Summer Rains

...and I love the Petichor!

Petrichor: the scent of rain on dry earth, or the scent of dust after rain.

The Hyderabad summer has been quite different this year, with the scent of the soil treating us quite often these days. While, it does rain on two or three occasions every year during the March-May period, this year it has been much more.
Over the last few eight weeks, there has been intermittent rains almost every week, in some corner of the city or the other. It does bring cheer and respite from the sweltering heat, not just the day temperature dips, but the nights also become pleasant with the plummeting mercury levels. But then, it also enhances the humidity to make the non-rainy Summer days unbearable. However, this year the summer, thus far, has been far less scorching.
The summer rain not just cools the senses, but also the ice-creams give way to the hot spicy rainy-day snacks.

So why does it rain in summer?

A brief reading of the science columns of the newspapers threw up some clear answers. Here is one:

During summer, the sun being overhead, there is intense heating of the land and the air above as compared to the surroundings. The air. on being heated, becomes lighter and rises.As the specific heat of water is higher than that of the land, it takes more time to heat the water, whereas the land gets heated up quickly. This causes air to rise, creating an intense low-pressure condition on the surface. As the air rises, it expands and loses heat.The warm, moist air on cooling thus, reaches a point called the condensation level, where the water vapour condenses and turns back into a liquid. This process of condensation leads to the formation of clouds in the atmosphere. As the clouds continue to grow and when they cannot bear the weight of water droplets, it leads to precipitation.This process of rising air is called convection and the type of rainfall which occurs during peak summer is called convectional rainfall.This process also leads to the formation of Cumulonimbus clouds (formed due to intense low pressure or atmospheric instability), which causes heavy rainfall, but for a short duration accompanied by thunderstorms.

(Source: The Hindu)

So, why am I talking about the Summer rain? 

Well, before that, a few lines from HW Longfellow's ode to summer rain:

From under the sheltering trees,
The farmer sees
His pastures, and his fields of grain,
As they bend their tops
To the numberless beating drops
Of the incessant rain.
He counts it as no sin
That he sees therein
Only his own thrift and gain.
These, and far more than these...!

The concrete jungle, that we live in, with its parched lands, too needs to quench its thirst. We cannot bear the relentless heat for too long, the natural way of cooling is quite welcome. well almost. The flip side to the summer rains, that come with huge gales and winds accompanied by thundershowers and hailstorms does cause much damage to the crops. It's fruit season and we have not been isolated either. There have been hundreds of premature felling of mangoes in my backyard too. We lost a few hundred mangoes in April and whatever was left, continued falling in dozens this May. 

It still augurs well to have summer rains, the climate change effect apart, the dip in temperature apart, the dust and pollution levels are vastly reduced. Breath easy!

... and then the famous Cliff Richard number of 1981 - "Summer rain will come again so the Harvest is a good one..." 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pictures: From my Social Media posts. #iPhone7Pics

The Saree

“Mom, why are you doing this to me?” Nikitha exclaimed.

Her mother was busy wrapping her daughter in the most beautiful Zardosi Saree, one she had treasured for over 3 decades.

“This is my mother’s favourite saree, you are lucky to wear it today”, her mother replied.

“But, Mom it’s too heavy and I am not sure I will be able to carry myself in it all day” Nikitha said.

“Your Grandma was very beautiful and prettiest in this saree, today my Nikki will be the cynosure of all eyes” said her mother as she finished putting the saree pin to the blouse on her shoulder.

“Wow, that’s it. Have fun and be a good girl” her mother exclaimed, as Nikitha adored herself in the mirror.

Nikitha got into her car, the blazing red Polo, waved to her mother and drove to college.

She was in her final year, and it was Ethnic day that day. It was the first time she was wearing a saree in her life. The earlier ethnic days were more of the North Indian ghagra choli kind of attires. Nikitha was quite an extrovert and one of the most popular girls in the college. She had as many friends as enemies for her in-your-face frankness and an attitude that bordered on brash as much as on over confidence.

As Nikitha parked her car in the far end of the college parking, she knew she had to walk the almost half a kilometer distance to the Auditorium in the blazing March sun.

Nikitha clad in her grandma’s cream Zardosi saree, walking across the college ground was soon in spotlight. While the boys skipped a few heartbeats, the girls who already were green with envy at her confident demeanour, could hardly take their eyes off her.

