Category: News

The Stars Shine On

It was the 4th of July. The 250th anniversary. While the younger ones braved the crowds and went to the city to watch fireworks, we stayed away from the crowds and went to see the fireworks nearby in the residential neighborhoods instead.

We were high spirited after a fantastic dinner topped with ice-cream – sugar high as it were. That’s why you may or may not have found us slightly dizzy chanting the Pledge of Allegiance as the stars shone down on us – maybe from the fluttering flag or the skies above. Who knows?

We found a beautiful park after driving around looking for fireworks . It turned out to be one of those places folks like to give fancy names like ‘Cultural icon’.

Zoetropes 

The son keeps talking about zoetropes. I never knew what they were. “They are cool!” I agreed after he showed me what zoetropes were. Much like kaleidoscopes – tricky to get right and innately interesting once you do.

The son has always liked animation, so he has been babbling on about the zoetropes for a while now. I suspect it has to do with the ice cream store nearby, rather than the zoetropes themselves. Nevertheless, we were properly enthused after an evening admiring fireworks from the distance (fireworks aren’t allowed in our city, but the neighboring city goes nuts every year, and we get to watch).

Fireworks always brings the magic or the yearning for magic in us. So, we went looking for the zoetropes – animated films captured magic, didn’t they? After all, this was one of 1st places in which Hollywood would’ve been had it not been for the city of angels taking it on instead. We spun the zoetropes admiring the initial attempts at animation.

Really, human beings are marvelous; I don’t know whether any other species writes draws and paints the way we do! I thought of all the beautiful murals on buildings in San Francisco, so many underground passes and bridges with graffiti on them (aspiring to be art in some cases, but good in other cases).

After an evening of popping and flashing fireworks, and a set of spinning zoetropes, I felt a little dizzy, and steadied myself looking up at the stars.

The Stars Shine Down

It was a beautiful evening. The stars do shine down with an exaggerated brilliance after the artificial brilliance of the fireworks, don’t they? The spinning must be the zoetrope-effect, but it made for a Starry Night feeling.

After some time, we bought our gaze down towards the American flag fluttering in the breeze and felt a sense that in time all will be well. We just need to keep the magic of life alive. The stars shine on. The flag flutters on. America goes on. 

It was time to chant the Pledge of Allegiance and we did just that. Beautiful evenings come in various forms. As we headed home afterwards – flushed with fireworks, zinging after the zoetropes, spinning stars, fluttering flags etc, we were filled with hope. 

Breadwinners order Breadbasket

There is an energy to India that is indescribable. The heat, the rains, the people, the colors, the population, and the conversations. Over time, the nature of these conversations has shifted gently towards aging. All of us are aging, but that means, our parents, uncles, aunts and grandparents are aging too.

Even as we realize aging is coming for us all, it is a humbling experience to see previously bustling energetic authority figures succumb to the frailties of age. The anxiety among the aging is very high. Whether this is a reflection of rapid technological changes, or simply a function of age, I do not know. I don’t have the data to determine whether our grandmothers’ anxieties increased with age as well. It wasn’t something that was acknowledged, much less named and labeled.

Visalam Paati

Appam & Stew

“What are you doing, amma?” I said walking into the kitchen one night.

“Soaking some rice for appam tomorrow – I know you like it.”, she said.

“Hmm..” I said noncommittally. “Don’t worry too much. I am not particular about ..”

“I know you!” She cut me off. “You Americans get by without breakfast, without evening tiffin! We’ll make appam and stew, and I know you will love it!”

Who was I to argue with that? I do love a good appam and stew.

Women who managed careers, homes and children with competence and skill suddenly find themselves paralyzed by whether there is enough milk in the fridge for morning coffee. The certainty of Gopala, the morning milkman, is no longer there. The rhythm of waiting till morning for the milkman is gone. Instead, they find themselves checking obsessively with their children whether the breadbasket order is in.

Swift technology, quick commerce, while making it easier for us, also seems to have contributed to an increase in instant gratification among the elderly.

The Procurement Parrot

Watching the evenings unfold in families where the breadwinners work in multinational companies in India is fascinating. I watch the mother figures peep into the room where the man of the house is taking an international call – possibly the US, given the time-zone difference.

“We need curry leaves.”

