The Touch

A word that has gained a lot of attention in recent times. The spread of the novel virus has refrained everyone from 'The Touch'. Gloves have become an intermediate layer when coming in contact with any surface. Gone are the handshakes, the warms hugs, the planting of a kiss on the cheek, the 'High Fives', 'The Low Fives', 'the pinky swear', the makeovers in parlours, the window shopping or the door bells ringing; with the advent of the separate outdoor footwear and of course not to forget the inseparable masks on everyone's face.

The Social beings that humans are, 'Touch' is inevitable. The evolved beings that humans are, 'Touch' can be an expression of deep involvement with no physical contact.

And so I reminisce-

The umpteen video conference calls with friends and relatives!

The virtual birthday, anniversary celebrations!

The heartfelt e-letters to parents and parents in laws!

The birthday ode to a distant friend!

The uninterrupted work from home!

The recorded songs sent via WhatsApp!

The elaborate recipes and dishes clicked for Insta posts!

The sharing of books maintaining the 3 feet radius distance with a mask on!

The uninterrupted payments and more to helpers!

The cleaning of the building common areas!

The clockwise and then the anticlockwise scrubbing of the utensils!

The touch of the morning Sunlight, invigorating the day!

The 'sparsh' of the drizzle in the balcony!

The watering of plants!

The touch of the soil, embrace of Mother Earth!

The delicious mangoes touching the taste buds!

The enormous coconut leaves kissing my curry leaves!
The squirrel nibbling on the fruit!

The unseen of birds pecking at the balcony grill demanding their lunch!

The reverberation of the morning & evening chants, 'Hanuman Chalisa' of the devotees!
The joining of hands to form a 'Namaskara'!

The lighting of lamps to express solidarity!

The resonance of bells, conch shells, 'damroos', 'thalis', applause expressing gratitude!

The glowing faces on every floor with gleaming eyes of friends; social distancing well maintained!

Indeed, umpteen ways life touches! If only, there is the right perspective.

To The Banyan Tree

Oh the reverential 'Banyan Tree'
The sight of you fill me with glee
Your vast expanse, your grace
In you reside 'Brahma', 'Vishnu', 'Mahesh'

I touch your trunk, your dangling root
Serenity engulfs me as I turn mute
There's so much I wish to talk to you
To ask if 'Satyavan-Savitri katha' was actually true

But you mesmerise my soul
Inside me you drill a deep hole
An earnest longing to know it all
To be humble, yet stand tall
Perhaps before I finally fall

                       -Megha Sharma

An Ode to 'The Bond'

Ruskin Bond

Of you we are so immensely fond

Every year in May, on your birthday we pray

May your life be smooth, your writing helps us soothe

The Dun we left behind, our memories you rewind

Of the rosy rhododendron or the woody scent of the deodar

That’s etched our childhood minds, to which our soul firmly binds

Every word you pen down adds a jewel to the crown

The description of nature’s simple things

Of the Garhwal life musings

Your life is an inspiration of the small wonders

An attitude to hold on without surrenders

With the ‘Lone Fox Dancing’

The musical bells in our hearts keep ringing

An Ode!

With the ‘Guru Puja’ I dissolve,

With the ‘Guided Shambhavi’, I evolve.

The online sessions I didn’t want to let go

But today was the last day, lo!

As I read the message on the screen

‘Thank you, for the days with us you’ve been’

My heart skipped a beat,

Is that it!

And then the ‘Thank you’ song played in the background

I was soaked in tears of devotion all around

And a gentle smile enlightened my face

It was all because of ‘His Grace’!

