Fishing.

Give a man a fish, & he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, & you feed him for life.

Moving to a coastal, country side town brings with it the time & opportunity to do some interesting activities. Fishing caught our collective family fancy.

Sitting by an idyllic stream/ river/ waterbody, catching as much cool breeze as possible in my (balding) hair, the sounds of birds & water all around, watching the not so infrequent trains rumble over the bridge, angling...the stuff dreams are made of..

For a twosome who's only knowledge of fishing rods has been movies & TV programmes, we learnt today the the science/ art of lining the rod, baiting a hook, casting the line without tearing any flesh from innocent bystanders (meaning our little daughter),  & not losing our tempers or patience with ourselves & withe each other, we did very well, indeed!  The fish were lucky too - none of them were unfortunate enough to get caught!

& we begin another chapter in our lives.

Processed Food.

This morning, as I performed my daily ablutions, a strange thought came to me.

All my thoughts. Could be yours too. Read on.

Yesterday's excellent dinner. How amazingly tasty! Hogged. Greedily. Enjoyed, perhaps. Overeaten.

A few hours pass. Natures processes at work.

How disgusting the same food, in a processed form! Yech! Don't even want to think about it. Forget seeing it. Or smelling it.

That, I think, is how our insides are. Smelly. Putrid. Squishy. Every one of us. Irrespective of our size, color, age, sex, or any other classification.

Imagine a bowl that has been used to cook food.  You'd definitely clean it before using it again. The insides would get most of the attention, wouldn't it?

Now think of your body.  Compare to how much you spend on the externals! Perfume. Soap. Shampoo. After-shave. Deodorant. Clothing. Accessories.

Wow.

Color. (or is it colour?)

I tell whoever asks me questions about color, that I'm color blind. Aesthetically challenged.  I can't distinguish between bottle green & dark green. Sky blue & light blue. Hues. Saturation. Very confusing for me. & I thought to myself, this perceived disability to identify colors will get me out of those exciting shopping trips too :)

Of late, however, the color is back in my life. The train journey can take the credit. I can't deny that the beautiful sights along the way are all in multi-color. & so too are images on computer screens!

On the train back from work a few days ago, I eyes-dropped (sure, that is a word too!!)  into my fellow passenger's open laptop screen, a huge bloke who tried really hard to let me have a third of my seat so I could sit as comfortably as possible, while he occupied all of his & two thirds of mine. But I digress.  He was, I gathered from his conversations on the phone, & the database application that he was Alt+tab-bing in between reading this fascinating piece, a database administrator responsible for reports.  He was reading an article on how color & hues make a dramatic impact on the information being conveyed. The vast difference in eye sight, including the users demographics & their ability to comprehend information in color.

Train.. of thought...

It has been two weeks since we moved to our new home in the countryside.

I cycle to the train station every morning, & then take the train to work. Two stops to the first changeover station. Two more to my destination. Thousands of people along the way. Or is it hundreds? Never counted, but it sure seems a lot.

The journey is beautiful. Like life, I think. Chugging up a mountain. Along a riverbank. Over the river on a bridge. Alongside a fishing spot. & onto the city. With its hustle & bustle & whistle.

The passengers on the train fascinate me. Very interesting. I watch some of them. As I'm sure some of them watch me too. Nosy Rosie. Want to know everything about everything. Like me. Like them. Like most of us. Hovering under the veneer of social behaviour. Each nose appearing to be buried in his own little device. A book. An iPod. An iPhone. An iMeMyself gadget. Some reading. Some pretending. Deep in thought. Or deep in sleep. Thinking? Of the day(s) gone by? Of day(s) to come? People? Things? Money? Planes? Fear? Happiness? Childhood? Children? Parents? Who knows?

Occasionally, laughter. Fills the compartment. Like a breath of fresh air.

Fresh air also comes in when the train doors open at stations. To let people get off. Or to let people in. & soon it is not so fresh. Both, people & the air.

Some frantically typing away at their keyboards. Others deep in slumber. Faint noises from earphones. Sometimes musical. Mostly not.

On the train, I read. Books. & people. Sometimes they make sense. Mostly they don't.

I wonder why...

Hello world!

Hello world!!

the most frequently used pair of words to announce the arrival of another cyber being.  Or another coding junkie. whatever. hello world. here I am. my stab at putting my thoughts out in the ether.

my intent is to type as many lines as i can every night. sort of an online journal. for my own sanity. maybe in the hope that someone, somewhere might be interested in another being. in these days of crazy connectivity, it never ceases to amaze me that more people prefer to interact without having to tackle & get over the fear of meeting flesh & blood, emotion & our own bias! your truly included!

sikeraam? my surname. sequeira. colloquially pronounced si-kye-ram. An endearing, avuncular term, I think. Who knows!

Good night world.. sleep beckons. & oblivion. Until tomorrow comes.