Saturday, June 19, 2010

.::MONSOON::.

Monsoon is here. Beautiful evenings here in Bangalore and pretty nice weather too, almost everyday.
Cool evening breeze..splendid!! Having a wonderful time here, so far..so good!!!

Every monsoon brings me good old memories, particularly of a flash flood into my mind; that happened way back.. when I was still a school goer, in Kerala. These memories are like the good old gas...all it need is a catalyst to spill over!
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It was the monsoon, if I remember correctly(I know... pathetic effort to make it dramatic) it rained for 3 full days and it was still raining. We were happy as the water began to fill up the many wrinkles on the surface of the earth. (That's richly creative sentence, if you failed to notice it!)

I watched from the balcony of my home,the horizon was cloudy like lungs of a smoker, the whole atmosphere had the ambiance as you were watching it through an X-Ray film. There was no wind, it was calm, but only the sound of the rain, which resembled my classroom.

The paddy fields began to fill up.The water guzzled out through various streams into the low lying paddy fields, filling it up with mucky muddy water. It was no different from the color of the tea I was drinking.
The state declared an emergency and schools in places with flood situations were shut down. That news didn't make me happy though, cuz..school is one social setting I miss much during those erratic power cut, when sitting at home watching T.V.
The water canal or aqueduct as it is technically called , which wound up its way through the paddy fields, like a beeg python, was in its full fury.

I was mesmerized by the fury of nature, just like the curves of Monica Bellucci.

That's when one of my friend, 2 year senior from my school, who is also my neighbor decided to jump in. I watched him waddle through the water filled walk way , at times jumping like a frog from one lil puddle to the next. At times he stops, then bend down to pull up his chappals which dug into the cushy mushy muddy bottom. Watching it was fun sitting at the comfort of home.
Finally he reached my home, and made himself comfortable in the veranda.

He is our team lead because he claimed it to be our team lead.Though he was shorter, just being the senior in our school we let him have that position. "Never argue with an idiot" says my cute English madam.

Two more of my friends popped up, with a banana leaf over their heads. It's God's punishment for forgetting your umbrella. They kinda behave like Ed and Eddy from Ed Edd n Eddy cartoon show. That explains everything about them.
..
..

So we four people, set out of our home, following the foot steps of our Team lead and avoiding stepping in places, where he bends down to pull up his chappals. We reached near the flooded paddy fields.
As we sat on a compound wall and was watching the scenic flood,we saw a coconut floating in water.

"But.how does it float?" asked a genius among us.

My team lead couldn't give the curious genius, a satisfactory answer as gravity, density, buoyancy etc was way beyond his comprehension and it was all rocket surgery for him.
But having the unique ability of observation, which is not well appreciated by my teachers during exam time, I managed to give the curious genius a very satisfactory answer.

"A coconut floats in water by its antenna." I told him and he was easily convinced.


I also told him that coconuts use its antenna to find direction..just like cockroaches.
Since I was a kid, I had observed many things in and around us .At times trying things out in extreme cases. I have observed that:
1)Centipede does not have reverse gear
2)Window curtains burns faster than door curtains.
3)Its not a good idea to count biscuits before you open the packet.

This observation was made into a classic quote

"Never count your biscuits before you open the packet"-Sorcerer .

4)Never stand behind a fatso who faints during the school assembly.
5)Keep awesome opinions in physics and chemistry to yourself as the mathematical evidence to prove my point has to be evolved in the future.
6)A burp in a jar is not a science project.

Some experiments with melting plastic has, given some real natural tattoos on my hands and legs.Such is the price we gotta pay for being curious.

Anyway... seeing the coconut floating in the water gave us an idea.

We need to make a raft! A makeshift one! Everyones face lit up like a rat which saw jaggery!
..
..

We paddled, stumbled,slipped.. ran and finally reached the place, an old water pump shed, where our ingenious idea won't be overheard by parties, also called parents. Our gray cells over-clocked and being in those years, there is no shortage of logic for anything. Logic is the middle name for all of us those days..Aint it?