The son’s performance is a class in the performing arts. Keeping his eyes trained on the screen, and acting like there is no interruption, there is an intense hand-wave not visible on the screen- signaling, “Shh!”

If you thought that would have her beaten – I show you The Great Indian Mother.

She tries again – this time with the woman of the house, who is in a different room taking a call of her own. She waves her away – with more grace. “Ssh…”

But here, the Indian system knows how to work women. The mother figure is prepared. She passes a note – a list of items that need to be ordered. A quick glance at the list results in:

(1) Either the woman of the house giving in. A pacifying nod to indicate acknowledgment

(2) Or she is sent back to the son’s laptop, with further instructions.

After a few minutes, she emerges victorious with her order of milk, curry leaves, and coriander leaves done.

I smiled at the familiar scene. Professionals in India often have to take calls with their US teams, and this means, that the post-dinner refrigerator audit resulting in last minute calls for curry leaves is often handled by the older / retired grandparents in the house.

“I sound like a parrot with these people – I want curry leaves. Order curry leaves. Did you order curry leaves?” She said, and I felt for her.

Instant Gratification

If instant gratification is a problem among children these days, it is more often a bigger problem among the aging. You see? Previously, they had to wait for their children to go grocery shopping to get curry leaves.

Or better yet, they managed it themselves treating the walk to the market as a little social saunter. They also, somehow, magically managed to make perfectly good dishes without curry leaves if required. Now, however, with the increase in quick commerce, nobody is willing to wait for anything anymore. Compromise seems to be on the decline.

Yes, some dishes taste better when prepared a certain way, but the beauty of home-cooked meals is in the art of adjusting, and creating anyway.

All day long, delivery folks zip by on bikes, delivering this and that to the urban household who is anticipating anything from a watermelon to a stitched blouse from a tailor down the road. Need some fermented batter delivered across the city? There is a fella on a bike willing to come home, collect it, and deliver it across the city for you. The heat doesn’t deter them, the rains barely, the snarling jams part-and-parcel of their days. Mega marts feeding quick commerce – enabling thousands to eke out a living, yes, but it also a reminder that we have forgotten to wait and be patient with our wants and desires.

“While you are having dinner itself, I’ll tell you today.”, she said the next day. ”I can’t have you hissing like cobras in the house when I come around with the list of things to order! We need 4 packets of milk – for payasam (kheer) tomorrow.”

I laughed at the cobra reference and rose to protest that payasam was quite unnecessary, but was silenced with a stare. So, I slurped the stew, and gulped the appam with relish.

“ Is the appam stew good?”, she asked me.

I smiled at the matriarch. “Yes! Fantastic as always, amma.” I said, removing the curry leaves from the stew, and setting it at the corner of my plate, while the breadbasket order for the next day was being filed under her watchful gaze.

Earth From Artemis: Peaceful or Stormy?

Peaceful Earth

In the midst of all the war-mongering and depressing news, the images of our beautiful Earth sent from the Artemis missions has been such a joy. Yes – we have all seen photographs of Earth before -a fact that we seem to so easily take for granted. A hundred years ago, round Earth was a concept for people, not something with photographic evidence. The fact that the Earth is round may be something that whales and migratory birds know innately, but they have never seen the picture of their home beamed to them showing all the beautiful colors it is made up of. 

Reid Wiseman/NASA – This image or video was catalogued by Johnson Space Center of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: art002e000192.

In contrast, I saw a documentary with pictures of the storms on Saturns. The video zoomed into the rings that look so beautiful, and explained the violence that created them in the first place. Jupiter’s storms are bigger than our planet, forever raging, forever swirling. 

Why Saturn is The Scariest Planet (It’s Not Peaceful)

Then, we see Earth – its storms metaphorically Saturnian and Jupiterian thanks to political systems the world over, but peaceful looking otherwise. A reminder for what we need to persevere for, and preserve.

The Demons Within

I remember the son & I chatting about space travel in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. We had been there after the Holocaust Museum, and I was feeling philosophical: “How could the very species capable of such cruelty also be capable of discovering exoplanets, and work towards energy conservation initiatives such as solar and hydrogen powered solar systems?”

