Story of the seven fairies

Fairy dust

Once upon a time, there were seven little fairies living in the sky. They were color fairies. By that, I mean, each of them wore clothes of each of the seven colors of the rainbow and carried wands from with colorful sparkles would sprinkle everywhere. They were not just ordinary tiny fairies that pottered about looking pretty and doing a few magical stuff at times, they had a very big responsibility.

Lavenders

That responsibility was this - they imparted color on ALL things big and small. The red pen on your desk is red because Red Fairy sprinkled some of her red-fairy-dust there, Zebra has black and white stripes because the fairies calculated RGB proportions correctly while the first zebra was getting painted by the angels...like that.

 Overlapped Indigo

The fairies were doing great, everyone was happy. Green fairy would color the foliage bright green in spring, in fall again Red and Yellow fairies would mix up different proportions of their fairy dust and create the beautiful shades of fall-colors...during sunrise and sunset, they would get so creative, Blue Fairy would turn the sky into cornflower blue....and right after a spell of rain, when the earth and sky get washed and clean, all seven of them would wave their wands to create a RAINBOW!!

 

Blue

One day, there was a great thunderstorm. While the storm was raging and lightning bolts were striking the earth, the seven fairies were sitting inside their crystal house huddled together, waiting for the storm to pass. "How all the earthlings would want to see a rainbow now" said Yellow Fairy as she cleaned her wand with magic-bubbles. "Yes", Blue Fairy replied, "I am thinking if I should save some of my bright blue for the rainbow today". Indigo Fairy was very quiet, she didn't say anything but looked very sad. "What's the matter with you, Indigo?" asked Violet Fairy. Indigo started sobbing and after a while said, "with all the grey bad smokes coming out of tall chimneys, people can hardly see my color in the rainbow nowadays, I try so hard, but indigo hardly shows!" While all the fairies were thinking about Indigo Fairy's prolem, Orange Fairy was the one to see the afternoon sun in the west, almost ready to call it a day. She got up with her wand as usual, but then something struck her..."Girls!" she said in a commanding voice, "let's take out all the colors from the earth and sky".

Green leaves

"What?" exclaimed the others. "Yes," Orange Fairy went on in a determined voice. "Let's not color anything, anywhere from now on and then the humans would see what they are doing to the earth and sky. I am NOT going to color the sunset today. That's final!"

"Yay for Orange!!!" shouted all the fairies as they shook their magic wands on Orange Fairy, drizzling her with sparkly fairy dust!

Yellow Sun

Down below on the earth, chaos reigned as the sunset that evening was pale and grey. Scientists started thinking what could have happened, some people said the aliens are coming to attack, smartphone developers started creating apps to find out when the aliens are coming... From the next day, EVERYTHING was bleak and pale and gloomy...and GREY...!!! When people woke up and saw that, they  were so scared, they didn't understand what was happening and so couldn't figure out what they could do to help. For seven days, the Fairies continued this. They locked up their magic wands and spent time inside the crystal dome (which was bright, warm and colorful). On the seventh day, Indigo Fairy was looking down at the great grey ocean splashing grey waves on the grey beach when she felt very bad. "Poor humans", she thought and went back to her friends to see if they had any news. Violet Fairy was knitting a bright violet shawl out of yarn coming out from her violet magic pillow. "I have saved too much color over the last seven days, I need to do something with those, " she said. Blue and Yellow Fairies were stirring blocks of color and in a tub and splashing it on Red Fairy. "We will neutralize you... you will disappear if we color you green!!" "These girls have too much color to waste" sighed Indigo Fairy!

Oranges

Later that evening, when the moon rose, a little moon fairy came sliding down a moon beam. "They have got your point" she said. "Who?" asked the color fairies, together. "The humans down there" moon fairy replied pointing down below. "See what they have done..." The fairies looked down and saw the Earth glistening in the moonlight. Still wan, but bright. "What did they do?" asked Blue Fairy. "And how did they know this?" asked Violet. Moon Fairy sat down on a cushion and said, "well, they turned to an old sage in a village, who told them about you all. This old lady told them that the humans have got the Earth on a lease from their forefathers on a condition to leave it in the same way for their children. What they have been doing all around, killing animals, poisoning the air and water, wouldn't leave much for their children....The humans probably wouldn't have listened to her, but the fact that you DID take out all the colors, made a lot of impact..."

