Painting logs

An attempt at value addition

About six weeks ago, I was clearing the compound of garden debris. Buried under a mound of dried leaves were some mangled branches and the trunk of a young tree , about 8 years old as inferred from its annular rings. The leaves were quickly carted away to generate some free garden space

As regards the trunk and branches, the idea originally was to cut these to pieces with a hacksaw and dump the bits into the Council's tub meant for disposing garden waste. That would have been mulched into bits and finally strewn somewhere.

But while sawing, I found the wood good and hard and changed lanes in my thinking. I decided to add some value to the log by painting it and the choice was to do so as in a Didgeridoo, considering the shape. The Didge, as it is called, is an aboriginal wind-musical instrument, honed out of termite eaten hollow tree trunks.  I cut this trunk and the branches into suitably sized pieces, removed the bark, chipped off the nodes and gritty  bumps,  and smoothened the surface with sand paper. Everything was manually done

I tried out some sketches, but was inspired when I saw a set of the colored masks of native tribals. I gave the logs a base coat, dried it, then sketched the masks and painted them using water-based and oil-based colors. Although this one is solid and does not produce any music, the shape is that of a Didgeridoo. The words DJIRRI NYURRA mean GOOD DAY in Tjapukai, which is one of the 250 odd aboriginal languages from as many tribes in Australia

And that's what you have here. It was ready on the day after Pongal and handed over.

The full log , shaped as a Didgeridoo

The humble log of wood got the pride of place in someone's home as a curio

Any value? Addition??

GOOD DAY

Mecca and Paradise

Mecca and Paradise

Fitness Down Under

Fitness First is not only the name of a fitness chain of gymnasiums in Oz, but also an Australian way of life. There is no gender bias in this matter and people of all ages, from all walks of life,  are into fitness or sports activities with religious fervour and it is widespread all over the place.

Right from an early age, the concept and practice of fitness and sports are ingrained into the child, by parents, who themselves are ardent and enthusiastic practitioners. Sports gear, gymnastic equipment, grounds and tracks and gymnasiums abound in plenty.

Call it whatever you may, but in this part of the world, fitness has been institutionalized. Fitness experts and trainers have a regular curriculum specified by the Australian Institute of Fitness (AIF).

  The AIF evaluates trainers according to laid down norms and certifies the trainer as being suitable  for different levels of training. The end requirement of the trainee is kept in mind, for eg. Is it for physical fitness or for body building or to play a particular sport. Here again there are different courses for cricketers, tennis players, cyclists, footballers and so on and the epitome of it all, to my mind is Rugby., which till date is still a male bastion. When you see a Rugby player, you might imagine that he has thighs where we all have arms and his legs are like sculptured pillars of monuments of  the Victorian era. They are indeed swift-footed mountains of athletic muscle

Lady trainer for a group- Chatswood Oval

Trainers are in good demand and some of them also enjoy celebrity status. The ripple effect has led to fitness having developed into an industry in its own right. Sports clothing and accessories, equipments, grounds and their maintenance, professional trainers, certifications. It is a holistic approach and is not a need thrust upon people as a marketing gimmick. People in groups and as individuals want it. In fact, in India, millions need it, but the driving want from within is seriously wanting.

Exercising at free public gym facility

For the average person, fitness exercises do not call for any capital investment, not even weights or membership to a gymnasium. The right shoes and clothing are a must. The rest of it has to come from within. Trainers  have different criteria to comply with for being certified for training individuals, families or a group of persons. If something goes wrong with the trainee and is traced to inadequacy in the training methods, the trainer is in for big trouble. There are men and women trainers and they could be training individuals of any gender and mixed groups. Appropriate certification is a must

Besides the early morning and evening jogging, exercising, cycling etc which is commonplace, there are many office goers who regularly jog, run or cycle for brief spells during their lunch hour. And mind you, lunch is generally a working lunch only.

Multiple exercising possible

It has been heartening to see that this wonderful aspect of Aussie life has rubbed on to most immigrants, be they Indian or Chinese. One can see the intensity of training effort in everyone's face and the Aussie never-say-die spirit manifests itself as competing to win all the time. This is where Australia becomes the Mecca for sports lovers, in terms of opportunities for practice of fitness and sports activities. I have come across two trainers one from each end of the spectrum of ages, here in Australia. One is Shiv, an Indian from TN, who is a certified trainer. He is conducting sessions for us and from the manner in which he explains the significance of each exercise, which he does himself for demonstration, vis-a-vis breathing, body muscles and the anatomy, one can gauge what the curriculum is like. The other person is a retired engineer, A Greek Aussie, who is a specialist in design and construction of swimming pools. At 72, he has won gold medals in triple jump and short sprints in International events. He too trains as a hobby and does it for free

