Morning Walks and Some Musings
I have since restarted my morning walk for the last two months. I had added a few kilograms to my torso that could be attributed to my son’s visit from the Netherlands. My wife’s insistence of giving him some good food that he had been deprived of long in Enschede and my sharing these foods with gay abandon indeed came at a price. As you may know, the Dutch cuisine is so bland that Unni says that bread is their best food. CHOPS, my running mates, (Cholesterol, Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar), found the season very conducive to their growth. A visit to Dr Rama Swamy, the octogenarian and gentle Physician at Kalpathy followed that confirmed my worst fears.
I walk towards the Kalpathy heritage village for a good 40 minutes’ stroll in the morning. Again in the evening, I go for another walk with Sindhu, my wife. The great Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, has taught the approach to mindfulness as we go for a walk in his famous book “The Miracle of Mindfulness “. While I walk, I stress upon my mind that “I am going to the Kalpathy Heritage Village”. By constantly being aware of this statement, I enjoy the walk while remaining in the present. There is no thought over the past or the future, just the road and the wonderful sights you see along. I salute who I see regularly, watch the stray dogs moving around, feel the cool winter breeze, observe the freshly drawn “kolams” in front of the “Agraharams”, hear the Vedic chants from many a small temple and house, smell the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from the small tea shops and feel at peace within me.
Last week, it was a pleasant surprise when Maxin James, a young
former colleague, rang me up and asked if he, with family, could call on us the
next day. He would be travelling to Calicut where his wife Greena hails from. I
was happy and asked him to join us for lunch to enjoy some good “Palpayasam” that
Sindhu would make. Maxin James had served as the Company Secretary of the
Corporate where I worked earlier. He later resigned from the job and started
practising independently. He was born and brought up in North India and
obviously, his Malayalam had an accent.
Maxin, a bright lad, had been a seeker of truth since his teens
and had dwelled deep into the ancient texts of India. Our mutual interests
brought us close. In 2014, he wrote and published “A Monk and His Girlfriend” a
book that told the story of the yearnings of Kartik, a young monk. In the book releasing
ceremony at Press Club, Ernakulum, welcoming the guests, I introduced the book
drawing a parallel to Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. M.K.Sanu Master had
chaired the function where he mentioned my speech and concurred with my
observations. Maxin’s talent was evident in the book. Interestingly, he had not
read Siddhartha.
Maxin’s wife Greena was earlier a faculty in Psychology at the
St Theresa’s College, Ernakulum. Now she seems to be into the more arduous task
of being the homemaker with two young boys under two to look after. Maxin’s
older son, aged two -fondly called Joppen- brought us a lot of joy with his
innocent mannerisms and little talks. Maxin further told me that he had
cancelled the Calicut trip and I was very moved that he took pains in driving
from Kochi to Palakkad just to be with us for a day.
Maxin gifted me with two books. Quite to my delight, both were
of Thich Nhat Hanh, the great Master. One is “Silence – The power of quiet in a
world full of noise –“and the next one is “The Art of Living”. I
have just started reading the first book.
Palakkad, 12th December 2021
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