At Om Beach

The undone world with its pink lotus moon, sits on the sand smoking what could be coconuts. Friends recant stories and try to kill memories on the rocks. Cinnamon smells, ankle bells, shimmering voices and ribald LEDs displace the moonlit waves. The brow rings and tattoos on drained bodies, ebb with the tide. Puppies snatch attention from twirled moustaches as caffeine incites me to dance. The wind pairs Canna and plain vanilla tobacco in the same shacks, and they breed glowing ships that float out of the misty horizon. Mosquitoes suck on barbecued skin while intellect is distracted by Bollywood. Glass clinks and plastic strips. At the end of days, when nostrils are deaf and eyes tired, music guides the ears to dreams.

A Dive not regretted

She rose out of her ocean, knowing very well that she had to go back, and came crashing onto me - a strong, sultry sinuous wave. Unexpectedly overwhelmed, I didn't stop to think. Submerged in the swirling salty pools of passion, we made 'Love' try to drown itself for its inadequacy to describe us. Our souls floated like fragrant fronds of mist on the surface, trying to breathe for us. We knew she had to go, yet promises were made in duplicate upon the stars reflected on the waters. The wish to keep it a short, sweet secret disappeared with the froth. The night grew older without us ... Then Time yawned at twilight. At the first harsh rays of reality, she left. I was unable to stop her then and later foolishly stretched the seas all day with the tides. At last I finished my 'Mystery of the Drowning Sun', but was left back only with sheets stained red.

No, this is not a passage out of a M&B. Just something I fantasised up to beat the yellow-grey 4 pm heat at the Tarkarli beach where I happened to be lying. I had just come out of a dive and various elements of it were floating in my head... & so I used up all references to the Sea I could remember.

It was a thrilling day... the beginning of my underwater life maybe. My first try at Snorkelling. It was an especially good start as I could dive by & below the ramparts of one of India's most beautiful sea-forts, Sindhudurg. [Map here]

The Sunday morning begged me to stay away from the regular beachy crowd and try out something new. Getting to the west-facing Chiwla beach is itself a joy when you walk through the coconut lined streets of Malvan. People gave various estimates from 10 minutes to ten kilometers... but I suppose its about a kilometer North of the Malvan Jetty and two from the Bus Terminus. A walk is always good as its nice to suddenly come upon this very beautiful beach and just plop down in the sand cooling your heels, literally.

For a focussed programme like Snorkelling, its always good to fix up with some pros to begin with. We were lucky to get the acquaintance of the very experienced group run by Anway Prabhu, who himself is a good diver and quite familiar with the seas around Malvan. If you choose to snorkel close to Chiwla, you have the option to dive near the rock garden. A boat is arranged that takes you a kilometer in the sea and there you get onto a stationary boat that is to be your base. On this, the basics of snorkelling are explained by the divers already in the water and then the kits are distributed. Depending on the diver guides present, one person is assigned to each. The kit itself is a simple setup of a tube with valves which you have to use to breathe through your mouth. The other part is a mask with tempered-glass covered eye-holes for good underwater vision and a sealed enclosure for your nose, so you can forget that it exists. Take two minutes to familiarise yourself and its an easy job henceforth.

I was quite favoured by the tides that day as they rose & it became difficult to see much after the first group returned. So we travelled to shallower waters on the sides of Sindhudurg! That was like living a fantasy. Just a few years back I was here with Amit on one of our first memorable, independent trips and there I was today about to dive to the base of the same sea fortress! A 5-km boat ride got us to the site. I put on my kit and got into those waters that had eluded me on the previous trip...

Although the Arabian sea is opaque & greenish on the Indian coastline, it is quite clear where shallow. That was my first reaction when I stuck my masked head underwater - its all so clear! I was suddenly in a new fluid, green world. The refraction of light makes everything come closer to you. The lapping waves on the surface catch the sunlight and send arrows of it shooting past you into the depths below. I was floating mesmerised by this when I suddenly came across my first Zebra fish! I had been made to float with a lifebuoy and hence was flat on my tummy. It was swimming right under me... followed by another. It was tough to believe that this was real. I did a thumbs-up to Anway, who was pointing out things to me. I had been told to refrain from speaking or moaning when looking down, for obvious reasons. But soon many fish varieties kept showing up & I don't know how Anway was seeing them as well as telling me what they were. I could see his finger pointing and his voice identifying them. Lets see, how many of them I remember having seen... the striped yellow & black Zebra fish (I doubt the identification), a Clown fish (Nemo!), a few Parrot fish pecking at the rocks, various types of Butterfly fish, the flat Angel fish, the Surgeon fish with its scalpel-like spine, the transparent, small Glass fish & a beautiful Coral Grouper.