The son looked thoughtful. “You know – sometimes these things are not just in a species – it is in one person. There was this person called Werner von Braun. He was on the team that built the Saturn 5 spacecraft. He was a Nazi and he was not given punishment for his war crimes if he could do this – help NASA build the spacecraft. Did he feel bad? I don’t know.”

I was intrigued. So, I came home and looked him up. 

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/chasing-moon-wernher-von-braun-and-nazis/

Of course, he tried to distance himself from the Nazis claiming to simply be a scientist who would have worked for anyone willing to let him work on machines and space probes. But it wasn’t so. He was an active member of the SS, and when he made references to the concentration camps, it was in vague terms – so he could feign if not ignorance, at least  only faint knowledge. But this too was wrong. 

His reputation did not exactly come out till after his death when another SS officer decided to pull him down too. 

The Moralities of our Lives

The moralities of our lives are shaped early but constantly being questioned. Most of us lead lives of modest impact, and our ability to act, or the failure thereof, usually has impact on few people. However, in dystopian times, both the desire to act and the restraint from acting can both have disastrous consequences, and are somehow more impactful. 

We are living in strange times- I hope it is not as dire as the ones that led to the World Wars, but the technology and warfare we have at our disposal now makes the impact multifold. 

What will the judgement be when history looks back at this period in American and World History? I can almost hear the professorial tones in the books: “This was the beautiful planet they had. They let it slide and be destroyed …”

This Beautiful Earth

All I can think of is, there is a reason the images of our beautiful Earth are being beamed back to us and are surfacing in our public consciousness at this point in time. It is a reminder that we have a duty to perform. Protect a planet from us. 

Reid Wiseman/NASA – This image or video was catalogued by Johnson Space Center of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: art002e000192.

So, what do we say ‘Yes’ to? What do we say ‘No’ to? Finally, how to make it matter? 

Apollo 11 & Artemis II : Selenophilia

Selenophilia

I moped around one evening. The thing is, as much as I love cloudy days and rainy days, I don’t like them to intersect with full-moon days. It feels like the waxing-full-moon is meant to bathe all of the Earth in its glow, and encourage mooning-about. It is not meant for sighing and trying to see if the moon can finally peek out of the clouds.

I had not quite realized the thing that was keeping me up that night. I blamed it on the ill-timed coffee, but it could not have been that. Not when I fell asleep moments after the near-full-moon peeked out of the clouds, and I sighed happily at it.

The day after, the moon looked full in the sky, bathing the Earth with its luminous glow. The clouds flitted, but never enough to hide the moon. I took off – after the eternally present tasks that even robots and AI-based beings do not consider worth doing: clearing up and the cleaning up.

“Where’re you going?” “Out!” I said, and ignored the chuckle that followed me out. The golden moon was waiting, and I wanted nothing more than to gaze at it. The word unblemished came to mind, but that does not quite describe the moon, does it? The pockmarks and craters on the moon looked plenty blemished, yet the feeling it invokes in one is unblemished.

This fascination for our celestial neighbor, Selenophilia, is a beautiful term that is derived from the Greek language, denoting a love of the moon. Meaning for centuries, folks have finished up their chores and headed out to the admire the moon. Hopefully, for centuries more, they will continue to do so.

Apollo & Artemis

The previous day, Artemis II had taken flight into the skies with 3 astronauts aboard: to the other side of the moon. I was in an elementary school classroom introducing books about space travel that day, and I remembered the excitement the discussion about Artemis II had generated. The class sent all the astronauts a fond good luck as they listened to the brief loss in communication with the spaceship. 

That night as I sat gazing at the moon, I thought of the planet watching and praying: united in its excitement as Artemis II left the Earth. Did the Artemis II crew ( Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen) feel the good vibes? I hope they did. 

Then, I thought of Apollo 11.  The astronauts: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins making the trip almost 3 decades ago. The entire planet fascinated, and enthralled.  Did they feel the companionship of the planet even as they left? The moon itself was in its waxing moon phase that day, and thousands must’ve gazed up that day abuzz with excitement.

Magic of the Moon

There are a few things that humanize us, and the magic of the moon is, I believe firmly, one of them. Something that can evoke wonder, awe, a yearning to attempt great things, set difficult targets, and above all, work together to achieve it, is Magic, isn’t it? 