Rose Red

So there they went....the next morning all the colors everywhere were restored. The sun came up with a bright yellow smile, the green leaves dancing in joy in the golden sunlight. A sweet breeze blew fluffy white clouds on the blue backdrop of a clear sky...blue-green waves lashed on yellow sandy beaches and yes, the traffic lights were functioning properly too :-)

The next time a rainbow came, indigo was looking bright and snug sitting between violet and blue!!!

Can you imagine a world without colors? That's why we need to save the place we call "home".


Note: There are some stories about rainbow fairies, but this one is written based on some fairies I created when I was five. The violet one was my favorite at that time :-)

"This time for Africa"

What comes to your mind when you think of Africa? Forests, animals, tribal people, famine...safari, vacations maybe, if you are too adventurous? Oh and missionaries...right?

Hmm... if that's the case then you are not far off from what I thought even a few weeks back. My acquaintance with Africa was from the pages of high school Geography and from cricket matches when South Africa or Zimbabwe (later Kenya as well) were playing. Some information came trickling in later, when I came to know about the slave trade, the story of "Roots - the saga of an American family" and the like. This wouldn't count as much because even though I "knew" these things, I couldn't relate to them. They were just pieces of information that were stored somewhere.

My true connection opened when I started supporting a girl from Rwanda. When I chose her, the only thing I thought about was I want a girl, as they are more vulnerable. Her name came up first, so I chose her. Now that I correspond with her and her family, teachers and pastor, I am getting an idea of the society she lives in. You all probably are aware of the droughts and famines that hit Africa every year, aren't you? We skim through those pictures on National Geographic's magazines and say "oh, not again". That sounds very distant.
When you have a child writing letters to you every few months updating you on her studies, what grades she got in the past exam and the little details of her family, you will not be able to stay that distant. I hope you wouldn't.

My realization came in three forms...

The first one was through a video (probably National Geographic's) that I watched streaming through Amazon videos. It was about natural resources and how we are abusing the Earth. Ironically, the countries that have the most resources are the ones who are exploited. Africa being the greatest example. They are in rags, when all their wealth are being carried off to other countries. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, for example, do not produce anything, but are numero uno at using up resources - energy, water, everything. The Burj Khalifa has been built on energy and resources sucked up from the less privileged ones. Sorry to sound so socialist, but this is exactly the situation.

Savanna

The next realization was a Broadway musical called Fela! It was the first (and only) Broadway musical that I have seen so far. This was about Fela Kuti from Nigeria. It was such a no-nonsense type of show that it's hard to imagine. Here's the link, if you are interested. The Africa Shrine was treated like a hotel for the people coming from the West. They would stop over for the night, and then things started disappearing... it started with towels, soaps...then went to petroleum, diamonds and women...you are getting it, right? You need to watch the show...when a country is dying, terrorism would get in. The more it mixes with religion, the worse it gets. There is hope in the end though, we need to bury famine, illiteracy, exploitation and the vices to clean Africa Shrine once more.

The third one is from genetics. Arnab and I were studying genetics all of a sudden when we found out that the human race has originated from Africa. That means that is where we all belong to. The humid rain forests, the vast deserts, the snows of Kilimanjaro, the depth on Victoria Falls.... that's where we all have come from. Like Rabindranath said in his poem "Africa" - it's time we tell the Dark Continent "forgive us", like David Livingstone, who worked all through his life for the betterment of the people there, we all have to come up and stop the vices.

Quoting Rabindranath again, what he said for India, holds true for the entire world - the ones who are downtrodden will hold your progress back, the day will come when you will be pushed back with the ones you have so long exploited. The human race will never progress if this goes on.

Do your part, do your best "for you and for me and for the entire human race".... If you exploit Africa, you are insulting your roots!

