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Downtime at Detroit

After six odd of weeks of counting the to-dos on an almost daily basis, the prospect of doing nothing was quite appealing. That was how the 3 days at Detroit were planned. Despite being secretly aware of the inevitable spoilers, we were looking forward to the opportunity to set the clock aside, become almost anti-social [and I don’t need to play any part to be that] and allow time to meander meaninglessly.
That is what we had aimed for and that is what we got in full. So much so that this Detroit note could have easily been christened ‘An expanse’ or ‘Letting time go still’. It was neither energetic nor too quiet. Detroit [or should I say Troy] was the balm for flattening the residual mental spikes. Any flutter was left solely to the realm of the heart!

Lara and I finally got to spend some quality time together. Lazy walks [not quite early in the morning] and long talks [not too late into the night]. We were happy to let beads of time string themselves together; in their own unhurried pace. The relish of not having time to pass too fast or too slow was just rejuvenating.

Time as a dimension, has its most myriad of forms. When we are busying ourselves with something relatively mundane, it is as though time itself is in a hurried form - as if trying to charge. It is in those moments that time seems to fly – not just hours, but in days, months and years – without achieving a tiny bit. Then there are other times, when we let time embrace us, halt us, still us, and just eliminate the pretension that we are controlling it. It is in those fractions of moments that we accomplish the wisdom of a lifetime. Our state of happiness is but a manifestation of those strings of wisdom.

How often we let us stop by those pearls of wisdom or how often we whizz ourselves past them (without appreciating the jewel), are both the product and reason of whether we actually love ourselves or whether we merely want to love usRealized souls like Adi Shankaracharya or Swami Vivekananda had towering wisdom at an early age because they stopped by time often – probably every moment of their lives. Time in that sense is the most inexhaustibly resource.

Looking back, I am happy that we could allow time to just go still, even if only a tiny extent—by not living life by a man-made clock and letting the body and soul’s clock take over. We relished the joy of being connected to the pure core. The luxury of not having to play catch-up to any imaginary self-created penciled items.

Well, that was a reverie about time and time with Lara. I will always cherish Detroit for this opportunity. It was also another opportunity to delight in and to secretly admire Dad’s poise and discipline. He is the personification of uplifting spiritual energy and detached affiliations. I am often left to wonder about the beauty and positive energy of traditional Indian yoga and meditation when I interact with him. It is really amazing how both nuanced and objective the traditional Indian techniques of self-knowledge are. Equally amazing is how charity actually doesn’t ‘ begin at home’. How is it that yoga and dhyana [meditation], despite being at the door step of all Indians, do not enter inside homes in full measure – thus impeding the flow of health & happiness and efficiency & effectiveness?

It was nice to go to Michigan and be a part of growing of stories of Lara. Absorbing the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor [Lara’s Alma Mater] was another high point of the visit. –U of M was fulfilling; I just love mingling with the vibes of an educational organization [be it school, college or university]. I also had a chance to visit the historic [yes, that’s the adjective which comes to me] Ford Headquarters. That’s where Dad spent more than 25 years of his professional career. I was somewhat wide-eyed when we walked around there. The stories of Mustangs, Jaguars, the Iacocca / Ford spat, the GM-Ford-Chrysler dominance for decades [till the Japanese and Koreans made in-roads] fleeted by.

Like all amazing Oriya holidays, gastronomic delights were a high point of the visit. There was an abundance of food – including mouth-watering Sorisa Maccha [fish cooked in mustard gravy] - from Puspa Aunty’s place, as well as Dahi Bora and Aloo Dam. We did Mexican with the Mahanti’s, as well as Haagen Daaz ice-cream on another warm summer afternoon. Lara’s banana bread was a revelation, wow! The top tickle award went to Dad’s special concoction – the mild fried succulent prawns. They were the best of the delicacies. I relish his dish even now, two weeks hence. He [rather the Dad-daughter combine] quite pampered me.

Bhubaneswar
June 12 and 21, 2011

Comments

  1. Munna-Lara.....we r so very happy that you found each other......look forward to many many happy family moments for years to come:))

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