Getting to see the last one was an experience in itself. We had turned away from the fort at some point and now were in 10-15 feet of water when Anway suddenly disappeared. He resurfaced with a tubular brown floppy 'thing' and told me to touch it. I hesitated first as it was almost alien! But it turned out to be just a Sea-cucumber and I was thrilled as I'd read about it recently in a book by A.C.Clarke (in fact I was so eager to snorkel coz of that book). He went down to replace it and I was waiting with an irrefutable request when he was back. I wanted to see some corals and dive without the float... & he had to teach me now or else I'd write badly about his group on my blog ;)

I was dragged through a shoal of glass fish and to a place where I could vaguely see some shapes down below. Off came the float and with a deep breath (a mistake), in I went to the floor with my feet skyward. Travelling 15 feet in a second or so, the pressure around my ears must have doubled and I had the sense to give out air through my mouth. Although it blurred my vision it saved my ears. I was told later that this needs to be done through the nose but I did fine for the purpose. However, the rewards of the dive were in the next second, when I came across a big brown Montipora (a genus of coral) spread like a giant oyster mushroom with a white lining. I reached out to touch it but did not press on it (as corals are fragile and take thousands of years to form what we see today). That was when I noticed the Coral Grouper lurking there. It was one of the most beautiful fishes I saw... Translucent brown with electric blue dots, it made me miss my camera for the first time in the day. But my mind clicked all the while as I came out of my dive.

It was wonderful to see the sunlight and get some air through my nose as I pulled up my mask. My first dive in the open sea was over and now it was time to explore some more shallows and get out. But not before thanking Anway again, who had been constantly dragging me to the right places and pointing out many fishes to me. The boat ride back, drying the salty water off my hair & my sunburnt back, saw all of us still in a reverie. I guess we hadn't had our fill as a few of us dived off the boat a few hundred meters from shore and swam in to tell the others what they had missed.



Update:
Here's the Calling card for Anway Underwater Service
Anway Prabhu : [ 9823857576 / 9766420038 ]
& a nice site for sea fish identification.

Apratim

I've always struggled with Marathi... and so, to bring a Marathi adjective out of me, the cause had to be Apratim... Incomparable.

The time was 06h:28m:30s on the 22nd July 2009. The place was the terrace of a local school in Bihar Sharif, India. The cause was the 2nd Diamond Ring from the spectacular Total Solar Eclipse I had just witnessed. I am now proudly, one of the few people in India who actually wanted to, travelled for and saw the eclipse.



Here is a video of the indescribable hysteria which prevailed...

About Thirty

Something got me thinking about my age last month.
"What is your age?" asked a nubile-sounding female on the other side of the phone. I was quite taken aback as I always remember my age approximately & I certainly don't need to give it out at a moment's notice! You see, I have always been confused by my age. Being 1979 born, I was in my first year and turned one in the zeroeth year of the new decade that was beginning. But my mind always tries to make things even and I always jumble up because I have to add 0 before my birthdate and 1 after it, to the ending digit of the present year, to get the units part of my age! Then I have to remember the decade part of it. It is such a concious calculation when I have to find my age... & it was so this time too.........
"About Thirty..." I blurted out after a few seconds. Too late! Already the joke was on me and I was assured that the query was only for booking my rail ticket.

This was still on my mind when I got on with the rail journey. I remember my first reaction to a kid calling me "Uncle". It was also on a train, but about 8 years back. "Kyon re? Yahan kaun Uncle dikhta hai tujhe?" :D I have already given up since and whichever kid wants to feel very young is now welcome to call me Samir Uncle. I am also tired of telling my students not to call me Samir Sir!

