The magical mornings
I have always been excited by the idea of regularly exercising in the mornings, but unfortunately it always remains just an 'exciting idea' and not more because of the obvious reasons. However, there have been occasionally spurts of time when I did manage to do it regulary and have felt that I should be doing it forever and forever. In IIIT, in the summer of 2008, I did manage to do yoga with Sushant with great regularity. The fresh air, the chirping sounds of the birds, the trees around dancing to the tunes of the wind, and the amazing revelation that your body can actually flex was great. And, I used to feel the same energy throughout the day. In the summer of 2009, we used to play cricket every morning, probably because on the facts that cricket reminds you of good old days in your childhood, that it was less taxing on your body, and that it involved as much chatting as running. These cricket sessions were an achievement because half of us who assembled had never woken up in the mornings so regularly. We used to start when it was foggy, and used to end when the sun positioned itself well above the trees and the buildings. This summer was more exciting because this was a summer when Shilpi and me both exercised together, me playing cricket and she doing yoga. In the winter of 2009, Shilpi and I attended a couple of exercising workshops in the morning, one by Baba Ramdev and the other by Art of living. I was a great experience, probably one of our best sessions. We felt healthy and peaceful in our minds, and felt we shall keep doing it forever, but alas ......
Another great things about these exercising sessions in the mornings was the thing that followed, the breakfast !!! If there is one meal (or thing .. to be more generic) that I won't miss every day is the breakfast. In IIIT, after the exercise sessions, we used to assemble in the canteen and ummmm ..... I have always loved breakfast, and the fact that it is positioned in the mornings makes it more exciting. I have always held on to my friend Sesh's quote 'Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, and dinner like a pauper'. I won't comment on whether I eat dinners like a pauper, but I certainly have a quote to defend the excitement that I show on the breakfast table. The breakfasts in the summer of 2005 were the best, with Sesh, Balu, Suman Karthik and Rishi in IIIT. Balu used to stay at home that year, and he would skip breakfast at home to come and eat Uttappams with us.
The mornings have also been very kind to my spiritual and devotional side. Similar to the case of 'exercising', I have always liked the idea of doing 'meditation' in the mornings. One of the facts that I can certainly bet on is that meditating helps. It has helped me immensely whenever I have done it, in keeping my mind peaceful and also helping with my concentration. Unfortunately, it still remains 'like the idea' and not 'do it regularly' for me. I have also enjoyed going to temples in the mornings. It feels extremely peaceful inside the temple. The occasional beats of the bells, the rhyming of the mantras, and the positive mindset of people around makes the whole atmosphere spiritually uplifting. Even the trips to Chilkur Balaji temple in Hyderabad early in the mornings has been a great experience. It was good, firstly, because it is about going there way early in the morning :), and secondly because it reminds you of the simple positive wishes of the people around you. Everyone assembles at this great time of the day, before the sun has risen to pray to god and wish a good life for themselves. Not to add, I like the idea of doing Pradakshanas (the revolutions) around the temple, makes you physically fit too !
For me, the early morning is the best time to make a journey. Firstly, there is escape from the sun. Secondly, you get the enjoy everything that's good about mornings at multiple locations, the chai-valas making the tea, the cool breeze, the fog, the heterogeneous morning lights (in contrast to the the afternoon plain bright light that's all around), the shops that are about to open among many other things. So, it is always exciting to me to hear that the time of the journey is 6am, or 5 am. Another good thing about the morning trip is that everyone gets ready for the trip thinking solely about the exciting trip that lies ahead. In IIIT, I loved going home from college every weekends early in the mornings. It was an amazing feeling experiencing the empty buses, and the cold breeze .... and, there was the anticipation of an amazing breakfast at home ! Some of the early morning treks have been memorable. Recently, the trek in jungle bells near Vizag with Shilpi has been amazing. The trek amongst the nature to reach the summit of the hill to see the sun rise was a great experience. And, I also cannot forget the bird watching trek in HCU organized by Ashwini.
Even the relatively boring act of studying has tended close to become an act of fun during early morning. The mind appears amazingly receptive during this period of time, and not only the text one is studying, but also the big picture (the positioning of the current text with respect to my current knowledge) also appears to emerge during this period. During Ph.D., planning to understand some difficult paper early morning made sense. In fact, Prashanth and I did some of those sessions together too which were great. Also, I enjoyed occasionally reading texts with some philosophical bent during the early hours of the morning. While preparing for entrance exams in school, I still remember waking up at an unlikely hour of 4 and brushing up my concepts. And then, I used to wait for the newspaper to come, and I would eagerly scan it through from beginning to end enjoying a cup of tea sitting on the staircase in front of the house. Though not at that level, but I do wish I can keep up the habit of reading something useful (newspapers are no longer useful any longer containing loads of crap) in the morning every day.
During my dating days too, mornings played the cupid :). And when we fixed our next meeting time, it always used to be a time that you might easily guess by now. Shilpi does remember how crazily fascinated I was with listening Suprabhatam or Bob Dylan songs during the first hours of the day. During my childhood too, early mornings used to be a time to play, or to plan an adventure. My brother, Jayaram, has continued our shared interest in mornings even today, and we had enjoyed very much the jogging sessions in 2010 along the Infosys-HCU road in Hyderabad. Doing this is certainly on my agenda for my next vacation.
A great thing about early mornings is that my love for it transcends the boundaries of location and season. The idea of doing something early in the day would be a idea that would be agreeable to me (at least in my mind) irrespective of 'the place I am in' and the season. I remember the chilly mornings days of Delhi and Kanpur, and I still liked them. The opaque fog, the extreme chill, the thick razais, the hot chai, the aloo paratha make it amazing. I guess the idea of 'a morning' seems to even transcends reality and virtual-reality. A dream or a movie with the backdrop of a morning is also enough to bring cheer to my heart. The morning backdrop for the movie 'Anand' (in telugu) seemed to bring along it some freshness.
I had wished the whole day had the ambiance of the early morning, but maybe, it was good it was not. Otherwise, mornings wouldn't have remained so magical !!!