dream with a view

Well, it’s official. Day dreaming is good for creative thinking. Read here. I didn’t need a scientific paper to prove that to me. My best ideas are always when I am day dreaming. Day dreaming is the best thing to happen to me. When this new office was being set up I was most happy that my cabin had a window. So far in the last eight years, I have been very fortunate to always have a window next to where I sit. This is my fourth seat, but all with a window (not counting a temporary seating place with no bloody window).

I can sit and look out and see stuff.  When I am on the phone my mind can wander away. When I look down I see people scurrying around. Cars zipping or parking. In the last office my window overlooked a busy junction. Some action is always happening. Right now, it overlooks a small back lane and a residential building. The fun bit is the trees there. So bird life is normally not an issue. There are only five birds I spot roaming around. The pigeon (blue rock pigeon) is common and so is the crow. Sometimes I spot the sparrow. But I consider myself lucky if I catch the coppersmith barbet or the red vented bulbul. Typically I always catch them while I am on a phone call. Sitting and listening and staring out of the window. Mind is relaxed and wandering. Oops yes, I do catch a sixth bird sometimes – the pariah kite. Most of the time it’s gliding through the air. Day dreaming.

Now to convince Jasmine that Jispa’s day dreaming is actually good for her.

Here’s my first of the good window seats. Ignore those guys workings there. That was for a brief period. It was the best office I worked in. No cabin but the extra-long cubicle was nice. I had the best neighbors and an awesome team, not separated by any stupid glass wall.

 

Here is the second one. Forgive the grainy snap. Again a cubicle but a nice corner, left alone to myself. The best memories were of the recession and me spending hours on my RSS feeds and learning new stuff.

 

The third one in the same building and position but different floor. A cabin for two. Some sales guy or the other would be there. I always appreciated the interaction. It was a cabin but since they dint want to show it as a cabin, the HR had the door removed and left the glass. Stupid. But Road view!

This is the current view. The best thing is that this is east facing and I get morning sun. I don’t switch on the lights till quite late in the day and I am growing plants!

 

a tatoo that does not let you say - thats advanced

I have always wanted to get a tattoo, and now reading this article I have made up my mind.... I will get a tattoo done. Here is the link http://io9.com/#!5768038/science-proves-that-teachers-should-get-tattoos but for those too bored to read through, it broadly says this - "128 undergraduates' perceptions of tattoos on a model described as a college instructor were assessed. They viewed one of four photographs of a tattooed or nontattooed female model. Students rated her on nine teaching-related characteristics. Analyses indicated that the presence of tattoos was associated with some positive changes in ratings: students' motivation, being imaginative about assignments, and how likely students were to recommend her as an instructor."
I now have a rational reason for a personal decision. I wish I had a few teachers with tattoos as well. I am sure his (definitely if it was a ‘her’) lectures would be more likely to be filled. Kids would like teachers with a bit of wild side to them! Now to figure a good tattoo artist. What would I like to tattoo? Well that’s simple – anything that denotes, yes, - opposites must reconcile. So I either go with the yin and yang or go with the Natraj.
Talking about teachers – we wiggled more stuff out of Jispa of her tryst with her teacher and birds. It seems she showed a picture of a parakeet and called it a parrot. To the uninitiated it’s the same. But to a child who has been going on bird watching vacations since three four years – it’s the ultimate sacrilege. She pointed out that these are parakeets and that you only get parrots in cages that people keep after importing them from some other country. India does not have parrots. But the teacher said, no you get them in the jungles, but Jispa has been to enough jungles in India to figure out that its wrong. You get parakeets in India. Jispa was pretty tired of her teacher. “She just isn’t obeying me”. Obeying? Wow that comment is going to stick for some time to come.
Then when a friend spoke about seeing a parrot from her house that had a red ring around its neck, Jispa immediately identified it as the rose ringed parakeet. But her teacher said – ‘that’s advanced’. Then her teacher sowed a picture of a kite (the bird). She said, miss that’s a pariah kite. Her teachers standard refrain ‘that’s advanced’. So I was having a chat with her Jispa and we were jointly lamenting about her school, when Jispa said that once she was told to write a essay or something about winter. Jispa wanted to write about winter having the winter solstice and how that is the longest night in the year. Her teacher’s reaction? Yup you got it right ‘that’s advanced’.
I guess its difficult teaching precocious bunch of 8 year olds. Nopes I don’t think Jispa is super extra talented. All kids have a super specialisation. Somebody will be an expert on cars, some of snakes, some on lizards, some on football, some on music and some on birds. They naturally veer towards something they like and I guess many time sit lead by the family. And then they like to show their talents in school, leaving the poor teacher flummoxed. So if the teacher were to listen to these kids, then regular studies would be an issue. But also I guess the teacher must have a better reaction. If she would have heard her and believed in her then the class would have been better off. Possibly she should have told Jispa to make a short presentation on birds or explain some of them or anything. The class would possibly have been richer for the experience. But as their favourite line that keeps popping up – that’s advanced.
Which makes me think, if she had a teacher who had a tattoo that was clearly visible? What do you think her reaction might have been? A bit different from what she got? A bit more consideration perhaps? Now suddenly the emergence of a tattoo on a teacher changing student opinion may not sound that incredulous.
Now where can I get a good tattoo parlour? And yes, I have to get it done in a visible spot.
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An update on the swimming marathon – well in practice the coach showed how easily they do 80 laps. Jispa does it in 49 mins and then the coach makes them do more rounds after that. And after the session is done, the kids simply jump out and hit the showers and fool around. No one is out of breath or is panting. They are just fine. Cool. But Jispa will miss the competition tomorrow as she has to attend her cousin’s ceremony. Jasmine’s brother’s son’s ‘mundan’. Cool. Whatever!

