Wind

I was not at all sure what  I could write about wind when I got this prompt yesterday... There must be a reason why my friend gave me this prompt .. may be some day she will tell me about it..

Wind has been whirling in my mind for a while.. but no words to express. I was at work today, and it was yet another non-productive day.. I did many things except the task that I must have really finished.. that's right, I had to write a research proposal and when it comes to writing something like that, I am the empress of procrastination. The day came to an end but my 'to do' list continued to stair at me rather sarcastically. At 5pm I decided to call it a day of any ways 'nonproductive' day only to realize the stormy weather outside... ahhaa.. I generally forget to carry an umbrella and today was no exception....

I walked home in a stormy rainy weather.The wind was so strong against my face that I really had hard time to walk forward. The hood of the jacket could not keep my loose hair together and the rain drops poked my face like little splinters. That really was painful. My jacket was soaked in water in no time and I started to shiver. My glasses covered with rain drops made it impossible to see anything clearly. My hands were cold and incredibly painful. The indicator on the road said it was 9 C, but I was frozen cold. And I am someone that rarely feels cold. That 25 minute walk home today truly showed me the power of the wind and I found something to write about it but only after being at home and feeling warm and cosy.

I must have been about 6 or 7 years old. I think I was still writing with pencils in those days as we were allowed to use pen at school only from the age of 8. It was science exam and one of the questions required us to define wind. I could not understand the question. How could you define something like wind that is all around us, but you cant see it, smell it, touch it or feel it? I really tried hard but could not think of any possible ways I could define wind... what a disappointment.. was this really from our text book? May be it was a trick question. My mother picked me up from the school and I shot the question at her. "Mom, how can we define wind?" She smiled and answered, 'the wind is the air that blows'. She explained the difference between air which is all around us, we know it is there, we need it to breath but we cant really feel it. But when this air moves with varying speeds, it creates the wind, the one that we can feel on our face, we can see it with branches of trees swaying, with the clouds rushing by in the sky, with the cyclones and typhoons. Wow.. that was an eureka moment for the six year old... it made perfect sense. I thought I would never forget what is wind.. but I did forget, or we can say that it went off my conscious mind... I had other better things to remember in life than the definition of wind... but this evening, walking through that rain and wind, it all came back to me... as if it happened just a moment ago.. I looked around, almost hoping to see my mother, to reach out to her and hold her hand as I was crossing the busy traffic street. I wanted to tell her, "look mom, the wind, the air that blows!!" She wasn't there.. I was walking home alone and yes the wind kept me company.

Wind did keep me company all the while. I was doing my first clinical rotation in surgery. It was morning grand rounds in the ward and the professor of surgery kept asking all the patients who had underwent gastrointestinal surgery one important question. 'have you passed the wind today?' It is a surgeon's nightmare if post operatively patient did not pass the wind. I guess most patients could not understand the significance of this question or passing the wind, but a young surgeon in training knows what is at stake. May be even in dreams, he must be asking , 'hey did you pass the wind today?'

Ask a new mother the importance of her baby passing the wind, her tricks to help the baby burp after being breast fed. If the wind is not passed, the baby suffers to no limits and can only cry in hope that eventually all that discomfort would disappear. Wind is the air that moves, so true! From the stomach, up the oesophagus, out through the mouth, creating what we call a burp.

Few years ago, while studying medical anthropology, I learned that some communities actually greet each other not with hello or hi or how are you, but with the sentinel question, 'Have you passed the wind today?' I know that many cultures would terribly look down upon this gross, unsophisticated almost savage community but I am really impressed by their thoughtfulness. Passage of wind has been associated with normal rhythm and functioning of human body and hence the indicator of a good health and what is so savage about enquiring if the other has been feeling healthy or not... I love this custom of greeting just the way I love the Inuit ritual of greeting with the tip of the nose...

I love wind on my face while travelling in the train or a bus in India even though it comes with its own innate dangers... I have had black suit all over my face, thanks to being glued to the open window in a train with old coal based engine... I looked hilarious.. somewhat like Zwarte Piet, the assistants of Sinterklaas. I love to listen to wind blowing through the bamboo plantations, that soft music created by nature can really take me to the seventh heaven. Same is the intensity of listening to the waves of sea splashing to the shore and the wind roaring over the open expanse of the sea... through the coconut trees and palms... in my language, we have a word for this peculiar sound of water and the wind.. गाझ, I dont think we have such one word in English, at least I am not aware of. I can spend ours together watching the autumn leaves dancing with the wind and swirling around.. eventually finding their place... on the mother earth. When I see gigantic windmill farms along the north sea, I know I am soon landing in Amsterdam.. It gives me a sense of finally being at home. I am often amazed by the traditional Dutch wind mills facilitating the delicate balance of water levels in the polders. Wind mills managing water levels! Neat, isnt it? How much I loved biking through Amsterdam in that strong wind... sometimes pushing me forward but most of the times eager to blow me away... and same is the saga of heavy rains and monsoon winds back in Mumbai.. blowing my umbrella away....I miss monsoon... when was the last time I enjoyed strong sea wind on the shores of Mumbai cost line in monsoon? It is even hard to remember.... must have been real long time ago...

But there are still many ways I have to befriend the wind...I want to glide and I want to sail on the sail boats.. sailing, I really missed that opportunity to go sailing with friends in Friesland... hopefully in the future. This spring, I hopefully will experience being in a glider for the first time, I have my fingers crossed. The wind is still strong outside.. and I am listening to the soft sounds of my wind chyme.. I love wind chymes and this one hanging in my balcony is a present from Irene, my friend in Germany. Irene, this wind-chyme has kept me warm loving company from the very first day I entered my new home in Basel... it talks to me and it reminds me of your unconditional love and support... thank you my dear angel... I reach out to you in particular through this blog post... about the wind.. and the wind chyme... and send you loads of love and kisses.. along with the sounds of this chyme... the sounds so soft, tender and delicate that I will never be able to describe them in words. Instead, I just invite you to visit me in Basel and listen to it with me.....