By Sasi Roopan

Darkness surges over the endless void,
Still ness cleft,
I was diving into unfathomed depths,
Yearning for the pearls of past.
Outside, the wind whimpers,
The last star is wrapped up in the pall of a burial cloud,
Dry leaves swoon down,
Disturbing the haunting silence.
One…two…and a great many.

With a burning wheel around my broken neck,
I tramp the fiery path leading to a handful of dust,
A voiceless cry falters out from my barren throat,
The savage wheel winds round my body,
Weary and worn I’m
The spikes pick out my dried-up eyes
The wing-cut song less bird breathes quietness.

Walking enraptured
Down memory lane,
I find her playing with a Catherine wheel,
In the valley of innocence.
I lit the wheel,
It cast an El Dorado!
Withered and vanished the next moment,

Then I remembered the springs of her smiles….
Then I shivered in her long and forlorn winters……..
Vampires hovered over my head for centuries…………

The aged sea wails in the dark
No fear, she is wildly kind!
Who called me out in the mid-night storm?
Oh you! I but must come.

(Published in Gulf News)

For those who are interested in astronomy March 29 will be an important day. We are going to miss our dear sun for a short time.

According to NASA Website the Earth is going to witness a Light and Shadow Play on the ‘One Million MM Celluloid of the Firmament Theatre!’  .  Yes, a Solar Eclipse is going to happen on March 29^th.  On that day, a total Solar Eclipse will occur when the New Moon moves directly between the sun and the earth shutting the sun out complete for a short duration.  Antalya, the southern province of Turkey along the Mediterranean Coast is gearing up to witness the rare phenomenon the totality of which is expected to last will last for three minutes and forty one seconds.

Solar Eclipse normally appears three times every four years.  Unlike lunar eclipses solar eclipses are viewable only in a narrow streak across the globe which makes witnessing them rare. 

For many a century eclipses were considered as bad omen forerunning catastrophes and great destructions.  Japanese used to cover their wells thinking that they would be poisoned.  Indians were afraid of the harmful rays of the moon emitted during the eclipse. Scandinavians and Babylonians believed that natural calamities and diseases would happen under a solar or lunar eclipse hence they used to lie down with their faces to the ground to avoid getting pox. Eskimos used to perform animal sacrifices to satisfy their gods.  Even human sacrifices were not uncommon in such observances to satiate the moon so that it would allow the sun to reappear! In China and Korea people believed that dragons were eating the moon and they used to gather to make loud noises hitting pots and pans to scare them away! 

There are amusing stories in the history which tell us how some people used other’s ignorance with a view to achieving personal benefits. Once a solar eclipse
saved the great navigator Christopher Columbus and his crew from a di
saster. In 1504 Columbus ‘the Master of the Atlantic’ who was voyaging across
Atlantic arrived on the  Jamaican Islands being run out of supplies. His hull of the vessel needed urgent repairs as well. But to his greatest dismay he found that the islanders were not ready to sell any foodstuff or to help him in any manner. As he was pondering over various ways to tackle the situation he remembered that there was a lunar eclipse going to happen the next day. Columbus claimed that he had an important mes sage to be delivered to the islanders from their God. He asked the tribal leaders to meet him in an open space.  He said to the gathering, Look Your mighty God is angry with you and your people because you did not help me He is going to deprive you of moonlight and sun light.  Moon light will di
sappear from the island for ever…..” The tribal people were not convinced and they started making fun of him. Columbus shouted “Look….at the sky. See the anger of your God with your own eyes…”.  Suddenly the moon eclipsed! The people were terrified to see the anger of their God falling upon them. They begged Columbus to accept their help and in turn plead their God for forgiveness on their behalf!

People have worshipped the Sun deity for centuries and the motif of the ‘missing sun’ has become a theme of various cultures. Many beliefs and legends about Sun God were evolved. Egyptians had a solar deity Ra; Japanese had Amratesu (Shintoism) , the Vedas of the Hindus had Surya or Savithar.  The Gayathri Mantra which is considered as the most sacred hymn is dedicated to the Sun God. Unlike other cultures the Chinese did not personify the Sun of the Moon which was due to the influence of Taoism and the yin and yang concepts originated in Chinese philosophy which described the two primal opposing but complementary forces found in all things in the universe the yin being the passive and darker element and yang the brighter and active one.   Lord Buddha believed in Nature and the laws of Nature but never advised personification of any natural phenomenon or planets or stars as per the three fundamentals he taught namely Anitya, Anishwara and Anatma.