he who laughs last...

We had an interesting time last week. We realised that now we were moving into a prenting zone that increasingly would have situations where you know less and less about what to do or behave. Jispa was having a taekwondo competition in school on Saturday and on Monday while she was practising in school, she over did her practice kicking. By mistake she ended up kicking a pillar and got her tiny toes hit in the process. It was ok whole day and she even swam till it was time to sleep and it hurt a bit. I saw it was swollen and feared a fracture.
As a kid I used to get hurt quite a bit, I gave got bruised, cut, hit but I have never got a fracture. I so wanted one. The fun of wearing plaster to school on which everyone would be able to write messages etc. I always used to get a hit and then get an x-ray only to come back disappointed.
The next day she missed school for some x-rays and the result was negative – no fracture. So we went to our ayurvedic doc to get some medicines to heal the foot and to reduce the swelling. The question now was – what about the competition. I did not care two hoots about it. It’s just an internal competition and that doesn’t really matter, does it? Jispa obviously wanted to take part and doc was ambivalent. If it does not hurt much she could go. Jasmine called up the teacher and gave her an update. In the following days her teacher caught up with her and pumped her up. Jasmine was almost pissed. She told Jispa ‘ you are my girl, you are my best kicker, you got to do it.’
Now what to do? Jispa is pumped up and so is her teacher. I would rather not and Jasmine is with me on this.
Jispa also takes part in inter club swimming meets. There one marathon coming up. What? I asked? A swimming marathon? How many laps? 80 laps of 25meters. WOW. NO was my response. How on earth would she do it? Jasmine too was confused. We asked her coach. Her coach was like – ‘we can take a call. It’s ok. Ask Jispa if she wants to do it?’. Ask Jispa? How would she know? Then Jasmine told me that Jispa does around 50- 60 laps a day while in class in any case. Wow. That’s cool, but 80 laps. Her coach thought about and discussed it with the senior coach and came back and said – go ahead. Jasmine was still wondering when the coach said ‘do it if Jispa wants to do it. On her ability to do 80 laps – that’s ok. She CAN swim 80 laps.’
Look at these situations. As a parent you want to push the child but you don’t want to PUSH the child. You have an idea of her abilities but you don’t really KNOW of her abilities. Here you may disagree with the coach but you know that the coach is probably right. So now we are entering territory where the parents takea back seat and simply watch. I guess we can only be there to encourage and not much else. I probably know jack shit of swimming and even less of taekwondo.
Any ways... her school competition was on Saturday and she was fighting a girl one year elder. That’s a big thing at her age. Given my class and some other commitments, I reached just 10 minutes ahead of schedule to know that it started ahead of schedule and I saw them as they just finished. Talk about timing. Exactly 5 seconds late. Drat. There were two rounds and the first was tied 4 all and the second Jispa lost 2-3. I just came in time to see them announce the result of the bout on the area and then see Jispa remove her protective gear. As the results were announced, Jispa started to cry. She suddenly realised her damaged foot was paining. While it might be true I think it was an emotional release. It’s a tough ask to go in and start kicking and fighting, especially for a girl and especially for Jispa. Jispa is not a natural one to pick a fight with someone. She has a lot of qualities like care, love and forgiveness in her. For her to kick constantly and attack might be an emotional roller coaster. Possibly the balm of winning might have been a soothing touch but the defeat would mean a chance to release. Possibly it was just that – the adrenaline wore off and her foot started to hurt. Possibly she psyched herself not to feel the pain for a few days and it now all gave way. Who knows? But anyways. Since her school is a tiny winy pond, she got a silver for her efforts. One bout you lose and get a silver? Possibly that’s her category or something. Only two in it and no more rounds... who knows. Quite frankly I don’t care. No point in competing in that really small pond.
As for the swim meet, that’s yet to happen. We have sent the entry, but the dates aren’t announced. So thats us relying on the teacher more than on parenting instinct.
But wait – there is still justice at last. AS a family we have been avid bird wacthers in the last few years with us each having our bird books and we keep roaming around spotting birds. Yesterday in class she had a session on birds of India where she told us that she kept correcting the teacher – Miss, that’s a crane not an egret and that’s the egret which you called a crane. The egret is a common bird you see everywhere, even from the bus while going to school. Whoops. Then she explained to the teacher that the bird you called pigeon is actually called the blue rock pigeon. Double triple whoops. It seems that the teacher did not really believe her. Also it seems she knew all the birds that the teacher spoke about. And many more :). Haha. The parent’s last laugh. So we do know a bit about teaching our kid, after all.

