The Morning Sun

I lift my face to catch the rays of the morning sun, like a child on the beach trying to catch the spray. It’s a wonderful feeling on a cold Autumn morning. The warmth of the sun chases away the gnawing cold of early dawn. I say to myself, "The sun is here to brighten my day and it is going to be a beautiful one."

When you are sitting down with a cuppa and the mood is lightened by such sentiments, the world becomes a happy place to be in. The black spots on the white sheet that is the mind, become grey and then disappear. Thus armed with a clean slate inside my head, I start to prepare for my day.

I begin by checking the weather forecast for the weekend. I woke up this morning, wanting to lie on the sand and read a book under the sun. A day at the beach seems like a good way to spend this Saturday or Sunday. I am praying for at least one sunny day. Unfortunately, it is not to be. The weather Gods are clearly not fans of mine. After 3 glorious days of sunshine, albeit with a bit of cool wind, the rest of the week and the weekend is expected to be cloudy, with possible showers. Bummer! Well, I will check again on Friday. I do not always rely on the weatherman's prediction for the weekend, this early in the week. In any case, I have a few other things on my list that would cover the weekend, in the event of rain. Now, I need to find something to occupy the weeknights, leading up to a weekend of Paniyiri Greek Festival and a possible day at the coast.

You noticed how I started by planning my weekend first, did you? Yes, I do that a lot. I work my way backwards from where I want to be. A friend of mine would be amused that I would go straight to the bottom of his email first and then start reading it from the top. Why not? Most people do not start off emails with words like 'love' or 'care' but almost everyone signs of their emails with endearing emotions - 'Take care', 'Speak soon', 'Love', 'Hugs & Kisses', etc. Even if it just a happy smiley, it is a happy ending. Unless you were expecting bad news, you can almost always be certain that the best part of the letter is at the bottom of it. On a more serious plane, if I was reading an email at work that expected me to solve a problem, I would still like to start from the bottom of the email trail and gather as much background information I can before I sink my teeth into the real issue. It has worked well for me every single time.

Go on. Try it. Next time you read an email, go to the bottom first and find out whether it is good news or bad. Then start reading from the top. If you are a smart-ass, you will probably try reading the email backwards altogether. That is funny but believe me, it will get you nowhere.

I digress. My weekend planned, I set off to work out what my day should look like. This is easy. I have to block off the time I will be at work and leave the rest of the day for other activities. Being fairly immobile, thanks to a bum knee, the 'other things' category has limited options. The office work sorts itself out by the number of tasks and hand and prioritisation that has been done when the task landed in the mailbox. There! All done and set to go.

All it took was that little burst of sunshine to kick start my day. The glorious morning sun is surely a blessing, no less!

(Dear Sun, I just want you to know that I wish you were not such a late riser these days. You showed up minutes after I woke up, today. I'm just saying...)

(Dear Sun, I'm sorry I wrote that previous line. My morning cuppa was upset for not getting credit for kick-starting my day and all that. All good now)

Incessant Rain

As I awoke, I wished for more sleep

Until I heard the pitter-patter outside the window

A smile curved on my face and sleep walked off

A sight to behold was this rain

The shiny leaves and dripping barks of wet trees,

The earth with a melting chocolate bar appearance

The colours of nature getting unstained

The thirst of the soil being quenched

As curtains fell from the skies to this planet

The music of the skies in concert

Changing rhythm and speed so often

Creation of a new song each time

It went on all day and into the night

It went on all night to my next morning

I woke up and it continued to drip

Didn't it need a break I wondered

Maybe it was me that needed one

Will it stop while I step out?

A Day Trip to Bribie Island

How has the new year been so far? Well, it has been all of 3 days and nothing has considerably changed from last year. Unless you count the fact that I haven't worked at all this year and yet expect to get paid for these days.

That's just me being cheeky there. Ignore me and read on. 

The day trip I spoke of in my last post turned out well. The weatherman said there was possible rain on New Year Day and definite rain on Sunday and Monday. As normal, (s)he was lying. It rained on Saturday. Non-stop. Drizzled, increased, stopped, poured, showered and did all of that in various permutations. May I also mention that the following couple of days have been bright and sunny with no sign of showers?