For us an eclipse is nothing but an astronomical event.  We may get permanent eye damage if we fail to adopt precautions while watching solar eclipse. We should never view the sun directly with the naked eye or with any unfiltered binoculars or other such devices lest partial or total blindness will result. The
safe way is to project the image of the sun through a telescope onto a white screen or wall and to observe.

By Sasi Roopan

How did April Fool’s Day originate? Of course I may be the only one among thousands who must be pondering the origin of this Special Day of pure merriment. I hope nobody will disagree when I say that there is an ambiguity surrounding April Fool’s Day. Mark Twain the greatest American Writer once said “The First of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year!”

Most of us remember and many of us celebrate April Fool’s Day. Some people play funny tricks on friends and relatives while others remain as smiling victims to the innocent excesses of their loved ones.

I have checked out various sites and sources to know the origin of this Day. According to one source until the mid-sixteenth century, French people celebrated the New Year on April 1st. In 1562 the new Christian Calendar introduced by Pope Gregory X111 changed the date of the New Year to January 1st. News of this sudden change reached late in many parts of France. Those poor uninformed souls (without email Ids.) living in villages and remote regions who had celebrated New Year on April 1st were referred to as April Fools and had tricks played on them. Another version slightly different from the above is that it was Charles 1X who brought out the new calendar in 1564. Anyway this tradition was passed on to England, Scotland and made its way through centuries to various countries. We can conclude that there is no conclusive conclusion as regards to the origin of the Day.

I have many a remembrances of April Fool’s Day with various hues and colours. As far as I remember, my first April Fool’s Day memory relates to the suicide news of a villager named Penjore, whom I knew for long. Nobody knew why he chose such a day for his ascension to the heavenly abode. At first everyone took that early morning news on April 1st as hoax. By late evening only the news was confirmed and Police called in. The whole day Poor Penjore had to remain hung on the tree. I think our Fire Brigade brethren all over the world are victims of hoax fire alerts on April Firsts.

Observance of such funny occasions is meant for pure merriment to ease our tensed life. Boundaries crossed, they become a menace to society as a whole. Everyone should remember not to cross the limits while playing tricks on others. When we target our friends and relatives on this day our purpose should be sublimated to play only funny and harmless practical jokes on them. If the ethos of the occasion is not respected and followed in its true spirit we will be belittling ourselves to genuine fools.

By Sasi Roopan

Everyone and everything has a story to tell about the past and Ahalia News is no exception to this Universal law. When Umesh wrote me that their in-house magazine would be celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, I felt myself bubbling with excitement; furthermore, I was over the moon when he asked me for a write-up on my early experiences with the magazine.  Celebrating tenth anniversary is indeed a great achievement as far as an in-house literary magazine is concerned.  If a child draws a good picture, we appreciate it, but if a painter made something similar, we are less likely to do so because it is nothing but normal for the painter.

Remembering is not merely an act of nostalgic yearning for times bygone, but it is analyzing yourself and appreciating your past actions.   It enriches your enjoyment and expands your emotional territories slowly and steadily. It’s fun to think back over the years and chuckle about those personal experiences.  As I sit writing about AN, my wandering mind gets filled with great rejoicings. Ah, my days in Abu Dhabi! I find that portion of my past endlessly fascinating.

I landed in Abu Dhabi in 1990 with the help of Dr. V. S. Gopal (condensed into V.S.G.), the wonderful visionary behind Ahalia Group. The story of Ahalia is like what Emily Dickinson once
said “from cocoon forth a butterfly emerged…..”  V.S.G. both as an individual and as an entrepreneur is a person who always puts his best foot forward.  He is intuitive as well as innovative. What attracted me most was his simple, unpretentious, graceful and caring nature which as far as I knew would never say no for an answer.    Ahalia of those days was a small family consisting just 55 members which was destined to grow and branch out into various new directions. Whether it is before or after my one and half year’s employment with Ahalia, I have always kept a good rapport with most of the Staff and especially with V.S.G. at the helm.  To speak of my Abu Dhabi days! I had enough free time, good job, and good friends circle…weekly blasts in Dubai… I was literally enjoying my halcyon bachelor days! 

