Elizabeth Gilbert: in The Universe in Verse

Today, I was going through a few poetry recitals of the 2020 Universe in Verse. One of the recitals that I listened to was by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of several books including Eat, Pray, Love (that was also made into a popular film later starring Julia Roberts), and she read Ursa Major by James Kirkup. I really enjoyed her recital of this poem. 

We all wonder at the cosmic miracles, and the endless awe it brings us. Not long ago I felt myself reminiscing on these wondrous diamonds in the sky. Fresh from such nostalgic memories, listening to Ursa Major as Kirkup explores it's beauty and significance through his bewitching poem, I wanted to share this lovely discovery with you all. Here's the poem for your reading:

Slung between the homely poplars at the end

of the familiar avenue, the Great

Bear in its lighted hammock swings,

like a neglected gate that neither bars admission nor invites,

hangs on the sagging pole its seven-pointed shape.

Drawn with the precision of an unknown problem

solved n the topmost classroom of the empty sky,

it demonstrates upon the inky blackboard of the night’s

immeasurable finity the focal point of light.

For though the pointers seem to indicate the pole,

each star looks through us into outer space

from where the sun that burns behind and past us

animates immediately each barren, crystal face

with ravaged brilliance, that our eyes

must lean out into time to catch, and die in seeing.

Since an embed was available for the same on Brainpickings, you can listen to Elizabeth Gilbert's lovely reading here:

If you want to read more about this, do check out the post on this on Brainpickings. It's a beautiful blog, and one that will stay my favourite, do subscribe to it if you are interested across topics like science, art, literature, poetry, philosophy, and would like to discover treasures- both contemporary and old ones. Happy reading!

Diamonds In The Sky

10 years ago. We were nearing the end of Class V.  Our school always had the practice of calling us to school for a final ten days after our exams, and letting us enjoy the whole day, every day with our class friends. We used to watch movies in the class monitor, or sometimes play games. My friends and I played one game repeatedly- a mission to space! 

The moment we were allowed to play, we'd go to the back end of the classroom, upturn three chairs and use it's legs as controllers of the space mission. We, out of which two of us believed we were Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams, played tirelessly and conquered space in our imaginative heads. While most of us just played a game, one of my friends seriously did love physics and the big, wide world of space science. 

Becoming an astronaut was such a common fancy for so many of us. The Universe, and it's stars and planets rightfully demanded our attention, but as we grew up we started forgetting to look up once in a while. Every time we forget to be humble, maybe we should look up, as realization of the speck that we are in the cosmos, even with what we can see and perceive!

I have always been interested in learning to spot constellations in the sky. When I went to college, I learnt how to spot the saucepan shape of Orion in the sky, after a couple of times when a friend who knew taught me how to spot it. It feels happy and nice to be able to see the sky and find the formation, especially considering how polluted the skies are today!

I may be a stargazer in the sense of being absentminded, but I am not really a stargazer in any other sense. The Little Prince beautifully captures the natural awe and inquisitveness that every child has about he Universe. And, it also captures how we lose it as we grow up. Staring at the sky, laying back, and getting lost in a maze of interesting thoughts, is a comfort that we may not have all the time. We better make the best of it when we can!

I wonder why. I wonder why.

I wonder why I wonder.

I wonder why I wonder why

I wonder why I wonder!

- Richard P. Feynman

Gift A Sapling

Image from Pinterest

As kids, we never really thought too much about having to get someone a meaningful gift. A 5 Star or a Silk chocolate for my best friends stood out from the eclairs that I gave to the rest, and it the was the best gift. But now, we receive gifts, we give gifts, and as much as chocolate is still special, we feel the need to give something that the other person can retain and use. Fancy gifts may look fancy but after a point they make no difference, and nor are they of any actual use. So, what do you gift someone?