Praying that the rain will not deter my companions from going ahead with the trip, I set about getting ready for the day. I think it almost did in one of them but for my insistence and her baby's excitement at going to a beach. What we would do in the rain, at a beach, we were not sure. We decided to go because the plans were in place. 

As I announced later that day, someone up there really loves me. Or maybe the li'l one. Whatever! It was a couple of hours worth of train and bus journey before we arrived at Bribie. It could have been later but, as I said, someone up there loves me. We hopped off the train and standing right there, ready to leave as soon as we hopped on, was the bus to Bribie. We got off the bus near Woorim Beach and voila, no more rain! A quick scan of the what and where of our surroundings, Kid and I changed and took off towards the water. 

The long stretch of white sand felt great under our feet. The first splash in the brown waters of the Moreton Bay assured us there was no need to acclimatize. Perfect water temperature for a play. There were too many sea-weeds closer to the beach but we wanted to play with the waves further down anyway. It must be all the summer rain, we gauged. The clouds hid the sun but restrained from dampening our beach-day out.

Splash splosh splash. Click click click click. Shower. Change. Time for the bus. Rain. Whooosh.

It poured heartily while we ordered our lunch and spent 2 hours enjoying a yummy margherita pizza from Dominos, a delicious order of pancakes with maple syrup, cream and ice-cream and some crummy French Toast. While someone up there loved me and the kid, it was not the case with the kid's mum. 

She asks a boy on the beach if he would take a picture of us and he goes, "Ummmm... ah... No". 

She orders pizza at Dominoes and we all wait outside for them to call us when it's ready. 5 minutes later, another crowd goes in, orders and leaves with their order. Another 5 minutes and the same repeats. We peep in, the girls are chatting on phone, hugging each other and having a merry time, showing no signs of getting our order ready. Ten minutes later, mum and kid go in & are back in seconds, with the pizza. The order has been ready for a while, we waited for the girls to call us while they waited for us to go in. Duh! Hot pizza, anyone?

She orders French toast while I go for pancakes. We finish the pizza. A massive serving of pancake arrives. We've finished the pancakes, the coffee, a conversation and just missed our bus, so we have to wait an hr. We tease her that they must have forgotten her order. She goes in to check. Sure enough they have! What were the chances of that? When it finally comes, it is a tiny serving, all of 2 slices of bread with a smear of omellette. 

She walks to the bus driver on our way back to confirm that we are on the right bus. The driver snaps at her, "Didn't you see the board before you got in?"

Back to our day trip. Rest assured that her day being snappy did not meddle with the spirits for any of us, her included. From then on, throughout the journey, it rained like the rain Gods were having a gala to bring in the New Year. Stepped off the train at my station and walked into the damp air but no rain. 

As a kid, I used to believe that if I did something on the first day of the year, the rest of the year would follow suit. If that is true, this year is going to be fantastic! So far, the trend seems to be in order. A day trip on the first Saturday of the year. The next two Saturdays have been booked for day events too. All of them involve taking the same train and then another means of transport from the station. Interesting.

The Story Of A Highway, Rain, Car Crash and A Happy Child

Watching your car hurtling down the road, straight into the back of a stopped car, is a nightmare. For a few seconds, it is like being on a giant Ferris wheel, as the your cage plunges downward. You're plummeting towards the capsule in front of you and there's the adrenalin rush but in some brave corner of your mind, you know you won't hit it. Only, in the case of a real car on a real highway, when you're speeding at 90kph, you actually hit the car in front of you, causing serious damage. You watch yourself rushing into the target and the crash itself takes only a split second. You can barely remember the instant of contact. Then you watch the back of the car in front dent and crack, in the moments following the impact. 

Seconds later you realise that your car has stopped too. It suddenly registers that, with the hit, you haven't really displaced the other car. It probably wasn't that bad, eh? 

