"I saw a rocket at the beach today 😎"

 "I saw a rocket at the beach today 😎"

...is how I would have described this sight of a smokey white trail in the sky, if I were to rewind the time and go back to the times when I was around 5 years old.

We stay about a couple of kilometers away from the airport and hence the sight of planes landing and taking off is fairly common. However, once in a while we'd spot an object flying high in the sky, leaving a trail of white smoke as it passed by. Since we were used to seeing planes at low altitudes (which did not emit such smoke), we deduced that these were actually rockets (coz we'd see on TV that rockets leave a lot of smoke behind them) and we'd always be fascinated to spot such rockets. Over the years then we learned these weren't rockets but just planes flying high in the sky and we stopped getting amused by its sight, because it was just a plane after all.

Today, I actually looked up (the internet, after literally looking up at the sky to spot this phenomena) to learn what causes this white smokey trail. Apparently, the term for it is "contrail" (short for condensation trail). Contrails or vapor trails are line-shaped clouds produced by aircraft engine exhaust or changes in air pressure, typically at aircraft cruising altitudes several miles above the Earth's surface. Contrails are composed primarily of water, in the form of ice crystals. The combination of water vapor in aircraft engine exhaust and the low ambient temperatures that exist at high altitudes allows the formation of the trails. [Source: Wikipedia].

Contrails is probably an example of myriad such things that caused fascination and joy at a young age but eventually become something dismissive and not worth noticing as we grow older. What fascinates us now may probably not bring any joy when we are 10-15 years older from now and what fascinates/interests us then, would probably not be as enticing another 10-15 years from that point in time.

The contrail I saw today though, did bring some joy as it teleported me back to the sweet old days when we loved spotting one. Every small moment of joy counts and its probably the contrail made up of myriad joyous moments that make life worth looking back at, as we keep flying away from where we started, fully aware that we may never land back at the same spot where we started from.

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"....why don't add your phone number or social media handle on these?..."

 "....why don't add your phone number or social media handle on these?..."

I asked him curiously. I was towards the end of my jog this morning at the beach and spotted these two placards and a bloke sitting next to them. I passed by thinking about it. I found it very creative and catchy so on my way back I approached
him. Asked him if he was making websites and suggested that maybe he should put in a contact detail.

"Sir, I do not want to put a contact... it's something different I am trying and want people to come and meet me here..." he said very clearly. I asked him if I could take a picture and he was glad to pose. He has come from Hyderabad and hopes to achieve his goals here in the "mayanagari" (as he called it) Mumbai.

I am still not entirely sure what he is trying to build but I wished him luck and continued. Before leaving, I asked him if I could tag him on LinkedIn.

Although the card is not clear (am yet to learn how to take snaps where foreground and background both are clear), the bloke here is Gattu Mani Sampath and you may DM him on LinkedIn if you wish to know more about his offerings.

Intent, Clarity & Creativity. Good recipie for success perhaps. All the best again buddy!

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"...And nothing pierced your feet? Surprising!..."

 "...And nothing pierced your feet? Surprising!..."

...commented one of my friends, when she read about a jog I did barefoot on the beach once, when my shoe broke.

"I used to go there daily for years & always saw so many pieces of broken bottles at the beach." she added.

The Friday after that, my daughter joined me for the jog at the beach. While I had my shoes on, she was barefoot. All went well & I had actually forgot about that comment on broken glasses.

Last Friday, again she tagged along & ran barefoot, but this time, I recalled that comment & now started watching where her feet were landing. To my shock, I did see quite a few broken pieces of glass around where we were jogging. I alerted her about it & told her to watch out. We kept jogging & till the time we stopped, I kept worrying about the fact that she might hurt her feet. After a while, she decided to play with her sand toys & I continued.

I was still wondering how these pieces weren't hurting so many walkers/joggers/runners. So then everytime I saw a piece of broken glass, I paused to examine it. Since there were plenty of such around, within about 5 mins I had encountered 8 or 9 such pieces. I stopped to pick up each to see why they weren't hurting anyone.

What I saw, and deduced, was:

1. Almost all pieces were noticeable, a few cms wide. Did not spot tiny (or large) pieces. All these pieces probably get thrown by the sea, daily, but the sea only throws out pieces of a particular size perhaps. Tiny/large pieces either get sucked in or (tiny ones) get mixed in the sand easily.

2. Nearly all of these pieces belonged to bottles as most of them were curved.

3. "All" of the curved ones were resting in a position where the broken edges were facing down. The force and motion of waves perhaps act in a way, that they always land with edges facing down - this means anyone stepping on them won't get hurt.

4. For a few which were flattish (as well as for the ones that were curved), the edges had smoothened out, they weren't sharp. Perhaps the effect of the waves also significantly eliminates the sharpness in the edges & hence even if one were to step on an edge, it would be nearly harmless, not potent enough to make a cut.

Learnings:

1. Sometimes, ignorance is indeed a bliss. Till the time I wasn't aware of these glass pieces & hadn't noticed, I wasn't worried about running barefoot. Now that I know these exist, I will always have some worry, especially for my kid when she runs barefoot (even though the probability of getting hurt might be low).

2. Nature always has a way of protecting. The sea, in this instance, ensures the glasses land curved side up and take the sharpness off from the edges.

3. A thing which would cause extreme fear, anxiety & caution in one scenario, almost goes unnoticed & unfeared in other. Imagine pieces of glass, laid down in your path on a usual floor, as opposed to them being on a beach (albeit with the washdown effect).

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“…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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