Suprabhatham

 

A household tradition just got revamped – as though with sounds emerging from the skies, with the entire solar system waking up and coming to life, with the purpose of waking up the Supreme. Every word chanted with immense lucidity. The background score is perfect and complementing, it is intended to wake up the Lord after all, so it has to be special.

It’s almost as if you’re transported to the sanctum sanctorum of a temple and standing before Maha Vishnu with folded arms, with rapt devotion and attention. The chant echoes better in the ears as it has special effects which makes it sound like you are listening to a group of people who are standing before the Lord, chanting, in order to wake up the Lord Himself.

Suprabhatam, indeed. For it isn’t just a morning, or a good morning. Suprabhatam has a better ring to it – for it truly means auspicious morning. Su = auspicious and prabhatam = morning. And this isn’t a trite tradition, cliched with the picture of a coffee cup. It’s an adjectivized waking – studded with colors, fragrances, flavors and stories about the Lord. Imagine if someone woke you up like that every day, wouldn’t the morning be auspicious, a gratifying way of waking up? But there’s only so much to a mortal human’s limits, it can get contemptuous. Not quite the case when it comes to the Immortal – there’s no dearth for satiation, there’s beauty oozing out every day, there’s silence and a never-ending satisfaction.

This is the tradition of Suprabhatham, dating back to 14^th century, (Wiki fact – written in 1430 A.D. by Prativādibhayaṅkara Śrī Anantācārya also known as Annangaracharyar, and P B Annan). The first sloka in suprabhatham is from the epic Ramayana written by Vathmiki maharshi who was Ratnakara, a decoit earlier. Sage Viswamithra in order to wake up Sri Rama said "Kausalya Supraja Rama......"This happened in Tretha yuga. We’ve grown up listening to our dear MS Subbulakshmi who still continues to divinize each morning with her voice and rendition of the Shri Venkateshawara Suprabhatham. It is so ubiquitous, that the smell of coffee, combined with the fragrance of incense sticks and MS’ voice in the background is the formula for a perfect morning scene. Not sure if anyone of us wanted to necessarily pay attention to the lyrical glory embedded in it though.

This is no degradation of MS’ version, for it could’ve been so due to external constraints – of which we’d not want to get into the details here. Probably none of us (we laymen) thought that there could be another version of the Shri Venkateshawara Suprabhatham, with such divine, calming fervor in the rendition.

2 weeks into its release, this version of Suprabhatham from Madhavan’s movie – Rocketry, has already replaced my existing morning routine and it has been nothing short of a blissful morning, every single day. As much as I’d like to avoid banality, this version of the hymn is certainly worth replacement, for it helps give a great jump start to the day, regardless of how hectic the day might unfold to be. There’s a certain impetus that it renders to the day, and makes mornings really Su, Prabhathams – quite free-flowing and glowing. For that matter any version of it should still impact the day positively because it’s the Lord’s glory that’s being sung after all. Personally, this version has a slower cadence, which is what makes this one stand out. This post is not written with the intention to compare. What’s key is the divine hymn itself, every day.

So good morning or Suprabhatham? Have a good day ahead 😊

 

A chat that’s dead

The rapid death of a chat: in person and in groups.

WhatsApp’s newest feature of a collection of pre-decided standard emojis (possibly decided based on a survey of the most used emojis - a highly data-driven output): 

thumbs-up, praying symbol, heart, surprise, cwl (crying with laughter) and a sad face with a tear drop. Well, this is how it started with, and then Whatsapp decided to add the rest of the emoji library in say 2 weeks, very magnanimous with emoji options hahah!

What used to be a chat that’s quoted and replied to, has been truncated to a mere set of emojis that Meta decided to introduce as a recent feature. 

Instagram has this feature as well, however there somehow seems more personalisation to it. At least, there is a notification on the inside of the app (in-app notification?), showing how someone reacted to a certain message of yours. 

