GROUNDNUTS HERE AND GROUNDNUTS THERE

Dry salted groundnuts, plain roasted groundnuts, boiled salted groundnuts; oil cakes of groundnuts or toffees made from groundnuts have always been my first choice. While I am out to do some work and lunch, dinner or breakfast seems to be away from near future, groundnuts is a choice which comes handy. Whenever I felt the need of respecting my stomach I would stop at the road side vendor and buy groundnuts worth rupees two. Back on my way I would enjoy munching them up-keeping my efficiency needed to follow the task I am after.

Jubail in Saudi Arabia is a town catering to the needs of industrialization and one finds people of many nationalities thronging its street. The majority of them are from, in and around the Indian sub-continent. During the initial phase of my stay in Jubail I did not have a vehicle and I preferred to walk around for any work that I was required to accomplish; may it be shopping, visiting a friend or taking a print out. Every land has its own customs, food habits, relevant markets and road side hawkers. Here in Jubail the roadside hawkers sold perfumes, wallets, watches, toys, recharge cards and so on. Some of the hawkers were smart enough; over a period of time they have improvised their marketing skills, some of them market, negotiate and close the sale in Hindi language.

Days sailed by smoothly, months rolled over silently and the streets of Jubail continued to be as ever. One day I saw a Saudi hawker near the Telemoney remittance center. He had a will barrow; a small gas stove stationed in it and was sand-roasting groundnuts. The very sight of this hawker filled me with joy. I went up to him bought one packet for one riyal; the next moment my hands and mouth went busy munching those groundnuts. As my feet fathomed the streets of Jubail my mind relished the memories of the streets of India. Within weeks I could see few groundnut hawkers at the corner of different streets of Jubail. The sale of groundnuts was well accepted on the streets of Jubail.

Recently during my visit to India I stopped by a road side to buy groundnuts. I extended a two rupee note; to my surprise the hawker did not extend his hand to accept it, his confusing look confused me for few moments. To break the impasse I told him ok; make it five rupees. He immediately started weighing the groundnuts.  I took the groundnuts and was on my way. My mind was full of questions, the questions those might have rushed in the mind of that groundnut hawker. Here when I buy a handful of groundnuts for one Saudi riyal it happens to be a normal business transaction but in India when I tried to buy the same quantity of groundnuts it raised many questions in the mind of the groundnut hawker. This article is also an outcome of the feeling that still lingers in my mind.

Life in Jubail followed a straight line graph. The prices of laban and milk have remained unaltered over the years but inflation in India has been creating new peaks. Inflation figure do not make a feel but when a common man feels his pocket emptying out remember that inflation has set in. Life is a cake walk for the rich, a rope walk for middle class and a fire walk for the poor.

When I write this article the $-rupee exchange rate has spiraled to 01$=66.5613 rupees The finance minister tries to hide his face when he sees a journalist; the common man on the other hand tires to hide money thinking a rupee saved is a rupee gained.

THE BEGINNING

For the cozily floating fetus in the sac of amniotic fluid inside a mother’s womb; the fourth month marks the commencement of the functioning of its certain systems. Then on till the time of birth the fetus prepares itself for the world it is going to face. Few moments after birth when the baby lies besides the mother with its sparkling white eyes, little does it know about the world and people around. The world seems to be full of strange things, things unknown to it. The only thing a new born does is, data collection; data in the form of sound, data in the form of visuals and data in the form of behavior.

Like every living being, at instances it sees threat and at times feels hungry. The only solution it knows of, is to hide itself in its mother’s bosom, the moment it clings with its arms gripping, eyes shut and face deep inside, it senses that the tuning of its body resonates with the body it is clinging to, somewhere down within itself it finds this is the same body which, in not so distant past provided it with warmth, nutrition and safety.

Time rolls on and it finds that there is somebody whom its mother listens to and obeys. It is its father. Curiosity at its peak the process of exploring continues. Psychologists say a child develops its personality fully between the age of three and five. Thereafter whatever it does is just superficial.

