Saturday, October 20, 2012

Twinkle twinkle little star...


Twinkle twinkle little star
Among my best friends, yes you are
Have been shining before i was born
Will shine lovingly, on the day I am gone

They have been around for millions of years; witnessed so many mini creations; shared time space with great personalities who have walked the face of the Earth. Scientifically they are burning furiously, but from the terra firma, in a lovely cloudless night, they offer the most comforting sight ever known to human beings.

Some places are full of water; other are forever green; some are deserts craving for a drop of water. And all such places are inhabited by humankind. Whatever the conditions on earth, whatever the status of life, at night, when the World sleeps, these tiny angels come out and arrange themselves into countless arrays for us to look up and forget our worries and care.


True beauty lies in randomness; where do you find such beauty in the order, human beings continously are bringing into the World? A megastore with huge pictures of beautiful faces, brilliantly lit, air conditioned are no doubt a treat for the eyes, but they fail to touch our innermost core. And this is where beauty of  randomness scores. We can make out so many things when we look at a landscape. We even have played games as children, imagining a lot of things by looking at cloud patterns.


In a similar manner, the stars offer a slate full of random dots for us to let our creativity run wild and paint all the pictures that we can ever imagine.

As a child, i had been curious to know how a star looks like. What cute imagination and questions children have - Stars are pins of light floating in the air. The drawing teacher says the stars look like 5 pointed object, but i cannot see those points. How are these things floating out there?


Time passes and science starts revealing the true and not so beautiful face of creation.  - Ohh, so its a big ball of fire like our sun. So interesting it looks like this and actually feels so cooling:); Oh stars have lifetimes, and burst apart...what will happen when our sun bursts apart. Gosh what a terrible moment that would be!!

Ideas came in, facts poured, scientific theories keep me engrossed. But at the end of the day, all that i loved was looking into the skies, thinking about the constellations and their stories.

We knew this pauranic story of how Prince Dhruva, son of King Uttanapada, was not given his rightful place, simply because his mother was not the king's favorite. This strong willed child undertook arduous penance and obtained the highest position ever obtainable - the position of the Pole Star.


The story says that pole star is the brightest star in the sky, maybe to make the story sound more impressive. I used to see the brightest star in the sky but what puzzled me is that it wasn't in the North, and by theory, the Pole star is in the north. Eventually i realised that the star i was looking at was called Sirius (Reminded of Sirius Black? An amazing character from Harry Potter he was...:))

I had this small booklet which illustrated the constellations of the night sky. It spoke of the various stories each of the constellation was associated with. From there i was able to identify Orion and the Great Bear, and they remain, till date, my most favorite constellations.

Orion, the Hunter
The Great Bear(Sapta rishi)

As per chinese atronomy, the night sky has 28 main constellations - 7 in each direction.


Each direction has a God associated. Suzaku for the east, Genbu for the north, Byyaku for the west  and Sairo for the south. 


A time comes when each of these Gods has to be offered a virgin maiden. It is then that by the medium of  The Book of the Four Gods, that a virgin maiden from Earth is sucked into an imaginary World. She is assisted by Seven Star Warriors, each of them representing a constellation in the direction of the God who has to be appeased. The virgin, with the assistance of the warriors has to pass a number of tests, and eventually be offered to the God. Then alone shall peace and order prevail...


This, in brief, is the concept on which an anime series titled Fushiigi Yugi (The Mysterious Play) is based. I had seen it in the year 2000. A very romantic series, it had some amazing music and melodrama. But what it revived in me more strongly was my old love for the stars. I would try to find the constellations in the sky, but in vain.

The theme song of Miaca (the maiden of Suzaku) would run in my mind; i would imagine myself to be Tamahome, Miaca's love interest and one of the Suzaku seven star warriors. What a macho character he was! He had the symbol of the constellation on his forehead. Aah, so many fantasies i had whenever i used to sit outside my house and look at those stars. The memory itself makes me feel happy:)


Twinkle twinkle little star
Among my best friends, yes you are
In all this life that i have known
A lot of care, that you have shown

The next opportunity of stargazing was when i went to Raigad for the NSS camp. It was the night of the Christmas eve. One of our senior council members, an avid star gazer, was giving a brief presentation on constellations to my fellow folks. I saw them, looked above and God! what an awesome view it was! It was one of those rare moments when the heart is filled with an unknown, boundless happiness, and one feels happy to have lived his life, since the present moment has come to pass by.