the jungle

Hiya…. Back after a one week break. Had been to kanha national park. The best place in India to see the tiger. The tiger is a magnificent animal. He walks with a grace that is unseen and a disdain for the tourists in the open jeeps. The fear and the excitement is palpable when a bunch of jeeps come face to face with the tiger. The tiger cares two hoots about your presence as he goes about lazing in eth sun or scratching his claws, peeing in the sand or even as we saw him licking sand.

But going to a national park to see the tiger is missing the point. I hate the safaris that run in search of the tiger. The only aim is to take you from point A to point B as fast as possible so as to get you to see the tiger. The jungle has many splendours to show the willing senses. There is so much to hear, see, smell and feel. A simple case in point – seeing a tiger is one thing but we had the opportunity to hear the calss before we could spot it. We heard calls and then saw the spotted deers with their tails up, erect, looking in a particular direction. This gave us the direction of the tiger. But is still only half the point, or a smaller fraction thereof. Kanha is such a lovely jungle. Going into the jungle in your open jeeps early in the morning with mist all around was unforgettable. I am pretty weird, of all that I saw I will remember the mist and the sunlight falling through the trees, leaves and the tall bamboo grass. The mist was doing the job of the haze machines, which spread smoke in concerts so that you see the light effects.

Jasmine and I have over time learnt the perils of mammal spotting. Contract that with the beautiful abundance of bird life in all their form, colour and crests. Rarely do we return unhappy from a jungle. We love seeing the jungle for all that it is. We love seeing the spider webs, the gigantic ones that spread from one tree to another and the tiny ones that are on the floor and catch trap the morning mist in the form of dew in its web. We loved spotting the red headed vulture gliding above in the sky with its huge wings outstretched. We love the interpretation zone where a lot of the jungle is explained with exhibits and details.

One thing that pleases me no end is the fact that Jispa has developed a love for museums. So she wanted to go through the interpretation zone the second time as well and see and absorb the exhibits. You can’t hurry her through this. She like to wait, see, understand before moving on.