It is time for the child to go to school. Kindergarten is about playing, singing, snacking and relating to other than family members. The child’s world expands suddenly. When he comes home he has so much to say and so much to express. Marching ahead it find its teacher is the school is more impressive. When the parents tell a child to do something; it immediately replies “No, no it is not right, my teacher say it to do it the other way”

The kindergarten life passes on swiftly and those tiny totters are no more so, they have advanced to the primary section. Here the groups are formed by natural selection; the fast pacers, the medium pacers and the slow pacers. These groups are formed based on their ability to understand, interpret, execute and deliver a task given to them.

In a class when the teacher is explaining, few gaze out of the classroom window, majority listen to the teacher attentively and the remaining few pretend to be attentive.

The few who gaze out of the window into the playground are quick learners, when the teacher goes slow in explaining things caring for others, these few are uninterested and hence gaze out of the window.

The majority who are attentive listener do not want to miss out a single thing when the teacher is explaining.

The remaining few who pretend to be attentive are those who find it difficult even when the teacher is trying her best.

At times the teacher faces difficulty handling all the three groups together. All parents want their child to excel and shine but for those with whom it doesn't happen, it becomes a cause of worry. 

When it becomes a cause of worry, when anger erupts and the child protests or succumbs, it is time for caution. See you next time with views on "Generation Gap"

TURBULENCE-2

April 24, 2013; on my way from Delhi to Vadodara, I was just air lifted and scaling height. We were scheduled to fly at 37000 ft with a velocity of 900 km/hr. Once above the clouds a glance outside the plane’s window could be a cheating experience if we were to rely only on our eyes. The skyscape outside the plane and the landscape of the dessert had surprising similarity. Here too in the sky were structures like the sand dunes and expanses stretching out limitlessly.

For a moment I felt as if everything had come to a standstill. The only thing I could sense was the purring of the engine and the richness casted by the yellow rays of the sun inside the plane. All of a sudden that richness was lost; as I peeped out of the window I saw black clouds passing by, the smooth motion of the plane disappeared; it took dips and lifts, at time it would sway from left to right and again right to left.  The turbulence outside the plane kick started the turbulence of adrenalin secretion in my body cautioning me of the danger I was passing through. It took several minutes to clear this near miss case. I have handled many near miss cases while serving at IPCL but this was a never-to-be-forgotten experience. First love, first wife, first child, first degree and anything that is first, becomes a memory for ever. This too was first experience of being through turbulence while being airborne.

June 16, 2013 at the hill town of Kedarnath; turbulence of clouds hit the mountain peaks, causing downpour of cats and dogs, swelling the rivers, hitting the banks devastatingly, engulfing everything that stood in its way and then leaving behind, meters of sludge, heaps of debris, numerous boulders and scattered carcasses, which continued for almost two days.

Turbulences are notorious for giving surprises. Surprises are events unexpected; also surprises are events exceeding expectation. Turbulence disrupts normalcy, destructs property and devastates life.

Weather forecast can predict shower, it can predict strong wind but can it say how many inches of rains will fall? Can it say by how much feet will the river level rise?

Such situation occur not only by destiny but also by unabated exploitation of nature, money making spree and turning a deaf ear to cautions raised.

Turbulence mild or wild demands cautions, awareness and alertness. It also demands preparedness to face it, to tackle it or to avert it, it is time not to be emotional but to be rational, to vacate the place and move to a safer location.

Turbulence are bound to be there, what matters is how prepared are we and how we deal with it. See you next time with the concluding article Turbulance-3

TURBULENCE-1

15,700,000 °K degrees of temperature and pressure ranging from 3.4 × 10⁸ atm to 2.25 × 10¹¹ atm at the core (center) of the sun leaves nothing to chance. The Hydrogen atoms are squeezed into fusion reaction only to be transformed into Helium atoms. This is an exothermic (heat releasing) reaction. The immense energy generated at the core travels towards the corona(outer surface) of the sun and appear in the form of turbulent prominence(solar storm). This solar storm travelling at the speed of 8,000,000 kilometers/hour takes 6 hours to reach the planet mercury. 12 hrs later it reaches the planet Venus and 18 hours later it reaches our planet Earth. This solar storm along with the earth’s orientation causes seasons, these seasons gives rise to turbulence; turbulence on land, turbulence in the air and turbulence at seas.

