Saturday, March 30, 2013

The Light!


The Light!



Light - A respected element in Science, Mythology and many more fields which are again a mixture of Science and Mythology.


A light can be scientifically defined as electromagnetic radiation that has a wavelength in the range from about 4,000 (violet) to about 7,700 (red) angstroms and may be perceived by the normal unaided human eye.

To talk in simple terms, light can be described in as many words and thoughts with as many incidents as the amount of light we daily see. It can be anything like a simple Sunlight to Daylight to a mobile’s torch light. It even can be The Light – an inspiration, an awakening, an inner conscience. If you go and ask a kid to show light, I bet he/she will just plainly point his/her finger everywhere and exclaim in happiness, “Here is light. There is light. It’s everywhere!”  A naughty kid might even frown at you asking, “Why? Don’t you see it?”

The responses and reactions differ as widely as the light itself has spread out. Let’s spend few minutes of this Sunday in walking over some of these responses with a few incidents…

Talking of Light how can we forget Sun - the major source of natural light. Sun has been spending all its life in burning its own heart and lightning up the Earth. “Surya Devatariding the Chariot harnessed by seven Horses” is one of the most sacred Gods for every Hindu. Mostly worshipped at Dawn, even today Sun is a much respected God. There are Havans and Poojas performed for him. Millions of people give him their first salute as they start their day. Or even as people open their eyes in dawn, they first see the sunlight and pray him. How can any Indian forget the most famous and the healthiest Surya Namaskara? The Sun Temple, Konark is still one of the most beautifully built temples with the one of the most attractive Idol of Sun. All this shows the Mythological place held by the powerful Sun Lord. In a sense that is right. He starts life, he drives the day, lights up the world, enlighten people.

I even remember my Dad inspiring me one day back in my childhood, “You have to as honest and as regular as the Sun, You have to shine like the Sun!”

As I write this, I still feel that inspiration is the highest honor we give to the Sun and his Light, which is the major supporter of our life.

This mythological power of Sun not only brings in respect for Sun and his light within us but also brings together two words – Light and Enlighten. Both come together tangentially leaving behind no space for confusion. A light fights the darkness around us and lightens up opening our sight, similarly we get enlightened from within which kicks away the darkness within us and opens up our eyes.

The same Sun who is prayed daily, may sometime get angry shouting from many people (sometimes it’s even me) for just being an early raiser. “How can one be so regular with his timetable? Moreover how can one wake up so early and poke others to wake up?” I sometimes keep wondering. Not only the sunlight be it any light. The same light that supported the whole day, becomes a nuisance if it intervenes a peaceful night. We always love sleeping cozily during the long nights of the winter.

I bet all children, except few bookworms, love a powercut for giving them a break from their homework. I myself used to pray for powercuts when my Mom used to sit beside me asking to revise for the tests. Children love waking up late on Sundays and even cover their face from thick blankets to fight away the light trying to wake them up. Why just children? Its even adults who love waking up late once a while and then comes instance when they end up thinking, “Only if Sunrise would get delayed every day”

Imagine you slipped into your sleep after a tiring long day and just as when you entered the dreamland along with the next door girl whom you have been day dreaming since months. She is sitting in the balcony beside yours in her dark blue Kurti with cute small red flowers neatly printed all over it. As you enter your balcony you turn to your right and there she is sitting with a book in her hand. You get drowned in her thoughts all jumbled up in between those cute red flowers. As you are lost in adoring her, she raises her left hand and turns the page of the book and then raises the same hand and slowly lifts the group of few naughty hairs that have come forward and have fallen freely covering her face and blocking your view of her left eye. She then slowly puts them behind her left ear and then again combs her hair till shoulder. The more you look at her the more you are falling in love with her. As you are thinking what to do, she suddenly raises her head and looks in front at the small garden, where three cute little kids are playing the slide. The slope of the slide is shining as brightly as each of the red flower on her blue Kurti. She smiles and you are lost more. You keep looking at her smile, when she suddenly turns left towards you and catches you noticing her idiotically. You suddenly get alarmed and try to bend down your head but your urge to see her reaction forces you to look up at her again and you do so. As you look at her, she is still staring at you, a bit surprised. Her cheeks, glowing in the sunlight, arrest your eyes and you sheepishly surrender to her beauty. She is still surprised and you are more.