PS: The ministry I support my kids through is Compassion. If you want to help a child birth center to rescue mothers and babies, sponsor a child or help with disaster relief, medical, health and educational support please visit this - http://www.compassion.com

Note : My  girl wants to be a doctor when she grows up. If she can grow up to be an independent young lady, wise and in good health, I'll consider my work done :-) 

The land of ten thousand lakes

Twin lakes

I took a long awaited vacation last week. Long awaited because we didn't go anywhere in the last six months after coming back from our yearly pilgrimage to India. We couldn't. If you have a cat who gobbles up the entire amount of food given to her in a matter of seconds and then starves for the entire day, you just can't leave her like that. So, until May lost some weight and we could leave her with the pet sitter without upsetting Mota too much, we couldn't allow ourselves any vacation.

Who doesn't need a vacation? On the Friday when I logged myself out of my work computer, locked my laptop in the drawer and turned off both my BlackBerry and PlayBook, my vacation started :-) There are two types of vacation for me. One is the outdoorsy type when we mainly go for camping and stuff in the back country. That is fun, but not relaxing. You still need to do all the cooking/cleaning and then have to wake up early enough to go hiking in the trails. The second type is, well, when you do nothing. By nothing, I mean *nothing*! That's what we did this time in Minnesota....

At Lake Itasca

Relaxation is the key word for this vacation. What I did the entire week was this -

1. Wake up late, that is wake up only when I completed my sleep and didn't want to sleep any more. Get some breakfast (made by mom or aunt- "Gopa mashi"), potter around for a while.
2. Go outside to the yard and sit on a swing in front of the lake. Watch swimming ducks, count water lilies, chat with Arnab, read books under the willow tree, grab cat-tails (the plant, not real tails of cats).
3. Get back before lunch. Take a shower. Eat..... eat home cooked Bengali food. That includes kolai-er daal, posto, ilish machh, mangsher jhol, even rosogolla.

River Mississippi starting from Itasca

4. Go upstairs and read books. Books = SaratChandra, Saradindu, Bankim....I finished reading "Thakurbarir andarmahal" - story of the women of the Tagore household. Then take a nap. Nap = sleep for four hours. Complete the nap.
5. When I couldn't sleep any more, wake up, go downstairs and search for snacks. Muri (puffed rice) being one of my absolute favorites, I used to eat those. For Arnab, he had his cuppa tea!
6. Go out to the yard again, watch the ducks, go for boat rides, walks in the neighborhood, chat with the neighbors, see their red and blue fishes....
7. Get back home for dinner. For dinner, there were sometimes Bengali food, sometimes grill or eating out.
8. Watch a movie with the family until I could barely keep my eyes open.
9. Go upstairs and sleep.

Shaking cat-tails by the lake :-)

My life resembled my cats' daily routine for a week. However, some nice things that I *did* was going to see the Broadway musical called "Fela!", which is the inspiration behind my post for Africa (stay tuned), visit my cousin and her husband for Fathers' Day dinner and going to see the source of Mississippi river at Lake Itasca. All of those were great...

Now I am thinking when is my next vacation... :-)

A House and Three Brothers

[This article was written by my mom, Sucheta Ghosh and got published in The Statesman, Calcutta.]

            Once upon a time, there were three brothers living in a house on a broad arterial road of south Calcutta bearing a vice regal name from the Raj. The house, not a showy affair, was a spacious, down to earth building, built stoutly by their grandfather, an engineer with Martin Burn and the right hand man of Sir Rajen, with the best possible materials available. The 25-inches thick walls have withstood the onslaught of unprecedented traffic for the past 85 years.

            When the stork stared bringing the three brothers one by one, the house was still in its teens. They grew up in that premises amid a houseful of relatives, near and far and among numerous cousins, who like any other household at that time, were treated as siblings. Over the years, their reputation as ’brats’ became well known in the locality and they were penalized for misdeeds almost every other day. So was their notoriety that any unsavory incident occurring in the vicinity would bring them to their father, who, as it behooved the fathers of that time, would not spare the rod to spoil them. The father’s friends in the also took it upon themselves to punish them if they could catch them wading through waterlogged streets to nowhere or throwing pieces of broken marble slabs (stacked in the attic) to anyone. The neighbors used to refer to the house as “teen dushtu chheler bari”.