But I'm to write about an "old" habit & of course there's no need to point out that they die hard. During our home return journeys in the college days, most of our guy's gang wouldn't have confirmed tickets. The journeys would be more than 30 hours with us parked in any space which was legally & hygienically allowed on the train. We had to have some timepass & its anybody's guess what it would be. We would reach early and check out the reservation charts for which bogie had the most females in their 20's! That would then be our hangout while our luggage would be under the care of those supersmart people who had cared to reserve tickets 3 months back.

I did the same thing just for kicks and in two portions of my journey I had females "about my age" (eg. F 27, F 28 etc.) in the same coupe. And all of them happenned to have a kid or two of atleast 2 years age! Wow... Is it time I should be feeling Old or Strange? But sadly, they didn't look like they had been F23 or F25 just a few years ago. They did not even talk as much amongst themselves as those college girls during our flirty trips back home. Some kind of seriousness has descended upon them and the compulsory saari seemed to be to keep much more wound in it than it was apparently intended for. Is this the convention now for those about 30? I'm glad to find this missing in me.

I remember admiring someone 30+ recently because she was still freely doing what my mom would never have dreamt of because at her age, she already had a 15 year old kid! Although she accepted the complement, it wasn't without her eyes getting lost beyond me for a moment. The smile it drew was lopsided as if reacting to some irony/sarcasm she might have found hidden in the situation. Ageing singly is fun & tough...

So I am turning thirty this year... Ummm or is that finishing thirty years. Anyways, halfway through a statistical human life its quite early to waste time on an autobiography. Me being a young achiever in many places has had no effect in others breaking my record. And there are older people out there who I can always beat to some post. ;) But its heartening that I am sticking to many of my guns and am quite ready to face the social assaults that will start with the Jeetendra age - thirty plus. Another calculation mistake... My dad was 27 (& not 31) when he married & its gonna be tough to excuse myself saying "Oh you also married late!" I might be the first one to cross thirty amongst my friends' circle. Dont worry people I will let you know how it is to be on the other side...!


PS: I'm sure those pills are not necessary for 20-30 more years :D

Ooty me Chutti

The motley group has left. I have my bus to Bangalore at night, so am waiting as time passes. Lying on the lawn in the sun I find the grass alive with all sorts of insect drama...& the birds were singing such melodies to accompany that... My arena seems quite entertaining. The sunbird humming in the bush just besides me makes me feel like one of my childhood friends - Rima*. I could almost reach out and touch it. The sun glinting off its feathers, the bird meticulously picks up every hanging flower from the purple and white bunch and peers in for the coveted nectar.

Okay okay... for the ones who are really in the dark about where I am, I am in Ooty and since I have nothing to do now, the following is going to be a flashback at the trip...



Day 1: After another journey in a train AC, which included 18 hrs of sleep, reading 'The Little Prince', some group fun, lotsa yummy food and a pleasant surprise by Tanu [at Bangalore Cantt. ;)], I reached Coimbatore early in the morning. The bus ride to Ooty was about 3 hrs long... standing at the gate, eating plums and enjoying the views go past. The Nilgiri hills subjugate any feeling of pride that may be around in ones head. There are more reasons than one to call them to call them "breathtaking"... The air is fresh and crisp and the sight of the blue sky makes you take really deep breaths. :) The climb to Conoor, starting at Mettupalayam takes an hour. This is where we saw the first tea plantations. [I am resisting all temptations to compare it to Darjeeling]...Next stop Ooty...

The rain started just as we got into town. So we rushed to a local restaurant & had loads of rice with sambar, rasam, etc. on a banana leaf...! The time post repast was spent at the Railway station which is so quaint.

Our vehicle picked us up from there to take us to the campus of the Ooty Radio Telescope. yup... astronomy here too! The director of the institute, Dr.P.K. Manoharan is an admirable person. He has made all arrangements. :) It is an amazingly beautiful location 20 mins drive from Ooty. I've seen the telescope only in pictures as yet, but in reality it is awesome. The guest house is also cool.

Felt like running away from all people & instantly took a liking to the garden in front of the telescope control room. Greedily took all photos I could in half an hour. I was so charged up that I didnt feel the slightest of shivers roaming around in shorts and tees. The temperature was ~18 degrees!