If it's me who is to be gifted something, books are the best and simplest option. There are so many genres, so many collections, and so many new releases that keep coming up. And, a reader never stops reading. So, books are a one-stop-all-time solution to gift to those who read. What about the rest? You can still get them books, hoping they might start reading, but sometimes you want to make them happy and also gift something that they will use. Some gifts are a no-no for some people. For example, I know a lot of people who'd hate to get clothes for gifts, or accessories, as it has a high personal taste to it, and cannot be used if it doesn't fit in with their profile or taste. 

For sometime now, I've always thought that it'd be a great idea to gift somebody a plant or a sapling. Such a gift would be thoughtful, meaningful, fond, and something to retain and remember- which is precisely what a gift is meant to be. My friend and I were researching on what plants we could buy if we did buy, and we found so many varieties with respect to shapes, sizes, properties and prices! There are flowering and non-flowering, fragrant and  non-fragrant, those that need sunlight, those that can grow indoors without direct sunlight, those that require very less water, those that repel insects, and so on. I'm sure there are a lot of plants available according to the situations of those you are going to gift. 

Not just would you be gifting them a sapling, you'd be gifting them an opportunity to be disciplined and more responsible because a plant needs to be tended to. An act as simple as watering it every other day would suffice, but it still needs to be done responsibly. I think it would be a gift that would make the giver and the receiver feel full in heart. And, you'd be gifting them something you'd always be remembered by. 

So, this 2020 when you need to gift somebody, think about whether it is possible to gift them a plant! Or, you can start by gifting yourself one, and getting to know more about them. I think they are a wonderful idea for gifts, amongst many other wonderful ideas. So, if you feel like you've run out of ideas on what to gift to a loved one, here you go!

A to Z: On How To Create A Sustainable Change

Image from Sustainability Illustrated

Apple fell on Newton's head, and then suddenly we all realized the concept of gravity. 

But, gravity had always existed, and continued to exist. 

Can we draw a parallel, and say that be it discoveries or imagination it always derives its source from what already exists? 

Do you think humans have the capability to create something that in no way existed before? 

Every object we know, though the object might have been new at some point, is made up of stuff that we know and exists. 

For instance, let's consider the creature of imagination: unicorns. 

Given the fact that we know of the existence of horns and horses, we pieced together two elements that exist to imagine something that doesn't. 

How and what, then, do we pride ourselves to have discovered?

Is the various combinations, of what already exists that we piece together, something to feel accomplished about?

Just a few seconds of thought is enough to realize that humans can just shape what is given to them, and not create anything novel. 

Knowing this, is it fair for us to deplete the resources that we have?

Life would come to a standstill, if the resources we have are not used effectively.

Mankind is an intelligent species, and such intelligence is a double-edged sword. 

Not so long ago, our ancestors seemed to have lived in a world that was replete with resources, and within the short time, we have managed to cause exponential depletion in the name of development.

Our duty, as responsible citizens of, I will not say the world, our own locality, is to make sure that our neighbourhood understands the impacts of irresponsible behaviour, and starts to pay heed to the environment and its resources.

Panacea to this ill is to use the well known principle of 5 R's.

Question your neighbourbood on their practices, and promote small changes for a better future.

Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot- all possible products in your neighbourhood.

Stay within your neighbourbood, that's where you can effect a change and actually contribute. 

To help the world, you first need to help yourself, so don't just preach sustainability, you also need to follow it.

Unless every neighbourhood feels the need to change, and also implements change at small levels, there is no way a change can be seen at a city level even, forget the world level.

Very effective ways to help people get into the groove of the 5 R's of sustainability is to start them at schools, work spaces, hotels, restaurants, where there is a lot of scope to do so. 

Where there is a will, there is a way, after all. 

Xerox of documents and unnecessary printouts can be avoided in today's world of technology, so do it only when necessary. 

You need to be the change you want to see.

Zeal is all that is required!

The Last Chance

A neat, lean, thirty-ish, crisp looking Indian lady in formals, walked up the podium. The auditorium fell silent as she switched on the mic. 