So many stars, these city eyes had never seen
The last time they had seen them, they had grown scared
A childish fear inside the silly heart
Of the whole sky falling on the little ones head...:)

I joined in, and spoke of all that i knew around the subject. And then an amazing discussion ensued - went on to philosophy, history and all that i had known from my studies of books. The night was a rewarding one - for i won a lot of admirers and also won a real special friend, who has been an inseparable part of my life ever since.

Towards the end of engineering, I felt i had finally found my twin star; those were star studded days of my life! And then it ended even before its first anniversary. The timing was so bad - I had to leave for Mysore for my Infosys training, and i was shattered. The confidence, the calm poise, the faith in Goodness - all up in smoke. My twin star had chosen to fly past the beautiful night sky..

.
The training days were good, despite my bad moods. I was scared of a lot of things - at time of not performing well. My friend from the NSS camp episode was the only one comforting me in those days. Did i have any more friends who were around? To know the answer, all i had to do was raise my head a little more than an average infoscion in Mysore does and look at the night sky.

There have been times, fate has been mean
And in such nights, what a friend have you been!
Ever un-changing, pleasant to behold
Forever young, no one can say you're old

As they say, heartbreak does make you realise that the ones who love you are always around you. Its just that you were blind to their affection all this while. Life stays worth living in the face of adversities.


My good old friends made me strong, silently watching me from up above when i used to go on friday nights to do my laundry. While i was walking from the training centre to my room, i used to think - you guys just don't change. I can afford to smile each time i see you. No ego issues, no insecurities. And boundless love we can have for each other.

In a way, these friends have taught me a lot about life in general. 

One man cannot do much, the beauty lies in being together. 

Clouds may come and go, and we may lose sight of each other at times, but we should remember that our loved ones are just 'round the corner, silently praying for us. 

True love is eternal - not bound by factors of gender, numbers or any barrier. It is not simply what a man feels for a woman - there is always a hint of lust in there. It is rather based on friendship, and one should never feel sorry when one loves another. For we all are meant to live and love like friends, just like the twinkling stars in the sky....

This life of mine, is forever blessed
For it has the nights, my soul has been caressed
By your twinkles so pleasant and mild
Making me wonder, like a child...:)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Twinkle twinkle..lil star! What is the so-called fascination with Samurai? What is Samurai and how do you see yourself as one? How do you relate yourself as a lone warrior?

Shrinath Shenoy said...

Things evolve. I had seen this anime series named Samurai X way back in 2004. Incidentally i happened to open this gmail id at that time. So i kept the id as samurai.shenoy..that is how samurai came to be stuck with my name.

Beyond this, the philosophy of the main character inspired me. To be of use to the world with the help of his sword; a sword that saves and does not kill.

Just like all of us, I have always dreamt of changing the world to make it better, with the sword Lord God has given me. And I know that the path to achieve this objective isnt an easy one. I have experienced a lot of lonely moments; maybe coz i am not so good at getting along with all kinds of people.

But yes, i am lone, and I am a warrior - a warrior of Light. I use that term since i follow Paulo Coelho's books too...:)

By the way, any specific reason for posting as anonymous?...you could at least specify your name. Feels good to know the name of the one I am talking to.

Thanks,
Shrinath

Usha. said...

Awesome! yes, ditto for me in chennai..i had taken to star gazing..similar thoughts ran in my mind. they are eternal,always there..

P.S. : If someone has left, they arn't ur twin star..if they indeed were, they'd stick through out..all the way to the end. any reasons (excuses in disguise) given for not staying back are bullshit.

Saurav Motiramani said...

awesome post .

ASBS said...
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