My Colander’s Day in the spotlight

It is mid-morning, and I am busy with preparations for an elaborate Sunday meal. My beautiful and loyal red colander is my constant companion on my many small sojourns to the sink, where I wash vegetables and drain soaked lentils. The colander has been with me for over twelve years now. But little did I know that my colander would serve a much bigger purpose.

Just the day after Christmas, all news channels were talking about the unique annular solar eclipse that was about to unfold across the sky later that day. Being in Asia, we were going to have a clear view of this rare cosmic occurence.

My kids were at home, and there was a great sense of excitement, when we discovered that the sun was going to be directly above our building during the eclipse. Using a selfie-stick and some smart manouevering, I managed to continuously click pictures. Just as we inched closer to peak-eclipse time, big fluffy clouds played hide and seek with the sun. And after all the excitement, what if we could not see the eclipse unfolding at all? Hmmm. We scoured the internet for ideas; one website talked about using a colander to study the shadows made my the colander on the ground.

We kicked into action. Our unsuspecting colander, after a morning of hard work, had just gone into its cupboard to catch a few winks. We placed the colander atop two sticks, and our experiment was ready.

The colander’s shadow was clear and dark on the tiled floor. And as the eclipse progressed, it grew fainter, and at one point almost disappeared. Luckily, the naughty clouds parted at the most important time and we could capture the miracle on the phone as well. We could also see the ring of fire.

It was an amazing experience. We had witnessed something so beautiful and amazing. What was even more exciting was the fact that mankind could predict that such an event was going to occur. Truly, both the marvels of science and the magic of the universe were in evidence. We pronounced ourselves fully satisfied and content.

Cut to the here and now, my colander is back to its duties, not realizing what an important role it played in bringing some magic into our lives. I smile and continue with my cooking.

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Two mysterious clocks

The holidays are here, and all of us are staying up late every night, and sleeping-in each morning, totally oblivious to the rising sun or the chirping birds or the gentle morning breeze.

So, you can imagine our shock when we woke up yesterday morning to find that our bedroom clock had fallen and shattered on the floor! There was glass everywhere. Even as we cleaned the shards, we puzzled over how it could have fallen, and how none of us heard even a small tinkle. My kids came up with weird theories, and we all had a hearty laugh.

Later yesterday, my husband and I went to the supermarket to buy a wall clock for the bedroom. After the usual evaluation of designs, and suitability to the decor, we picked a wooden clock with block numbers and distressed paint. My husband was not entirely convinced about the distressed paint, but I convinced him that the look was in.

Once we got back home, we affixed a battery and mounted the clock on the wall. It looked rather nice. When I read the time this morning, I realized that the clock was showing 2.20, but soon forgot about it as I got busy in the kitchen.

Image courtesy – http://www.shutterstock.com

Later in the day, my husband called me and told me that the clock was going backwards. He had noticed that the clock was showing the wrong time and had reset it, only to realize that the clock was moving backwards.

It was oddly unsettling to see that the clock was moving back in time. When it was mid afternoon, our clock had travelled back to 9 am. I tried to remember what I was doing at 9 am.

I couldn’t exactly remember, I only had this realization that ‘that’ moment in time was gone, it would never ever come back, even if I tried to turn back the clock.

I suddenly felt very wise, and passed on this wisdom to my children, asking them to make the best use of the here and the now. They laughed and muttered that mom’s in one of her philosophical moods. They hugged me and walked away.

But this clock gave me pause, to value my time and to value each day, for I can wind back the clock, but never time itself.