This was followed by a loooong walk exploring the campus... Spent some time at the base of the telescope. There is a clearing there with a secret path that I can see leading into the thick jungle. But in the clearing, sitting on one of the posts of the telescope, one feels like the king of the place. I wish 'king nothing' had a crown :D The Daisy fields simply extend to the edge of everywhere... The birds sound so nice in the silence of the valley. I could make out the melodious robins, the hammering barbets, the whistling thrush, the ticking crickets and there were so many other sounds to find the origins of. Saw black faced macaques lazily eating eucalyptus leaves!!!

Later in the evening I took the jungle path into a village beyond. I went to look for the bus stop so I could get back into town. As soon as I stepped out of the campus gate, I noticed that the valley was covered with big veggie farms... potatoes, cauliflowers, beans, carrots & other stuff. There were tea gardens too a bit further away. Spotted the most adorable cows with their round black eyes... its been a long time since I watched a milkman milk one!!

It was time for sunset and the sky had clouded all over. But suddenly, out of somewhere, a sliver of gold came out & lit up the hill tops in the East... breathtaking sight... just stood there till the color faded and the village lights came on... [I ve stopped missing having a camera of my own]

There's a temple at the bottom of the valley and I'm sure it was playing some hindi songs... That's a surprise and needs to be checked as they have shifted to prayers at that moment.

A long walk in crisp cold air makes one really Hungry. By the way the lunches and dinners here are expected to be really uneventful, with lots & lots of rice and jokes.

Day 2: "Shiver shiver shiver... hey Where am I? & Why am I cold? Oh yeah I'm in Ooty and am supposed to be out exploring. giddyupppp...!"

After this self-intereaction, I brushed my white teeth with the yellow spring water that we get in the taps here. [Its supposed to be bacteria free but not mud free :D] & rushed to the garden. I had found these steps in front of the control room from where I had an awesome view of the telescope valley. I was trying one more skecth and so could use some entertainment. So yes... the village temple down below was playing hindi songs... Baazigar and DDLJ of all albums! Theres no harm enjoying them if you cant go switch them off.

The day was intended for going to the town for a touristy visit & the Sun was out. We walked to the village bus stand and stood there waiting. After seeing how packed the two buses that arrived were, Arvind decided that we hire an open roofed tempo for a ride!! It was a thrilling and unforgettable roller-coaster ride from Muthuvarai village to the 'city'...

The famous Botanical garden is about 3 kms from the main bus stand. Its a must see and the interested one should spare about three hours to fully explore it... spoilsports can ofcourse stay out. Took a few pics on a borrowed camera... [Thanx Kanad!] Well words are no good to describe them... so take a look!

The the rain came as I'd predicted. The lack of umbrellas of others is of course always a pleasure :D Got my shoes all wet walking in the rain. The best way around it was of course to buy a pair of chappals!

The rains here are mostly in the afternoon, when the warm humid air rises and cools suddenly. The orographic rain condenses on the hillslopes 'out of the blue' and its a 'good' experience if you are not a regular in Ooty. It might be wet on one slope and sunny on another.

Getting back in the back of a cramped Jeep was another experience. We at the back were almost hanging out of it. But the driver doesn't spare you the jolts just for that simple reason.

The evening was time for another nice walk with the kiddos. Took them exploring the local flora and fauna and we did some discoveries. There were so many varieties of conifers to identify and collect the cones from [and lots of hindi puns to make on the word 'cone' :D]. In this endeaour, we for the first time in our life discovered a specimen of the carnivorous pitcher plant! Finding a pool made by a stream and a tree with really big cones added to our joy. The best happenning was Dhruv finding a porcupine quill! All of us were very happy with our collection. I couldn't believe it that the kids, instead of being tired, played Jedi Knights on the climb up! :)

Day 3:

The first observation with the Ooty radio telescope was scheduled today! At ~12 noon we took readings of a celestial radio-galaxy. Its awesome to see the whole 530m x 30m structure move with such precision as to track an object in the sky. The Sun glinting off the wires stretched across the chasis, working as reflectors, almost made a rainbow...