Finally being a hero (atleast for yourself) you gather up all the courage you have and smile blankly at her with thousands of thoughts running in your head and thousands of beats coming in from your stupid heart. You are more terrified thinking what if she runs in and brings her Dad than you are happy thinking what if she smiles back. Every millisecond passing by is building up more and more tension within your heart forcing it to beat faster. You are growing more and more desperate for her response. Suddenly she blinks and her eyes twinkle in that bright sunlight sends in a light wave to your eyes that travel within body giving you Goosebumps. Then she is about to… You open up your eyes as someone has switched on the lights in your room. You feel so terrorized by that light; you just curse it from breaking your sleep and that romantic dream. Then even after the lights are switched off, you take so much time to slip back to sleep that you end up losing that peace and staring the rusty fan rotating which can never look like the cute small red flowers on her Kurti.

Light is not just an inspiration and a nuisance maker. It is the best playmate for everyone from a baby to a kid to a science student to a professional photographer to a scientist to an adult. I believe everyone has played with the light atleast once in his/her lifetime.

A baby even stops crying when suddenly it sees a torch light moving all over the wall. A baby smiles as it tries unsuccessfully to catch that light in its small pink hands. It is amused by the light, which is glowing bright and moving freely everywhere. We can check with parents who had to scold their kids to stop playing with torches. When kids play with torches, they are not actually playing with it; they are in fact playing with the light. Every kid is amused by the way light just comes out of the torch bulb and goes off with a single touch of a button. They are on their toes to know the secret behind that light, where is it coming from, is their really any magic within the torch that suddenly throws out a bright glowing light. They try to make numerous designs with that light; they try to calculate their own deductions about that light. A kid is so surprised when it covers the torch bulb with his/her hand and sees their hand glowing red.

Imagine a sudden powercut while you are stressed byhearting the same poem which you hate the most. Mom comes in suddenly with a lamp and keeps it in front of you. Your already lost concentration is now strengthened by this interruption. You try to relieve your stress and start playing in your own world. You play with the lamp, its light, even your own shadow created by the light emerging from the lamp. You start playing with the shadow moving your head and checking how the shadow moves along with you. The shadow growing tall or short as your angle and positions move with respect to the lamp, mesmerizes you. This will be definitely one of the favorite pastimes of any kid at one particular age.

Try this sometime when there is a powercut (which I am sure is nearing as the summer is walking in) .Light up a small lamp. In front of the lamp, clap your hands with each palm exactly perpendicular to each other and hold them tightly together. Then keeping left palm open, close the right palm around your left palm. Let the two thumbs standup making a shape of “V” Hold it against the lamp such that the back of your left palm is towards the lamp. Now, watching the shadow on the opposite wall, move the left little finger up and down like the blade of the pair of scissor. Watch the shadow on the wall!

I hope this small pastime will definitely relieve you from your daily routine and you will end up becoming a kid all again.

Coming onto the scientific look at the light, even Science walks parallel with Mythology and the Humorous approach at the light. Science mentions light as the major source of energy. It is the main source that supports the Photosynthesis process which enables the green plants to convert light energy into chemical energy which then starts the whole food chain. This has also played major part in the evolution of life on earth. What would have been life, if it was not for the light?

Light doesn’t limit itself to this, but it extends to many other fields in science. A simple camera works on the basis of capturing the light reflected from its subject. The “photo” word itself comes from Greek where photo means light! The whole of photography is a knack of capturing the subject with the right amount of light in the right angle.

The most basic experiment of using a glass prism to break white light into seven beautiful colorful lights is still taught in every school. This not only opens up the world of light to a student but also tells the student that the study of light is as fascinating as that colored spectrum. The science digs in further into the study of light. We can spend the whole day in just summarizing the widely spread study of light in science, spreading all over the origin of light, evolution of life, the stars, the universe, the Blackhole, the behavior of the light, the use of light in different fields and just many more.

Let me remind you all of the most famous equation in science deduced by none other than Albert Einstein,
                 E =mc2  (where c is nothing but the speed of light)

This definitely proves how important light is for us all. The light with which we have been growing since we were babies has always been one of our best friends, our playmate, our teacher and it has been much more than all that, a life supporter. The Solar energy is being put into much more use these days. The light giving bulbs and tubelights have evolved into CFC lamps that are much cooler than their predecessors. The lights much needed on roads have evolved more powerful. The traffic signals that control the heartbeat of cities are nothing but lights. The strong light makes sure Day and Night Cricket matches are possible.  Light not only supports the daily activities during days but also saves accidents at night. A bright light makes the street more secured and people braver.