Understanding Art History through Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum

Dr Seuss’s Horse Museum – Illustrated By Andrew Joyner

This book was published posthumously and was completed by Andrew Joyner. It was based on the loose sketches and plan he already had for the book.

This cover image released by Random House Children’s Books shows “Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum,” a new book by the late children’s author, coming Sept. 3. (Random House Children’s Books via AP)

It is a gallop through Art History. For someone who is fascinated by art, and doesn’t necessarily have the knowledge to go with it, the book was particularly insightful. It isn’t Dr Seuss in its style – there are no hilarious horses challenging butterflies to a flying contest, or trying to grow a tree through their nose, while flowers sprout out of its ears. It is more a book by Andrew Joyner based on the preliminary notes made by Dr Seuss.

The book has references to many real pictures of horses by artists over the ages – impressionist, cubist, Japanese, Chinese, realism, surrealism etc.

This got me thinking about a post that has been rattling about in my head for a while now with no clear structure. I have written various versions of it – each more insufferable than the previous one, but I hope I can try to wrest some form of understanding using the horses structure that Andrew Joyner curated from Dr Seuss’s horse notes.

Art History & Cultural Significances

Art History has always been hand-in-hand with the cultural significances of the time. For instance, Renaissance artists were drawn towards accuracy in anatomy which coincided with an uptick in scientific thinking.

Surrealism rose after the horrors of the World Wars I & II – people needed to believe in something fantastical after the horrifying realities of the world around them. Example: Lord of the Rings was written post world war by J R R Tolkien who was himself devastated by the effects of the First World War in which he fought.

https://nourishncherish.org/2026/02/17/exploring-americas-artistic-evolution-through-history/

In the spirit of trying to see the evolution of art in the digital age, I tried to see how the horse would evolve:

Horse picture – Industrial Photography Era:

Black & white using reels – Dr Oliver Sacks had written about this in his book, Everything in its place. Picture animated based on the pictures taken by Edward Muybridge. 

English: Animated sequence of a race horse galloping. Photos taken by Eadweard Muybridge (died 1904), first published in 1887 at Philadelphia (Animal Locomotion).

Muybridge used 24 cameras along a track where the shutter would be tripped by the horses themselves as they galloped past to capture the movements of the horse as they raced.

This era coincided with the Industrial Revolution – the efficiencies that changed the fundamental way in which things were done.

Horse picture using iPhone – Digital Media Era

Horse videos, Horse shorts, Horse animations

This era coincided with the Internet and the Social Media era. I am not sure they can be combined this way – I feel the internet gave rise to social media in such a forceful manner, that they probably deserve separate art eras. I marked them as digital era for the purposes of this post.

AI horse : Neo -Surrealism era

As the next stage in this evolution is AI generated images and videos.

Could this be the neo-surrealism era? The need for our fantasies mingled with the need for speed of creation.

What do you think?

I am not sure if each of these stages in art have a name yet. But I am sure future art historians will come up with names for each era and how it denotes an era in technology or world history.

What do you think the names of each era would be?

Read Across America: Honoring Dr. Seuss

“Oh no! I missed Dr Seuss’s birthday!” I wailed.

The husband said “Who?” In that befuddled manner he gets when it comes to reading. The son said, “Oh no! How did that happen?” He understood.

One of the many brilliant things about raising children in a country and culture other than the one you were raised in is this. You get to read new books, be baffled about why something was iconic, and discover the joys of it all anew (like Star Wars for us).

Dr Seuss, Thomas the Train, Curious George, Dora the Explorer, and so many fantastic characters enabled me to become a wide-eyed child reading along with them over the past two decades, and I am immensely grateful to that.

Somewhere along the way, the children told me that Read Across America week was the week it was Dr Seuss’s birthday. Oh! How I loved that? What a legacy to leave? To have a Read-Across-America week dedicated to the week of your birthday.

So, in my somewhat scatter-brained fashion, I had planned to read and write about several of his books in the lead up to the week. But I had forgotten in the chariots of time, and let’s face it, in the gloriousness of spring. I can see Theodore Geisel (Dr Seuss is his nickname) shaking his head in amusement at this, and probably pencilling it down a for a future hilarious Dr Seuss book somewhere.

The books I did read were just as charming and insightful as usual.

