Category: Nature/Environment

Heritage

“A thing of beauty is joy for ever” said Keats. Every time I pass through a heritage building, I am struck with the beauty of the same. I cannot take my eyes off it and wonder why modern day architecture cannot do the same to me. Today design and architecture has evolved and technology has enabled the unimaginable to be imagined and created. In spite of all these developments, I am yet to come across any modern architecture which can be more stunning than a heritage building.

I sometimes wonder how our forefathers could design, develop and create something out of the world and make it last for centuries. Even today if you visit a building or monument around the world you will notice that the older the building is, the stronger it is in design and execution. I recently visited the state residence of the Governor of our state. It is a huge mansion built almost a century back. When I visited the campus I was amused to know that buildings built in the last fifty years need renovation but the ones built over a century back or intact and in great condition.

“Old is gold” is another common saying. I do not know if the earlier generations spent more time in planning then execution, which has created heritage buildings, monumental in design and beauty. Today we hear of buildings collapsing within a few years of construction. What has gone wrong ? I can understand that relationships have become more virtual than real due to the evolution of technology. But how can evolution of technology in the field of architecture and design create buildings that do not last for a century as in the past. How can material science with all its advancement not help us create structures of envy as our earlier generations did ?

Just like heritage buildings, I also love the antique furniture of the bygone era. I still love to go around town shopping for antique furniture or handicrafts, which represent our rich heritage and culture. I wonder why today we cannot design furniture or handicraft, which can be the envy of the generations to come. I do not know the reasons but the reality is that antique has more value than what is designed today. It has more art and more followers than modern day creations.

Another interesting insight is today’s film songs also do not stick to our hearts. I can sing a song of the generation gone by even today and they are termed classics. The wordings of the song are like pearls of wisdom and each word gives an insight into life and living. Today’s songs are rich in music but fade within years of their release and most people cannot remember their lines.

I sometimes wonder whether this is a generational issue. I have no answers but may be more questions. I have met young artists and architects, who agree with my views. Hence, it may not be an issue of my growing old and not appreciating the new. It is much more deeper than that. It could be that the generations of the past created art with limited resources and hence created more value out of limited inputs. Today, we have technology and resources at our command and may be long lasting value is no longer a goal in the minds of the creator.

The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus ( Victoria Terminus – VT) (in the photo above) is the main railway station of Mumbai, built during the British era in India. It’s a world heritage site and I pause in front of it every time I pass by even today.

What is your view on heritage ?

S Ramesh Shankar

Our five senses

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As human beings, we are born with five senses. They are sense of touch, hearing, smell, sight and taste. Today we are losing our sense of senses. I do not know the real reasons for the same but may be worth exploring. We need to revive our senses. They not only help us lead a more fulfilling life but will help us add joy to the life of others. The increasing lack of senses is making us live senseless, in society.

Let us start with the sense of touch. Can any of us forget the warmth of a mother’s hug on a day we are feeling low ? This touch is magical. It seems to cure us of everything. It helps us get over our sorrow. It re-energises us to bounce back in life. We get consoled without even a word being spoken. Today we hug each other in the social media and are shy to hug in real life. This is not only because we do not have time to meet each other in person but feel it is less socially respectful to hug someone. Lets give a hug to a person in distress and experience the magical effect on their well being.

If we move to the sense of hearing, it is equally magical. One would always long to be with family members or friends, who are active listeners. We generally tend to speak more than we listen. Let us listen to kids at home, colleagues at work as if our listening will change their world. We can experience that the richness in our relationship becomes qualitatively better to the quality of our listening. Here again, one need not go far away from home to learn. In most of our cases, our parents are good listeners and we have failed to learn from them.

Today we do not have the time to enjoy the fragrance of nature. If we go on a morning walk, the smell of the jasmine, plumeria or parijatam can transcend us to a different world. But, most of us either do not go for a morning walk or jog or cannot recognise and enjoy the smell of these beautiful flowers. This is partly due to our lack of time and supplemented by pollution and lack of flowering trees in our environs. We seem to be losing of ability to sense the smell of flowers around us. If our eyes are blind folded and we are asked to identify different flowers by their smell, many of us may fail to do so and may blame choked noses for the same.