How can anyone forget a bright full moon day’s night? It is as cooler and romantic as bright the moon glows. The round ball of moon smiles from the dark night with all the numerous stars twinkling around him making the night as wonderful as it can ever be. The cool light from the moon not only inspires poets and romances but also helps soothe a crying baby. How can anyone who has grown up in small towns and villages forget the moonlight dinner? I still remember how I spent the nights of my vacations playing with my brother and other cousins in counting the stars, making designs joining the stars and playing other numerous games.

If our childhood has been spent by playing with lights and schooldays spent by learning and experimenting the light, how can we forget our teen days. How can any lover forget the evening spent with his/her partner besides a cool lake with the moon glowing brightly over it. The moon’s light twinkling on the water of the lake and cool breeze couple up together in making the most romantic evening. The sweet cheeks of a girl glow more in the moonlight than in any other light. Every girls face is compared to the moon, just because of his cool flawless white glowing light. How about a sweet romantic candle light dinner? It is again the light playing major role in creating that special romantic environment ofcourse with the help from a light music. Nothing can beat the romantic dance in a dim light.

Moving out from moon, we still have light playing a major factor in almost anything that we do. What is a stage without the background light? What is a photo-shoot without the special light arrangements? What is a car without its headlight? What is a day without a cup of tea under the bright sunlight? What is food without the ‘photo’synthesis? What is a torch that cannot emit light? What is a city that doesn’t have streetlights? What is vision without light? What is mind with enlightenment?

I had always wished in my life to end up my writings with a conclusion having a proverb and here I get that golden opportunity. Millions and millions of people all over this beautifully lighted up world walk through their dark patches of life in one hope –

“There is Light at the end of every tunnel!!”


It’s all light and enlightenment…


Courtesy –
4.     4. Your dream (See, I caught you dreaming about your next door girl)


Vishal…


Sunday, March 24, 2013

Girlfriend(s) !!


When I created the blog the third thing on my mind was to start it with a light humorous post. So here it goes…

There was a time in this world, the time when the last dinosaur was yet snoring, the time when the whole world was full of peace. All the great men who ruled different bits of this planet sat together and redefined the future of this planet in such a way that there would be peace in the coming 6417(I chose this number only because this is my bike number and not because I read it in some history book long back in school) light years but then the God, who was unhappy with the peace on earth, sent ‘girlfriends’ to this planet. This started all the enmity and war and the blood flowed just like wine used to flow before. This is what my theory of Human Evolution is and I am not going to change this whatsoever may happen.

By now, few of you readers might start thinking this piece of writing as completely anti-women and might have even typed the number of Women Activists and ready to call them. But please stop, take some time, read the below written lines completely and then you will have complete freedom to decide if you want to call them or call me and console me. Before I start, let me clear one more thing, this is neither about women nor about girls nor about life partners, this is only and only about ‘girlfriends’!

Yes, there was a day when I too had a girlfriend. I had kept this secret with me for all these years but today I open up my secret to you all only if you promise me that you won’t tell this to my Mom and Dad. The experience was so ghastly that I still remember those days when I get upset or see defeat in front of me. Although nothing changes, I still feel I had sailed through much deeper and stinker problems. Believe me, the day I left my girlfriend was so lucky that finally I could breathe the real O2 and drink the pure H2O and eat something that kicked off my taste buds and finally filled my stomach to its full and gave me an eye full of sleep. Until then, I had turned into an insane man who had forgotten the happiness of life. I just used be like a mobile, everyday switched on by her message, start acting in the profile she sets me, beep a few times, sing once or twice to the tune she chooses, show the face she wants to see as profile pic, and remain in silent mode for the whole day ending it with a final switch off when she gets sleepy!

Reading my daily report in one sentence few of you might compare it with yours, other few might just wonder if that was the truth or if I am just bluffing and the rest all will have a blank mind. Anyways, please read on.

Stopping all the nonsense talk which I have been doing since the third line, let me just write a simple incident that I remember the most.

