Unexpected Aromatic Energy!!

Fresh cut grass, have we urban folks ever bothered to stand in fresh cut. Do we have the option of standing in the fresh cut grass? In my current country of residence lawn maintenance is a huge business. Personal and business spend considerable expense on this stuff.


Now let’s leave the expense part aside. My current apartment (rental) has at least half an acre of greenery on our back yard. The day the lawn movers take their turns mowing our lawns, many Indian residents including my daughter is bothered by the huge sound they make. BUT all of us tend to ignore, the freshness, the aroma that sound brings to the air. It’s simply something that cannot be compensated by thousand dollar scented candle. The 5 minutes of standing cannot be compensated by all the anti-oxidants in 100 cups of tea. 

All my stay in current apartment I have selfishly wished they do this on weekends so that I can simply step out on my patio and take in the priceless energy charge for a mere paltry rent I pay here. Some say the aroma is a distress call by the grass to attract attention ... and here I am enjoying and hoping for more.  Today one of the few weekdays I am at home and it pinches me that I am going to miss this in my new apartment where I move 3 days from now. Imagine moving from acres of grass to a 20 feet by 4 feet of grass strip.


Anyways for two months now I am overwhelmed by the fact that at my new apartment I have to open my doors by my own hands, instead of the tiny hands that welcome me till date. So as obvious, bigger woes always overshadow smaller troubles and so must be the case with smaller pleasures, overshadowed by bigger gains.

But I am sure this minor energy boost, is one of the most natural dosage I have ever enjoyed. This will disparage me in my high rise apartment for rest of life, when I am sitting near a 1 square feet patch of grass in an earthen pot...

Greenfield Village BY Henry Ford

Lately have not visited any amusement parks or any historic museums but for the reputation that I had heard wanted to visit Greenfield Village a must stop before 3 Jun. Aaha it was an absolute delight not only for me but for Swara and my parents to see America period life happening right in front of us.

Experienced many things from pottery, glass making, old railroad life and so many beautiful things. Bust most important was The Farm Life. A 1890 farm life of Mr. Firestone's family (The tire company). Oh boy, it was a living enactment of their day to day life. Guys tilling the land for potatoes, potato plant being a protection mechanism for Corn plants and whole chain therein which goes from feeding pigs today to feeding the family on pigs meat 1 yr down the line. They had barns, carriages, hens and sheeps. To top it ladies of the house were making authentic period food. Mashed potato, grilled chicken and Apple pie on a real life coal stove.

NOW most important catch I realise as I reach home, hey man this is still the life of 1/5th Indian rural families even now who are primarily surviving on agri-income.
So experience to see the American way was enlightening in two ways;
1 - next time in India should visit and experience such life in India first hand
2 - what they are doing here is a 1890 representation and we are still doing it the same way, what has caused us to be stuck there ...

This is no blame game or quest to find solution but what an humble visit can do to your thought buds ... Leaving at this thought for all of you ponder further.

NJoy ...

Refresh Yourself !!

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Walk / Jog / Run ... they all serve the same purpose !! Refreshing your mind ..... I know some might say it gives your body a fitness dosage for the day, but over past few months I see it serving some different purpose than the usual .....

Refreshing works in multiple ways, current topics in your head get a fresh re-boot. I tend to think a little differently when I am walking and have nothing but the sidewalk under me !! Not standing on tough deadlines, not balancing between two professional supervisors just pure and plain walking on a side-walk ....

Now where you walk can make a huge difference, some do it along a park where there are plenty of distractions; some do it on a treadmill with TV or co-fitness enthusiast and so on. But amongst all these side walk is an assured items  ... once you have passed it once or twice, there is nothing new to admire. Its not a play ground so kids do not come running in your track and just follow the occasional ZEBRA crossing and you need not worry about the automobiles either (at least in my current country).

With temperature turning warmer, my runs are more regular and more so I am using them as an escape after long day at work in evening hours. Just like u dream of road after a 5-6 hours drive, my mind still return to all the numbers, presentations and targets, but I am getting more and more surer of the 'side-walk' that it will refresh my mind but still not so sure of it will help my waist-line ....

Many a times I am reminded of the quote from the movie 'What a Woman Wants' ... Signing-off, nJoy ...


The main actor is pitching an ad campaign to Nike Women's Team. The commercial was a girl running with the following narration: 


You don't stand in front of a mirror before a run...and wonder what the road, will think of your outfit.

You don't have to listen to its, jokes and pretend they're funny.

It would not be easier to run, if you dressed sexier.

The road doesn't notice, if you're not wearing lipstick.

It does not care, how old you are.

You do not feel uncomfortable...
because you make more money
than the road. 

And you can call on the road
whenever you feel like it,
whether it's been a day...
or a couple of hours
since your last date.

The only thing 
the road cares about... 
is that you pay it a visit
once in a while.


Nike. 
No games.
Just Sports.

DNA of the Helicopter !!

On our recent road trip to Pittsburgh Temple, we did see few rotating things hitting our car on one hilly , forest slope in Pennsylvania contours. We were amazed at the speed, aerodynamics and the distance they traveled. For brief second we though its some event / toy that someone close by is playing with .... Though the fall of such mico-choppers in hundreds was intriguing, weightage of reaching our destination was overpowering, for us NOT to stop and examine the small wonder ....

Now recently on one of my walking trips around Troy, MI I saw the same little wonder, though not in hundreds but in dozens strewn over the side-walk. Spent good 10 mins on road and 20 mins at house examining the Gods sent inspiration for Helicopter.


Some portion of the information I learned :-

1. Known as Samaras 
2. Inspired a design of a airborne Monocopter Prototype by Lockheed Martin
3. In most variants of Maple they take flight in pair and split as soon as they hit the ground
4. Hold them against the light and you will see intricate network of stem that help the seed in taking roots
5. In a scientific study a Samaras dropped from 50 feets has traveled as much as 150 feets

Hoping to finding more such things during my summer walk and share it with you all ...