Trivial Pursuits

Come to think about it, I’ve had many hobbies over the years. When I take one up it consumes me entirely. So much so that it is safe to say that the pursuit owns me! Caught in its wake I live and breathe it until I am physically sick. Then, just like that, I lose interest and want nothing to do with it!

Origami, embroidery, rock painting, knitting, beadwork, Corel draw, paper craft, and quilling—all done to death till we parted! My unfortunate family and friends are made forced beneficiaries of each of my neuroses while they last. Birthdays and anniversaries need no prompting and a million no-reason-at-all days gain significance during a spell.

The weirdest part for me is that all memory of every dalliance is erased. It is only residual evidence of each pursuit that reveals the back story. I’ve never really delved into or dwelled on this eccentricity and I guess now isn’t the time to analyze it either.

My latest obsession is photography by the way. I’ve become pretty experienced at what I call, balcony photography. I spend hours in the balconies of my house taking pictures of anything that grabs my eye. I fiddle with the settings on my camera, experimenting with different angles, modes and speeds. Sometimes I think it will be a lot easier if somebody just told me how to get a particular shot I want, but I guess I enjoy the figuring out as well! I’ve also realized that when I’m not taking pictures, I’m unconsciously looking at things and imagining how they'd look framed!

Friends say this obsession has lasted longer than the earlier ones. Again, I'm not going to analyze why. Suffice to say, I am enjoying it thoroughly...at the moment!

Sepia and Chrome

Several weeks ago, some friends and I went on a walking tour of the oldest parts of Pune. The heritage walk—organized by a newspaper—aimed to encourage citizens and visitors to take interest in the city's rich history and culture. Many of us, whose families have lived here for generations, overlook this venerable side of Pune that lies juxtaposed with its modern glass and concrete avatar!

Remnants of over sixteen hundred years dot the city that got its name from the Sanskrit word, punya—which means sacred confluence of rivers—referring to its location at the confluence of two rivers. Every building, fort and temple serves as a reminder of the power and glory that the city basked in. It was from here that a dominion spreading across India was governed between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries and records indicate that it was a period of great development. Already conversant with progressive philosophies, Pune played an important role in the social and religious reformation of the nineteenth century and in the struggle for independence against the British. It is therefore not surprising that pioneering work in women’s education and social upliftment had its roots in this city. Or, that the first efforts to unite people and build a nationalist spirit through a religious celebration were initiated here. Placed under house arrest in Pune in the early 1940s, Gandhi’s call for peaceful resistance against the British resonated with the people of Pune. They vowed to build a strong and independent India.

It was our ancestors’ ability to blend rich cultural traditions with a forward thinking outlook that helped shape Pune’s excellent education ethos. Emphasis was laid on a well-rounded curriculum that would serve the people and land well. Even today scores of young people from all over India and overseas seek admission to the numerous educational institutes and universities in Pune, justifying its moniker, Oxford of the East. Pune’s erudite workforce is also the reason many corporations establish a base here. Everything Pune is today—as an economically successful and culturally vibrant city—is reflective of the visionary work of its early citizens. They laid the foundation for us to build on.

As citizens of a living legacy, we have greater responsibility to uphold and bequeath this vision to the generations ahead.

Reflective in nature

I’m usually swamped with mixed feelings at the end of the year. Sorry to let go yet eager to know what lies ahead.  As I grow older though, the melancholy and excitement seem to morph into a giant knot of trepidation instead. My concerns range from Toffee getting old and ill, my family and friends’ health and wellbeing to larger world issues of peace, security and global warming!

I traveled to northeast India this November and it troubled me greatly that such incredibly beautiful places did not have shiny, happy inhabitants to match! My distress would have been explicable several years ago when I was young and still embryonic in my thinking. Now that my adult awareness is able to comprehend dissonance why did it still bother me?  Maybe idealism knows no season or reason and once you’re imprinted with its gene, it follows you to the grave!

Mother Nature gifted us so many breathtaking moments on our trip—spectacular sunrises, the glorious sight of a peacock soaring majestically right above us in a forest, gentle mist filtering through trees growing in vertical uniformity, frolicking river dolphins in the Brahmaputra, rolling hills under the bluest sky, a noisy flock of scarlet minivets that suddenly appeared on the horizon and the zillion scenic views that we were treated to as we drove past tiny villages. The joy and gratitude of witnessing such awesome beauty was however tinged with sadness knowing that it was transitory in a world of strife and need.

My deepest wish for 2013 is for universal peace, prosperity and good health. Maybe if we all carried in our hearts the inspiration that nature provides us, it would be easier to attain.

A Fairy it is, a Dragon not!

Who’d have thought some chance pictures would make me a believer! I'd been tracking a pair of sunbirds as they went about setting up home and I discovered it took some agility and a whole lot of patience to get a few decent close-ups.  Sometimes as I waited, I’d snap random stuff for fun—an entire series of raindrops on leaves, flowers and wires (they looked like little fairy lights, I swear!), gossamer cobwebs billowing from withered branches and even a thorny hedge, I thought, managed to form some interesting symmetry through my lens.

