If you had a choice, what would you dream about tonight?

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The other night I woke up in my dreams to find out that I was not actually asleep but wide awake. Although quite baffling, it is not very uncommon and probably many among us have encountered similar moments at some point in our sleep. Dreams are yet another aspect of our life, over which we have little control. We can accomplish many feats in our dreams which would otherwise appear unthinkable. “Dreams come true” is therefore synonymous to accomplishing something truly marvelous.

All ancient culture tried to make sense of their dreams and their interpretation have been carried forward by their descendants. Depending upon happy or sad events that followed a particular dream, cultures created their own almanac of superstitions. We too have grown up drawing various inferences out of elements such as water, food, snakes, elephants etc. and associated action that appeared in our dreams.

Our ancestors connected dreams to our previous birth, forewarning or as a communication medium with the dead. When someone had a bad dream they interpreted it was the handiwork of demons.

A nice happy accomplishing dream makes the day and a fabulous one could keep us dreamy for few days at a time. Who would not like to have a good dream? This craving for soothing dreams created the “dreamcatchers”.

Native American tribes traditionally used “dreamcatchers” as talismans to protect sleeping people, usually children, from bad dreams. The night air, they thought were filled with both good as well as bad dreams. Hanging a “dream catcher” above the bed, they believed would ensure only good dreams came along. 

These are handmade crafts made with a round hoop woven with a loose web of yarn and decorated with beads and feathers hanging below the hoop.

A tribute on Father's Day

When we were small we believed that our father will protect us whenever we though we will fall. For us he was not only our superman but a super human. Its only after one becomes a father himself, that he understand a father's true vulnerability, weakness and his limitations. You realize the sacrifices he had to make while walking a tight rope as he struggled to maintain the balance between relationship, finances, priorities of life, time management et al.

I remember the look my then infant daughter gave me when she was vaccinated for the first time. As if her eyes were questioning me, how could you ever let them hurt me!

When I look back at those wonder years, I understand my dad a bit more each time. But its too late as he left us for the heavenly abode as soon as I graduated and started with my job denying me the opportunity to give back anything. I wish he was still there and I could treat him, take care of him and hug him!

Happy Father's Day wishes to one and all.

Quick Facts: Father's day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June every year while Mother's day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of May.

Baobab - A fascinating Species

The name was not very common to my ears neither was its look to my eyes. Ever since I saw them at the Aspire Park in Doha, I might has asked my Landscape Architect friend umpteen number of times to remind me of the name of this tree. He used to give me the name with the questions, “why, what happened?” I always wanted to know more about them.

I am told that we have a few of the species in some botanical gardens in India but incidentally never got to see one. “There are nine species of baobab in the world, and Madagascar, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, is home to six. The African mainland and the Arabian peninsula have two, and Australia has one. Africa’s most notable species is the Adansonia digitata, named after the French botanist Michel Adanson, who undertook an 18th-century exploration of Senegal. He stayed there for five years and contributed to the publication of 1757’s Natural History of Senegal.” theguardian.com)

The shape of the trees are fascinating but the most fascinating fact is that there are individual Baobab trees alive on the planet earth for the last 3000 years. Yes you have counted the zeros alright, its three thousands!

Isn’t it amazing for somebody to stand the sand of time and witness the continued changes happening over the millenniums? But they are not able to withstand our atrocities any longer. 

A recent article made the shocking disclosure that as many as 9 of these individuals aged between 1100 and 2500 years are dying off. Unfortunately our way of polluting environment and encroaching forest lands is killing them. Victims of Climate Change! The Guardian reported “The oldest tree by far, of which all the stems collapsed in 2010/11, was the Panke tree in Zimbabwe, estimated to have existed for 2,500 years. The biggest, dubbed Holboom, was from Namibia. It stood 30.2 metres (99 feet) tall and had a girth of 35.1 m.” (theguardian.com)

Do you not feel that it's about time that we change our way of life and give others a chance? 

Live and Let Live!

 

World Environment Day: Wish you a sustainable lifestyle

The most explicit definition of Sustainable living that I ever came across is the following:

“Meeting our present needs in a way such that the coming generation would be able to meet their own.”

Our generation is selfishly rushing to achieve their self-defined illusive “Progress”. In the process we are mercilessly converting our farmlands, wetlands, forests and water bodies destroying the natural habitat of our co-dwellers in this earth.

On the 5^th of June 2018, this World Environment Day, I request all to take a moment out to decide where we want to go from here. We need to be wary of finding our environmental report card in the hands of our grandchildren and decide between growth and development.

Growth is all about getting bigger and bigger whereas development is about getting better.

I have no qualms in accepting the fact that it will take a messiah to change the world totally and revert the damages already done. But no one can stop us from participating in whatever small way to be part of the change that we want to see in our environment.

I can assure you that any step, however small that might be would not be insignificant. There are a few things that we all can undertake, no matter where we are or our circumstances.

Firstly we need to plant trees…wherever and whenever possible. Any opportunity should not be missed and it could be in our courtyards, porches, patios, terraces, balconies or even window sills. Create your own flowering nook or a kitchen garden and in doing so please remember to use terracotta pots instead of the plastic one.

Secondly say goodbye to plastics. They are doing immense harm and their outreach is now thousands of feet under the sea. The idea is to start with the disposable, single use products and slowly move to the others.

Finally let “Recycle, Reuse & Reduce” be the mantra of life.

In the end I will leave with a quote from Senegalese Baba Dioum (1968). "In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.”

The news clipping below may help to understand the gravity of the situation and motivate you. First one is a good news about Tamil Nadu banning plastics and the ones that follows are scary to say the least.