It was close to noon and the campus was buzzing with activity. Like any other Ethnic day in any other college, the students were decked in beautiful sarees, kurtas and other traditional outfits. The college premises wore a cross cultural feel. Mr. and Miss ethnic was one of the star events, where people came up to show off their ethnicities. Dance performances, ramp walks by the students and delectable food from across the country were the most looked forward to. They displayed vibrancy in harmony.

The day went off smoothly as the events unwounded and girls and boys mingled to exhibit cross cultural camaraderie. By 6.00 pm the events concluded. The college buses ferrying students to their destinations left early by 5.30 pm.

The auditorium was almost deserted barring a few dozen students, mostly organizers winding up their duties.

Nikitha realised all her friends had left and it was time for her to leave and was feeling tired from the last hour of dancing. She did carry herself well in the saree and had a wonderful day.

As she climbed down the stairs of the auditorium and walked across the basketball court thinking “Mom was right, I really had a wow day today”, she felt somebody was following her.

A faint tinkling sound of anklets startled her, she turned around to see no one in the 100 metre vicinity of the outside of the Auditorium. She started to walk faster, the noise got louder. She reduced pace and occasionally stopped to look around. The tinkling was intermittent but following her for sure. She was quite a bold person and every one in her college knew it, none dared to prank, leave alone get into trouble with her.

It was getting dark as she neared the car, she cut across the pathway and walked in the sand and grass. A husky voice called out her name slowly – N i k i t h a… she froze in her tracks. A tap on her shoulder from back, and she turned around in a jiffy and screamed. 

“What’s wrong with you Nikki, You Ok? You seemed scared and pale” said her friend Aparna.

“Well, I am ok, just felt someone was following me” replied Nikitha.

“I was, but from across the other side. I was running towards you. Could you give me a lift in your car till my home?” Aparna asked.

“Of course”, said Nikitha. As they walked together over the next 100 metres, the tinkling noise seemed to have subsided or gone. She was relieved to have company. But was still looking back to see if she was being followed.

As they got into the car, she felt she heard the tinkling sound one more time and almost freaked out. “Did you hear any noise, I mean sound of some tinkling”, she asked Aparna, who by now had got into the seat beside her.

“No, are you hallucinating? I just heard the sound of the car beep when you unlocked it.

Nikitha wiped the sweat off her brow and started the car. The air-conditioner took effect and cooled her nerves. Soon they were out of the campus and discussing the day’s events.

“Girl, you were looking gorgeous, and all those boys clicking pictures, quite haunting” remarked Aparna.

Nikitha smiled, she focused on the last word. Then they laughed.

The car was now cruising on the city roads, playing Arijit Singh songs on FM Radio.

Aparna then checked her WhatsApp, was looking at the pictures and describing them.

Nikitha banged the horn, applied sudden brake and screamed aloud. The car came to screeching halt. Aparna almost hit her head against the dashboard. “You scared me, what happened”, she asked. Nikitha rolled down her window and shouted at a guy walking across, with earphones plugged in and looking into his smart phone. He didn’t hear her.

“That jerk just got down from the bus and walked right in front of the car, I would’ve killed him”, screamed Nikitha. She composed herself and continued to drive, a bit more cautiously.

“There, stop near that last Metro station, I will get down”, said Aparna. “And yes, take care, you seem to be ruffled, Bye” she added.

“Thanks for the company, I am ok now. Bye” replied Nikitha and drove home. She parked her car in the garage and got down to get into her house. As she locked the car with the remote, she saw that the rear window glass was down. She was surprised. “I never rolled it down, when did this happen” and then rolled up the window. As she walked towards the door, she heard the tinkling sound again. It wasn’t loud but distinct. She was petrified.

As her mother opened the door, she flung herself into her arms and hugged.

“Are you Ok Nikki, how was your day?” her mother asked.

“I am tired Mom, it was a great, Grandma’s saree was the star of the day”

“Change and come, have your dinner. You seem hungry”, said her mother.

Nikitha had a quick shower, changed into casual wear and joined her mother at the dinner table. She then told her about the tinkling sound of anklets following her and the averted accident.

Her mother consoled her and said she should forget it and sleep long. The next day was a holiday for College.

She had her dinner and watched a few shows on her laptop. It was close to midnight and she opened her phone to check on the WhatsApp messages. As a habit she scrolled down the group messages ignoring the comments and forwards.

Suddenly something caught her eye. In the College classmates group there was a picture of an anklet. Shwetha had posted it with a caption below: “Lost my silver anklet in the auditorium, if someone finds it please return”.

Nikitha jumped from her bed and checked the saree, at the bottom was a similar anklet stuck in the border.