What is the first thing that comes to your mind? Impossible to remember. Thoughts have flitted past and fluttered about like shards off a grenade, in those couple of minutes. Some come back, a lot do not. Your first reaction is to get out of the car. Then, you look over to see those getting out of the other car. Was the only damage you did, to the car, when you rear-ended them? It had not occured to you until then that it might have been otherwise. Why? You did not see anything. Nor hear anything. The car had not moved. The mind rests knowing it was not worse. Until you see the driver of the hit car open the rear door and get his baby out. A baby! In the back seat! This cannot be happening!

You rush forward to check if he is okay. The little one is crying. There are no visible injuries, he might be shaken. There's no saying that nothing is wrong yet. What about whiplash? Or something else? He did cry, didn't he? He did feel the impact, didn't he? It is of no consequence that, after crying for about 15 minutes, little Michael seems alright. He is excited by the big red fire-truck of Emergency Services, with lights flashing. He is thrilled to bits when the guys in their fireman uniforms give him a stack of stickers and goodies. When the first ambulance arrives minutes later, with more lights flashing, he jumps in his father's arms in glee. While the paramedics try to talk to him and find out how he felt, he keeps pointing towards the second ambulance that is pulling in. As far as he is concerned see it, it is a grand party. He is enjoying every second of it... the flashing lights, the big trucks, the men all dressed up in uniforms, the attention he is getting. You cannot help but smile at his sweet innocence. He is going to be alright. He is one hell of a kid, isn't he?

The minutes spent waiting for the towing trucks, the emergency services, the ambulance and the numerous questions, calling the car hire agency... it seems endless. It is a real slow hour after all is over that the cops finally arrive. A good couple of hours and half since the accident. Then, another hour of gruelling questions targeted at the driver who rear-ended the car. It does not matter that the car stopped bang in the middle lane of a speeding highway. The car behind should maintain enough distance to stop without hitting, is the argument. Fair enough, you think. 

Fifty kilometres away from the destination, over an hour's drive away from the starting point, standing in the rain, on a highway. Quite a scene. All you have is a few smokes, the towing guys for conversation, stressed parents, grand-mom and little Michael for company. Once the trucks started leaving, it is the rain and slush which excites the kiddo. He jumps on the wet grass, splashing the muddy water and grime over himself, laughing and clapping with joy. In the harrowing minutes that pass, playing with Michael is a little joy, of those hours, to be cherished later. 

You give him little stones to throw in the dirty water and you are his best friend now. It keeps him from jumping into the water for a while. He manages to mess up his clothes, anyway. When his mum tries to distract him with a book and pen, he runs to his new playmate who gave him a choccie some time ago. It is enough for him to trust the stranger, who draws a cat in his book, which he watches with wide eyes. He is overjoyed and asks for it again and again. He takes the pen from his new friend and tries to draw circles in the book. Then he gives up, not disappointed but happy for you to draw some more cats for him. Such a little thing seems to give him so much happiness. He settles down on the road and refuses to go home when his parents call him. He wants to watch his buddy draw pathetic little figures in his tiny notebook. The blessing that innocence is cannot be described!

His dad carries him back to the car, crying and screaming, because he wants to play, not go home. He doesn't want to leave his friends. He likes the rain, the mud, the stones and everything that is here, not back home.

A longer wait follows as the policeman, with the strong accent, goes about his interrogation of the errant driver. The friendly towing guys readily agree to drop everyone off at the Caboolture train station. It is not too far from here (Morayfield, the site of the events), they say. Soon, the first truck takes off with 2 people, while the other one would take the remaining two. It's a good hour before the latter arrive in the towing truck, with the rental car that was also battered in the front. 

Hours from when it all first started, numerous questions, notes, recording, signatures and a ticket later it is finally over! 

It is too late to continue the onward journey, heading home is the only option. The long train journey, filled with conversations of cricket, footy, tennis, badminton and other accidents, ends in a curry lunch at the only Indian restaurant that is open at 5PM on a weekend. 

There is no place like home, no person like a spouse and no activity like a warm shower to get over the events of the day. And a good 12 hours of sleep.

9K Endurance Test & QBE RiverFire

9K Endurance Test #1: Managed a non-stop 10k run in approx 75 minutes. 

