Time

pic: google

Time is precious, and it never waits for anybody, and what I intensively know was I have a limited time. Though no one can predict the end of our lifetime, the fact is that no one lives beyond a limit, and for some, the time works short or lasts longer. Something that I utter often was 'no time. Not that it means I'm busy. My activities had slow down or cut short due to the progressive downgrade disability despite my intention of doing many things. Perhaps because of it, my writing has come down, or I'm taking a long time to write to improve myself to a standard of writing without mistakes. Not only writing, but all my daily activities take a toll, including the time I take for dinner or breakfast is had not less than half an hour. 

I realize the importance of time and its cruciality to be creative. I try as much as I can to use the time rather than just being idle, and I see how satisfied I am at the end of the day, either it helps someone or not. But one of the things I don't like is the division of time into good and bad times. I think it's good or bad depends on our intention and if we intend to do good all time is a good time.   

Some people always watch time to do things, some hurry to do within a time limit or delay up till the right time come. I know religious people follow a custom of watching good time to begin an event or any activity they take in front, similar to the Hindus who follow Rahu kalam and yamagandam - a time considered to be inauspicious. Though I don't believe in the mentioned above, I can't appreciate people-watching time for everything. Just because things didn't work for them, blame always falls on time. 

Like I said in the beginning, time never waits for anybody or hurry up for our impatience, and we need to adjust things according to the availability of time. 

Masks and Events

Masks have become mandatory in the period of the pandemic. Just because I didn't go out much, I did not experience the difficulties of wearing a mask much - except going through my brother's engagement and marriage last year, and the baby showers of my cousin at the beginning of the year and sister-in-law's yesterday. Mask doesn't become a matter in my life. I wear a mask only when I go for an evening walk on Sundays or guests visit our home. Since the members in our home follow the protocol sincerely leaves me pretty casual at home, and even seldom do they miss a thing or two, I remind them in earnest. 

The difficulty I experience - wearing a mask - is most difficult to speak and respond through a smile. It's not easy for me to lift my hands above the elbow unless I use a board or the wheelchair tray to support the hands, so usually, my response to those gestures by hands to say hi or bye is replay through a smile and headshake.  I got mild neck pain yesterday at the sister-in-law's baby shower responding to the relatives and friends visited the venue. I wore a mask the entire occasion, though it wasn't much difficult to complain rather than talking and responding to the guests, I hesitated to speak and converse wearing the mask. 

I saw two kinds of people at the event, those who wore the mask and those don't. And there's a third kind that masks the mouth alone or covers their cheeks. It has been proved that the events like these are the spreading ground of Covid, and keeping this in mind, we invited only close relatives and friends to count about 100 total, but it reached out of hand to about 150 members. 

I decided to stay in a corner to keep distance myself from others. I also minded them neither they check me nor not; I tried to stay away until finding me on their own. I like to interact with people and hear stories from their corners, and occasions like these are bridges to connect with people from distant relatives and friends, but now it is out of reach due to pandemic block. Though we know it's a temporary block, the occasion like these are limited in my life as I don't attend every event that takes place in our family, the pandemic has suppressed the leftover chances. 

The venue (of the event) is close to my house, so I went there in my wheelchair, and the hall located on ground level made my attendance easy. My uncle accompanied me to and fro the hall, And also, the event ended well, and those who could not attend the wedding (due to the cyclone then) made a visit to bless the couple. It's also one of the reasons for the rise in the number of visitors. 

Instead of turning better, the situation in our state continues to be the same or to say the cases of covid is slightly rose in last few days increases the anxiety. This event was something possible only because of the decrease in covid cases and relaxed lockdown. It's all in our hands to make such events possible only if all followed the protocol and sustain self-discipline.

Why I am an Atheist... by Bhagat Singh

The book is quite an ideology - comprising 18 essays of India's great revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh - wrote from prison. He's a very interesting revolutionary with a different perception of revolution. A young legend with extraordinary bravery, compassion, and wise to compromise to only achieve on ideals. I never heard a revolutionary like him give significant meaning to revolution, and each letter/essay in the book is a thoughtful lesson that he shares from the four walls of the prison. Perhaps the silence and struggles he adheres to along with other prisoners make sense to speak aloud their strains, and his idea of a separate rule for political prisoners seems to lay a new track of struggle that not many had thought, I think. I recommend this book to read with an open mind, like how he respected and response to everyone despite differences of opinion. And he's unusually daring enough to write to the authority about his choice of execution.  Man, I think that no one would have been born with his courage and die out of bravery at a very young age of 23! 

