Leisure Writing...

Frozen in time

“Is that a Dinosaur footprint? Wow, that’s a fossil inside a ranch. It might have been a seabed millions of years ago!” shouts the eight year old Chinnu as he keenly observes each rock in the open grounds of Dinosaur Valley State Park, Texas, USA.

Fossil hunting is fun, especially in the rocky areas of North Texas which are vast stretches of barren land originally under the sea millions of years ago.  The occasional rain and the all-time sharp sun make these areas conducive for hunting. The rain erodes the top layer of soil from the fossils, making them an easy find under the sun.

It is a rewarding experience to touch a piece of plant or animal which was just there so many millions of years ago. One does not require a degree in paleontology for this kind of a hunt though extreme patience and caution is mandatory especially while tampering with the older specimen. The pieces tend to be too brittle and one might destroy a masterpiece or never-one-in-history kind of dinosaur bone if not careful. However, a couple of precise chisels and a soft hammer in meticulous hands would do the trick.

The experience is not only great due to the finds but also because of the long hikes one has to carry out to reach the regions rich in fossils. Anything exciting is always fraught with danger. The rough terrain with dangerous snakes and huge pits covered with loose soil might prove to be a threat especially for kids.

The tiniest forms of animals which are extinct now are an easy find. They are usually deposited at the river banks which have dried up with the passage of time. They are the ones like crinoid stalks, brachiopods and columnals. These have been dated to 300 million years old.

The complex finds include shark teeth, dinosaur bones and teeth. “Usually, one out of 50 hunters find one of them in this park”, says Dr. R, a well-known paleontologist in Texas.

The hunt does not stop at the place where a fossil is found. There are cases when a fossil has to be brought home or to lab along with the rock in which it is embedded. The specimen has to be carefully chaffed from the rock using delicate techniques like chiseling. Also, preserving them is much tougher than finding them. Since they are more vulnerable to the natural agents once extracted, they require extra care periodically. Most of them would need to be dried in an inert atmosphere and snugged in air-tight boxes with regular inspection.

“It is not just a leisure activity, if you have the knack of finding fossils, you may start contributing to your local museum”, says Dr.R. “Nothing could match the joy of finding your name etched as the ‘finder’ of a rare specimen in the museum. Your name is bound to be frozen in time just as the fossil is”.

Sunshine Cricket

It was a rainy day, but the birds were still chirping. Sunday, the 23rd of February, saw the Titans within the young boys clash at the Marina Beach, Chennai.

It was cloudy, but the “Chennai Stars” lit up the ground with spectacular fielding and bowling. The team was fighting with the “Malgudi Riders”, which had slightly older boys from Malgudi.

Tamil, the captain of the Stars team began the batting after winning the toss. The crowd which was barely there became increasingly huge once Tamil started his stint. In 20 minutes, he gathered 42 runs with his famous ‘Parotta’ shots. The Stars gathered a huge total of 150 with 5 wickets lost in 20 overs.

The Riders gave a stiff competition as well. They won the favour of the crowd when Santhosh, the Captain, did excellent spins in the last few overs. He took 3 wickets in the last 2 overs and did not allow even a single.

At about 3 PM in the evening, the Sun shone beamingly over the Stars congratulating them. The Riders were all out within 100 runs. Tamil bagged “The Man of the Pongal Season” award which came with prize money of Rs.5000. He announced that the prize would be shared among his team members to purchase a complete cricket set.

The waves clapped. The kites fluttered. The crowd cheered. The Stars posed for a picture.

The Divine High

The Divine High

There are reasons why  a Sunday is special. Apart from being a no-work day, there are innumerable sentiments associated with it.

Any Sunday would start with the people at home waking up unusually early due to the inertia of the weekdays. One would actually prefer such wake-ups just to enjoy the subtlety of the feeling that there is more time during the weekends.

Tea with Parle-G would be a fantastic combination and every bite when lasted for 3 or more seconds would feel heavenly. The biscuits being too small for an adult-bite, it would really take some practice to munch over the tea-dipped ones and have a ‘divine high’. The thrill one gets when finding the tea-soaked biscuits break into half to hunt the ‘the significant other’ in the cup is a game by itself!

The newspaper would seem unusually entertaining and there would be just too many city events to attend to - blinding the eyes and blanking the mind to plan for one.

The cross-words and Sudoku columns would gain extra importance as they could be clubbed well with the activity of having some more biscuits!

After a morning breakfast of hot idlis and onion sambar, one would be tempted to go back to bed complaining of a well-planned ‘headache’ caused due to stress!

There would be a nap which could not actually be counted as one, but as a sort-of subconscious trance, which is a state in which the mind exactly knows all that is happening around. The cawing of the distant crows, the rush of the overflowing water from the house-motor, the high-pitched film songs on the televisions at the neighborhood, would start to disturb the meditative state. The body would disagree with the mind and then one would be woken-up forced to brush aside the ‘headache’ with heartache!

After multiple cries from the family to get ready to do the grocery shopping for the week, the limbs would try hard to co-operate to start with this huge task! It is required to agree with the point that any amount of grocery shopping would not make the home-makers happy. It is the most demanding task ever!