Preethi about to bungy jump in New Zealand

New Zealand ! Ah! On the other hand, has everyone participating in such activities, in solo or in groups, more from enjoying the adrenaline pumping effort that from working to win. Boating cycling, swimming, kayaking, surfing, 

Radha in paragliding mode

Shanker paragliding

paragliding, skydiving, bungy-jumping, plain cross country running, all these are ingredients which make New Zee a thrill seekers' paradise

Rohita swings after bungy jump

And in both these countries, during the cooler climes, while other people are fighting the cold by tugging at their jackets over sweaters, these athletes of Australian and New Zealand origin sprint long and hard and have beads of perspiration dripping from their forehead and bare shoulders. I really envy them

This piece will not be complete without a mention of the other category of people in Australia, both Aussies and others of different ethnicity. Their state of physical presentation has regressed two vowels from fitness ( to fatness). Literally, the spread and number of the obese is sizable. With a bit of questioning I find that some of this is attributable to the Global Financial crisis (GFC). Most of them affected are the Polynesians, Samoans, Papua New Guineans, aborigines, Maoris etc.During the GFC, the business houses which made most money are the MacDonald's, KFCs and such food vendors. Reason: For less than 5 dollars, only these houses could provide a " Filling "meal (with fat and carbs). And that has stayed back within in an ever expanding mode. 

But a greater factor is genetic, arising from the diet of flour and sugar, reportedly given to the "Stolen Generations" of aborigines from 1869 to 1969, under the Protection law enacted by the Australian Governors during that era

Requiem for Mona

I remember her. With a doe eyed sulk breaking into a flashy smile from pouting lips on an expressive face, the two looped plaits bobbing to the rhythm of her run as she sprinted to be in time for school. She was fourteen, class 9, at Holy Cross High School, 53 years ago.

Last week, Dr Mona Ray, 67, passed away in the US, battling cancer

.

I remember attending her music rehearsals and programmes, group songs and the traditional Rabindra Sangeet and I recall the strains of the melodious Bengali songs wafting through the window of her small study, which was her domain, given by Chatterjee Mahasay only to her and not to her siblings 

Each time our eyes met at a distance, she would give a gentle wave of recognition, which was a signal known only to us and that would send a warm surge coursing through my being. Did she ever feel the same, I never had the courage to ask.

Thak tha tha thadak thak

Kamal ka phool dekho, shola bahaar dekho

Shahi darbar dekho, 

kamal ka phool !

Pyari pyari shobanyari aayi hain bahaar.....................

She was on stage dancing Kathak choreographed to the tunes of this song as I walked into the hall. Her wave of hand merged with the dance moves as she sent me a signal over the heads of the throng of  500 students. To this day I remember the dance, the wave and the tune

She would bring along a friend to be the one of the only two girls watching the hockey matches which I played in. I would feel a surge of energy and that something within was goading me to do well.

After 1961, I entered the University and the meetings became scarce. I never had the courage. I also did badly that year at the University, in that I did not qualify for admission to a prestigious institution. So knowing my background, I changed focus to studies and drifted away and chanced to meet her as a full-fledged practising medical professional at Bangalore's Victoria Hospital some twenty years later. She was a paediatric specialist, a wife and Mother and when I reached her house, she opened the door and we stared at each other for over thirty seconds. She said in a whisper "Don't get emotional or sentimental"

Marianne sent me a mail from the US last week stating that the Mona Chatterjee I used to know, is no more. The old flame surfaced from the depths through the layers of years into a struggling flicker. A drop of my tears doused it with a hiss.........................................

I suddenly remembered Rajesh Khanna's song  in Aap ki Kasam

Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hain jo mukam

Woh phir nahin aathe

The Bradman Museum- Bowral

The Bradman Museum- Bowral

From Wahroonga, where Radha and I are now staying with our daughter Preethi and son-in-law Karthik, about 130 km away on the scenic Sydney- Canberra route, lies the small sleepy town of Bowral, the birthplace of Sir Donald Bradman, arguably the greatest batsman of all times. That is where the Bradman Museum, now the International Cricket's Hall of Fame is located

Radha entering the Museum

I had heard about this place from an ardent cricket lover and what he had described seemed to evoke reverence and awe

At first sight, I did not feel so, but as I entered the Museum and saw the picture of the Invincibles led by Bradman, I did feel it and was transported into ecstasy when I could recall the names of those players belonging to the pre-Second World War era, long before my own birth

Saturday, Nov 9, a friend of Karthik,  and a cricket fan , Ram,  drove us to this beautiful place nestled between hills, as a picturesque and picture-perfect town. It was a balmy 22 deg C and a clear bright day, the perfect ingredients for watching a cricket match at the Bowral Oval with the red cherry streaking through the manicured green .

