“…what a quiet bunch of students!...”

 “…what a quiet bunch of students!...”

…I told myself. I was on my way back from college in early 2000s in the general compartment of a local train in Mumbai.

A couple of stations passed & a group of 5-6 college students boarded the train. From my window seat, I was able to glance at them as they boarded the train. It was a mixed group, with a few girls & boys. They decided to stand near the door & did not come in.

Slowly, the compartment started getting occupied & I could barely spot them due to the crowd . I could see them involved in an animated discussion, with their hands moving all around. I guess they were speaking too softly as I couldn't hear them & that’s when I pondered how such a group of seemingly energetic students can be so quiet in their discussions.

In a few mins, I was about to reach my destination, so I decided to alight from the door they were at. As I reached closer to them, I was stunned at what I saw. I could see why they weren’t as noisy as any other group of students would be. All of them were specially abled (differently abled, as commonly known) & they all had a hearing impairment. They were still involved in a very animated and engaged discussion (in sign lang.) which most of the people around had no clue about, yet they seemed to be enjoying it. As I waited for my station to arrive, I was totally mesmerized by them. All of them probably around their 20s, dressed immaculately with trendy accessories – bright and energetic faces and not an ounce of indication about their struggle with the impairment.

The incident stayed with me for the next few days. Got me thinking how these folks, who did not have the basic ability of communicating via spoken words, seemed so happy. Their smiles were as beautiful as any and their dressing sense perhaps much better than most. They did not seem to bother about onlookers who stared at them as if they were aliens from another planet. It seemed as though their palms and fingers were more efficient in communication than most people's tongues could be. 

We often wonder about the abilities we lack, but forget that while we can try and acquire the abilities we desire, the abilities & attitude we possess can make up for the absence of such missing abilities. Things like ability to speak, hear, see, walk & touch are totally disregarded as an “ability” whereas we are actually privileged to have these. There are millions of such people in the world, who lack the basic abilities in their life yet manage to rise in their life like a phoenix through the ashes. Some might put up a great picture for all to see, though deep down, they might be fighting a tough battle daily.

Today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Hopefully, the word disability will soon be replaced with different or special ability. Links in comments for similar anecdotes.

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"Son, a coconut will never fall on a person, don't worry."

 "Son, a coconut will never fall on a person, don't worry. You see it has 3 eyes, one more than what we humans have. It watches where it falls. Go and play now, nothing will happen..."

...said the wise old lady, about 30 years back one day. Incidentally, this lady had good vision only in one eye. I forget her name, but we all called her "Aajji" [Granny in marathi].

A bunch of us, all under 10, were playing in the society compound. Our society had a few coconut trees then. 3 or 4 I believe. While the society had a ritual of getting the coconuts plucked and distributed once a year, coconuts would still fall randomly. Infact at the place I stay these days, we just have 1 tree & a coconut falls nearly twice every week.

So while we were running around, a large coconut fell with a huge thud, few feet away from where we were playing. We all ran for cover, as if someone was firing bullets at us, totally scared. One of the friends had his home on the ground floor & we all just went there, still panting. Aajji was the grandmother of the friend who stayed there.

"Kai zhaala re?" ["what happened guys?"] she asked... in her sharp & loud voice. She was a strict lady and we were always scared of her. We told her about the coconut that just fell and that how we were lucky that it did not fall on any of us. That is when she let out a hysterical laugher, further spooking us. She saw our confused & scared faces and then told us (what I quoted above) in a calm voice. At that age, we knew this wise old lady knew everything, so we thought she was probably right & we went back to play. Over the years, we saw many coconuts fall, but Aajji was right. It never fell on a person or a vehicle or absolutely anything. It always hit the ground first, before rolling off to a destination of its choice.

A few minutes back today, as I am out on my evening stroll, I saw something come down crashing. Before I could fathom what happened, there was a large thud and this bloke (seen in the image) rolled over near my feet. My heart skipped a beat, again wondering what if I was at the spot where this coconut fell! The concept about the uncertainties of life flashed through my mind. Then I remembered what Aajji had said. She had said it will never fall on people.

To think of it, knowingly or unknowingly, we all probably dodge such bullets throughout our lives. Sometimes we see the bullets, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we are aware about what we dodged sometimes we aren't. Sometimes we dodge them, sometimes a higher force dodges it for us, unknown to us.

We all are probably no lesser than Keanu Reeves, dodging those bullets in Matrix. It's probably fair to acknowledge that we do dodge a lot of bullets that could do us physical & mental harm.

A watchman of the society nearby heard the thud & came running & saw me holding the nut. Generally, I wouldn't mind letting him have it, but this was a bullet I had just dodged. I had to keep it. I smiled at him and kept walking.

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"...but where do these waves come from? "

 "...but where do these waves come from? And why do they come till the start of the beach sometimes and not all the time?..."

...asked my little one last Friday when we were standing in the water at the beach. The ominous waves from far were ending up as cute little ripples at our feet. First splashing against us and then stealing the sand from beneath our feet, as they retreated back towards their mighty mother.

"It's because of the moon's gravity. Just like your teacher told you about earth's gravity last month, the moon also has a gravitational force which acts on the oceans and pulls water towards it, causing waves. The water travels farther at high tide time and retreats back when there is a low tide." I told her. There was no cross questioning and the topic ended there.

On the walk back to the car I quickly googled, as she had piqued my curiosity too. Turns out the waves are primarily caused by wind force. The moon also causes tidal waves, which end in high tides and low tides.

