Welcome to the 21st Sensory

It seems to me that we humans have become excessively dependent on stimuli. Let me re-phrase - we are over-stimulated. A cursory glance at almost any medium would confirm that.

Lets start with our Ears.

We wake up to an alarm clock. We are attuned to our individual ringtones. Music in the car as we drive. As we look out we see the guy in the bus or on the street with his headphones on too. FM on mobile / MP3 player. The traffic sounds, engines, honking, and street sounds.

Our eyes.

We are so over-sensitized to the high-end visual imagery of movies, we need HD and 3D TV. As if the trashy TV serials were not enough, we now want to be "inside" it. We want wallpapers on our mobiles and laptop. Immersive graphics in multiplayer XBox, provocative billboards, titillating gossip / fashion magazines, loud tabloid style newspapers and internet adult X-rated content.

Our nose.

Perfumes, deos, shampoos, soaps, talc and hair-perfume [ ?! ] that can be smelt in the neighbours house. Mouth freshners, car freshners, mosquito repellent with perfume, Pot Pouri, Fabric freshners, Bathroom freshners and good old agarbatti.

Our Skin

Thousands of personal care products that tell us we are all slowly dying and must pay them money if we wish them to fight it for us. Poor women, they get targeted the most. Earlier felt really bad for them, but now for every ladies product, there is a gent's version as well. Anti ageing cream, sunscreen, fairness creams, moisturizers, scrubs, natural oils, cleansers, face bleach and what not.

Our Taste

Food additives, new restaurants, newer cuisines, noodles-in-dosa, fried idli, curried pasta and flavoured milks. Fruit Sorbets, chocolates which you have to earn, energy drinks to remind yourself that you're young, and fruity alcohol to numb the other four senses.

I'm not sure if we were designed for such large scale bombarding of our sensory apparatus, and as a result, I fear we are now getting addicted and also reaching a state of semi-stupor as our brain gets overloaded. Ever get the feeling that the people you talk to are so "not present" or have that vacant Zombie expression all the time ?

Did I forget to mention the scented, coloured, textured & flavoured condoms ?

The Big Four Oh

Rachakonda Fort

One of the lesser known places, Rachakonda is a 14th Century Fortification. No real presence of a Fort as we understand the term to be. That aside, the place is beautiful and nestled in the minor hill range of Nalgonda. Great place for rock-climbing and exploration; with a couple of ancient temples scattered around the region.
We had originally planned to camp the night there, but ended up returning by about 10pm after a beautiful Full-Moon rise and campfire dinner.

The Golden Temple - Amritsar

During the trip to Ludhiana this year, we took a day to drive down to AMritsar and visit the Golden Temple. It was a wonderful trip. 

Was particularly impressed with the volunteer workers handling shoes, kitchen helpers and the food service and bussing.

Also had the famous Chole Kulcha while we were there, and a quick visit to the (Infamous) Jallianwallah Baug. 

Sadly, all those pics were lost as I'd downloaded them into the laptop which I subsequently lost a few days later.

This last one is at the University in Ludhiana

 - An Exhibit at The Cultural Museum

Small Ironies & some KG Wisdom

The Wild Alamanda bush planted in the corner of the front yard has been blooming to glory, but is facing the direction over the wall and right into the face of my neighbour's gate ! I realised it only today after Deepa pointed it out to me.

And our ongoing organic-garden experiment has yielded a beautiful bunch of bananas. Ironically these too have fruited only last week and from the looks of it, wont be ready until after we've left for Ludhiana.

We'll probably have to ask the maid to harvest them, keep some for herself and distribute the rest to the neighbours. [ 10 dozens and counting ! ]
You could say the Banana Tree has given us a .... KELA !

Moral of the Story : Be prepared, that many fruit and flowers of your labour may not neccessarily be enjoyed by you, but by others.