“Esteemed scholars, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 25th International Conference on Human Survival. It has been a privilege for India to host this important and urgent SOS conference. Without further ado, I would like to call upon Mr. Devesh Kesari to break the news. Thank you. Mr. Kesari, you have the floor for the next fifteen minutes.”

*

Humans are weird creatures. They know how to think, to communicate, to invent and innovate. But best of all they know to live. To survive through hardships. To sustain and establish themselves. Till date they are the most intelligent living terrestrial species. 

Humans are weird creatures. They do not have any enemy. So, they play enemies among themselves. They go on a war to establish peace. They divide themselves to create harmony. They invent guns to protect. 

But humans are also stupid. Not because they don’t know nature is always more powerful than themselves. But because they know it full well and yet exploit it. They are stupid, not because they don’t know there is a limit to their atrocious behaviour, but because they don’t change their behaviour even when they know they are crossing the limits. 

Earth survived the twenty-first century. But the trouble brewed up early in the twenty-second. And, then, man realised his mistake. But he continued to be stupid. When he realised that he cannot sustain longer, he just wanted to make the most of it and swindle as much pleasure he can from the time he has. 

But it can’t be entirely said that man didn’t try. He did. But the situation had gone beyond his ability to frame a solution. Man tried to invent machines. But machines were not useful. In fact, some were counter-productive. And, man didn’t know how to make anything other than machines. Things that have life. 

‘It can’t be saved anyway. I would rather enjoy myself than try to make changes,’ he thought. 

Well. man is so immature. But nature is not. 

Mother Nature is sweet as ever. And there, she passed on a boon, to the earthlings- her very own children- to save them from decline and herself from destruction, that she had gotten from the Gods, as a last chance for the intelligent earthlings to learn and mend their ways.

And what is this venom that we talk about that man invented unaware that it could endanger himself? 

Plastic.

Well, man can’t invent living things to consume plastic. But, God can. And, that, Mother nature graciously passed on to her children with the hope that they learn. 

There is our chance to use it wisely and save ourselves. Our one last chance.

Nature has provided us with the best chance- a tree that can degrade the polymeric structure of synthetics and plastics. In simple terms a tree that feeds on plastic, with a lifespan of exactly 80 years.

*

Dev hadn’t spoken a word about the actual statistics of human destruction and survival. Nor did he need the full 15 minutes to make the speech. He thought that if statistics could help, it already would have. Humans, when provided with statistics, only looked forward to manipulating it and fooling themselves. Thus, he had ended his statement on a human note, as a sincere appeal to all of the humanity that was left on this Earth.

#Chennai #Floods- When Essay Topics Became Reality!

It started like this

Varuna Varuna Varuna (Varuna is the rain god)

Varuvai Varuvai Varuuvai! (Come! Come! Come!)

Varuvai Varuvai Varam Arulvai (Come! Come! And give us a boon!)

Arulvai Arulvai Mazhai Pozhivai (Bless us! Bless us! Make it rain!)

Aruludan Maa Mazhai Pozhindiduvai (Bless and make it rain heavily!)

Manithar Thuyaram Theerave (So that worries of humans get over!)

Maa Mazhai Pozhindiduvai Arulvai! (Bless and make it rain heavily!)

Varuna Varuna Varuna…

We sang this song, written in Tamil, in Amritavarshini raga everyday in school! Why? Because two months before, all that anybody saw in Chennai streets was water lorries providing water to houses and people trying to manage the water scarcity! I think we were all a little too sincere while praying for rains!

Flooded street

What will you do when you don’t have internet for a week?

What will you do if there is no electricity for one whole week?

What activities will you engage in if there are no gadgets for a week?

I never saw any of these questions as anything more than common essay topics, especially living in a city! Yet in the past ten days many people of Chennai, including us, saw all of it come true. No gadgets. No electricity. No internet.

On the first of December, it rained heavily in Chennai. The intensity was very high. The streets were already inundated, and this made it only worse. But even then, we didn’t have any problem in our house though we were in the ground floor. Our house is raised a good four feet from the road, so no water came in. The next day, the rain stopped. We were already running two days without any power supply. They had shut it down for safety purposes due to water logging in our street. It was the third day.