Everyone knows how it feels on a lazy chilled winter morning when you need to rush to your work just to make sure you don’t miss out that boring call with the client who never agrees with you and will never leave you to agree with him. Yes, on that specific day I too had same frustrated feeling like my body being thrown out of bed half asleep. All know how badly the body needs a cup of coffee/tea during such mornings, I too headed straight to the coffee shop after finishing up the call which not only wasted my 1 hour but also the client’s 1 hour 10 minutes just because I had joined 10 minutes late into the call. Shedding up purse as I bought that much needed cup of a strong hot coffee and was about to lift it up to my mouth and take in a sip my mobile beeped alarming me of a message. I don’t know what went wrong in my brain at that time; I just put a pause on my coffee and opened up my mobile to check the message.

call me dr. its urgent.

This message had come straight from none other than my girlfriend. I am sure you smart brains will have figured that out not because it contained the word ‘dear’ but the way it commanded me to do something. I was pretty shocked by this message as she had been to her hometown for some function and no way could she message me with her parents and others around her giving me full freedom of one whole week which I was enjoying and suddenly I felt like being jailed by reading that message. Just when I was thinking of the reason behind this sudden message I already received another message,

dr its urgnt...

“Oh God, why have you made these girls so impatient and so free of time” I said aloud enough so that only God could hear me and called her up.

I heard her cute voice saying “Helllooooooo good moooooooooooorning… busy?”

Her cute voice and the style of wishing good morning with that extended morning completely mesmerized me as it had done many a times and turned my mind upside down. With that sudden change I said sheepishly “Good morning dear, not at all busy for you”

“Sooo nice of you. That’s why I love you”

“Ooh is it? And how much do you love me??” I asked trying to be romantic changing myself from that official call’s formal talk to a romantic chat and setting my mood rightly to that chilly morning with the fog all around me, few of the flowers which had struggled all their life just to blossom in this romantic weather had come out of their buds and smiling at me, the reason of their smile I had never understood in my life, the countable number of sun’s rays which had already escaped numerous barricades and
reached the earth were glowing up the earth’s places here and there out of which one ray was directly falling on my coffee cup, of course made of stainless steel, which I had placed on the table in front of me and from there the reflection of the sparkle was directly striking into my eyes. The sweater which I was wearing was not only protecting me from that temperature but also giving me a special effect like a Bollywood hero wearing a sweater on an early morning and trying his luck at his love!

All this scene was shattered in seconds when suddenly she broke me saying, “Dear, let’s talk later on that. You know my mom is walking all around me. Now listen, I want you to book a train ticket for my aunt. You see I already promised her and I know you will do it. Please pleeeeaaaasssseeee na”

I knew that second extended ‘please’ was only to captivate me and break my anger of that sudden burden on me of booking the ticket. That aunt of her would certainly be travelling with my money. I had no choice except to nod to her. With a great trouble I had to get that sound out of my voice box and give her a positive reply.

Running back to my seat I opened the railway’s website and logged in to book the ticket in Tatkal, a special facility provided by the Indian Railways for lazy people like her aunt who never book ticket in advance and always want to travel with a reserved seat booked by burning a hole in others pockets. I don’t know if I was unlucky or if the aunt was lucky, but I got the availability and got a ticket for her. Before I could confirm the ticket and complete the transactions, my mobile beeped with a message.

dr is it booked? why so late?

Oh God. Had she ever logged into any of the booking websites? Had she ever done any online transactions? Doesn't she know how much time it takes to click a tab on a booking website and wait for the next screen? Doesn't she ever get to know how it feels sitting in front of that bloody screen waiting for the transaction to complete showing the message of money deducted from account?

I suddenly turned furious but thinking that would just spoil my day I cooled down and waited till the transaction completed and then mailed her all the details and sent a confirmation message.

thnks dr... tlk to u later...

That’s all guys. End of it! Nothing more than that. Disappointed, I picked up my coffee, may be after half an hour of buying it and went out in the sun to drink it. It had turned colder than a cold coffee. The romantic morning had died down, the flowers which were smiling earlier were now laughing at me, the rays of the ever bright sun had found me uninteresting and turned their routes away from me, the coffee lost its taste, the sweater started sweating me and finally the morning with which I had fallen in love with started hating me! Finishing the coffee within 3 gulps that dint trigger my taste buds and also dint touch my throat just flowed into my stomach and I was back to my seat with that disastrous look every boyfriend has in common!

I then closed my eyes, remembered the Lord himself and yelled in frustration, “God, When will boys understand girls?”

I heard a meek voice echo all around me, “Son, let me understand them first!”

Now, my dear readers, I leave the decision to you on how your response would be to this. Before any decision you make, let me clear again, this was a light fictional humor on ‘girlfriends’ !

Vishal...