Fluid dynamics is highly influenced by the variance in temperature and pressure. They cause seasonal changes and set winds in motion. There severity varies from mild to wild. Katrina and Sandy storms Hurricanes are globally notorious for being deadliest, destructive and devastating. The wind velocity reached 280 km/h and the pressure reached 902 mb during the Katrina Hurricane, during the Sandy hurricanes the wind velocity reached to 185 km/h and the pressure to 940 mb. The total fatalities were 1833 and 285 respectively. Eastern coastline of India too faces such storms especially the coastline of Andhra Pradesh. The severity during these storms is at times so high that railway lines, power transmission line and communication lines get stranded and uprooted, damage to life and property is significantly high.

India faces two wind currents from diagonally opposite directions. The South West current starting from the Indian Ocean touches the Western and Northern parts of India during summer. The other current is the North-Eastern current which start from the Gobi desert and touch the Eastern and Southern parts of India.

India and Saudi Arabia both are in the Northern Hemisphere but the summer in India ends up in the month of May where as in Saudi Arabia it ends in the month of October. In Saudi Arabia the first signs of wind storms are when one senses the smell of sand in the air. At the time of writing this article It has been windy for few weeks in Jubail. When I get down to my car for going to my office, I see a thin layer of fine sand settled on the glasses of my car every day. While on my way on the highway I see small streams of sand flowing along with the wind on the road, at times when the wind is strong one can feel the drag. One’s car would sway a bit demanding caution. If the severity increases the vision gets impaired and driving becomes difficult. One has to slow down, if not, there are chances of being a victim of roadside casualties. The size of the sand particles is so fine that it remains suspended in air for two to three day causing throat infection, fever etcetera. See you next time with the article Turbulence-2

WHAT IS LIFE?

Newton was curious about the falling apples

Edison was curious about the chick coming to life

The very glimpses of life are felt when a child starts developing his identity. In this process he argues, he protests, he asks for reasons and at times he disagrees.

I never had a chance to be through all these things for the reason I had a strong, lovely, lively and a caring mother who always met my demands with a smile. When I happened to get  cuddled in her strong arms l felt the warmth that every mother carries in her bosom for her child. It has been 15 years she left us for her heavenly abode but the warmth, the love and the memories she has left behind remains intact. I never feel lonely and away from her.

I was born in a farmer family, where education did not matter much. The villagers are persons who live close to nature, away from the hustle and bustle of an urban life. Like every head of the family my grandfather also had a dream that the progeny behind should progress and move ahead with time. Even though being the only child in a big family I was sent to Bombay for convent education.

The city life of Bombay never attracted me and I always yearned for the meadows, the chirping birds, the refreshing gentle breeze, the river beside my village, the jingle of the temple bells, the river banks and the alluring sunrise and sunset in the hill.

The clutter of the city made me feel like a machine whereas the environment of the village made me feel like a human. If I was to be searched during my vacation, there were two places; if not at the river than at the orchard.  The orchard had thirteen shady mango trees. Once sitting underneath one of those trees I was glancing on the water-melon creeper spread on the river banks. A thought flashed in my mind; why does nature work the wrong way. A strong mango tree is given a small fruit where as a creeper is given a hefty one. The thought process was on when a mango hit my head. I came to senses understanding that nature works the right way. What if the mango tree was blessed with a fruit of the size of a water-melon?

I never came back to my village. After completing my education I took up a job and settled down in the city. My parents continued to live in the village. Once I received a call from my younger brother that mother is serious and we are bringing her to the city for medication. I got her admitted and diagnosed, she had double infection. Medication was not working.  I was always at her bed side, she used to talk less.  I asked her “Are you worried”. She said “With you to take care of the family, I have no worries”.  One day she slipped into unconsciousness and left us behind. Money, medicine, doctors, nurses nothing worked. She was destined to leave.

My father, who left us a fortnight ago used to sparingly visit my family. His visit were short lived, come dusk and he wanted to leave for the village. Life for him in the city was slow, he couldn’t find a person of his age group to whom he can relate to, he talked about God, he talked about the village whereas my children talked about computers, movies & partying.

Integration and disintegration are phase found not only in nature but also in human relationship. Everything that I liked, loved, or started loving, slipped away and became a past, leaving me with nothing but to start afresh. Is this process of making, breaking and remaking known as “LIFE”? 

The world of fantasy and the world of reality are distances apart

Life is  a journey not to be looked back but only to be marched ahead.