So we are between Internet services; we don’t have any service at home! I am not sure how I am going to survive this “no-internet” situation! What am I going to do? How am I going to function? I am sure, all those internet users reading this blog will agree that I am certainly not overreacting here! (Do not go on the exclamation marks after every sentence; I need some support here!) I think they should come up with some “self -help” books to deal with a crisis like this one! During this “sabbatical” from the “cyberspace”, wonder what are my days going to like, especially the coming Sat and Sun!
Thinking of activities I can possibly do as I sit in my almost empty (abandoned-like) office floor, when the rest of the world is enjoying their Fri night after a long week, like a herd let loose!
So coming back to the one who is still tied to her office chair and laptop, thinking hard about my “to-do” list, this is what comes to my mind as I type : reading some stuff that I have been planning to, and haven’t been able to yet, for a long time/ getting up early to watch the sun rise from my window, then sipping tea till the sun warms up for his day/ spending some time with my roomie / weather permitting, taking a walk outside / cooking something yummy to go with the Yellow Tail gifted by a very dear friend (currently on vacation on the west coast!) / some PR phone calls to family – friends/ exercise-meditation / introspection and contemplation …
Hmmm.. that’s quite a list there, eh?
Wow! Up until now I knew how much change Internet has brought in our lives. Didn’t realize how much change, even its absence, canbring to us!!!
For the past two days, my drive to work has been particularly interesting! As I stepped out of the house in a hurry (like the rest of us), I stepped into a very different morning! But for my car, I could see NOTHING, as it was one of the foggiest mornings I had ever seen! I started driving and suddenly realized that I had to be very cautious because there was no visibility beyond a couple of meters! It was like suddenly halting, coming out of our mundane trance and looking around, which we seldom do. For once, my thoughts were replaced by what was around me that morning… and what a morning that was!
I tried to pierce through the fog trying to see familiar environs. All I could see was dried branches for trees, which had embraced the winters by shedding their leaves, just like landscapes in a black and white Chinese painting. The second layer of trees was a lighter silhouette that, best put, merely existed. I would see a house or two as if painted in dull water colors. It appeared as if I was driving in a city of clouds… How fairytale-ish is that, I thought to myself! I am sure I have fantasized something like this when I was little. Thinking that that fantasy has come true means a lot, if I just don’t discount it by being indifferent. I wondered if fairy tales and childhood fantasies do come true. May be they do, it just that we have long forgotten them to notice!
Nature changes itself, not only through Her seasons, but even every day, or at times every hour. This reminded me of a contemporary concept of a lover trying to keep the ‘spice of the relationship’ by donning new ideas. To a certain extent we depend on Nature for our moods on a day to day basis. She becomes a good subject for small talks. She cleans my car in rains and tells me to be extra cautious while driving when its icy. I go berserk when its a sunny day and my spirits are higher than high! I want to write poetry because I am happy. I plan my vacations around Her. And there are a million things that I can write. But did I ever sit up and express our gratitude to her?
This reminds me of an excerpt from one of the books that has influenced my life the most: The Autobiography Of A Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. He writes, ” Our relation with nature is one of practical business. We tease her, so to speak, to know how she can be used to serve our purposes; we make use of her energies, whose Source yet remains unknown. In science our relation with nature is one that exists between a man and his servant, or in a philosophical sense she is like a captive in the witness box. We cross-examine her, challenge her, and minutely weigh her evidence in human scales which cannot measure her hidden values. On the other hand, when the self is in communion with a higher power, nature automatically obeys, without stress or strain, the will of man. This effortless command over nature is called ‘miraculous’ by the uncomprehending materialist “.
Nature is a way greater concept than mankind. We have seen Her rage, more so in the recent past, in the natural disasters. A little nudge from her and our lives are toppled! I realized that ideally all we can do is be submissive to the force called Nature. It is but the Supreme in Its manifested tangible form.
I reached work that foggy morning, “thats a lot of fog cleared off my mind”, I chuckled to myself.
Living in Farmington Hills, Michigan is peaceful. I do appreciate it against the backdrop of downtown Chicago, where I lived before moving here. Needless to mention Chicago and its restaurants and cuisines, cultures and cults, things-to-do and theaters, museums and galleries, art and architecture. No other city could charm me as much. Now the closest city to me is Detroit. I have never really frequented the place. I remember going to the city outskirts a few days back with my team at work. The eeriness of the abandoned buildings and vacant houses still haunt me. I particularly remember a huge building which seemed to have burned down long ago and never again saw life. In my mind Detroit was a collage of a riot ripped city, creepy buildings and not at all a place to visit, especially dusk onwards… until yesterday…
It was Friday evening and my enthusiastic host offered to take me to Detroit. I have always found him promoting the city. He once told me not to think that I have come to a “third world” section of the country! This evening we were to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) for the Friday Night Live, and it was a musical performance by Master Scots fiddler Alasdair Fraser with the pretty American cellist Natalie Haas.