She smiled and immediately dialed Shwetha’s phone number.

“Give me a good reason to wake me up at this hour”, shouted a half-asleep Shwetha.

“Hey, I found your anklet, it was stuck to my saree”, replied Nikitha.

“That can’t be mine. I found my pair after I posted that message, it was on the stairs” saying Shwetha hung up.

Nikitha held the Anklet under the light and looked at it shine – It was made of gold.

She then slumped in bed.

Absurdity of the Scientific Conquest of Death

Delaying the inevitable 

जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च |

तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि || 27||

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛityur dhruvaṁ janma mṛitasya cha

tasmād aparihārye ’rthe na tvaṁ śhochitum arhasi

Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2, Verse 27; Meaning: Death is certain for one who has been born, and rebirth is inevitable for one who has died. Therefore, you should not lament over the inevitable.

I returned to blogging 10 weeks back with a piece that summed up with the thought – Is death the true meaning of life…? The search for answers continues... Life goes on...!

I continue to believe in the Bhagwad Gita and the fact that Death is the ultimate truth, yes Death is certain for one who has been born… till that part I am certain science has no denial. While the later part of the quote “and rebirth is inevitable for one who has died” is not scientifically proven and I am not making efforts to discuss or disprove it at this juncture.

This morning I woke up to a post from one of the most erudite gentleman in a WhatsApp group that I am part of, which said Death will be optional by the year 2045!

Incidentally, I got news of a friend’s father passing away yesterday, today was his funeral. The septuagenarian suffered from multiple organ failure following a long period of recuperation from the dreaded C.

So I checked the calendar on seeing the whatsapp ‘report’ – confirmed it was May 1st and not April 1st.

The post didn’t quote the source. It spoke about how the ageing process will be 'reversible', according to two genetic engineers during the presentation of their new book in Barcelona. It went to give technical details of how the process will involve turning 'bad' genes into healthy ones, eliminating dead cells from the body, repairing damaged cells, treatments with stem cells and 'printing' vital organs in 3D. Summarily it said humans will only die in accidents, never of natural causes or illness, by around the year 2045

I did a quick check and found the source of the article, you can read more of it here: Death will be optional by the year 2045 - A report dated April 21, 2018 in ThinkSpain.

Well, ThinkSpain, like many neighbourhood websites dotting every town these days is a Valencia based advertisement driven portal that primarily ‘lists’ information on travel, real estate, apart from also providing continually updated news, features and information relating to living and holidaying to the visitors to their site. That in short is the credential of the news source. No there is nothing about it on BBC or New York Times or the Guardian or The Hindu.

Then I remembered this quote by the celebrated American author, computer scientist, inventor and futurist:

I and many other scientists now believe that in around twenty years we will have the means to reprogram our bodies’ stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, aging. Then nanotechnology will let us live forever. ~ Ray Kurzweil

The flip side to the argument that a few scientists propound and a few learned people propagate is immortality. Like the ThinkSpain report says: “Immortality will not necessarily mean the planet becomes overcrowded, the scientists say: there is still plenty of room for more people on Earth, and these days, people do not have anywhere near as many children as they did in past decades and centuries; plus, 'it will be possible to live in space by then’.”

It makes sensible people with a decent scientific temper to judge the optimistic enthusiasm of the learned scientists, who think death, can be conquered and life can thrive in space.

If anything this world has taught us only to delay the inevitable. Death is that inevitable, so says the Bhagvad Gita and so says human wisdom that still grapples with science and technology’s proven might to create a Frankenstein more often than a cure to the maladies, the diseases!

The next time you see a Vaikunta Ratham – Anthima Yatra van and hear the beautiful voice of the great Telugu singer Ghantasala Venkateswara rendering the Bhagvad Gita with the meaning… *పుట్టిన వాడు మరణించక తప్పదు అలాగే మరణించినవాడు తిరిగి జన్మించకా తప్పదు..., spare a thought for an entire industry that may go out of business, the vehicle is just the visible part of the journey. There is huge chunk of human race that thrives on birth, growth, prosperity, disease, cure and above all death.

Death in itself is a huge money spinner for life to sustain. Death of Death will mean death to life?

Ponder!

------------------------------------------------------------
*Puttina vaadu maraninchaka thappadu alage maraninchinavaadu tirigi janminchaka thappadu... Telugu for: Death is certain for one who has been born, and rebirth is inevitable for one who has died.
Pic courtesy: Internet