Yertle The Turtle & Other Stories – By Dr Seuss

The story is about Yertle the Turtle who is the king of turtles in his pond. He is liked enough to be left alone, and do turtlish things and go about the days of his life with peace and contentment. But does he do that?

No!

One day, he gets it into this head that what he wants is to extend his rule. So, he calls on the turtles nearby, and has them scramble on each other, and he scrambles right on top of them all. From that vantage point, he claims he is the king of all he can see.

In typical Dr Seuss form, Yertle is never happy, and goes on piling turtles on top of each other…till. Well – you’ll just have to read and find out, wouldn’t you?

This story is such an apt one to read in the current geopolitical climate. All our great leaders busy scrambling on turtle’s backs, and launching missiles. Sigh.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_Other_Stories

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17391831

Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are – By Dr Seuss

This book is priceless. I read it every now and then especially when I am really feeling low, and somewhat antsy about the state of the world. It is good to remind yourself that you didn’t get stuck in the traffic jam of Zayt Highway 8 in Ga-Zayt, or that you weren’t one of the builders of Bunglebung bridge.

By It is believed that the cover art can or could be obtained from Random House., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44085819

But mostly, it is a simple tale that will have you wondering just a little bit about all the little ways in which you are lucky, even if it doesn’t seem like it. The next morning, the sound of bird-song as you make your way to your car sounds sweeter.

Horse Museum – By Dr Seuss

This book has been on my list of books to write about for a long time. I think I shall attempt a separate piece for this book for it is fascinating in a way that is different from all his other books in a specific way.

The book shows you all the different ways in which horses can be drawn in the Horse Museum. Of course, the horses are hilarious and his narrative sparkles.

This cover image released by Random House Children’s Books shows “Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum,” a new book by the late children’s author, coming Sept. 3. (Random House Children’s Books via AP)

By dr-seuss-horse-museum.jpg at Time CDN, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60107701

But more than any of this, he lists all the famous paintings of horses that inspired his tale. A journey through cubism, realism etc. From Picasso to Jackson Pollock.

So, even if I didn’t quite to get to write about Dr Seuss’s books in time for Read-Across-America week, I still got to read and relish them.

I don’t think he’d mind if we read them now, next week, or next month, do you? So, please feel free to pick them up, and share your own books you’d like to read for Read-Across-America month.

Exploring America’s Artistic Evolution Through History

The History of the United States

I just finished listening to a Great Courses Lecture Series on American History. I loved the chapters where the American History audiobook lectures cross-referenced the historical narrative with developments in Art History. After all, art is a reflection of life, and life is an inspiration for art. 

I am sure there are books and reams of material dealing with all of which I am about to write about. If you know of any good books or podcasts along these lines, please drop me a comment.

Romanticism (Early 1800’s) 

Romanticism in the early 1800’s from authors and poets like Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson made their way into the American psyche with their hopeful and nature-oriented philosophy. The call for nature as a spiritual healer, a gentle reminder that life on Earth is bountiful even if sometimes hard. This was the time America was settling into itself as a fledgling nation – idealistic, ambitious, and prosperous.

The themes of art and literature spanned mystic nature, emotion, imagination, individuality, and inspiration.

American Renaissance (Late 1800’s – Post Civil War) 

Then, in the mid-1800’s – after the Civil War and many losses on both sides, art and literature turned towards the American Renaissance. Nature was not the benign soother of souls anymore. It was the vast, terrifying force that could destroy. The darkness within. The ghost of reality underlying the dreams of the bright and hopeful. The likes of Edgar Allan Poe.

I thought to myself on a walk one day that maybe this was the growth that was necessary like the human teenage psyche needing to grow, deepen and mature. Knowing, becoming aware of the darkness, so we may shape our morality with knowledge. The post civil war was the Reconstruction Era. It was also a time of intense growth with populations migrating towards cities, industrialization replacing agricultural jobs etc.

Harlem Renaissance (~1920’s) 

This period was followed by the Harlem Renaissance in Art where the reality shaped by experiences of people took hold. Art and literature tried to take what was life and reclaim our meaning and dignity through our shared and lived realities. Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald served as a cornerstone for what greed could like, while Harlem authors like Zora Neal Hurston gave us glimpses into the lives of Black communities in the rural South.

The early 1920’s also gave rise to the Jazz Age and changes from the classical art forms from the past.