Jasmine and I can see the birds for hours on end. Stopping to soak in the scenery and jungle. This experience was in marked contrast to the one we had at Ranthambore where the bloody canter drove like a maniac for the entire trip across the jungle in an attempt to catch the elusive tiger. We learnt nothing about the jungle, nothing about the trees, birds and felt nothing for the environment. the guide was also quite pathetic and knew nothing. The best naturalists / guides we had so far encountered were in Bharatpur bird park. Kanha also had their fair share of trained naturalists. Guys who could reel of bird names, tree names, their latin names, and most important… they would enthral us with stories about the wildlife behaviour, the plant characteristics and even jungle life (including Jim Corbet stories). When you are in a safari the excitement is not linear, there are spurts followed by lulls. It here that a good guide with his stories makes an impact. After enough of India bashing, these experiences come as fresh air. These guys are trained by the forest officials and the tourism department. They are eager minds who learn from their tourists as well.

As most good guides tell you that a lot is learnt purely interacting with tourists as some come with books, some with some knowledge and some are clear experts who teach them while looking around. A mutually benefiting interaction in the jungle. What more can I ask for?

For the record we saw the tiger in three of our five safaris. A fantastic stroke of luck aided by good tiger density and lovely expanse of grasslands. Also for the record we saw a bird that eluded jasmine and me for some time – the greater racquet tail Drongo. Supposedly fairly available even in borivili national park but this one has eluded us for long. The bird becomes even more special as we see its quite boring cousin the black drongo on almost every wire stretching alongside the length of India.

And one more amongst my favourite is the yellow footed green pigeon. Invariably found as groups on dead barren trees basking in the morning and evening sun. They make a pretty sight in the lovely yellow light, contrasting against a clear blue sky. I remember taking some nice photos of them in Gir. They might there in the one TB of storage that we have at home.

Another big experience was not having the camera with me. I have learnt that the best thing to do on trips is not to carry any sort of camera. It takes away from the trip. What is the point of seeing a beautiful sunset through the viewfinder or the tiger through a LCD screen. Why should I fiddle with the moment. I happily stopped taking photos. I had carried my camera because Jispa wanted to but then I gave it to some another person who wanted the thrill of clicking away. The first day I clicked a few really bad shots of the tiger. The next day after I gave it away, I saw the tiger entirely with my own eyes. NO VIEWFINDER. I might remember that moment better. Ok I might not. But I lived it better for sure.

Last note – I now understand what inspired Rudyard to write the jungle book. It seems it is set in Kanha.

Forget who you are, see what you can be

I was always used to wonder why the Sri Lankans were having this war with the Tamilians or is it the other way around, I don’t know. It seems post independence the Sri Lankan majority largely ignored the Tamilians. The tilting point was when they made Sinhalese the only official language. This left the Tamilians with low job prospects and economic hardships. They took up arms. It takes two to tango.
Contrast this with Singapore. They had three languages at the time of independence Chinese, Malay and Tamil. In spite of a Chinese ethnic majority, the sincere efforts on the part of their premier Lee Kwan Yew to integrate all of them in to mainstream equally have seen Singapore through to their current state. I haven’t understood how we can create fights purely on ethnicity.

We have two cycles wowieeee….. My friend V-inu, upgraded his bike so he gave me his old one. This one is a 21 gear mountain bike. Pretty cool huh? Now Jispa and I can go cycling together. On Sunday morning we went for a ride in the Bhakti park garden. Very nice place for a morning ride. We got to see a few birds as well. The birds you get at Bhakti park that we have so far spotted are (in addition to sparrow and pigeons) – fish tailed drongo, magpie robin, sunbirds, pheasants crow (cookal), fan tail, koel (male and female), shikra, egrets, pariah kites (sometimes a brahminy kite flies above), common myna, red whiskered bulbuls, kingfishers, paddy bird and my favorite the Hoophoe. We also saw what I think is a water hen. We are not sure about that one. Outside in the nalla there is also the red wattled lapwing.
So going in the morning on a bicycle with Jispa is really good fun. She is able to keep pace. The 21 gears help when I go into a ridiculously low gear so as to slowly amble along with Jispa catching the sights. It’s not a place for speed cycling like which we did on Sunday around the compound wall. The gears do help keep pace with Jispa. I am looking forward to catching some time with her this way at least :)
I am an outdoors guy and I love to spend my time with my daughter playing outside cycling, walking trekking whatever. We figured that Angel (my brother’s pet dog and Jispa’s sister) goes for a walk every morning at seven, seven thirty. So today we landed at their house and woke them up at seven. This way Jispa gets 15 minutes with Angel in the garden everyday. Hopefully we can keep this going every morning. Brother dear - wakey wakey.