After lunch, which would be a dish containing at least a pinch of poppy seeds to enhance the Indian flavor, the body would demand some rest. The ‘rest’ would last for a great 10 minutes until the person is required to cater to the ‘wrong number’ phone calls and calling bells from the passers-by who would want help to find the location of a wedding reception hall they are required to head to.

Evening is the time, when the ‘divine high’ is at its peak. Anyone would find oneself in a range of emotions from excitement to deep melancholy, when realized that Sunday has already been spent. It is the exact same feeling when one would feel nostalgia listening to a tune heard during childhood times or the feeling felt when one is parting a dear friend.

Fortunately, it is also the same feeling which makes one realize the true value of a weekend.

It is customary for any day in Chennai to usually start with a strong filter coffee. It has been said that this has somehow become the tradition, but until recently people have realized that it is the elixir to drive in Chennai.

After the numerous road projects to make Chennai more metropolitan, one could actually see it becoming more savage in the roads.

It is a common sight to see people learning to ‘keep right’ contradicting the basic ‘keep left’ rules. One should accept that this has greatly trained our people to drive in the US even without the bare essentials of the US driving rules.

The traffic cops are the greatest assets now as they struggle to bring in a lot of ‘order and discipline’. They strictly are the ones who would guide any citizen when a road has been changed to one-way, even if there are no sign boards to help. “You don’t really require signboards, do you?  It is pretty intuitive isn’t it?" ,they would ask friendly.

Any traffic cop in Chennai needs to develop a deep sense of gratitude to the buses and share autos. It is because these vehicles actually ‘regulate’ the traffic. ‘To stop or not to stop’, is all decided by the bus drivers lately.

One must be honest in admitting that, even the truest Indian citizen has got absolutely no wits to challenge these vehicles. “If you do not own an auto or bus, follow ahimsa and you should practice meditation!” anyone would counsel.

You would definitely find yourself missing the red signal at least once a day. Of course it is not by choice, but one needs to somehow escape the honking buses that chase you with speed if you stop at a red signal.

Cattle, being our best friends as per our tradition, have been suffering lately because of this pandemonium. It is not a rare sight to spot a few cows in a flyover quite mixed up about the ‘keep right/left’ rules!

“It’s a cow beware! You would face the karma if you hurt it!” is the blackmailing strategy which the cow owners use if they find you honking at them.

Apart from turning karmic, one needs to see the philosophical side as well. This road discipline has actually made a few people turn attractive.

I hear the women say, “I do not hit the gym these days! The driving has shaped my body and my diet is well under control because of the meditation!”

Cruising through the streets on a weekend to places where women with ‘fashion sense’ would normally haunt, one might need the patience and persistent enthusiasm to accompany any lady.

Chennai, with its humidity and noise at the bazaars is still a haven to be in for any woman who craves a flavor for clothes.

My aunt is no exception. One could find her in ‘Madras’ –she fondly calls the city with the old name even now, to be on a shopping spree even if it is one of her flash visits to Chennai to attend a wedding reception.

Any Saturday would normally start at around 10 AM, but if she is determined it would start even at 8:30 AM.

I have to admit at this point, that I am no exception. I would plunge myself into this activity with great interest and our day would start at a few shops at Pondy Bazaar.

“Let’s stop here!” would be her anytime reaction once she gets a glimpse of any fashionable lady posing in the banners. The car would stop and there we would be in at every attractive apparel store at the city.

In spite of me reminding her on the “Metro Rail Project” and the ‘discipline’ one must have to drive or park, such things would always be brushed aside by her. ‘It does not matter if we are required to go in rounds across the city; all I came here is for a piece of clothing!” she would insist.

Lunching at these times is something that I greatly enjoy during her visits. It would be extravagant and she would really treat me well for chauffeuring her around. Being vegetarians our taste buds would usually crave for a place with the finest South Indian and Jain cuisines.

One could feel the head going dizzy after such ‘gallivanting’ which my grandmother usually complains after her visit. But still we go around determined and also terming her to be old-fashioned (and at least on this point my aunt would be assured that she would get my support fully). At the end of every such spree one could find her in between a lot of clothes bags or in other words one could spot her in between them at least!

It would be getting used to the roads so much that even the traffic cops would ‘friend’ us.

“It’s dinner time athai!” I would remind her. “I see, what are your plans tonight?, any shopping in a nearby place?” she would pounce.  “I may have to go to a friend’s house as she is throwing a ladies party tonight”, I would say. “Hmm, if that is so, shall we continue this tomorrow?” she would add.

Chennai, in spite of its heat and dust has always been a place of sophistication and fascination to me. Wandering through the streets, making friends with the women who visit the shops, complimenting them on their tastes, a stomach filled with basmati and curry, the urge to buy stuff for everyone in the family, the freedom of being yourself, having a range of places to shop from the 1^st to the 30^th of the month, textiles to suit every taste and budget, accessories to highlight them, NGOs to support people, bookshops to browse through, chat shops to munch through, malls to wade through, cinemas and plays in all languages to entertain all, beaches to bathe and drive, the heat to show how air conditioners perform, people to ‘talk to’ around every corner, coffee shops to date, clothing to flaunt the curves and spas to relax! It is a great place for any woman who loves freedom and social life.