Avatar- Watch it for the message

Watched the highest grossing movie of all time Avatar and loved the underlying idea in the movie of living in tune with nature. Life existing in such a way that the balance in nature is not disturbed. That was something our ancestors did, living in balance with nature, taking from her only that which could be replenished by her.

I also admired the heights of his imagination where he digitally created a home away from home. The beauty, splendor and detail with which he created its flora and fauna is amazing.

But what I prized the most was the way Na’vi and Pandora coexisted. It is similar to the relation man and nature had ages ago when man worshipped nature and took from her bounty and gave back to her. In today’s world it is actually a message to stop the atrocities that man is committing against nature. Man do not realize that in his greed for money he is slowly killing himself and destroying a place we all call home.

If our ancestor were as greedy as we are now we wouldn’t have had all the beauty that we see around us. The high price of this unscrupulous destruction is going to be paid by us and the future. We have already started paying for the plundering with the rising temperature, diminishing water levels, natural disasters and many of the changes we see in Mother Nature.

Destroying that what we received as a blessing from the creator is easy but do keep in mind that we are killing ourselves and the generation to come by our actions and greed.

Loss due to technology

A thought crossed my mind the other day that with the rate at which technological progress and advancements are happening. Wouldn’t our future generations miss on some of the beautiful experiences we have had as kids?

I still fondly remember the summer vacations of my childhood. The 2 months of summer vacation divided between my paternal and maternal ancestral houses in Kerala when we came down from Mumbai. It was a time when all of us aunts, uncles and cousin would have a ball of a time walking around in the lush greenery surrounding the house. Splashing and bathing in the pond or the river, plucking ripe cashew from the cashew trees, picking fallen nutmeg, mangoes, guavas and the endless amount of fruits that doted the house. Running behind chicks which were specially hatched for our arrival by my maternal grandmother timing them in such a way that they would have hatched just the day we reached or would hatch within a day or two after our arrival. There were so many endless activities that beheld our attention in the months that invariably flew off fast. Even though there was no TV in both these places it was never missed or for a fact thought about at all during the stay.

But when our kids have their summer vacation what would be kind of experience they would have? The experiences they would have would be of watching TV, playing games on the computer, surfing the net. Wouldn’t they miss on all the amazing memories that we created on the wonderful experience that we had in the 2 special months every year of our life?

Would they get to have a vacation where they would be one with nature? Just walk around and play in nature’s bounty, play with free flowing, pure water, get unabashedly drenched in the rain, feed the cow and its young, run around behind the chicks, hunt for and pick warm eggs once the hen start clucking after having laid it.

I don’t know! But I have a gut feeling that they won’t. We have missed on many a wonderful experience that our parents have had during their childhood. Though the cycle of life might let our kids grow in an age where technology is far progressed from what we had in our childhood, they would be missing out on a lot of the real life experiences which we as their parents had when technology had not advanced this much.

Water

I never get tired of watching the rain fall and also writing about and since it is the monsoon here in India it is the second write up on rain pretty soon. After a long time I got to see the rains of Kerala and it is as beautiful as I remembered it to be. When the rains come down in torrents it is as though the grass in the fields and the trees are waving their hands and dancing in happiness.

They are nodding their little rain drenched heads and opening their tiny hands to welcome and hold as much water in them as they can. Mother earth becomes one big river starting off with the small rivulets, those then joining the bigger rivulet. Eventually all of it flowing into the canals and the rivers which get filled up leading it to overflow from the boundaries set up by man. It is as though all of nature’s element are in their naughtiest moods and are back to their childhood days with the coming of the monsoons.

I don’t know if you have noticed but babies are attracted to water and I am sure their main loved activity of the day would be when they are given a bath as they get to play in the water. Because the rest of the time the bathroom are locked and the bucket and mugs are kept empty by the parents knowing very well that the babies would not miss an opportunity to play in water.

What is it about water in the form of the still water in the pond or the flowing water in the rivers or the rain drops that fall that attracts us to it. It brings about calmness to our souls and gives us peace. It even attracts the babies to it. All of us love splashing away in the rivers and sea and also love drenching in the rain. It attracts not only the babies but also us towards it.

I had my hearts fill of splashing in the puddles and small rivulets of water when in Kochi but it is only in kochi that I splash away to my heart’s content because I know that it just pure rain water and not water from the gutter mixed with rain water as seen in other cities.

