Travelling Times

     I hope the title is not misleading enough to describe this post as a testimonial to the wonderful clan of people situated in Southern India (pun intended). So let's get this straight, "The Apple" is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family (Rosaceae) and is a perennial. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans.      Our long standing relationship with this passionate fruit supposedly starts from the advent of the human race, providing us with a one-way ticket from the garden of Eden to the bowels of Earth. As a result, in the story of Adam and Eve, the apple became a symbol for knowledge, immortality, temptation, the fall of man into sin, and sin itself.      If that wasn't bad enough, Sir Isaac Newton decided to blame the forces of gravitation explicably as the reason we ...

"Autumn wins you best by this, its mute Appeal to sympathy for its decay."     The word fall is now mostly a North American English word for the season, Autumn. It traces its origins to old Germanic languages. The exact derivation is unclear, the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall all being possible candidates. However, these words all have the meaning "to fall from a height" and are clearly derived either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in 16th century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year".     The two countries that I have lived in never managed to define this one season. Oman was located in the middle of the desert, and India had its share of summer and heavy monsoon rains. So as a kid, the only choice left was to define my imagination of Autumn from vivid descriptions in the works of Enid Blyton and Osc...

     "There is a legend about a bird that sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. Dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of the great pain. … Or so says the legend." ~ Colleen McCullough.      I've always looked up to this quote for inspiration, to ensure that my efforts are never wasted and to maximise the fruits it bears. Whenever I decide to write, the first thought that surges through the back of my head is whether i would be interested in reading something like this. Contrary to common belief that we write f...