Canada in my blood..

Red maple

Despite having lived in Canada for over a decade and being a citizen of this country, I always considered myself an Indian. I was born in India, my skin is brown and I consume predominantly Indian food. But somewhere along the way, the blood in my veins was gradually turning a different shade of red...

Was it the air that I breathed? or the water from the Great Lakes that quenched my thirst? was it the sweet smell of the soil and the pines? was it the kindness of the people who gave me a helping hand when I desperately needed it? was it because I birthed my children on this land?

Unbeknown to me, I had fallen deeply in love with this vast land called Canada. While I will remain an Indian, I will be a Canadian to the very end of my days. 

A Birthday Present ..

Early fall at Bond Lake

The way we celebrate birthdays or anniversaries has changed significantly over the last few years. Before we would treat ourselves to a fancy lunch at an expensive restaurant. Now gifts of things and epicurean delights have taken a backseat. Instead we have been going hiking on trails close to home. The exhilaration of hiking the vast outdoors, the spectacular sights and some quiet private time is so much more desirable.

Yesterday, we celebrated my birthday with a long hike in the Oak Ridges Morraine ending at the Bond Lake. The air was thick with the pungent smell of overripe apples strewn along the path. The rising sun highlighted the red colors just appearing this fall. Suddenly a flock of geese appeared from nowhere flying low out of the bend and heading up towards the sun above us. What a breathtaking sight!!

No cake however sweet the icing can beat the beauty of these fleeting moments!

Rise and retire with the sun..

The birds in the lake are up at dawn preparing to take off for the day.. 

Globalization has lead to bizarre lifestyles and new illnesses. An example is my cousin in India who works as a medical transciptor for American doctors. She leaves to work at 2.30am at night while her family sleeps and returns back home at 2.00pm the next day afternoon. She is battling obesity oblivious of the relationship between lifestyle, sleep deprivation, metabolism and obesity.

Here is another story of an airline pilot who retired financially very well after working 25 years as a pilot. After years of staying awake and sleeping at odd hours he now suffers from chronic insomnia that doesn't let him sleep at night or day!

Compare this with how our grandparents lived in the villages. They rose early morning every single day just before sunrise and finished the days work to retire a little after the sun sets. This same discipline I have discovered in the birds too from watching them through the spring, summer and now the autumn. Whether the days are long or short, they rise and retire with the sun! The first light of the sun is a signal for them to leave the roost and they are all back before the sun's last rays disappears into the horizon.

Night and day exists for a reason and plays a vital role in the daily cycle of every living being. In our foolish attempts to outsmart nature, we discover albeit too late that she has played a cruel trick on us!!  To "Follow the rhythms of nature; rise and retire with the sun" is one of the Ten Commandments for living.

Kuvempu's Poem "Tanuvu Ninnadu Manavu Ninnadu": Lyrics and Meaning

Poet Kuvempu

This haunting Kannada song comes from the depth of the poet's heart. It is a poignant prayer that reveals the poet's deep union with the divine spirit that pervades all things in the universe. Kuvempu realized spiritually the same truth that Albert Einstein explained as science "A human being is a part of the whole called by us as universe".

Tanuvu ninnadu manavu ninnadu
Enna jeevana ghanavu ninnadu
Nanu ninnavanemba hemmeya
Runavu matrave nannadu

My being is yours, my heart is yours
The strength of life in me is yours
The pride that I am yours
That debt alone is mine

Neenu holedare nanu holevenu
Neenu beledare nanu belevenu
Nanna haranada harana neenu
Nanna maranada maranavu

When you shine, I shine too
When you grow I grow too
You are the destruction in my destruction
You are the death in my death

Nanna manadali neene yukti
Nanna hrudayadi neene bhakthi
Neene maya mohashakthiyu
Nanna jeevana mukthiyu

You are the reason my mind works
You are the devotion in my heart
You are the eternal power of the universe
And the salvation of my life ...

An intimate love affair: The Squirrel and the Oak tree..

Squirrels love acorns

Autumn is here and the leaves are changing colors all over. I was sitting under a White Oak tree while the kids were playing in the park nearby. I had so many acorn nuts and peels fall on me that I was forced to look up. I saw a very active squirrel devouring the tender acorn nuts and running up and down the tree to hide the nuts beneath the surface of the soil.

The great oak tree shelters the squirrel and provides its tastiest food, the acorn nuts. The squirrel stores them under the soil for food to survive the bitter winter months. It turns out the squirrel forgets a majority of these seeds which in turn germinates to create a forest of Oak trees! What a wonderful symbiotic relationship!! Who knew of the great blessings of forgetfulness?


Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better - Albert Einstein

Most essential education for a child..

We tend to curb a child's instincts to explore the natural environment for reasons of hygiene or for fear of bugs or getting hurt. More than learning rhymes, reading, writing, toys, gadgets or books ..
 
“Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. Brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pine-cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets; and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education.” - Luther Burbank

Knowledge is inherent in all things. The world is a library and its books are the stones, leaves, grass, brooks and the birds and animals that share, alike with us, the storms and blessing of the earth. We should learn to do what only the student of nature ever learns, and that is to feel its beauty ... Chief Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux  

Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher - William Wordsworth

Roaming wild and free ..

Bear at Smokies

Several times over the last few months, I have pointed out a racoon, a skunk and what looked like a beaver to my children. They said "Mummy, you are only showing us dead animals". Sadly, the only wild animals we get to see these days are roadkill ..knocked down by speeding vehicles.

After one trip to a zoo last year, I find it impossible to take my kids to another Zoo or Aquarium to see wild creatures. The slavery, captivity and cruelty we inflict on these animals represents everything wrong we humans do for our amusement.

We got a rare chance to see a wild bear at the Smoky mountains last week. He was indeed a happy bear and for us the glorious joy of seeing something wild and free in its own wilderness home was priceless! 

All good things are wild and free - Thoreau