Rains

Opening up of the heaven is what I would describe the rains and the monsoon season to be. It brings out the romantic and the nostalgic moods in a person (personal experience). When I see the darkened and cloudy day in anticipation of the rain it just brings a queer but feel good ache in my heart. It brings back all the nostalgic memories from childhood and over the years that I fondly like to remember. It is also when I feel like penning down or blogging.

I do not know the reason why I feel so related to the rains and the monsoons. It could be because the day and time I was born it was raining heavily as my Mom recalls. I feel myself being re energized when I see the droplets of water falling in such torrents on to mother earth.

I have always played in the first rains of the monsoon during childhood. Seeing the rains today I wanted to play like during the old days but did not as I did not have anyone to accompany me in this feat here in Hyderabad. But I will drench myself in the rain once before the end of this monsoon season. :)

Splendours of the sun

The rising sun is synonymous to a bindi adorning the forehead of a married Hindu woman enhancing her beauty and making her feel complete.

The rising sun is like a reddish orange glowing bindi adorning the white summer morning sky which has just risen from its slumber. Yet to reach its fiery best and shoot arrows of fire down on earth, the time when we can match eye to eye with the sun. A spectacle if to be seen we have to rise early.

The beauty of the rising sun is different from that of a setting sun. The setting sun is much more beautiful and is more splendorous as it wants us to never forget it and wants us to wait eagerly for it to rise again the next day. The setting sun casts it spell on the moving waters and the whole of the land glowing at its best till the last rays ebbs out for the night. The colors that a setting sun splashes out on earth are numerous spreading across the expanse of the whole sky layered from top till bottom.

The smell of life

The smell of mother earth when she receives the first drops of rain after the parched summer months is the best scent in the world. It is a smell that can be enjoyed only for a short time and only when there are the first showers.

It is a smell of joy, of hope, of longing, of new life, when these droplets touch earth she is so happy that you can literally feel her dancing with joy and that is when this beautiful scent arises. She has been longing for these showers for a long time and when it hits her it gives her the hope of starting life anew on her. All the plant and living creatures that are her children will now thrive. New buds will come forth and earth would turn green and young again. She won’t look all dusty, parched and lifeless it is the time of rebirth and starting life anew for mother earth.

It is my favourite scent in the world a scent for which I too wait like mother earth just longing for it through the dry dreary months. I dance out with joy like the peacock when I see the black cloud rolling in and know that finally my long wait for this unique smell has come to an end. I too like mother earth feel it in my senses when the first drops touch earth and the scent just rises up. A scent most divine the scent of joy, hope, longing and new life.

Moon

The moon has always intrigued me especially when it is a full moon; it is as though there is some magnetic power which pulls me to it. Whenever there is a full moon I would be found lurking in the terrace for hours just gazing at the moon. During my childhood days in Kerala on days of full moon I used to slip out to the terrace during midnight just to gaze at the moon. There is a mystic power attached to the moon which just mesmerizes those who gaze at it and you never get tired of gazing at the moon. The time just flies when you admire the beauty of it.
The most wonderful spectacle is to see the light of the moon getting dispersed in the thin veil of cloud that passes it. It is magical and heavenly and a treat to the eyes, something which you would never forget. I was lucky enough to see this on Christmas Eve I was at my Dads ancestral home which is on top of a mountain and the moon looks bigger from this altitude. And I guess there was a thin veil of cloud because the sky above suddenly had four or five big rings around the moon and it was supernatural. A spectacle which cannot be explained in words and cannot be replicated by man thus reaffirming the fact there is a greater power up there who knows to make all things beautiful for his people.
Moon has been something on which writer and poet have written lots about and it is like a mystery which we all want to know about. All around the world people have different stories attached to the moon. In the Chinese mythology it said that there is a white hare living on the moon according to the Hindu mythology the moon is a store house of elixir from which the Gods drink thereby leading to the phasing of the moon. Many more myths are attached to the moon from the different cultures across the world showing that moon has been intriguing mankind from ancient times.

Mother Nature

The marvels of Mother Nature show the handiwork of God the Almighty. When the last rays of the setting sun peeps in through the cloud cover it is a spectacle which shows the great hands of God at work. When these rays fall onto the still water there is twilight like mystical effect that is seen. Everything in nature is original, innovative, breath taking and a treat to the eye. Mother Nature is the original innovator in the universe and what man can do is to only replicate what we see in nature.