Inquilab Zindabad
Long live the revolution

In curious to fly

I hope you guys remember the post - a crow nest, with a chick in a widely open mouth peeking out the same - from a few weeks back? I thought there were two chicks in the nest as my cousin saw two eggs in the nest before it hatched had only survived by one. As a juvenile, the crow grew faster and saw it sitting above the nest often, flapping its wings, like someone practicing to fly, jumped out of the nest suddenly last week.

(Image from an early post)

I was indifferent in capturing the bird when it came out of the nest in the thought of where it's going to go that sooner left me in empty hands. The bird seems to fail to learn the instinct of birds, jumped out of the nest in sheer curious to fly than growing its ability to fly.

I guess it's the nature of juveniles, of any kind, to become curious about things unknown fully and in curiosity get into trouble like this crow that leap out the nest before learn to fly quite. 

The juvenile jumped off the nest, landed on the road - the crows built the nest on a branch of a rain tree that extended to the middle of the road - and glad there wasn't a vehicle passing on the road that time, so it was to end mess. After its various attempt to fly failed; One of the neighbors picked up the bird and left it on the other side of the compound wall of the neighbor's garden on the opposite side to us prevent it got rid of vehicles or prey to stray dogs. 

That was the last I saw the juvenile crow. I was least happy the crow would be safe inside the neighbor's garden, but it lasted only until morning - when the gardeners who came to water the plants left the crow along the roadside just outside the home. It was early morning when this took place, so it was my aunt who told me this. She didn't notice where the bird went later, as she got busy with the day.  

I  hope the juvenile is safe; and learn to fly, to at least safeguard itself. 

Motivation!

I don't think I need it. I don't think I'm looking out for it, rather seldom that to I couldn't remember though. I have many things to do - a list of books to read and movies to watch, and travelogues to write - that keep me away from the need for motivation.  If boredom stroke, let it for some time. If laziness embrace, let it hug sometimes. Be idle but never let it become your identity.

I have nothing to achieve when life itself is a challenge to fight every day. And I'm not desperate; perhaps, my life is the same to look for something separate to seek motivation. I'm optimistic to accept things that come in my way, to least complain about difficulties, but not fail to raise my voice to expound the right to resistance to passion. I dream a lot about traveling, and I push myself to travel as far as possible, and it has been the sole intention, motivation, passion, and anything that adds upon as layers conduct of course of my life. 

Nature is my eternal motivation for life, which has everything to inspire me for daily transit. The chirping birds, blooming flowers, fluttering flies, the fragrance of soil before the rain took into force, the magnificent sunrises and sunsets to the beauty of twilight, the fluffy to altocumulus clouds against the pretty blue sky. Nature is a marvel in every aspect of its exists, and as a guide, it decides my travel destinations which perhaps lead me to my destiny. 

RGB Monday

My parents decided to visit my maternal aunt's home and then to Mamallapuram to invite some relatives to the next week's baby shower of my sister-in-law. Taking this as an opportunity, my parents decided to take me out on Saturday, as I haven't gone out since lockdown 0.2; I also visited my aunt's home after five years.

I want to visit my aunt's home sometime and gladly took this opportunity, though I didn't get into her home as we had a short time as we arrived there in the evening. But surprisingly, aunt decided to accompany us on our drive to Mamallapuram, and that way she could spend time with us.  Later we dropped her off at a bus stop on the way home, and she immediately got on her bus and reached home on time. 

It was nice to come out after a long time, and I  could see many changes around me, and some remain the same as before. I could see houses and buildings in bright colors and many developments in road construction and flyovers, easing the traffic. I shared above is one of an apartment painted in different colors in the neighborhood of West Tambaram. I also got a series of sunset shots from the ECR to share in a future post. 

