Of Kites and Coincidences….

D and I had taken KTB to Forest Park, and we found a beautiful kite up in the air, that we could see far away….

We realized that the kite was flying from a point where two people were sitting, comfortably, on folding chairs, talking.

I went up to them and complimented them on the beauty of the kite. The lady said her name was Jackie, and said she’d bought the kite three years ago….but this was the first time she was flying it….

And, also, this was their first date! The happiness on their faces told me very clearly that it was going very well indeed. I wished them the best, and they asked me to take a photo of them with the sunset and the kite in the background:

I obliged, and gave them my visiting card, so that they could email me and I could send them the photos.

However, as the days passed, I never heard from them, and just gave it up as one of those encounters that often don’t come to anything more.

Day before yesterday, I took KTB for a walk in the park, and it was a long ramble…6pm to 8.30pm, from front door to front door (yes, with a 3-year-old in a stroller, a ramble of about 3.5 miles, with stops for birding, duck-chasing by KTB, turtle-watching and owl-watching by both of us, AND a stop at the playground…. IS long one, I can assure you.)

I was crossing the road near the Visitors’ Center on my way home, and a convertible stopped for me. (This is going to KILL me when I get back home, I always feel. Traffic comes to an IMMIJET halt when anyone STEPS on the road….and if there is a baby carriage, double that. When I come to India, I’ll do the same thing, and be Deepa Chutney in no time at all….)

As I crossed, I heard yells of “Madam! MADAM!: and looked back…to see that same couple, Frank and Jackie, in the convertible (with the top down due to lovely weather), trying to get me to hear! Jackie told me she had emailed me twice but that it had bounced (why, I have no idea…) So I took Frank’s visiting card, this time, and I have just finished sending him the pictures of both of them, with the kite in the background.

What are the odds of our crossing each other’s paths in Forest Park, at that spot, at that instant, I wonder? What a coincidence!

I hope to be able to meet them once I am back from my Carnatic music concert (oh, yes, I am giving one on the 16th in Memphis, Tennessee, they wanted a repeat of

last year

and I am thrilled!)

Here’s a silhouette of Frank and Jackie, too:

Q. What is coincidence?

A. When a metal piece of currency is seen randomly on your path….

Coincidence….

When I was in St Louis, I would, once in a while, buy the New York Times newspaper and bring it home. Once, when I did this, and was reading it, I came across an article on migrant birds being possible carriers of the Avian flu…and there was a picture of BAR-HEADED GEESE which was credited to M.Niranjan , who was not mentioned by name in the article.

I mailed Niri (I met him through the JLRNTP) at once, and it was very nice when he came home with Deepak to collect the newspaper.

The coincidence?

When a few of us had gone to Devarayanadurga, the TV Channel, “Kasturi”, had taped an interview with some of us (anirudhc, mamtanaidu, and Seshadri) and asked me to say what we were doing in the place, and to request for a hit Kannada song. Of course I requested a song from “Mungaru Male”!

And last Saturday, when I was sitting near my front gate, idly photographing the Brahminy Kite and wondering when I would get back in my flat, being locked out…Niri phoned and told me that he had just switched on the TV, and I was on the air with my friends, asking for the song! “Quick, quick, switch on the TV!” he said. I told him that I was giving our security guards some company for a while!

How funny that when one person has something to do with the media, the other person spots it, and it works in reverse, too!

Don’t miss this entry on Niri’s blog!

Here’s a BLUE-TAILED DRAGONFLY at Namada Chilume, Devarayanadurga:

Bath, bucket and beyond..

…

This morning, I was ruminating while having my usual bucket-and-mug bath…which form of bathing takes the least amount of precious water?

Hadn’t got around to getting to write about it, and I looked at my friends’ page..and there was knutties writing on the exact same identical topic yesterday.( I only saw it today, though….yesterday my laptop-to-mains wire gave way where KM had helpfully soldered it, and I was off the net for quite a while, until KM helpfully re-soldered it for me this morning.)

http://knutties.livejournal.com/31020.html

And my response:

this is amazing, this morning while bathing I was musing on which way would be most economical of water and I see this post now….

I disagree with you though. I think the bucket and mugis the most economical. The hand shower often runs far, far longer than necessary. With a b-and-m, you know exactly how much water you have (I always use three fourths of my bucket…a throwback to very hard times in Chennai, which I will never get out of my system.)Another point is that the temperature of the bucket of water is constant unlike the hand-shower which can scald you sometimes, and freeze you at others when someone opens the hot water tap at the washbasin (experience talking!) And of course, you agree that water is not “on tap” in many places!

OK, I am still going to post about this!! But I am so tickled that we should be thinking about bath, buckets and beyond on the same day!

To wind up on a very nice note…I was enjoying the hot bucket-bath, and the thought crossed my mind….having a hot bath on a chill, cloudy day is like…the embrace of a lover…the only difference is, the latter warms one up mentally and physically…

A co-incidence in the date…

…

Yesterday, I went for a drive with my close friends, and remarked that it had been a long time since we had done a “singing” drive….they pick me up, the entire family of parents and 3 children, and we go for a long drive during which we all sing….and Jayesh said, why don’t you sing now? So I sang one of his favourites, “Aap ki nazrOn nE samjhA”.

I came back home, and late at night, was rooting around my LJ entries trying to find something else I had written….and found this. Look at the date…what a coincidence!

Saturday, July 16th, 2005

11:26 pm

Rain and warmth…. Close friends picked up, packed me in their Tavera… a family of 5 who included me in their evening drive through the pouring rain, while we individually and together, sang favourite songs….rain is wonderful…IF you have a nice warm place to shelter in, your livelihood doesn’t depend on the weather, and you are assured that you will have a hot meal when you feel hungry….how lucky we are. Current Mood: thankful Current Music: still singing from the car trip…. J

amazing coincidences…

Got a call from someone today, regarding the article I had written in the Deccan Herald about Quizfamilies, the monthly family quiz group I moderate….there have been several responses, many of whom actually turned up at this month’s quiz…..well, anyway, today the lady who called was brought up in Calcutta, has an only daughter who is married and in the US, the daughter is called Deepa but with a li attached at the end….we had a long conversation and I am thoroughly enjoying having many new people to meet!