‘He’ has enabled me to carry on

I commit my attempts will not be forlorn

You have given me wings to fly

I shall use these tools to go high

'Let it go'

For a 4:00 alarm the sleep breaks at 3:50 and then the feeling of victory marks my soul where I seem to have borrowed 10 minutes from Mother Earth because the alarm is yet to ring. 4:30 rings the second beep that tells me I should be ready to take bath now, having swept the house. The morning puja ritual should begin by 5:00 and I need to ensure I login to the webinar before that or else the login window for the 5:30 session would close by the time I would end my puja. No further alarms until 9:00 when the Google calendar reminds me of the work activities for the day and how they are spaced in time and duration; what is the allotted slot to prepare the lunch and when do I get back to my work again. The cycle repeats in the evening when the 15:30 alarm reminds me to wash the utensils and clean the kitchen. Prep ingredients for dinner as I won’t be able to walk into the kitchen before 19:00 hours. The ‘Sandhya kaal’ rituals of puja followed by yoga would keep me engaged. The final alarm rings at 17:45 to set the ambience and I am sorted. That is the lockdown effect.

So, did I always have a phone to ring the alarms as and when I desired? Of course, not! I belonged to the era where the initial phone I possessed was the Siemens brick like heavy model, just like the one ‘Sameer’ uses in ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. Sameer, of course you know him, if you belong to my generation! The role played by the brilliant Saif Ali Khan, one of the finest Khans in the industry whom we have seen grow and mature from ‘Yeh Dillagi’s - Ole Ole’ to the famous Netflix Original Series- ‘Sartaj Singh’ in ‘Sacred Games’ !!

Cut the clutter! Before the iconic cell phones, it was the humble alarm clock that would turn off on the press of the glass in front of the dial.

The alarm entered my life as a school going child. We lived in the then outskirts of Dehradun (now Dun has expanded far and wide), near the Indian Institute of Petroleum campus on Haridwar Road. Mom wanted to raise us; sisters, as the Convent educated damsels and thus we use to pass through the dense woods of ‘Shastri Nagar’, cross the 'River Rispana’, enjoy the chirping of birds in the morn as our ‘tonga’ trailed the E.C. Road, under the vast tree canopies’ to reach our school, Convent of Jesus & Mary, Dehradun. This ‘tonga’ ride would commence sharp at 6:30 hours and we had to be ready for school before dawn. Of course, during the chill winters, we had other cozy means of travel but the wake up time was always 5:30. If you’ve grown up in the 90s, you’d experienced the immersion rods which were used to heat water in the buckets to take bath. A time consuming process, indeed! And the early morning baths we must take, for that would never be skipped in our Brahmin family that would follow all the rituals throughout the year. So, alarm clock was the most precious possession of every child in the family. I wonder if mom had one. Never thought she needed it!

The devices changed but ‘Mr. Alarm’ was a consistent, committed companion throughout life. I graduated from school to Engineering college to MTech hostel, and the alarms in different devices followed me like a shadow. At the age of 35, when I realised that I need to chase one of my latent dreams and pursue my PhD, life turned topsy-turvy! With student life left behind over a decade  ago, it was a challenge sitting down with books and taking regular exams. In a nuclear family, the relationship among all the members is symbiotic. Everyone has to learn to be independent. And the sooner the children learn, the better for them. Scheduling, rescheduling, fitting in everything that needs done, and squeezing study time with proper dedicated slots was possible only because of the alarm buddy. One could not choose to miss the 3:00 alarm else, one would not catch up with the topic for the day’s class and miss the context in the lecture. Also, one had to set the duration of the study time, else kids would miss school! Thanks to the numerous alarm tunes to choose from, the body’s response got calibrated with each alarm’s voice, mechanically knowing what needs to be done when.

With the ‘Isha Sadhana Support’, during the challenging COVID-19 times, the consciousness arose and I became more aware of life and of my actions as well as my thoughts. It was with the cycles of the moon, on ‘Buddha Purnima’, that this thought dawned on me. "I should let it go!" A conscious effort to bid ‘auf wiedersehen’ to my partner for more than 3 decades, the alarm clock! I reckon you have enabled me enough to live independently and not miss you. The cell phone also stays peacefully in a corner untouched until required. I think I will blossom well, not to let you down. The body clock seems to have adapted and the time is set in the mind. This week has been successful and the future is promising. 

Well, do I miss your voice. No! I hear you daily through my children’s alarm tunes. They are growing, and of course they need the companion in you. Until, they realise like me that they should let you go!