  

The Ashes documented

With the Bowral Oval behind

As we entered Cricket's Hall of Fame, it was a magnificent experience, as across four huge television screens, exciting excerpts of different cricket matches from around the world, beginning  late 19th century till date were shown. The Ashes till today remains the epitome of a cricket contest between Australia and England. The story about how the Ashes came into existence merits a separate write-up

The sounds from the screen with the vociferous appeals and the roar of the crowds in the stadium, filled this section of the museum. A special enclave showed a documentary of the Bodyline era with prominent names such as Douglas Jardine, Harold Larwood, Gubby Allen, and  Sir Don, as he is called. The other major development, just about 40 years old is Kerry Packers' World Series Cricket, the evolution of ODI and the T20 as a sequel. I saw a movie HOWZZAT which was based on and dealt with this theme.

The greatest all rounder- Sir Gary Sobers (WI)

The greatest all rounder- Sir Gary Sobers (WI)

Separate television monitors were available with headphones to just plug in and listen to interviews of international cricketers of several generations to this day. That was like a crash course in the art of interviewing and answering questions. India has a pride of place in this museum what with personages from RanjitSinghji through Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Shastri, Tendulkar, Kumble to Rahul Dravid being the latest, being given their credits. 

One outstanding feature that I heard expressed by no less than Sir Don, the Chapell brothers, and our own Bishen Singh Bedi was that the greatest all rounder of all times and a cricketing genius is Sir Gary Sobers of the West Indies, whose batting and bowling at a Test match, I have also personally had the opportunity to witness.

Radha listening intently to the interviews

One of the greatest features of this trip to the Bradman Museum is the fact that my wife has suddenly evinced a keen interest in the game. She listened to the recorded interviews of so many cricketers, past and present, that the Museum keeper had to come and gently remind her that the closing time is 5 pm. I do hope that in future when I see some cricket matches on TV, she will not glare and glower at me and look at the situation more sympathetically. And definitely no longer ask questions like " Yaaru jeyikkira?", ( Who is winning?"), right within the first few overs of a game, when she hears the applause for a boundary or six

I have been a cricket aficionado since 1956. When I saw the excerpts of the Tied Test in 1960-61, West Indies vs Australia (under Frank Worrell and Richie Benaud respectively), they took me back to that era and my own life then. The chawls of Kurla, Mumbai, underarm cricket with a tennis ball and a stone slab  or wickets drawn on walls for stumps, and West Indies cricket statistics of 362 runs in 360 minutes , all flashed across the pantheon of the mind's eyes. I remembered nostalgically my school friends, yapping about cricket, radio commentary by the great  AFS Taleyarkhan, a dear school friend Mona Chatterjee, who passed away last week battling cancer, and so on.......all that which had seemed so distant came out afresh from the past bobbing on a screen right in front of my mind's vision

I am addressing this mail to some of those who have been friends with me,  some since 1952, and with whom I have shared seasons and reasons, and the memories with whom I cherish to this date.

We all have our own albums as museums in our homes, but when one sees a place like the Bradman's museum which deals with a subject of one's liking and encompassing one's own lifetime within its framework, the ambiance and memories become something wonderful to be relived through..

By reading this mail, if you can feel even a fraction of the joy and exhilaration that I have experienced in having visited this institution, I shall feel happy to imagine that I have successfully shared my thoughts with you

With the warmest personal regards and wishing you a happy Season ahead

Adieu Oz Jan 2012

Adieu Oz-  January 2012

an ode to the Aussie / New Zee odyssey

Will miss the magpie's baby-like wail, (9)

The Kangaroo's hop and mighty tail    (9)

Platypus, possum and emu's walk   (9)

Koalas, quoll and cockatoo's scrawk (9)

Cassowaries, pelicans and whale. (9)

Of wild Nature and modern city (9)

Low numbers and plentiful kitty (9)

Aborigines and Caucasians (9)

Polynesians and Asians  (9)

Benefitting  from all round bounty (9)

Of work-life balance, fitness aware (9)

Profession, home and athletic care (9)

The Kiwis and the All-Blacks (7)

Kangaroos and Wallabies (7)

A spirit for sport beyond compare (9)

To Queenstown through Christchurch's tragic spills (9)

Through pristine lakes, fiords, rivers and hills (9)

Biking, boating  n' riding (7)

Trek, ski, bungy and 'gliding (7)

New Zee is a paradise for thrills (9)

For gems of children and sparkling friends (9)

Living is much more than meeting ends (9)

Protect them , Lord! Oh! Bless them! (7)

Good health and peace! Oh! Bless them (7)

Turmoil free,  whichever way life wends (9)

Morning Walks

Sydney must have been of a hilly terrain as it is in Los Angeles. Without much change to the undulating landscape the city was built, and so we have different gradients as we cover even short distances on foot.