Surrealism (Post WW II – 1950’s) 

After the intense periods of the two World Wars with a depression sandwiched in between, the populace seemed to be in need for some hope, and an escaping-reality kind of theme developed. Artists like Salvador Dali & Frido Kahlo dipped into the realm of dreams inspired by Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis.  They gave to the public a taste of what it was like to bypass reason, and exist in a world of possibilities.

I thought it was one of those ways in which art could inspire life to be forward looking. After all, dreaming up what can be is just as crucial as depicting what-is, isn’t it?

The Journeys of Art & Humans

In some small way, it was like the progression of humans itself. We start off innocent, hopeful, trusting, and then become wary, cynical. From these experiences, is shaped a reality that is a sum of our experiences; and it either takes a determined person to evolve into the next version of themselves, or to fester in a pale imitation of what-was.

It is fascinating that Art itself can provide answers to our anthropological progression, isn’t it?

Please let me know what you think: Is the evolution of art as essential as evolution of life itself?

Once again, any pointers to books/podcasts/articles along these lines would be much appreciated.

Coming up soon: Art in the digital age – how do you think it will be classified and transformed?

River Valley Civilizations -> Digital Valley Civilizations

The History of the United States

I just finished listening to a Great Courses Lecture Series on American History. Over 48 hours of listening content aside, it meant I have been wondering and trying to piece together the deeper veins running through our history and why they are still relevant today.

Why is a leader still able to rouse such high levels of divisiveness around certain issues? Like immigration? I truly wanted to understand it.

I am no  political analyst. I am no historian. But even I know that immigration is an old wound. A scar tissue. A festering topic that never really leaves the American psyche. 

River Valley Civilizations to Digital Valley Civilizations

The strain of every bigoted immigration movement seems rooted in ‘Go-back-to-where-you-came-from’. This is an interesting perspective. Because if we go far back enough, that would mean all of humanity would still be clustering around the river valleys and deltas practicing agriculture with the annual flooding cycles.

The Egyptians eyeing the invading Greek with suspicion.

But here is the thing. We moved past that. We are no longer river-valley civilizations. We took to the open oceans. We found every nook and corner of land available for us to live on. We are now living in or moving towards digital valley civilizations.

We do not cluster around the primary vocation of those times – growing food. We cluster around the primary vocation of these times. Which is to earn livelihoods in increasingly complex domains using increasingly complex technologies. The prosperous have always attracted people from outside – whether as conquering hordes, or as people who simply were welcomed and came in to be assimilated.

So what seems to be the antidote?

Given this, two aspects occur to me. 

  1. Enable prosperity so high and peace so high in other parts of the world too, so that the immigrants who are flocking to America do not flock to America alone. This is harder, yes, but also the best path forward. It is what happened with the rise of the computer industry in countries like India and China. #EnableProsperity #EnablePeace.
  2. Immigrant workers have usually (willingly or otherwise) answered a call from America itself when human-power was limited. The Golden Triangle all those centuries ago, meant that America sought slave-labor from Africa and forcibly bought them to the United States to help with their cash crops and raising their families. When the railways needed building, America sought to bring in Chinese workers to do the work. When technical jobs needed doing, America legislated to have tech workers come in.
    So, the solution seems to be to raise the skillsets of what we need in our next generation. Prioritize science education, encourage research. Not the opposite. #EnableScience #EnableResearch

America took its time getting here to be the melting pot of civilizations. It has always dealt with changing demographics, but has also proved to be be best model for assimilation in the world. So why this turbulence?

What do you think? What are some of the solutions you can think of?

Bosco Ramos: The Dog Who Became a Mayor

The Stress & Strife of Political Life

Political life has never held much sway for me. Too many pitfalls, crests and troughs. I think there are far too many people wanting their own agendas taken care of, that makes it hard to sail straight. If everything someone does for you has an ulterior motive, it must endlessly exhausting for one wanting to live a quiet and straight sort of life.

Of course, there are those who enjoy navigating those very waters and are good at them too. More power to them. Then, there are those who do none of this and enjoy the arm-twisting and the power-trips. The more unscrupulous the better: for those this pursuit would probably be invigorating rather than draining.

What I am saying is this, and it is profound – the kind of thing that when given up as a truth from a crowd-wooing politician gets standing ovations: It takes all sorts to make up the world.