From the outside DIA was a beautiful old building that was buzzing with warmth of art seekers within, contrasting starkly with the freezing whiteness of the Michigan snow that evening. We had some time before the performance, and we took a tour of the various sections filled with murals, sculptures and artifacts from long lost ages! I was amazed to see how time was captured in big and small glass boxes, like one catches flying butterflies in a little boxes. Each artifact stared back at my close curious look. In the silent background of the halls, they secretly came to life and whisper to me. Like a mysterious wizard, they held my hand and we flew back in time. I flew continent to continent, region to region, century to century and civilization to civilization… There seemed no hostile borders then, and it was a smooth sailing from Asia to Africa, Europe to America, orient to the occident. It was an unbroken and continuous diversity. It was enchanting! As we moved to the paintings section, I tried listening to what Pablo Picasso had to say through his portraits and roamed in Vincent van Gogh‘s flowers and landscapes, among many other great painters. And then I entered the Great Hall on Level 2, and looked up to find the ceiling as if crowded with countless stars twinkling at me! Here is a picture I found online in Derek Farr’s Flickr profile. Thanks Derek – this is the best of all pictures I searched on line (and hope you don’t sue me!!)
The musical performance was right in the Rivera Court. The north and south walls represents the races that shaped the American culture and Detroit’s work force of the auto and other industries like chemical, medical, pharmaceutical. The central panel shows the important operations in the production and manufacture of the engine and transmission of the 1932 Ford V8. The major panel of the south wall is devoted to the production of the automobile’s exterior.
By 7 pm, the Rivera Court had turned into a congregation of art admirers from the city. This evening’s performance was a result of the ‘reinvention of the musical marriage between big and small fiddles – a familiar feature of the music of the eighteenth century Scotland’. The artistes started “fiddling” with their instruments to compositions that took the audience across a couple of centuries during their 45-minute concert. The strings started to writhe in ecstasy as the bow struck them to instantly cast a spell on the crowd! The workmen on the walls busy making car parts too stopped working as the tunes hit the walls… The two-people orchestra was a wonderful experience! (Check out their performances here).
As we walked out, I felt coming out of a time machine. We were on Woodward Avenue now and drove past the magnificent Churches on either side of the road built by immigrants when they came to make the city their home, informed my host. I was awe-struck by the brilliant architecture each cathedral demonstrated. Quiet they stood as silent witnesses to the great rise and fall of an era called Detroit!
As we drove back, I was crowded with the thoughts about the city that was once one the most prosperous cities in the world! There was so much to know and learn about it, I thought. Something in me had changed. The Detroit that I had in my mind was different now. It left me with a strong desire to know more and discover the city all over again! Only if everyone of us did that, wouldn’t that restore the city’s past glory at least to some extent, I wondered as we zoomed past…
So its a week since I am in my home town. And without my luggage! Let me correct myself there – I did get one bag out of the two, one day ago. And of course Murphy’s Law was at play – I didn’t get the right one, not to mention the pilferage! This doesn’t have my clothes and my shoes and cosmetics and all those things I thought I couldn’t live without normally. Looks like I can.. Thanks to Aai who made arrangements for me to wear her lovely salwar kameez.
I called and called the Air India office in Nagpur and in Mumbai. Talked to people when the phone line wasn’t busy (oh those few would be my lucky days!). Didn’t know who is responsible to take the onus of it – as there seems no one! Its then that I had decided to myself – I am not going to be bothered by it and spoil my holiday. Its after all a means to the end and not the end. (Philosophy does come to ones rescue at times as these; that is the best option..er… the only option!). Got enough material for discussions with family and friends. used a lot of “there is no system in place” and “there is no accountability here” and so on… Now I am bored of talking about it.
Hoping that some astronomical constellation takes place and I get my second (and important) bag before I leave for the US, intact with no pilferage, with no custom hassles whatsoever…
"What do we ever know that is higher than that power which, from time to time, seizes our lives, and reveals us startlingly to ourselves as creatures set down here bewildered?" -- Annie Dillard
Life according to one of life’s truly gifted naturally born wafflers… an open diary of a Saffer in a different land... life in the greater Dublin & Leinster area. (Blogging since 2011) My quests fuel my dreams… my dreams fuel my quests!!
Madame Zenista 