We are also losing our sense of sight. Today, we see only what we want to see. We may not be colour blind by birth but are unable to sport all the colours in the beautiful world because of our lack of sight. Many of us may not have the time to enjoy the shades of the rainbow and explain the Indigo to our kids. We do not get up to the colourful hues of the sky during sun rise or have the time to do so at sunset. We do not have time for holidays to spot animals and birds of different colours and breeds.

Last but not the least is our sense of taste. We seem to have become bland in our taste. We have our breakfast , lunch and dinner in a hurry and also while watching TV or playing on our phone. We do not have time to sit back and enjoy our food. We cannot distinguish between different food varieties and enjoy the diversity of food of different states in our country. If we are blind folded and asked to identify the taste of different ice cream flavours, we may fail to do so.

Life has indeed become senseless – literally and figuratively. But, whom should we blame for this state of affairs. Can we blame our ancestors or our parents ? Can we blame the society or community around us ? It is time to realize that we need to blame ourselves and nobody around us. We are responsible for this pathetic state of our senses.

In a park ( like in the photo above), you can get in touch with all your senses.

It makes sense to revive our senses to day

S Ramesh Shankar

Ways of nature

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Nature has its unique ways of surprising us every day. I would like to share a few natural phenomena in my life, which have always baffled me. I have been a student of science but have never understood any of these phenomenon and the root cause for them. It happens quite often and every time makes me believe that nature is beyond science and scientific theories.

The first phenomenon is what generically is called the biological clock. As a young student, I could never get up without the alarm clock ringing multiple times beside my bed. I even had to snooze it a few times before I actually got up. However nowadays, if I make up my mind to get up at a particular time in the morning since I have to catch up an early morning flight, I am woken up automatically a few minutes before I had planned to get up. I do keep the alarm as a precaution. But, nowadays I end up putting off the alarm before it takes off since I am already awake. I am told this is the biological clock although I have not yet understood the scientific basis for this.

The second phenomenon is referred to us “Telepathy”. Whenever you think of a close friend or relative, they either end up calling you immediately after that thought or at least text you. You are quite taken aback. When you narrate this phenomenon to them, they are not willing to believe you. In most cases, they tell that you may have dreamt about the same. This has happened to me many times in my life and I have no explanations.

The third phenomenon is that if you are honest and ethical in your life and work, you tend to get back anything you lose by accident. I have at least three experiences in my life where God has been kind to me and I have got back what I lost within minutes of the actual incident. The first incident was when I lost my wallet and Walkman in an auto at midnight at Jamshedpur in the early nineties. As soon as I realised I went back to the auto stand and could trace my auto and get back my valuables. The second instance I dropped my sling bag with my camera and calculator while I was riding a bike. This time again I got it back within half an hour as someone called my home number to inform me that they had found my bag. The third incident happened yesterday when I forgot my laptop bag with my iPad and headphones in the coffee shops of Chennai airport. Before I could call and check with anyone, I got a call from the police that they had found my bag at the coffee shop and I should return immediately and collect it. I think it pays to be honest and ethical in life and work always.

The fourth phenomenon is when you leave a place unplanned during a crisis. During the recent floods at Mumbai on 29th August 2017, I had not planned to go anywhere. However, at the last minute I was invited to inaugurate a HR conference at Manipal. That day Mumbai witnessed 310 mm of rainfall and the city was marooned. I returned the next day and city was already getting back to normalcy and there was sunshine in the evening. May be God took me away from Mumbai( the photo above) for a day to prevent me from any mishap on that fateful day.

Life is full of surprises. I am a born optimist and I have also seen that whenever I need some money urgently and did not have much in my bank account, I got some unexpected transfer to my account. It could be a dividend, which I did not expect at that time or someone returning some money they had taken during a crisis. It could be reward from my employer. God has ways of taking care of you when you need it most.

Although I am not recommending that we live life waiting for these unexpected things to happen to us. We need to slog it out and work hard to achieve our goals in life. I am only saying that if we lead a simple life, work hard and are honest in all our deeds to the best of our ability, then nature has its own ways of rewarding us. It is sometimes unbelievable but true.

Let every day be a new surprise for all of us.

S Ramesh Shankar

1st September 2017