A car parked on a
speed breaker:
It later submerged!

On December 2nd, it only drizzled but the water level kept increasing. Eleven thousand cusecs of water was being opened into the city from the Chembarambakkam reservoir. The water level in the street was quickly rising. It started climbing up the slope of our parking dangerously fast. Anytime a vehicle passed, the water surged into the parking lot with a swoosh.  We weren’t very sure as to what to do. Should we pack up all the books and other goods in the house? Will the water come in? Or will it stop rising and recede? We got the signal to pack up things to safety by 1.30 pm that day when the water had completely encroached our entire parking, and was slowly making its way up the house stairs to the entrance.

A brave man taking his chances!

We started clearing everything in the hallway of our house and dumping it in the bedroom upstairs (our house is a duplex model, thank God!). It took us just one and half hours to pack up everything! My dad asked us to imagine and think as to what would get spoiled if there was  hip-level water inside the house. Only our refrigerator couldn’t be shifted anywhere. We couldn’t do anything about it. We left it that way. When we checked again, the water was in the last step. It would be a matter of minutes before it would come in! So, we gobbled up our lunch, took the essentials, and shifted to our neighbour’s place in the first floor. And at three in the afternoon on December 2nd water entered the house. We looked down anxiously from the neighbour’s balcony as it started raining again. A transistor of our neighbour’s helped us know some news. But it was bad news! From eleven thousand cusecs, they had increased the flow to sixteen thousand cusecs!

Car parked on a
pavement

The water level kept rising! My mom was terrified. It rose from knee level to hip level to chest level to neck level! Water was flowing at a terrific speed. By the evening, it was pitch dark. We couldn’t communicate to anybody because we had very little saved battery. Even when the battery was there, there was no cellphone tower and the calls simply failed! By the night, the news from the transistor informed that 30,000 cusecs of water was being released! We just prayed and went to bed early after dinner. I fell asleep. My parents told me the next morning on December 3rd that the water had been flowing at its peak around 2 am that morning. But by the time I woke up, it had receded. It was still in the parking area but had receded from the house.   

My mom and dad went down to our house and started cleaning as our neighbour, who has experienced two earlier flood situations, advised them to clean the house while the water was receding and not let it go dry with dirt. It was a laborious job! The water had brought along with it fine mud and a all species of insects, both dead and alive! There was the smell to be taken care of too! They cleaned the house with salt and Dettol over and over again. It also took a long time to dry since there was no fan!

Not just Kundrathur plots
advertised...
Even the city was so!

In between all this, there was the shortage of milk! We couldn’t lay our hands on milk packets at all! Even if we managed to get a few packets, they got spoilt real quick and couldn’t be used. Amulya milk powder helped us a little. Also, bread packets and milk packets from Shree Mithai, delivered at our doorstep, helped us greatly! Drinking water that we had stored was also getting used up.

We shifted back to our house on 4th December. All of Chennai seemed to have got electricity but not us! We suffered for three more days, and finally, we got it today- December 7th- ninth day from when we last had power!

I never believed it could rain so much in Chennai as to bring water into my house! Most part of the  mornings were spent staring at the flood water and debating if it was receding or rising, or when we would get back power. The mornings passed quickly and easily. Only after five in the evening, time was difficult to while away. We would look at the clock at 5:40, and look at it again at 5:43! Evenings were the most difficult part.

Anyway, it’s all getting better now. Thanks to all those relief volunteers for their work! Thanks to all my friends who offered their help! Thanks to everybody!

Half the gate flooded was
just a start!

From water scarcity to not knowing what to do with so much water, it has taken nature barely two months to change Chennai from a parched water-scarce land into an island! Let us better be respectful to Mother Nature and not wag our naughty tails by polluting her! This is the important lesson that we have to take back from this experience.

Thanks to all, again, for their support to flood affected areas. Let us all #PrayForChennai!