We took some time free in the afternoon and went back to town to visit leftover places. Some lazybones stayed back & slept... ufff! It was all unplanned fun... One place not to miss in Ooty is the Thread Garden. Its a masterpiece of hardwork. A whole big garden with all its vegetation made of silk threads! All lifelike to that...

The second thing not to forget in Ooty, is to eat 'Homemade Chocolates' which are sold in all shops! :) I've been stuffed with boiled rice for the last 4 days... so finally was also glad to have some fresh patties!

Okay...this was probably the last tourist visit to town I will have. Have not yet explored the race course, the tea gardens, the Rose garden, the Cemetary, the Fernhill Palace & the Potato research institute...!

We had a quick photosession at the station again... The ride on the Engine was cut short by some shouting by a policeman. :D I will not be taking the train out of town as was planned earlier. On the way back we rode a really crowded bus with really funky music on which made us all shake. Whoever's heard of hip-hop bhajans? :D

A Clear Midnight
This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best.
Night, sleep, and the stars.

Walt Whitman

Time for another night walk. It seems one can never have enough of the eucalyptus and pine scented air. I felt like carrying a bottle full of it home. With the above lines as wishes from a great pal [thanx Chikki], I was out for a stroll in the chilly night of Ooty with the stars in the clear sky for company. I'd planned to stay awake all night as this will be my last one in Ooty. I had to be a bit careful as I had forgotten to get any warm clothes. But, I discovered that a bottle of hot water inside my shirt does wonders... and two pouches of instant coffee in the same bottle do even better :D

The southern cross [constellation] has never looked so high to me ever since I found it during my Fergusson College days... Besides it, the stars alpha and beta Centauri, were dazzling... They just grab your attention. Its always a pleasure to see the star nearest to the Sun, especially here, in all its glory, with its apparent twin. The moon above was almost full. A wonderful full moon night in Bangalore will be a gift.


Day 4: Woke up hearing that most of the group was not feeling well. Its not a very good feeling to feel somehow responsible for someone's ill health. It was a day of parting with the group, so I left them early for my visit to town.

The highlight of today was ofcourse a visit to The Blue Mountains School. This school founded way back in the 60's as an alternative school. But, as is the state of most 'different' schools, it is in dire straits. Now, with a new principal, it is starting all over. In her words, "Its hard to keep pressures of societal expectations at bay. How does one keep mediocrity away and insist on high academic standards in an alternative situation?" Currently, there are only 8 students on the rolls in this residential school.

On the positive side, the hill-slope campus is so beautiful that I was wondering why I went to the botanical garden for all the pictures. :) Anyways I didnt have a camera handy today. The wooden building has that British era charm. As usual, it poured while I was there. Took a round of the huge campus of the residential school in the rain. I got introduced to the J. Krishnamurti philosophy during a talk with the principal. [I wish to follow up on this later esp. in Bangalore where I might visit a KFI school ]. I was invited for lunch and so I got a little time with the kids. That was a delight... & I got to eat loads of nice mangoes. :)

The return journey was thankfully uneventful as there are already so many memories I'm taking back in this hectic holiday... Looking forward to more running around in Bangalore.

*... oops almost forgot her...! Rima was in one of my fave books from childhood - "Green Mansions" by W H Hudson. The many adventures were exciting & it was also one that made me cry a lot... but its was so beautifully written. All these surroundings made me so nostalgic about this book that is set in a tropical south american forest.

Dry flowers and Wet eyes

In Life the Good & Bad don't average out...
They both take toll of your nerves.

I'd have loved to simply leave this thought here, but on popular demand I'll explain... The day before yesterday I was in a village called Panchgaon, near the city of Kolhapur, host to a residential school. These flowers were given to me by two little girls, Arti and Asha. They were girls from a nomadic tribe & the first in their family to ever get to go to school. I won't go into how I did a good job of my 'work' of giving them a few good pieces of knowledge. But, I got my reward through these flowers. The shy beings had impropmtu picked for me the closest beautiful things they could find. In that little while, I had meant something to them to deserve this precious gift! They got me these, as appreciation, as I was wrapping up the after the talk. My smile was then almost about to fade, giving way to thoughts. It came back and was with me as I went through Hell the next day.

Isn't it amazing how smiles and sorrows both bring tears... & yet we are preferential!?