WhatsApp does tell you if you received an emoji response to what you shared with so much fervour (lol), however, it gets muddled with the many notifications on your phone, that when you open the app, you don’t have something in-app to filter out and show you what emoji you got. Hahaha.

The time spent in writing actual responses seems to be rationed, even if someone truly had a lot to say or comment on a post or a picture. New features are supposed to tighten ties and not sever, aren’t they? After all, with every process improvement you add, you’re expected to gain efficiency and time. In the work world, you add more work to this newly gained “pocket of time,” that was hiding somewhere behind the clock, and you suddenly feel as though someone gave you an extra couple hours in a day, as a bonus for being smart and efficient! Congratulations, you’re rewarded with more work!! Haha 

Ok and in the WhatsApp world, it’s your personal space after all. What would otherwise be a well-thought of, time-spent written message, is now just a double tap with some emoji that sticks out. Poof! You’re done ‘replying’ to someone, at least, so you think. Like really? Since we’re talking personal time here, you can do anything you want with this newly gained time, by not actually bothering to reply. 

What does this activity give back to you? Mindless scrolling and that’s it. The internet and its messaging offsprings are sure great inventions to stay connected with our near and dear ones. There are those genuine people, who actually take the time out, EVERY TIME, and reply to messages, and also use the new feature to the conversation’s advantage and fortify a messaging relationship. That’s if they wanted to. 

For that matter, anything can be used either to make or break. The choice is ours. But that’s where the challenge is - you throw the feature out there and expect people to do what they want with it, however we’re just not too very adept at using good discretion. Features will need to be forced on us to be more responsive perhaps. Truly there would be no such thing though, for it boils down to what you’re habituated to. Simply put, if you wanted, you could.

On the other hand, Everyone is busy and wants to get back to some mindless scrolling where there is no response required. You’re only a spectator after all. 

Thus died the chat, a rather rapid death?

Passion Fruit - an experience.

 

Strictly for someone who is already highly romantic, a little romantic, or at least someone willing to understand what it is like, to be romantic.

Having said that, I’d rate this as an erotic fruit, so much so that, I’d elevate it to the state of The Forbidden Fruit. Such is the beauty of this passion fruit. 

Eat it with a spoon, and the charm is lost. Eat it with your hand, slightly better. But when you suck it up slowly, as though you are gently in search of a pair of lips in front of you, you do justice to this passion fruit’s very existence. 

For there’s no better way of relishing, (not eating) this juicy, sweet and sour, slightly fleshy, like a thin layer of fruity derma. 

A nice looking small-sized red cricket-ball like structure on the outer. Within this house, lives this seedy passion. The inside of the fruit’s skin is softer, which makes it compatible to hold the fleshy fruity derma and its antioxidant-rich seeds. This is one of those few fruits, whose seeds double up as the fruit itself. 

You slide a knife through its centre to have two equal halves. What you behold is pure passion, that’s oozing out, waiting to be sucked up. Just as how you wait with passion when you meet your significant other after a brief separation. 

A passion fruit is not just eaten, it’s relished - by first taking in a deep breath of its fine natural fruity aroma. A touch is irresistible after all, when you have something that passionate in front of you, so you feel the fruity derma by running your index finger through it for a quick few and then without further ado, just slurrrrp!! You can’t but impulsively close your eyes while doing this. Can anyone kiss for long with their eyes open, after all? And without a doubt, the experience is surreal. You cannot stop until all of the seedy fruit derma is sucked up like a noodle. This is the very reason why eating it with a spoon kills the charm of eating this fruit. It’s a new, passionate, experience each time you lay your hand on this beauty.

Perhaps this is how and why it got its name - Passion Fruit.

What are you waiting for? Go find a passion fruit and relish it for yourself to experience a fruity romance. Even if you aren’t a romantic, I hope this post changes you from being a hopeless, to a hopeful romantic. ❤️😍

Signing off, after a passion fruit high. See you soon with a new post! Until then, I’ll have a fruitgasm with this nature’s bounty - Passion Fruit.