Twenty- five Seven

Stretching it out

June 22, 2021

Well, since 21 June was International Yoga Day, I’ve received several messages about doing Yoga and its benefits.

I woke up in the morning to this one.

Head stands on the street

This actually brought a smile to my face because all the runners who used to thunder past my lazy amble have now vanished . In their stead, I see thin, almost skeletal beings slowly walking past with a yoga mat tucked under their arms.

#IYD2021

I saw this one first thing in the morning and I was frankly quite inspired to do some stretches if not the actual poses.

I can just about manage the first pose for 10 seconds ( if I count really fast) before I teeter to one side . The other two are still poses I dream of doing one day.

This is actually one of my favourite poses where I enjoy the gut wrenching twist actually makes me feel good

And finally this one which combines good sentiment with great photo shopping technique

Or can yogis really balance on a lotus leaf ? I doubt it.

And finally this one that celebrated the Seventh International Yoga Day.

Shot across all the continents, covering length and breath of the country, featuring the legendary singers like Kailash kher, Shankar mahadevan, Sonu Nigam, Shaan, K.S. Chithra, Daler Mahendi and several International artists.
Happy international Day of Yoga 2021.
Special thanks – Ministry of Information and Broadcasting & Ministry of AYUSH.

While I completely endorse the sentiment I thought that doing Yoga in a PPE suit was stretching it a bit too far.

Even walking with an N 95 mask leaves me dyspneic.

But I hope you did some yoga at least (like the 3000 people who did it in New York’s Times Square.)

As for me, I started the day with my usual stretches and ended it with a well deserved Shavasana!

Ciao
Death of a Tree

June 6, 2021

The 140-year-old Banyan Tree

Rooted in the past and waiting for the future.

This magnificent banyan tree has been on the property that my mother-in-law grew up in. Silent sentinel for more than a hundred years, it overlooked three bungalows. Over the years, the tree saw it evolve into a multi-storey building.

The gardener’s wife who lived in a hut beneath its shade used to tell my mother in law stories of a snake with a man’s face ( naagpurush )living among its gnarled roots.

“He’s there to guard the property,” she used to tell my mother in law who at that time was a wide-eyed eight-year-old.

Till today my mother-in-law believes this tree is standing watch, keeping all of us safe in its spreading umbrella.

Cyclone Tauktae brings down half this majestic tree

But On 17th May this year, it took a severe beating as the winds of Cyclone Tauktae brought half of the tree crashing down. Luckily, there weren’t any cars parked beneath its shady boughs. And even more fortituously, no one was walking beneath the tree.

An arborist was called to assess the damage and see if the tree could be saved. After all it was a 140 year old tree and the longest living thing on this property. He said that the tree had outlived its purpose and should be brought down as it was keeling dangerously to one side with the balancing weight on the other side lopped off by the storm.

However, the residents of our Society still wanted to save the tree and another arborist was called to corroborate this diagnosis. The second tree specialist was slightly more hopeful and advised us to chop off the branches he thought were essential and for about a week the entrance to the building was sealed off lest the tree toppled over.

But it seemed that the tree had really outlived its purpose.

This is what the future finally brought to this old giant

Ironically just a day after World Environment Day (June 5th) , at around 6.30 a.m. this morning, it gently fell down knocking off a branch from the Mango tree near by as it came down. Luckily no one was walking under the tree as it fell and only one car parked nearby was damaged.

As the residents mourned the loss of this big giant of a tree, we realised that the roots were only three feet deep into the ground as the tree was actually on solid rock! Moreover, the roots had rotted and the tree was disease ridden. So it was only a matter of time before it came crashing down.

Yet in its fall, it remained protective of the property making sure that it did not come crashing down the compound wall and more importantly, did not harm any human life.

I went down to see if there really was a Naagpurush as my mother-in-law used to say. There was nothing but gnarled and twisted roots.

But perhaps there was a mythical naagpurush protecting us after all.

Ciao
The Last Laugh

May 25, 2021

We were sitting around the big table in the lower verandah, our normal meeting place for discussing the Club’s Magazine .

Even though this magazine was entirely private, distributed only to the Club members and covering the Club’s activities for the month, we tried to make it more interesting with stories of general interest.

Month after month we had an issue with a lead story, travelogues by members, health advice by club members from the medical fraternity and of course a page for the younger members who would grow into adulthood soon enough .

So essentially it was more than just a Club’s newsletter and actually had a Magazine Committee meeting every month to decide what we should cover.

Yet , there were many members who thought the magazine was a mere waste of time and consigned their copy to the dustbin without even a glance .

This was disheartening and we carried on, thinking of ways to make it more appealing .

I still remember last March, (which was the last meeting I attended )when we were thinking of dedicating the magazine to the madness or paranoia that was surrounding the Corona virus .

At that time WhatsApp groups were flooded with videos of Chinese dropping like flies in Wuhan, Italians succumbing to the virus and our own Indians slowly being brought home by special flights .

We thought covering the Novel Corona Virus would make our issue go viral especially if we captioned the lead story ‘Going Viral With Corona’!

That would surely grab their eyeballs !

So we contacted a pathologist member to get the low down on the pathology of the virus and how it spreads.

We collected a few cartoons on the virus and the panic it generated.

And we had the matter in place when the first lockdown was declared.

And the magazine went for a toss !

The printing press couldn’t get the issue ready for distribution. And even the Club was closed .

When the Pandemic faced a lull last October, the Club was opened partially. With limited activities and limited numbers of members attending , it was a shadow of its former self.

Fear was writ large on the faces of members who no longer found it a home away from home. A place where they could meet up with friends and share a cup of tea or a glass of beer . People scurried in and out to pick up a library book , have a quick round of tennis, buy some essential groceries , exchange a few pleasantries with fellow members

And the Magazine Committee thought that perhaps we could re-start the magazine. But the material we had collected for the March issue was hopelessly outdated. Our run down on the Virus seemed so basic in comparison to the heaps of information available now .

But with the Second wave and in all probability the Third coming soon after, it seems that we were more than premature in thinking that in 40 days the virus would go away.

Looking back, I feel how naive we were to discount the fear and paranoia beginning to grip the world then .

Truly, the virus is having the last laugh!

On that note , stay safe . Wear a mask and avoid crowded places .

Ciao,