So, imagine my surprise, when I really wanted to meet the mayor, but could only take a picture with his statue.

Meet Bosco Ramos.

He served as the Mayor of Sunol for 13 years – from 1981 – 1994.

He won by a landslide raking in over 62% of the votes.

https://localnewsmatters.org/2020/12/14/how-a-dog-bosco-ramos-became-the-most-loved-mayor-of-sunol-in-the-80s/

If you had a bone to pick with him, he was there mingling among the residents in local pubs and restaurants almost every evening. For a political career to be scandal-free, it takes an enormous strength of character, which Bosco Ramos obviously had.

It is too bad that he died 13 years into his career.

Bosco Ramos in Calafia

I might’ve thought this was an article worthy of The Onion, but it’s true. One serendipitous day, we found ourselves meandering in the small town of Sunol, and there, right outside the Sunol Post Office is a statue of Mayor Bosco Ramos. He was a black labrador-rottweiler mix, and defeated two human-beings in the race for Mayor. 

You should’ve seen the son’s face when he found out more about this dog-mayor. His penchant for History is unsatiable: He is forever coming up to Yours Truly with fun-facts, and trivia such as: “Amma, did you know? California was named after a character called Calafia from the book written by <some long name>” (Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo) 

He transformed into an enthusiastic puppy himself, yipping and yapping to have his photograph taken with the former mayor.

Image Courtesy: By Pedro Xing – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24008072

An Ode to Roger

I’d like to read more about Bosco Ramos. Was he a good companion when one was out on a nature walk? Did he hurry things along when the conversation started to get belligerent, or was he quite ready to bark an order or two?

I was reminded of Gerald Durrell’s companion, Roger:

In those early days of exploration Roger was my constant companion. He was the perfect companion for an adventure, affectionate without exuberance, brave without being belligerent, intelligent and full of good humored tolerance for my eccentricities.

family_other_animals

He goes on to say about Roger – who sounds like the ideal companion anyone could wish for, that:
If I slipped when climbing a dew shiny bank, Roger appeared suddenly, gave a snort that sounded like suppressed laughter, a quick look over, a rapid lick of commiseration, shook herself, sneezed and gave me his lopsided grin. If I found something that interested me – an ant’s nest, a caterpillar on a leaf, a spider wrapping up a fly in swaddling clothes of silk – Roger sat down and waited until I had finished examining it.

Now – what is preventing similar miracles from happening on a larger scale? Why can we not aspire to having more loyal, loving, patient leaders in all the important places?

The Pursuit of Peace

Californian Winters

The January cold was nothing like the icy swell sweeping the rest of the country. In fact, it was almost anti-climatic. I had stepped out for a walk, and while I admired the sunset, I also took in the stirrings of spring all around me. 

Californian winters are mild.

Trees in Bloom

The first white cherry blossoms – the ones to bloom earlier and earlier every year were already beginning to bloom. I swished along, looking for the other signs of winter leaving and spring taking tentative peeps into our neighborhood. The narcissi were growing, and some precocious ones were beginning to bloom. The snowdrops too – little drops of spring tucked in their white and green attire. 

The trees were still bare, and I tilted my head upwards towards the moon. I really do love the waxing moon season – the gibbous moon against the early sunset makes me think of tides in the sea, turtles on beaches, deer in meadows, pelicans in lakes and any number of beautiful things. All things intended to fill your heart. 

I made my way towards the magnificent magnolia tree in bloom now. They truly are astounding to behold. I stood there peeking at the moon through the blooms, taking a picture that I was sure to delete soon, and then laughed at my own folly. I have yet to take a good picture of the moon with my phone, but the optimism with which I whip it out every time is truly remarkable. 

I stood there waxing poetic (Get it? Get it?) – with a yearning to set the roiling news of the world against the peace of the winter evening. 

The Pursuit of Peace

A little wish to capture magic in a bubble.
A January wish to capture peace in the world.
A wish. A hope. A thought. 

Maybe.

It will make people appreciate peace
It will make magic permeate the bubble and spread to the world.
An intention. A manifestation. A yearning.

January started off with turmoil on all fronts in the world. The pursuit of peace seems more and more elusive in the current situation. But nature always shows us hope.