            Of course they had to attend schools but whatever spare time could be gleaned, was spent in cricket, foot ball which includes both playing and watching important matches with the uncles who were members of famous club houses, flying kites and preparing the paraphernalia for the d-day, ie, ‘viswakarma pujo’, making ‘rangmashal’ and ‘tubri’ for ‘kali pujo’ or taking active part in smart occupations like the scouts or the N.C.C. It was no wonder that they were often caught snoozing at the time of home work in the evening and could not be cajoled by their beloved mother to get up and have dinner. Except for a few months before the annual examinations, they used to enjoy a life charted by them without a care in the world.

        
            Over the years, the brothers became adults with families, children and grandchildren. They have earned the title of ‘senior citizens’ and sport balding pates with silver lining. Now their bodies include hearing aid and pace makers not to mention the bi-focals. Nevertheless, their spirit has not diminished. They still revel at the joys of life and shout at the top of their voices to establish their own opinion on politics, sports or the current affairs. They may be gaining in years but not getting old for sure! They still live in the same house that is been taken care of by them as their father and grandfather used to do. Gathered around the cradle of a new arrival in the family, they spend their evenings together even today.

 I would just like to know whether there is any one who refers to the house as "teen buror bari” now.

A trip to the "retreat"

As you guys have probably figured out by now, I am not a religious person. However, that doesn't stop me from visiting the retreat of Vedanta Society in Arlington, WA. It is a monastery and a retreat in like 20 acres of woods. One of the monks is an avid gardener, so he has planted lots of veggies and fruits along with flowers. Another attraction for me is dogs! There are four dogs who frequent the place. They are big ones like Labs and stuff so I love being with them.

Mao and Mega Mao at the retreat

What do you see when you think of monks? People clad in saffron robes? Buddhist monks with shaved heads? Would someone in jeans, sweatshirt, boots and gardening gloves, looking like a farmer from the mid-west remind you of a monk? Probably not! But that's how those people are over there! They will make you re-think about the description. However, if you visit the tiny log cabin in which one of them lives (he is living there for the last 26 years) and see their frugal possessions, see how they don't complain about anything in life, how they eat everything that is served to them without judging, without saying what they like and find out the depth of their conversations, then you'll know why they are monks.

Truly, they have realized the teachings of Swami-ji - "the sky thy roof, the grass thy bed and food what chance may bring". Don't get me wrong though - they are very friendly people, they talk with visitors a LOT, show everyone around their place, laugh and crack jokes. They are not like the far-off reclusive people we see in the Himalayas.

When it comes to religious philosophy, I am very picky and choosy. I don't like people who show-off their religious practices, I shun rituals of all sorts (and I mentally shun people who follow rituals). If a monk shows off how good a monk he is, that takes points off his spiritual advancement. I don't even want to talk about those religious "leaders" who are basking in wealth. They should be locked in prisons. They are worse than regular criminals I'd say. Anyway, coming back to monks, even if they are good at heart, if they still can't get over collecting items, or are afraid of things still, that means they have a lot to work on now.

I like people who think and know what they are doing (and why they are doing so). Who have soared up above clannishness, are hard working and enthusiastic about new ideas, friendly and have realized how little we really need for ourselves - are the ones I truly respect and admire.

I can say for sure that Swami-ji would have loved to meet these two great souls down in Arlington!

Buddy and I relaxing on a peaceful afternoon

PS: I don't like to go there during Durga Puja. Even though I love being with people, too much cacophony at such a peaceful resort is not my friend.

These are a few of my favorite things...

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..." Julie Andrews' voice rings in my ears. "Doe a deer, a female deer" was amongst the first few songs that I learned and I very well remember my mom signing "my favorite things" and "with a spoonful of sugar the medicine goes down" types of songs for me...

Now that I am well past that age, I look back and try to find out if I still have some "favorite things" which when  remembered would make me feel good.... well, I do have those.

Thunderstorms!

Lightning strikes

Slate grey skies, lightning sparks and rumbling thunderbolts....accompanied with torrential rain. I like to think of the cumulonimbus clouds passing over us, discharging electricity and the dendritiform structure. Thunderstorms are bold, dashing and speak of power...I love them.