The plan was to just see if I can last an hour. I was hoping the weather would help. Slathered on sufficient sunscreen for good measure, anyway, laced up and headed out around noon. The weather was rather pleasant. I stuck to the riverside, just to be sure. The sun peeped in occasionally but was rather well-behaved. 

Got a first-hand view of the preps for tonight's RiverFire. The Goodwill Bridge was closed and the entrance caged  up, with large boards redirecting walkers. People had started setting up spots by the riverfront, picnic blankets, chairs & tables, baskets and all. Some had settled on benches, under the trees. Everyone was with families and friends at the Botanic Gardens. Also noticed, thanks to kids playing, that the Botanic Gardens have a children's playground. 

On the way back, I got a good view of crowds forming at the Southbank. People have started picking spots and settling in, at their fave vantage points, 8 - 9hrs before the event. Triple MMM, docked in at Rockstar Lounge at Southbank have started their countdown, amidst playing variety music that kept me company all through the run. Next endurance test might be in slightly hotter weather.

Back home now and all set to get ready for the RiverFire. With 16000 kilos of fireworks, fabulous Blackhawk performances and the famous F111 dump-and-burn lined up, it's no wonder that most of Brisbane and surrounding suburbs will be there. I missed the Blackhawk and F111 rehearsal in the city yesterday but can't wait to watch. Thanks to Nathan and the real estate guys, I've got one of the best vantage points for fireworks - level 28 of one of the city's taller buildings! If I was worried about missing the jostling crowd and madness of the outdoor vantage points, the latest plan includes a spot on the Victoria Bridge to watch the dump-and-burn. I've heard so much about it, I can't wait!

Wondering if I ought to make my way to the RiverFire to watch PowderFinger play live or head towards the late night DJ stands in the city centre. The options are too many, not enough hours in my day. 

Triple MMM is hyping up the RiverFire official song so much, I've stuck myself on that station for the day now. Their countdown says 4.5 hours to go. I have about 2.5 before I walk over and secure myself a good vantage point. So much preparations to do and so little time! The excitements kicking in, can't sit down any more. 

After 3 days of warm weather, the bureau says there might be rain in the offing tonight. Hoping it won't rain down the show. After all, I'm about to strike off another item on Queenslands 150-must do things.

Hail Hailstones, Rumblers and Flashes

I went to the balcony to bring in Lucky's bed that I had put out to dry. It was mildly drizzling. In fact, it was so mild that I was not even sure it was drizzling. I brought her bed in & turned to greet the husband who was trying to get her returned home from their walk. 

Within seconds, there was a loud noise. Rain was pounding on the windows. Mum was yelling out to everyone to bring in everything that could get wet. The husband was rushing about, closing balcony doors (we have so many of those). I stood transfixed, staring at the window at the stairway and the rain that was lashing  mercilessly at it. I expected it to crash any moment, give way under the force with which the water kept slamming it. I waited. For a few seconds. The next thing I know, I was running around the house, yelling "Close the windows, close the windows!" I checked the glass door of the balcony and the windows. I ran into the bedroom & closed all the windows. 

The library was closed. I hesitated for a second and then ran inside, quickly closing all the windows. The mesh windows were of no use, the glass had to be shut. As I closed the window which would easily let water in, given the direction and force of the rain, I ran to check the husband's Mac. It was alright. Thank God! The glass window on the left had protected it. With a sigh of relief, I laid my palm on brother's laptop. Holy shit! It was wet, almost dripping. Almost... I am not sure because I was panicking. I looked around, tugged and yanked off a bed-sheet from one of the mattresses rolled up and wiped it desperately. Thank God, it was only the lid of the laptop. Everything else seems fine. I am able to do this blog, it must be fine.

All open doors and windows shut, I raced back to the living room where mum and hubby were watching the rain. What a beautiful sight! How lovely! It was a scary too. The wind was the roughest I have ever seen, my pots in the balcony had fallen off, the windows appeared to be fighting tough to stay in place and soon there were hailstones. I could do nothing but watch enthralled! It was thrilling to watch the force of the wind and rain. I have never experienced something like this before - visuals to the highest degree of awesomeness, yet alarming. So strong. 