For building this raft..we need few raw materials

1) 5 to 7 banana plants/trees.
2)Tube from (a) tyre or ( Few ) tyre tube.
3)Bamboo sticks.
4)Rope

The team lead volunteered to get the first 2 ingrediants.We went into his banana plantation.The place was flooded of course.With a few cuts..splash..splash..splash... we got the banana trees/plants which is the base of the raft.The other two,of my friends, manage to dig up "our old tubes" , a swimming accessory for n00bs. Unlike we thought, they brought it to us by filling it with air.

Bamboo sticks!! that was easy..We stole borrowed a few of them from our neighbors fence.With neighbors like these..who needs fence?
..
..
The construction was overseen by the Team Lead. Banana Tree/Plants was cut in proportion, the long bamboo sticks driven into them holding it in position, the tubes secured with ropes on the underside and roping it all together, the raft is ta...daaaaaa!!! Complete!
..
..
The team lead pushed it into the paddy fields..It floated. He stood on it..It floated...Still.
According to the Intuition of our team lead it could "Carry only 3 idiots", just like our Indian Autorikshaws!
One was left on the land, to shout, just in case something happened or we vanished from the view.

We set sail, singing..."Row Row row de raft." The team lead was the one who, using a longer bamboo pole was "driving it". On his commands we shifted our positions to angle the raft accordingly.

"Physics at large!!"

We were scared of the whole thing...but adrenaline is a real good thing, which helps us to remain stupid in such situations.No?

We moved deep into the paddy fields and..we were gaining momentum. None of us realized that we were getting drifted afar, too fast.
Only by observing the constipated look on the Team Lead's face I realized that something was not really right.His eyes was stuck on something!!
The Team lead pointed to us in the direction of the canal.

*gulp

We were kinda nearing the water canal, which has attained the form of National Highway for flood water.The raft, skimmed the sides of the overflowing water and turned rapidly!! The Team lead was struggling with the bamboo pole trying to get some pole hold (something like foothold)

The raft rocked, turned and all the time, we were doing the Trepak on the raft.We were taken for a good ride by the stream of water, kinda like a roller coaster ride. There was this curve which was ahead of us, which I think my team lead was expecting, cuz he was all tensed..He said, he wanted to try a little stunt to push us out of this canal..If the plan worked, we would swing our way out of it..else..the raft will take the plunge in that curve and go under the water current. Then...its just about throwing yourself into water , try and swim else..Ciao in Arabian Sea!

When we reached that curve, everyone, had to push with the Team lead at the bamboo pole, which is our rudder, steering wheel and everything, and spun our way out of the 'stupid canal'. Force of nature can work both ways! Suck us in or throw us out!

And..it worked!

"When life gives you a curve, use it as coat hanger"-Sorcerer
We all had a big grin on our faces.We were breathless out of excitement and relief. We paddled back to the shore.

When we reached the shore..I made another important observation

Observation: Every action has an equivalent and opposite reaction holds true even for a person who is jumping out of the raft. If you jump out, the raft moves backward and you could end up face down in water.
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It was so amazing those days, when we were reckless and totally hyper. Most of the times we did things guided by sheer instinct!

Every monsoon rain bring back this memory..of an adventure..which could have gone bad!!
But then again...its an experience!

I know it was stupid!But then again...its an experience!
Makes it feel good thinking that way.
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24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing naration! I could actually see kids sailing through the water on that loosely coupled raft :)

Loved the punches in btw.. monica bellucci.. cockroaches..biscuits :D A fun read which brought back some of my memories as kid :D

Insignia said...

Monsoon effect!! Narrated well...and your comparisons...

horizon cloudy like the lungs of a smoker...:-P No one would have related this way.

Coconut antenna - Excellent. Now I learnt how it finds its direction :-P

Anonymous said...

coconut gps and newton's law on action-effect made me laugh out loud :D

nice read! and a burp in a jar? lolx.

-loshini

siji said...

some classic observations u got der.....n uve got monsoon ....m so jjj!! waiting 4 mine! :)

Sorcerer said...