Rainbows

Double rainbow

I think rainbows are the most beautiful things on Earth (or sky). The fact that it is transient and virtual makes it even more beautiful. On a road trip from Oregon, we once saw three rainbows. One was by itself and the other had a buddy (double rainbow, I mean). That's when I saw that the secondary rainbow has the colors in the other way - ROYGVIB instead of VIBGYOR. It was simply incredible!! We almost passed through rainbow bridges :-)



Full moon

Full moon

There was a time when I realized the moon had no value so I was planning how to get rid of it. My mom didn't like that concept and she asked me to leave it alone. "How is the moon harming you?" she asked. Well, it didn't harm me, but I did see it the same way as a redundant button on a website. Anyway, before I could device any plans of blasting out the moon, I saw a program on Discovery channel which said how the moon stabilizes the rotation of the Earth. Good for the moon, I let it live :-)
I love to see the full moon in the clear sky. Mostly when it just rises. Also, different full moons bring different moods. In India, we have many events tied to the full moon of every month. Buddha Purnima is Lord Buddha's birth anniversary, attaining salvation and death anniversary. Holi brings the advent of spring, Rakhi (Raksha bandhan) celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters, Kojagori is the religious festival of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

Candle light

This simple thing has such a soothing effect that I have put them in every room of my house. If you get the scented ones, then they are even more relaxing. Soaking in a warm tub, with foamy lavender bubbles and a lavender/cedar wood candle can be so pampering for the body and soul :-) Oh, I forgot to mention the "healing music" app (which has a timer to it).



Story books on a rainy day

Here it is

Story books are awesome all the time but there's nothing like curling up with one on the couch slipping under a warm (home made) throw on a soggy wet afternoon :-) That's the ultimate dream of bookworms I guess.

PS: Google always has the perfect image that I want. All these pictures are found from Google!

Raindrops are fallin' on my head

In the Pacific Northwest life doesn't stop because of rain...as, quoting my long forgotten geography text books, moisture laden winds blow from the Pacific which are stopped by Mt. Rainier. Then they condense and turn into rain which fall incessantly on the western slopes of the mountain. No wonder Seattle is the "rain city".

Space needle

 Funny as it seems, but I still love the rain! This morning I woke up and saw the houses across the natural reserve looking dull and grey and the rain clouds hanging almost at the end of my nose. We drove all the way to work in rain, the traffic flow was staggered, I was late for a meeting (good that I could call in though, three cheers for technology) and everything seemed bleak.

But...

I haven't seen this torrential rain in a long time...from around 2 o'clock we saw that!

I don't have a window office, but I sit right next to two of them so I could see the water on the ground, the slate grey skies and the big rain drops! I don't know why, but heavy rain makes me feel so alive, it is so interesting.

Green foliage has a wonderful look on rainy days, the green and the grey give it a heavenly beauty which is hard to explain. Also, the clouds are hanging so low, they might touch the tops of the evergreens! A willow branch is hanging next to my closest window, water dripping from it. The aspens brought a fresh green look standing in front of the dark green pines...there are so many shades of green!

I had always been a fan of rain and I am happy that Seattle drizzles haven't been able to prove otherwise :-) Loved the below picture very much, so sharing. It has this dreamy, misty look to it that I love.

Rain in woods

To have || ! (to have) opinions*

* the title is read -  "To have or not to have opinions". || means OR and ! means NOT

I don't understand how some people ever answer "no comments" or "don't know" to any poll. To have no opinion is to lose my power of thinking totally. I mean, if you think, you will end up with an opinion, right? Then what will you do with that opinion if you don't let others know that? I don't know.

Be it what color the wall behind the fireplace should be painted with or if a defect is serious enough to gate a release milestone, I always have a say. (Those come from thinking about the things and don't get me wrong, I am not imposing my opinion but I don't shirk away from expressing my suggestions either.)

The fact that I love to comment (wherever there's a scope for) and do love to share my views is the sole reason of creating this blog. The same drive my love of presentations and brown bags. I am a religious contributor to our company's employee poll, I never miss any chance of providing feedback or survey.

Here's the Yeti's opinion :-)

To me voicing one's opinion is the entire give and take part of the existence of the human society. If you do not provide feedback, not let people know when they are wrong (in a polite way, that is) and not speak, how is the world going to know your likes and dislikes? How are you thinking of changing anything? With that, another thing is being honest. If you don't ask and don't speak your mind, are you being honest? No! Think about it.