My happiness knew no bounds when V.S.G. called me up one day to invite me to attend the formal releasing ceremony of the maiden issue of the Group’s in-house magazine which was called Ahalia News (abbreviated to AN)  I was well aware of his keen interest in literature. I knew that he used to write short stories and articles during his student days.  I was a little
disappointed as I was not told of anything about the new literary shuttle before it was ready on the launch pad. Nevertheless, I was prepared to offer all my assistance to bring out further issues of the magazine in a better manner.  V.S.G. asked me to act as ex-officio editor to give necessary guidance and assistance to those who were in the Editorial Panel.  With head over my heels I accepted his request and was in full spate soon.  If my memory is correct the first editorial panel had Dr. Muhammed, Radhika, and Clancy as members. Clancy left the stage soon after raising the curtain, never to turn up again! 

The inaugural issue of the magazine looked very simple. True, a picture paints a thousand words!  The most striking feature of that issue, as in the case of many to follow, was the amazing front cover which spoke much about the talented photographer in V.S.G.  Radhika’s half-page personal musings was also noteworthy. Thara’s sketches gave an added attraction to the issue.

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow…….!  Great things start with small beginnings. When we brought out the second issue, it was far superior to the first one in form and content.   Nonetheless, V.S.G. seemed to have expected more from me. He told me “you have achieved only 85% improvement”.  Thenceforth, I steeped myself in the process of preparing the magazine in the best way possible.  There were two main reasons for my great interest in the magazine.  One of course was my allegiance to V.S.G. as a person whom I always loved and respected as my own brother.  The second reason was my discomfiture with the literary forums of the domineering Indian cultural organizations, national as well as regional, functioning in the capital. Though I shared their platforms on many occasions, I was not comfortable with their narrow and biased views (viewed in my personal perspective) pertaining to arts and literature; I knew I was driving my ducks to a poor market!  Hence I wanted to be expressive of myself and dearly needed a forum for that.   Consequentially, my regular columns started appearing in the AN for a long period of time.

I had that carte blanche given by V.S.G; the free reign to choose whatever manner I wanted the magazine to be.  I always asked him for his ideas and opinions which could be absorbed into the making of the magazine but  a busy person that he was, he could seldom guide me in that respect which was pretty understandable.  However, I would never allow the new issue to go out without his final approval. For a while Shankar who was the Human Resources Manager of the Group showed some interest in the magazine but later he passed the buck on me and took a back seat.  But, he was always appreciative of my time and energy devoted to the magazine and had a strong opinion that I should be paid for the work I was doing!  I did not know how far he was convinced when I told him that I preferred my contributions to Ahalia News to remain always honorary though I was giving my whole nine yards to it.

Astrid Fernandez was the longest-serving editor of AN.  Her contribution to the making of the magazine was praiseworthy.  As for her, the toughest role in the entire process was getting articles from Ahalians! She kept egging them on to become poets and writers and in return she was given a cold shoulder by most of them!  Astrid even invented and added an amusing term to English Dictionary, a term for pressurizing her colleagues to contribute articles. At times she adopted a stern “your article or your life’ attitude to get literary stuff for the magazine!    We used to go to the press at odd hours when the composers would be relatively free and to sit with them for hours together to squeeze the maximum out of them. It was not an easy job any way.   One has to mind others P’s and Q’s as well as his!   The Press Co-coordinator Rodriguez was a smart guy who wanted to see the magazine designed in the most attractive manner as possible. He also had a safe pair of hands to trust in any related tasks. Last but not the least, there were others worthy of mention, Tharaka, Nandkumar with their professional artistic skills and Anthony Davis who used to help me in giving funny captions to each snap in the photo pages. Though we found only very few talented writers among the staff, we wanted every piece we got laid out in lavender.  At least a few took it as vainglorious when we claimed that AN was the best in-house magazine- in style and content- which was being published in the Middle East during those days. But that was the fact. It excelled even the annual souvenirs of many big organizations. 