Even though the moon is much smaller in mass and size, since it's so close to us, it has enough gravity to move things around. The moon's gravity even pulls on the land, but not enough for anyone to tell.When the moon's gravity pulls on the water in the oceans, however, it's easier to notice. Water has a much easier time moving around, and the water wants to bulge in the direction of the moon. The ocean also bulges out on the side of Earth opposite the moon. Infact, the Sun also causes tides just like the moon does, although they are somewhat smaller. [Source: scijinks. gov]

- The moon's primary identity is that of a satellite of the earth. It has 1/100th mass, 1/4th size & 1/6th gravity as compared to the planet it is so crazy about, yet in a way, it continuously changes the shape of the planet it goes around.
One doesn't need to be a match in terms of size/mass/capacity to cause a continuous and huge impact on the bigger one that it looks up to.


- The moon and the sun are thousands and millions of kilometers away, yet they cause formation of monstrous tidal waves.
One doesn't necessarily need to be close or in contact with the other to make a frequent mammoth impact on the other. One can have a strong influence on the other irrespective of the distance.

- The ocean being fluid, moves around, going through daily highs & lows, yet has a daily adventure while it explores the world. The land being rigid, barely moves, yet acts as a base for other magnificent things to rise upon.
Perhaps being fluid helps, but not everyone likes to keep moving around all the time, going through mighty highs & lows in the process. Some might be fine staying put, being stable. It would be unfair to judge either.

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Three Families

 One family...

Seemingly enjoying their time, having fun in the sea...
Probably not worrying about times to come...

One family...
Seemingly involved in some deep discussion...
Probably discussing about times to come...

One family...
Seemingly carrying out rituals after the passing of a member...
Probably mourning the loss & reflecting on the times gone by....

One onlooker...
Seemingly hopeful, with a camera in his hand, looking at all of them....
Probably pondering if he can capture this moment for any of them, in order to put food on his family's plate...

Each family, probably going through different phases of their existence. Each of the 9 individuals, further going through separate phases each, much like how each unit within an organization, each team within a unit and each member within a team might be going through their own wide spectrum of highs/plateaus/lows at various points in time. Each will pass through every phase time and again, when and how long, is the unknown variable. The ability to gauge who is going through what, probably being the secret sauce that everyone would like to lay their hands on...

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"...nahi sir, main Vishnu bhakt hun, Lakshmi bhakt toh sab hote hai..."

"...nahi sir, main Vishnu bhakt hun, Lakshmi bhakt toh sab hote hai..."

["No Sir, I am a disciple of Lord Vishnu, though most people follow Goddess Lakshmi"]

...said the vendor at the beach. You'll spot many stalls selling healthy juices, snacks & soups at the Juhu beach in the morning. Today I thought of trying out a soup. While I was sipping on it, one of the customers (might be a regular) told him "You'll raise your prices & forget us as you grow your business". That's when he said what I quoted above.

"Sir, let me tell you a story." he then added, in Hindi. I'll narrate it in English.

"There was once a king. He had a servant who was always happy. The king observed that the servant would sing & dance daily evening as he'd go back home. He envied the servant's state as he himself was always stressed. He shared this with his minister. The minister was shrewd. "Your Majesty, give me a few days and you will see the servant will stop his singing & dancing" he said.

Next day, the minister hid Rs. 99 under the king's pillow. The servant found it and kept it. At first, he & his wife got worried about where to safely store the money. Then the servant thought it'll be great to find another rupee to take the figure to 100. So from next day, he started looking out in the castle to find another rupee. Days passed, he tried a lot but couldn't find it. So he started saving, staying hungry in order to save enough to push the figure to 100. He eventually managed to do it. But now he felt he should have Rs.101 & again started worrying. That's when his wife lost it & reminded him of how he had stopped singing & dancing daily evening & how he had stopped enjoying his life altogether since he found Rs. 99.

So you see sir, the servant first lost his peace of mind due to the fear of losing Rs.99 & then he lost it further trying to take the figure higher. I am happy with my earnings & pace of growth." he concluded.

While my logical mind questioned a few things in the story, I loved the point he was trying to make. While we may have heard the same or similar stories often in our lives, it's always nice to hear these time & again. Reinforcement helps.

And the soup made up of methi (fenugreek), ajwain, ginger, amba haldi (mango ginger) and few other things was superb too. Try it the next time you visit the morning beach at Mumbai.

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"Papa, can you please play Manike Mage Hithe?"

 "Papa, can you please play Manike Mage Hithe?"

..asked my kid. We were in the car, on our way to pick my wife from the airport. Now my kid usually loves English songs, occasionally Hindi. So this was a first. A Sinhala song. We do not speak or understand the language, so I was surprised she liked it.

Am sure most of you may have heard this viral song or heard about it atleast. The song has been viewed over a 100 million times on YouTube as of September 2021.

A couple of months back, a friend messaged me saying "Just listen to this song, it's mesmerizing. I can't stop listening to it." I reluctantantly clicked on the link and heard it. "Nothing great about this" I told myself and moved on.

Few weeks later, after repeatedly stumbling upon the song on social media, I slowly took a liking to it. Eventually I found myself listening to it on loop on my daily jogs. I was hooked on to it. And now it seems my kid is hooked on to it too.

1. As they say, music is indeed the universal language that cuts through multiple barriers like language, beliefs and age among other things.

2. In general, if something sounds good, you need not understand everything about it in entirety in order to accept/like it.

3. Our opinions/likes/preferences change so often and so easily. Something we pass off as ordinary might suddenly seem great and on the other hand something we put a lot of value to might seem quite ordinary at a later point in time.

4. The creators of this song as well as creators of all things that ever went viral would never ever have anticipated/expected the resounding success that they would have experienced. You keep doing your thing. What has to fail will fail and what has to fly will fly.

Btw, if you haven't heard this song yet, then maybe you can give it a shot now. I think it grows on you after a few repetitions.

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