The place we are at, i.e., Wahroonga, is beautiful with stately gum trees of the eucalyptus family and several shrubs and plants blooming mainly in the Australian winter. What set me wondering is the absence of the koala in spite of so many of these eucalyptus trees. Then I examined the odour by crushing a few of the fallen green leaves and find that its native fragrance is negligibly faint. These trees are protected by the State and felling them without approval on one's own is prohibited. On the other hand, over a few days as Spring gives way to summer, some of the flowers, like the Hydrangeas and poinsettias have started showing. There are rich colored bushes and shrubs of bougainvillea spilling from over the compound walls of some houses, carnations and many others which I have to learn about. Flower named " Dancing girl " More buds, opening buds, sprouting petals and full bloomed rhododendrons, red, pink and mauve colored flowers, the jacaranda which blooms full to hide its leaves if any. A pretty sight indeed!

Jacaranda An early morning walk through the Hill and dale territory is indeed refreshing. Streaks of sunbeam gently accost you as you look up through chinks in the dense foliage. The leaves glisten as the rays bounce off from seemingly oil-polished surfaces.  And the tweets and chirps of lorikeets, the scrawk of the cockatoo, fill the densely wooded neighbourhood  Kookaburra Kaa Kaa Kaa Koo koo koo kaa, kaa, kooka kooka is the full throated mating call of the Kookaburra (Burra means bird in the native aboriginal language). It can be seen to suddenly dart from the branch of a tree to the lawns of buffalo grass and pick up a worm in the twinkling of an eye. As one walks the paths and lanes, one cannot escape the beautiful sight of the flowers and different shades of shining green leaves. So the walk is invariably with a camera on the go in hand and every morning as we return there would be at least twenty pictures taken for selection. Digital Camera! What a wonder!

Almost all houses in this area, spread over several square kilometres, are single storeyed and have ample garden space in front and backyard space in the rear. Well manicured lawns are a common feature, and almost any family with children has pets too.

Cubby house

As one looks out of the window or walks along the pavements through the lawns in the sidewalks, one has a wide view of the vast expanse of clear blue sky.

Home in Sydney

One is inclined to feel that Nature has been pretty partial to these parts of the planet. Well yes! In terms of the climate and the terrain, the skies and the natural flora. But what sustains all this in its natural splendour is the sincere and dedicated effort put in by the people here with a foresight and desire to meaningfully maintain and retain.

I have come across several different breeds of dogs, the likes of which I have not seen before, a white colored Golden retriever, a Scottish setter, a bull dog ( I could recall a famous British Prime Minister) a Swiss mountain dog, a Chinese Temple dog of a pedigree of the huskies, the black and white sledge pulling huskies, which look like wolves, and a Cocker Spaniel, all as friendly as their lovely handlers. Gently stroking a dog behind his ears has always evoked a friendly response from all breeds except the Rottweiler, which I am scared of even at a distance. The other breed to keep a safe distance from is the pit bull

10 month old huskie and 16 month old small dog

Eight minutes of walk up and down the road leads to a beautiful playground, uniform as a golf green and when it does not rain, this is where Radha and I spend at least an hour in the morning with walk, jog and floor exercises, not to mention admiring some of the canines and their handlers. Some activities that I have managed to convert to exercise are in raking the lawn in front and in the backyard. This is new to me because I have never experienced living in an independent house with all these trappings. Watering the garden, scrubbing, scraping and painting the fencing, sawing fallen branches and logs into sizes suitable for a bonfire and of course the Surya namaskaram. All these keep me busy and my mind at peace. Subconsciously we are in a frame of mind, imagining that we have plenty of time and trying to keep busy till, God willing, Preethi brings home the bundle of joy. And then, we imagine, that we will be very busy. But I have always believed that busy people will find time for everything. The weather keeps changing from one day to another, the beauty being that it is accurately forecast on TV. One day it is a hot 31 deg C, with winds. The next day is a tonic 22 deg C. A bushfire had been raging across different parts of NSW.

Summer in the Southern hemisphere is hovering around the corner.  Good wishes and blessings 

This Season, Greetings come to you from Down Under.

Shanker