Chaas

As usual I'd woken up, just in time to brush, bath and have milk before I had to go. It was a tuesday! [19th Dec... & ya i ve become a baby again... have milk in the morning and evening :D]

Before I get out of the house everyday, I convince myself that I am living this day because there is some work expected of me. If not, then life would probably be over. Its a good positive thought to think making whatever we do seem worthwhile. Its not everyday that we do great feats but the thought prepares you for them without making you expect them. I also keep just enough time at hands so as to be able to do most jobs but not get lost in thoughts that I wanna keep away from.

The village was Wada, in the Khed Taluka.

So I got out and finished work like arranging things, loading the car, checking my list of things before I go etc. and got on the way. This time the route was not the same as the one I ve been taking every tuesday for the last few months. So I somehow was apprehensive about it. But it seemed that the road was better and there were equally nice village scenes on this route. Only the IUCAA telescope wasn't visible so it was kinda not in our present propaganda to go to this village. Well I myself was interested only in sharing my knowledge with the kids. But I look out for our purpose too.

This day was no different... and the perk I got for doing my work properly was that I got to see a water reservior created by the Chaas Kaman dam. It is in the same taluka that I was going to. It was an amazing sight. Like one of those pictures of lakes/loches in europe... only closer [~60km]. & it was a bright early morning sunshine. The colours and atmosphere was just there to behold and absorb. I have taken some fotos with another guy's mobile camera [links coming soon]... but they cannot capture what the minds eye keeps.

In contrast to the quaint maharastrian villages that we were passing through, we were Suddenly on the side of a sort of a valley. There were yellow and green fields growing right upto the water's edge. The village huts with their roofs & courtyards, gave a nice contrast. The simple people around were busy feeding their cows, tending to their daily washing, bathing, basking in the sun etc. :) it was so tempting to just get down there and go sit by the water's edge.

But no I had to go on. I reached the village early and the school was yet to start. unlike the casual city people here, the villagers always treat a guest very specially. more often than not, I get to share the stage with the Principal at the daily assembly. This is a special event and I dont know if its done in other countries. Everyday, kids stand in queues in the ground in front of the school. Its nice to get in the Sun these chilly days :) Everybody has to strictly stand in a line at attention position. Then at one go they all start the one song that is dear to every Indian heart... jana gana mana - the national anthem. Without inhibitions everyone just sings out loud & its a high feeling to have it echoing from all directions in such magnitude. This is followed by the loud reiteration of an oath to the school and the nation and then a prayer. This again I welcome as its not just moral education but also a great breathing exercise for everyone!

This school also had a 15 minute special programme in which everyday 6 chosen children prepare small informative material to read out to the assembly... Things like - details of the day including sunrise & set times, moon phase etc., news headlines of the day, general knowledge questions of the day, thought for the day, a short story of the day etc. I can see how inhibited they are to go on stage and how they go through their collected material hurriedly. But its fun to realise how hard the kid's heart must be beating at such a public appearance & due to his responsibilty. I was lucky to be at this school where kids are taught self-confidence and pride for the nation before starting their routines.

But i never realised that all the 400-500 kids who were sitting there on the ground before me, [as I spoke my words of the guest of honour :D] would soon be packed into the nearby hall. I had to show them a glimpse of the universe and how astronomy & science as a whole is simply learning through observations of nature. Well its now almost in my veins how to do it & I fumble much less with the local Marathi. I probably tortured the kids with my science jokes in the next 2-3 hours but some faces said I'd done my job well. :)

And then we left tired and hungry. around the hill & the lake was back at the turn! [I'm making it seem so important coz it was an imprssive sight] In the afternoon, all was quiet and there was a small farm by its side. I walked past it, through a field and got to the shore and plomped down. There were some migratory birds there already! I cant express it but there was something very relaxing abt the place.

Your mind's voice lost focus to the sound of the waves and the birds.
The Sun was gently caressing my back with its warm hands.
My hair flowed as if the wind had fingers.
There was a certain tingle in my backbone as if the Earth was reaching up into my brain.
The water poured into my ears with its lapping sound.
The hunger, the pain in my throat just disappeared.
If i'd died at that moment i would have been very unhappy.
It was filling me with Life.