Chaudhvi ka Chand

Yesterday evening as I got down from my office bus, I had plans to take a short detour on my way back home, to take my daily dose of bhutta*. As I waited at a signal for the traffic to abate, my head automatically turned towards the sky. I knew that it was Sharad Poornima* (also known as Kojagari Poornima), Aai (my mom.) had been telling me that since morning, ‘Aaj chand dekh lena’. (See the moon today.) But even as I had expected the moon to be beautiful, nothing had prepared me for this, the moon was beautiful beyond my imagination; a lone inhabitant of the sky, traversing the firmament, flooding it with doodhiya roshni .(a wheatish glow)

I rushed back home totally forgetting about the bhutta (given my love for the corn, that’s something.) I couldn’t miss this. I reached for my camera, hoping and praying in my heart that the batteries would last long enough. As I reached the terrace, the moon had advanced a little in its journey and now had some stars for company, which made it glow even more brightly. (I later came to know that the moon yesterday was the brightest it would get in this whole century.) I pointed my camera to the moon, zoomed fully and went click click click.

I had hardly taken some five pictures when my camera started signaling that the batteries were low, disappointed a little, but still satisfied that at least I was able to take a few pics, I stopped clicking and started gazing at the moon.


According to the Hindu beliefs the rays of the moon on Sharad Poornima shower nectar (amrith) on earth, and as I stood on the terrace I could actually feel the cool rays washing over me. Back home Aai told me that she would keep Kheer (A sweet dish made of milk and rice.) in the open for sometime and then have it as prasad. The moon is very close to the earth on Sharad Poornima, and it is believed that the curative properties of the rays permeate the food kept in open. (Some people will find the idea silly, what about the city pollution, they would ask, but then we have street food don’t we?) I, being away from home could not afford such luxuries as kheer so I had some lays chips while gazing at the moon.

Come to think of it there is nothing about Sharad Poornima to get so excited about, the moon comes out everyday, and maybe its even more beautiful on other days, but its only on days like Sharad Poornima, that you especially take out time to appreciate the beauty which on normal days might have went unnoticed, and maybe this is the whole point of having all these rituals and festivals, to appreciate beauty which we usually fail to notice.

P.S. – Thanks Tanay for suggesting the title and the post. Though it was poornima yesterday, I felt that the moon was just a bit incomplete and so the title is apt too, the title means 'The moon on the fourteenth day that just needs one more day to become complete'.It is also how Gurudutt addresses Waheeda Rehman(one of my favorite actors) in one of the most romantic songs in Indian cinema in the movie by the same name.

*Sharad : Winter
*Poornima : Full-moon day, or night, should I say?
*Bhutta : Corn

Mirage/Oasis

Oasis:“Why do you fool people oh mirage, give them false hope?”
Mirage: “When travellers are on the brink of giving up, is a litte false hope unacceptable”
Oasis: “But many a traveller has discarded the path that leads to me, thinking that I was but a mirage.”
Mirage: “If the mere existence of a lie stops people from believing the truth, is it the fault of the lie?”

Back, I am!

I have been absconding from the blogging world for quite sometime now, around two months I believe. What kept me out of action was a sudden spurt of work and then having not written anything for quite sometime, the ‘Writer’s block’. But now I am back, and hopefully would post regularly.

And if you think that I was so busy past 2 months that I didn’t have my share of fun and adventure, you think wrong. Here is just a digest of some interesting things I did in the last 2 months, will post the details soon.

I scuba dived: A totally out-of-the-world experience, you become aware of a whole world that exists underwater of which, you feel you were oblivious till now, more about it coming soon.

I attended a photography workshop: Learned a lot at the photography workshop conducted by Anand Sharan at Bangalore School of Arts and Photography . And met a cool bunch of people all interested in photography, we have named ourseleves shuttercocoons.

Started a new group blog for my NGO group at Vidyanikethan: We all who meet at the Vidyanikethan wanted a common platform to share our ideas and experiences, so this blog .

My article got published on gonomad: Gonomad is an alternative travel resource center which encourages people to share their stories, you can check out my story about my trip to Ranganathittu, Somanthpur and Shivasamudra..

I know I must’ve done more interesting stuff, but only remember these things right now, will post about anything else I have missed out as and when I remember it. Would like to conclude this post on a philosophical note

When the sun shines bright in the morning, don’t we forget that it had rained real hard the last night?

I know I haven’t been checking your blogs for quite sometime now, but will make up for it soon.
Will keep posting!

P.S.: I lost my cell also people, my number remains the same, so just message me your numbers