One special incident I would never ever forget in my life I can speak openly of now! I was working for a national insurance company then.  My job as Marine Surveyor which required frequent going outs helped me a lot in managing the magazine affairs during the prime hours of the day.  It does not mean that I was evading my duties!   After completing the survey assignment, I would head for the Press located little away from the city. I never even hesitated to spend my/my company’s valuable time for AN while I was in the office on duty. . (He who hesitates is lost!). But there happened a blot on the landscape! One day I was caught red-handed by the Head of the Department. Sitting in the office during duty hours, I was engrossed in proofreading AN as it was ‘very urgent!’ I knew I had landed in the soup! He looked extraordinarily serious and did not say anything to me at that point of time. But after a few days he conveyed me the ‘message’ through a common friend which was very gentle, clear and cautionary”.Sasi, mind you are being paid for the company’s job; not for the job you are doing for a private publication, that too  sitting in the company’s  office….” I felt sad at his reaction though I knew such things in any office are a no-no.  He was gem of a person, so friendly with me, and the best senior I ever had in my life. He was hundred percent correct and had the complete right to warn me so. But I trust I was also not wrong, whatever the reasons were; for me, the two jobs- editing and insurance- in terms of importance were much of a muchness; it was hard to make a preference between them! Come hell or high water, I wished and wanted to be involved.! I would never have done such a thing was it not for Ahalia.  Similar situations repeated when I was working for a German multi-national.  One day my German Chief was frantically searching for me for something very important and urgent; But I was in the press giving the last minutes cosmetic touches to the AN’s latest issue.  And my mobile was switched off to avoid any interruptions!  Poor German Boss, he had too much trust in me and easily convinced that I was attending some other ‘top urgent’ meeting somewhere. For me it was very urgent; the magazine was to be released the following day!   All those pains used to vanish into thin air when I would get the first copy hot off the press with its smell of newness.

One should be prepared to carry a load of curses on his head if he wants to become an editor and I had carried them in tons!  However, it was amusing to sit and watch few budding poets and writers getting hurt when they saw slight corrections done to their creations which actually enhanced their immature way of expression. It seemed as if every word they wrote was divine and unalterable; wet behind their ears, they did not know we would not have got a great poet as T.S. Eliot if there were no great an editor as Ezra Pound.

When I met my waterloo and bade adieu to Abu Dhabi in 2000, I had too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave from my much-loved milieu. I bet my bottom dollar to continue there but in vain. There lies a written scroll on everyone’s crown and he should obey the writing! After many wanderings I have come to this place where my muse has deserted me in the back of beyond. The book of my literary life remains closed, the candle is quenched and the bell is tolling. May I relive those interesting Abu Dhabi times again!

I have not seen Ahalia News for long, at least for two years.  I am unaware of the changes it might have undergone by now.   But the very fact that it continues to exist, in what manner I don’t know, is really self-gratifying. It’s my hope and prayers that may Ahalia News soar into further heights on its strong and colorful wings. My only regret is that I am not in Abu Dhabi to be with that visionary behind all these who has been wading across the terrible ordeals of life.   He has cared me so much.  And in return my heart reaches out to him everyday through silent prayers whispered in my quiet solitudes.

End of Story! Let me sign off saying good night Gracie to all.  Thanks.

I’m looking towards the shore of Infinity

Through the small window of my birth

Confined in this golden cage my Soul sings to Eternity

Yearning to take wing to the free expanses away from the chain of rebirths

Who pulls me back? My feathers become numb and heavy!

The Long-lost Past or the Yet-not-born Future?

Or the worries and vagaries of the Present Day?

My heart whimpers for dreams unable to nurture

Twilight fades away and darkness veils the wilds afar

My body aches, but my soul vibrates, it’s time to fly off

Before dreams, gains, losses and desires devour

Breaking all the frets and fetters for a final sign off!  

By Sasi Roopan