@loshini
Thank you for the comment
:)

@insignia
Thanks to you!
Yeah..i think coconut is one organism that has to be researched in detail.

@Vineetasdiary
Thank you..nice to know that you liked it..
Thank you for the comment

Sorcerer said...

@siji
Yeah...we have monsoon in full swing..
a few more days..and far north would also be getting awesome rains

Thanks for the comment

Ghost Script Writer said...

Sometimes I see myself as a child in a rain storm, running around trying to catch all the drops in his mouth. I long for your adventures to be like the raindrops the child saves and not those which crash to the ground.

Nice Write up

Hari Nandakumar

Iceman said...

Always loved the monsoons. Best part of the year :)

Good blog!

Sorcerer said...

@GSW
Thanks buddy!!

@Iceman
Yeah!! thanks for the comment

KittySigurdardottir. said...

I bet Monica could not do anything with her curves to a gay guy.Seriously,If I was still a betting woman that is.I would not put the wager too high though,I was strictly the Nickel One Arm Bandit addict in Las Vegas when there,it was a good thing I didn't live there I was hooked that bad.What do you have to say Sorcerer about this matter?Tell the truth now.

Samarjit Roy said...

Hurrah to the Adventure boy !!! It's so nice to think about the childhood (or boyhood) and teen years.

Sorcerer said...

@SAM
Yeah...Reckless, no worry days...
*sigh
THanks for the comment

@Barbie Jones
I don't know about gay guys. may be I didnt do much 'research' on them like you must have done! :p

.But.Monica .she is one of my fave actor and yeah she hits a high note with us guys!

Well..I see that i dont get addicted to anything much..other than its potato chips.

Tell the truth? Well..I think i have nothing much to prove to you or anyone else for any matter I suppose.

Thanks for the comment.:)

sanket kambli said...

damn lucky..to have such great pals..i didnt have any like these...for the ones i had..i was too eccentric... damn.lucky..keep the luck..

KittySigurdardottir. said...

Lol "Research" you're a funny dude.I've got my way of finding out,you must admit that it's a fascinating subject and kept all hush hush under cover very well 'cause no one speaks about it.

No fooling,with you straight guys she hits the high not?Well,she ought to since she is a female actor,not a male one.I must say she sure ain't anything out of the ordinary.There has got to be someone else that strikes everyone's fancy or are re you all the same and like the one and the same dame?

D.A said...

LOL!!! Absolutely love your flair of art and humor!

Maya said...

lol nice.. esp the coconut antenna

Sorcerer said...

@Uncommon sense
yeah...you must be missing the coconut land and the fever monsoon.aint ya?
Thanks buddy

@DA
Thank you for the comment

@Barbie Jones
oh..c'mon..everyone knows Monica!

She is out of the ordinary else she must not have made a mark in the industry she is in..
It takes talent and effort to be extra ordinary..so that you are known! so she has done that!
There is no denying that fact.Anyway!
Facts are fact..comrdade!..

Thanks for the comment

@Sankoobaba
Thank you buddy for the comment
yeah..kinda lucky to have some looney friends for myself!

Pratik Gupta said...

I am taking a print out of the learning outcomes and famous quotes and putting on my work desk ( as they say, i prefer desk)...Great sayings!!

Sorcerer said...

@Pratik Gupta
long time..dude I have seen you over here.
I don't get time these days, much to visit you peoples blog.
Thank you for the comment

Anonymous said...

i love monsoon...n now ur post..very nice

P. Venugopal said...

great writing my friend.

Sorcerer said...

@Sunshine
Thank you for the comment..
Hey..long time since I have seen you.:) Nice to see you back

@P.Venugopal
Thank you :)

Sorcerer said...

@Sunshine
Thank you for the comment..
Hey..long time since I have seen you.:) Nice to see you back

@P.Venugopal
Thank you :)

Aparna (Life Takes) said...

excellent narrative flair!

very descriptive with a touch a humour


you had a great adventurous experience with the raft in your childhood! loved reading it