Idol of the year - Ganesh Chaturthi

Contrary to the present cloudy weather, yesterday was sunny and a bit hot, yet I saw a beautiful sky over the evening in accompany of altocumulus clouds with mild orange sunset that went hide behind a building. For some time now, there's been balanced weather of the sunny morning and rainy evening due to the upper air circulation transforms into super cool weather, which isn't usually like before. 

The Ganesh Chaturthi - aka Vinayaka Chaturti, in short, is the birthday of Ganesh, who doesn't need an intro as being a prime deity of the Hindu religion - celebrates the arrival of Ganesh to earth from   Kailash, believed to be the abode of Siva. Every year we place an idol of Ganesh, made of clay, at home to worship on this day, and in the morning, dad bought a clay idol from a roadside shop -  the temporary stalls that pop up during the festival times - worshiped; offering special ingredient to the lord and ate our lunch along with those. 

And later in the evening, we dissolved the clay idol in a bucket of water rather than dissolve it in a nearby water body as per the ritual. We adapted to this method 12 years ago to preserve the waterbody and use the muddy water for gardening.  Today many are following this idea, and some went further in producing idols with a seed inside, and by burying the idol, we help growing trees. 

Our idol dropped in a bucket of water to dissolve.

RGB Monday

The Grand Sweets in the neighborhood is one of my favorite restaurants where I tasted crispy dosa and puri once in a while. After the shut down of my favorite restaurant in Chennai - The Woodlands drive-in - in 2010, it transformed into a botanical garden; I had no opportunity to eat at a restaurant until the grand sweet opens its branch in the neighborhood. 

Not all restaurants are wheelchair friendly, and The Grand Sweets isn't an exception, but at least they allow us to eat from the parked car, and when they served from their own plates, it's hot and crispy to causes a desire to eat, which is missed in the parcel. I usually try this restaurant on Sundays, when there is less traffic on the road and space for parking along with the restaurant. 

After the pandemic begins, they allow only for parcels; though it isn't a matter now as I almost avoided going out rather for a short evening walk on Sundays, I miss the flavor. The last I went to the restaurant was for a coffee in perhaps 2019, and I remember it now when I come around a few shots on the restaurant when looking for images to share for RGB Monday. 

There's a textile showroom on top of the restaurant that caught my attention once, showcased colorful sarees on an array. They also have two mannequins wrapped in sarees, and the showroom has a glistening view.

Jeshwanth as Krishna

Krishna Jayanti (Aug 30), or whatever it's called in other parts of India, is a Hindu festival that marks the birth of Krishna, a Hindu god. According to mythology, many tales are told relevant to Krishna; and he's a popular figure among the women for his naughtiness, and for every mother, their child represents Krishna, so on the occasion of Krishna Jayanthi, they dress their children as baby Krishnan. And this seems like a tradition in every Indian Hindu family who has a baby at home. 

I don't remember me dressed as Krishna or have a photo, but my brother had been dressed this way, followed by my cousins walked the same path. No matter who, kids do look adorable in whatever way they dress. And now, my little nephew too joined the tradition, and at just 4 months, he's too young for this play. I have seen kids who don't cooperate easily to dress up fancy, but amazingly Jeswanth was very quiet and posed cutely. 

The general notion that children would cry was missing on him, and he would cry only when put to bath, so it wasn't an issue dressing him, but once excited, his movements become rapid, and nothing stays on him. It's not easy to keep things in place if the kid's cooperation was nill. In this way, I admire his attitude, and anyone seeing his photos was amused, and I hope you guys too feel the same. 

Krishna Jayanthi isn't a festival celebrated on my paternal side. It was my maternal parents who had cows and did dairy business. In mythology, Krishna is mention to be around cows, and he was also portraited as a cowherd, so naturally, Krishna was inspired to be their favorite deity to celebrate. Being a milk producer, they do not buy dairy products from outside as they produce the yogurt, butter, and ghee they need themselves. And butter being the favorite of Krishna, they offer all their dairy products, including homemade snacks, and celebrate the festival by placing idols of Krishna and cow-calf. 

Mom celebrates the festival by drawing little footsteps from the house entrance to the prayer room in the belief of welcoming Krishna into the home. Mom introduced this tradition at home after married into the family, and from then, she follows it annually.