That was it. I never got permission to ride the cycle alone, outside the courtyard of my house, and that was unbearable. This effected in gradually fading my interest in the cycle. Soon it came to a state that I never touched the cycle at all. Over the years, it rested in our garage and finally I decided to give it to a small boy who stays in our neighborhood.

The man who has influenced me the most

When I say that there is a man who has had the greatest influence on me, it is none other than my grandfather.  He is a great man, though he never will acknowledge that. I don’t exactly remember when I came to consider him my role model. But I can confidently say that there is no other person in this world who has gained more respect from me.

When I was a child, I remember, I used to be very scared of my grandfather. He is a retired school head master. He is tall, lean and healthy. He was never very good at dealing with children, and hence generally kept away from me. He has a very booming voice, which I guess, had contributed to my fear factor.

During those days, my parents and I used to stay at a different place from my grandparents house and came home only once in two weeks. My grandfather used to coach girls from the village, to play volleyball. He has coached hundreds of students so far, from whom he never asked anything in return as kind or cash. Those were mostly children from poor or lower middle class families, the parents of who found it extremely difficult find enough resources to send them to school. This is one aspect about him that has had an influence on me.

My grandfather was never at ease with kids. He considered that it would be better to keep them at bay. My grandfather’s approach to kids changed, I can say, drastically after spending one whole year with my brother, aged 2, when my parents had no one to look after him back where we stayed. I reckon only after that did he start appreciating the fun one could have with kids around.

The next turning point was when my parents got transferred to branches (they work in bank) nearby my grandparents’ house and we shifted our residence to that house. I was about 10 years old then. The friendship that formed between my grandfather and me was gradual. But the bonding has turned out to be very strong.

I have told you he was a school headmaster when he retired. In fact he is much more than that. I call him a walking encyclopedia. He has the knowledge gained through extensive reading. He was my story narrator, studying partner, teacher, and many more. He is the best story teller I have ever come across. Though it was my brother who changed my grandfather’s approach to children, it was I who gained maximum out of him. My interest in science interested him, I suppose. His knowledge about different subjects always amazed me. He could talk about any subject so extensively and informatively that I could actually visualize what he was explaining.  When he narrates a story, you experience being in the scene of the story.

After my tenth standard in school, I left home to do my higher school and college education. But the bonding between my grandfather and me has stayed intact or rather grown stronger over the years. It is delighting to realize that both of us enjoy each others’ company a great deal.