I spied a dragonfly on the wall on one such wait and shot it carelessly.  It was rather plain looking and blended in almost completely with the water-stained garden wall.  I was pretty sure I’d end up deleting the pictures. After a long wait I was eventually rewarded with some fantastic footage of my feathered friends in all their splendid glory and I couldn’t wait to download and admire my latest cache!

Whoa! The birds looked great but who was this magical nymph that leapt out of my screen with delicate shimmering wings that I didn’t recognize! Was it the same dragonfly that I wasn’t interested in, at first? I was fascinated now!

My trusted friend, Google, told me that this species was called the Granite Ghost or the Indian Rockdweller and they were useful in keeping the vicious Aedes mosquito and other pesky insects at bay in a habitation. Beautiful and noble! I couldn’t stop gazing at the jeweled perfection that was its wings. Copper tints gave them a burnished stained-glass appearance and I wished I were a better photographer to capture their beauty flawlessly.

Confucius was an insightful man indeed when he said, “Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see it.”  Well, I promise to keep looking for the beauty that abounds in everything everywhere.

Framed and Shot!

I’ve been birdwatching lately. The Bougainvillea in front of the house had tangled itself wildly in the overhead cables causing power disruptions and had to be trimmed down last week. The gardener had left a dried up branch still stuck in the cables and a pair of tiny purple-rumped sunbirds promptly decided to build their home on it—a very unwise choice for a number of reasons entailing security but hey, they were offering me a ringside view of their life's construction! 

Armed with a camera, I stalk them from my balcony. Mr. Sunbird is the prettier one with flashy maroon, purple and blue-green trim on his yellow jacket while the Missus wears a somber yellow and ash grey coat with olive tints. I note that he only makes fleeting supervisory visits, chirruping instructions as he hovers at the fringes while she toils unstintingly in building their home. She makes at least a million trips for supplies and without any fanfare. I snarkily wonder whether this is the only nest Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky Sunbird is supervising but then remember reading somewhere that his particular species is supposed to be monogamous!

The nest is beginning to look like a raggedy pouch now—wispy feathers, straw and fiber, some paper and dried leaves—all protrude in an untidy mess.  My rapidly growing picture album tracks the various stages of its progress. I shoot the other inquisitive visitors who flit by to inspect the nest-building as well. A pair of fat LBDs (little brown doves), some noisy bulbuls, a couple of perky oriental white-eyes and an ashy prinia that bounces around annoyingly. 

There are the crows and parrots that throw quite a boisterous party in the neighboring trees and I’d love to train the camera on them someday soon. In the meantime, there's this cat that has caught my lens!

No money can buy...

The news of the death of an acquaintance in a paragliding accident in Bulgaria recently triggered so many thoughts. Given the risky nature of his choice of sport, he had been in several accidents, the last of which, had immobilized him completely for nine months. His family had begged him to hang up his gliding sails that last time but he didn’t pay any heed. It seemed implausible that the wellbeing of his two young children never crossed his mind. Were his priorities so misplaced that wisdom couldn’t prevail? Was it incurable deep-rooted angst that led to the self-destruction? Was there really a line between risk-taking and inflicting self-harm? 

My head was already buzzing with all these contemplations when a friend phoned. She’d visited his family and while they deeply grieved his departure from their lives forever more, there was also a feeling of overwhelming gratitude for his provision for all of them even after his demise, she said. 

This must indicate that he had weighed the consequences of pursuing his passion after all. Was this what they called intelligent risk-taking? But did this calculation really soften the blow? Maybe, I'm so gauche that I still can't see any upside or gains like the risk pundits advise. While his family might never have to worry about mundane things  such as finance, his absence from their lives is such an irreparable loss that no money in the world can assuage.

Cold Nose, Warm Heart!

Somebody abandoned this tiny bundle of chocolate fur outside my gate, one day in March eight years ago.  I looked down at what seemed like a miniature bear with these incredibly amazing grey eyes, and melted instantly. I picked her up and while she didn’t mind at first, she began wriggling and eventually nipped me with her needle-sharp teeth until I put her down with a yelp. Toffee had just walked into my home and heart!

I agree her name is a bit of a misnomer but she was really the “sweetest” looking puppy that I’d ever seen and her coloring was rich and dark like...caramel, which, incidentally is her middle name.

Her highly assertive and willful personality was evident right from puppyhood. The certified trainer hired to make her more sociable wrung his hands in despair and finally fled when she insisted on acting in direct opposition to any of his commands!

She loathes dogs, cats, birds, and barely tolerates humans!  She's also very selective of the people she is “friends” with. Friendships, too, have their limitations and crossing of any boundary is treated with a hard-eyed stare, deep throated growl or punishing bite, depending on the offense committed. She does as she pleases all the time, every time. She rules the space and we’re just fortunate she deigns to share sometimes.

She is completely neurotic, endearing and incorrigible all at the same time, and I simply adore her!