Freedom of speech is an extraordinary thing to possess. People hardly ever realize the value of it. I am not sure if I realize it fully, but I do to a certain extent. So I try to avail that.

I have a reputation of asking candid questions at seminars. It started from my late teens and is continuing till today :-) (it makes me feel great when the speakers are lost and stammer stupid replies). My questioning reputed scholars to the face at Netaji Bhawan, upsetting a speaker at St. Xavier's college so much that she started to cry (she was a sly adult, one of those hypocrite socialists, I wouldn't do it to a young person), asking marketing plans to senior executives at work and arguing with Christian elders at Church about why Genesis doesn't make any sense to me are all because of me being of a type A personality. Some people cheer me, one of these above mentioned Christian guys gave me a book to read (and he said he appreciates my questioning spirit), some say "great that you asked this question, we were all thinking about it" while many people (especially back home, where too much questioning is not considered good) would say, "why do you have to fight with everyone? Can't you just let them be?". Some others turn philosophical and say, "how many people will you be able to change? What's the whole point of fighting with these people?".

No, I wouldn't be able to change people (nobody could change me, right?) but I can try. What's the harm in asking? What's the harm in letting people know there is someone who is thinking in a different way, coming up with a different solution or even telling them, "you are not the only one who has a say". I haven't been yet able to figure out what happened to Netaji, nor could I change the hypocrite-socialist to realize that the people we call minority are at times living better lives than the majority, but for me, I know that I just didn't sit like a dummy.

Yes, it does

I owe it to myself to speak up and I owe it to the human race to think....

Peanut Butter

No not your average peanut butter that Jif makes and you can spread in between two toast to eat with jelly, this Peanut Butter is a cat, a HUGE brownish-orange cat who is the hero of our neighborhood.

PB comes to see us twice a day, everyday

Peanut Butter was born in Nevada and spent a little while of his kitten days in a shelter when this family (our neighbors) adopted him. Exactly like Garfield, he came as a tiny orange kitten but was quite a handful for this family. He could never be made an indoor cat as he would roam around by himself. In the early days, his mom would worry as she thought he got lost. Lost? Peanut Butter? Huh! He did never get lost, he just found a number of houses where he could get food from! He would visit each of the houses, eat there and come back after a few days. Sometimes he went for hunting trips too.

When the family moved to Washington, Peanut Butter came with them. Even as a tiny kitty, he was never afraid of dogs. He used to fight with a big German Shepherd. Yes, it's true that the dog pinned him down to the ground, but that made him fearless. Arnab says, PB can definitely fight tooth and nail with a cougar too, if needed. He is that brave!

Mota and PB looking at each other

Another anecdote of his brave-heart spirit is that when he was still small, a dog bit him so bad that his back legs and hip were literally crushed. He dragged himself home by his front legs and fully recovered within two weeks. Now, you would never imagine that he had such an accident when you see him climb six feet fences and jump off from them. He roams around the neigborhood scaring dogs. Peanut Butter scared a 22 lb. dog so much that the dog looks out for PB before doing her private business on the grass. He would sit on fences and scare them, sometimes treating everyone's backyard as his private bathroom. You would see him entering people's houses if he sees the door open, irrelevant of whose house that is, if they like him or not. He would roll and scratch his back on driveways and when he sees the people he likes, he'd run to you and rub against you. It feels so cute!!

Enjoying the sunny outdoors

Peanut Butter would wait outside our patio door in the drizzle, sometimes for hours. He is not scared of water. PB runs around Arnab when he waters the grass. He was sniffing at candles, so I concluded he doesn't care about fire either. When we had a lot of snow last year, in the evening not a soul was out but we saw PB's pug marks on the snow. Then he came himself, to see us with frozen whiskers and snow flakes on his ears! What a brave cat!!

I love PB very very much!

He is such a great hunter too! He brings half eaten rabbits and mice to his family. (They have risen above being grossed out!) We have seen bite marks on the tip of his ears, scratches on his nose and dried blood marks by the side of his eyes, but there's no stopping him for sure!

On a cloudy day I saw him sitting silently on the top of a fence, looking towards the natural reserve (his hunting ground), following a prey, the wind blowing gently through his orange fur, he reminded me of a free spirit... someone who is born free and is a worthy soul of the land of the free which is the home of the brave!!