The house was dark within seconds, it was bright outside. The rain kept lashing as I made desperate attempts to capture the picture on my mobile camera. All in vain. Not one good picture. I kept running from window to window, I did not want to miss what the outside looked like. So beautiful, so beautiful, I kept thinking. 

The rumble of thunder was in competition with the loud sounds of things crashing outside. We did not dare look out but we wanted to know what was going on. So much frenzy. It was all crazy. So exciting!

Twenty minutes later, the only sound of water is that of water dropping down from roofs of houses and pipes from balconies. We can still hear the rumbling of thunder and see flashes of lightning. It is nice and cold outside, unbearably warm inside. The husband opened the balcony door and let a rush of cool breeze inside. Ah, the pleasures that nature bestows upon us. I love the rains. I absolutely love the rains. 

And through all of this, Lucky lay down in the living room and watched. She watched people acting crazy, she watched the rains and listened to the strange noises it made. When it was over, she went back to sleep, with one ear cocked up to the sounds around her - mum and husband trying to clean the balcony with the rain water, me typing away on my keyboard. Oh! That reminds me. Shouldn't I be there, helping them? I think I should. I had better run along. In a minute. As soon as I post this. 

Mungaru Male

Ever since the movie, it's impossible to write those two words without using title case. Until the movie, my OCD would kick in if someone spelt the second 'm' in upper case. Now, it's the other way round!

A classic case of digression right from the word go. Darn! Why do I always do that?

So, I was standing in this bus-stop this evening, waiting for a Volvo - 201R. I saw three buses heading in the opposite direction and was confident that atleast one of them would return to take me home. Infact, I let all the buses to J B Nagar go, instead of taking one of them halfway home-ward. All in vain. Eventually, I had to take one of the JBN buses and change. 

It wasn't all too bad, though. There was a sweet, gentle breeze tickling my hair and it felt great. I looked up to see the sky all messed up, with dark and light grey clouds. It looked beautiful. Thick swirls of dark grey mixed with splashes of light grey clouds, on a sky that was another shade of grey. No sign of the sun at all. It was only 6.30PM. There was something so pleasant about the feel of the grey evening. Maybe it was still the wind. That's when I felt little droplets of water on my bare face and arms. Mungaru Male. Ah, the wonderful feeling of the early summer rains!

Then it started raining faster, bigger drops. I had to get my umbrella out to save the contents of my bag. At some point, I decided to take the JBN bus and when I got off at Thippasandra Main Road a few minutes later, the rain was pounding the streets. As I stood on the wet pavement, the hem of my trousers soaked in the soggy grime and the sound of rain on my umbrella serving as a background score to the scenes in my mind, I thought of my friends working all over the world - US, UK, Australia - and wondered how it must feel to be able to experience such diversity. 

As a kid, I always wanted to go to Europe or Australia. For some reason, US was never on my list. I had a picture of a crowded place, a big place where I could get lost and I did not want to go there. So, it didn't feel great when an astrologer read my horoscope and said I'd move permanently to the US. Did he know that I would go to the United States or did he just mean that I would move to any country outside India (in those days, US was the most popular)? Since I don't believe in astrology, I never bothered to find out, so that's a question I'll probably never hear answers to.

Then I looked around me and noticed how dark it was! Why does it get dark so early when it rains? Everything was so wet and dark. Normally, that would make me feel gloomy. Today it all felt nice. I loved the flashes of light, the breeze, the wetness... I stood at the various bus-stops, waiting for buses, for over an hour and all I felt was good good good. Great, in fact! That's the magic of Mungaru Male, I guess. It cooled my spirit. 

At the earliest signs of the rain reducing, I slipped off my umbrella. Took a bus to LRDE and walked home with a spring in my heart. The infamous power cuts had rendered the area completely dark but my mind was so uncluttered this evening that even the darkness of the night made me smile. It was as if someone had swept off cobwebs from inside my head and vacuum-ed the place. I come home to find that my mum has neatened up my house. Less clutter. Brighter interiors. Cleaner air. Bloody hell! Today was a day of nice-ness! 

Mungaru Male. I simply love it!