The best thing about nature is that it is a treat to the senses that is the eyes, ears, nose so on. If we are atop a cloud touching mountain peak the feel that we have when we are there is unique as we are enveloped by the mist on all sides and we won’t be able to see the person right next to us. I was fortunate enough to have experienced this when we went atop Rajamalai which is home to the Nilgiri Tahr near Munnar in Kerala. Just after climbing atop mist started descending on us and what we could do was to wait for the mist to lift and go. Truly speaking it is an experience of a life time a feel which is never going to be forgotten till I die.

Another spectacle of Mother Nature was seen when I visited Yercaud which is a hill station near to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. Here what I saw was play of sunlight through the clouds on the Coimbatore town that is spread down as a valley below the peaks of Yercaud. The day we visited there were bits of rain cloud and the scene of the sunlight streaming through the small gaps in these rain clouds cannot be explained in words.

I have always felt that beautiful spectacles like these can never be captured by any camera or video and can never be replicated. Also if we don’t see these at those specific moments of time we wont be able to see it again because changes in nature happen very fast what we see one moment might not be there the next moment as the effect of light and the wind changes within minutes or rather seconds.

But today we are too busy to enjoy and see this marvels we have to take a vacation to some hill station to see these spectacles. For this I envy my grandparents who are lucky enough to see this every day of their life. My Dads ancestral home where my grandparents live is atop a mountain and the front view we have is the neighboring mountains. It is a vision to see the mountains to be hidden by mist which looks as though the cloud has come down and enveloped the mountain when there is heavy rain and how that lifts up after the rain is over. On the other hand my Moms ancestral home has another kind of natural beauty to it. They have paddy fields and streams in the backyard and the number of various birds and small animals that you can spot here is countless. There is calmness which is experienced by me when I go to both my grandparent’s place which just soothes the mind and relieve me of all the stress that I have. The greenery that is seen here is more than enough to relieve us of any stress that we have

Heights to conquer .........

I am on my way to Yercaud from Kochi, a trip with my family. On my way after the district of Palghat (Kerala) almost entering into the State of Tamil Nadu I see what I am guessing is the Western Ghats.

These peaks touching the clouds get me thinking as to whether it is possible for man to conquer these peaks and if anyone has made these lofty peaks their home. Just to know if there are any who have conquered it and made it into home I would travel up there to know this thus making me either the first one to reach it or one among the many who have already reached it and made it their home.

Man has conquered all possible peaks on earth; men have scaled the tallest peak in the world the Mt. Everest time and again so what is the Western Ghats for them. When I see these peaks which are always engulfed in the clouds it makes me want to conquer these lofty peaks and stand enveloped in the cloud giving me the feel of being on top and out of this world.

One of the many marvels of Mother Nature. :)

Thulavarsham!!!!! Nature at her best

I have stayed in three cities other than Kochi........Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore and in each of these cities have enjoyed the rains. But I miss wholeheartedly the beautiful rains of my home Kochi.

In Kerala it rain all around the year or almost all round the year and we actually have two seasons when we are assured of rains one starts with the opening of the schools in Kerala on June 1st (give or take a day or two) which is specific on drenching the kids on their opening day to school and the other is during the Thulamasam (a month according to the Malayalam calendar) around September-October and is named Thulavarsham.

I personally like these Thulavarsham showers as it has a special power to it…….it is nature in all her fury. The day begin as usual bright and sunny during Thulamasam.....it gets very hot by afternoon…. even though it is bright and sunny you could hear a thunder or two as though a remainder of what is in store further down the day. By mid afternoon the whole place darkens up with heavy black rain clouds it would be as dark as evening 6 by around 3 in the afternoon. The sky lightens up with the lightening the whole place echoes with the thunderbolt. The electricity office normally turns off the power before these thundershowers as a precautionary measure thus adding to the ambience. The power of the lightening is really known now when it is dark both outside and inside the home .

Though I am scared of the thunderbolt I love it…. the power, the fury I feel that this is when mother nature is at her best. The lightening and thunder would begin the evening performance the speedy winds would be added to this already powerful performance and the last addition would be the heavy lashing rains which is a treat to the eyes and is very soothing to the heart and soul. I realized the beauty of the rains in Kerala after I saw the rains in Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

I can assure you that an experience of the thundershowers in Kerala is really worth it. Sipping hot coffee in the candle light at 4 in the evening with darkness all around…… the occasional lightening and thunderbolts……Oh how I want to enjoy once again this magnificent spectacle in Gods Own Country ....the moments we feel ourselves to be so insignificant before God and nature… :)