Zero Error (Poem on Clock)

Zero Error
(The offset clock)

A precise, sensitive
Yet inaccurate clock
It is
A simple wall clock
A Dansk one 
Without the pendulum
A quartz crystal embedded
In a
Japanese movement
Our father
Would be impressed by
The clockwork
It needs no periodic adjustment
Except one AA alkaline
Cell every six months
But
You have to synchronize
The clock and set time
By looking at a modern cell phone

The earlier clocks
Would lose or gain time
Over days, weeks, and months
In our house father 
Used to climb a ladder 
To adjust
The grandfather clock’s vertical angle
And give the key
Some times
I used to assist him
With the adjustment

Now this quartz clock
Is
A bit finicky 
It’s a bit moody
I could not diagnose
Whether it’s the loose contact
Or some other transient erratic
Behavior
When I replaced the battery
It started after a three minute
Delay – so, that is the offset
Or, you might call “a phase shift”
Now
Everything else works
Like a clockwork (pardon the pun)
If I have to correct it
I have to climb on a chair,
A stepstool, or ladder
And forward it few minutes
Why bother?
There are other clocks
One near the TV, the microwave,
And cellphones
This one
Is for our ambience
And wall decorum
Its second clicks
Are music to my ears
They keep company
During my silent work
On the couch
Father wouldn’t mind
My clumsy workmanship
“I’m glad he remembers me
And my talents still”

What a wonderful journey
And learning experience
Through school, college, and varsity
We learned a lot –
Starting from simple pendulum, 
Compound pendulum, mechanical
Wristwatches, main spring, hairspring,
Fly wheels, oscillators, the crystal clock,
And now lo, the atomic (Ce) clock
One can keep the atomic clock
Digital Display
On the desktop or laptop by connecting with
The signal from Colorado
A great progress indeed
And, a great education in
Modern Science – such knowledge
Is beyond the mere citadels
Of gold, money, or even the AI

Copyright 2026 by the author

Double Impatiens

Double Impatiens (ముద్ద నీళ్ల గోరింట)  

My association with impatiens (నీళ్ల గోరింట) goes back many years. It was in the village I first noticed this vibrant flowering plant. The flowers (single ones) in hot summer days barely last a day. Some of the flowers yield seeds for the next growing season. The common English name “impatiens” is attributed to its seedpods – they are so impatient to sprout (regenerate) that at the right temperature or moment they just crack open and disperse the little (globular) seedlings into the air – to distribute their offspring in far off fields. 

In the tropical coastal village we come across this plant with many colors. Right after the monsoon rains they invariably sprout in the (same old) garden patch without much help. The Telugu name says, “Water Gorinta”. The vernacular Indian name, its etymology is worth pondering. Many plant (i.e., common) names have vivid history and meaning in the folklore.  The modern classification (credited to Carl Linnaeus) gives a binomial name – somewhat similar to the human personal identification. And then there is the whole long parade of DNA etc., giving each individual plant its unique genetic sequence; but it requires a modern ultra sensitive lab and full access to lots of databases for proper identification. I am reminded about the difficulties of old times with X-ray (or electron) diffraction patterns, their application for the identification of crystal structures.

Now, let’s ask the simple question: Why did the earlier Telugu farmers and housewives name this plant as “nilla Gorinta”? nilla = water. The plant’s stem and leaf parts are succulent; they hold water (at least aqueous). To understand Gorinta, we need to probe further. It appears in China (and other parts of Asia) people used the leaves, flowers, and alum to color fingernails – sort of a homemade nail polish. Mehindi (Gorinta, Lasum Albania) is also used for coloring hands and nails. So, probably that is how the name in Telugu “nilla Gorinta నీళ్ల గోరింట” came to be. But what a wonderful plant this Balsamina? With varied colors, height, and leaf designs it covers a whole range of geographical areas: South Asia, Himalayas, Africa, and North America. Through human intervention the species has spread to every continent now. 

As a school going kid my fascination with nature was colorful just like the vibrant six seasons in the tropical Indian subcontinent. That was then – a time in the distant past with vivid sounds and colors. The summers brought us jasmines, Cashmere bouquet, and the sweet smelling mangoes. The dry hot summers were followed with heavy downpours of the monsoon season. In the village the rainy season meant trudging through the sticky muddy roads and watching the centipedes multiply overnight. They would try to intrude into the house through the open veranda and question the strict boundaries between “a dwelling” and “muddy garden”. But then the wet season also brought to our doorstep lots of aromatic gardenia flowers, champaka, and the profuse colorful “impatiens”. I could never figure out how the impatiens popped up suddenly, almost overnight from previous season's seeds. Mostly in the hot tropical days the flowers would stay fresh just for one day and then slowly wither away. We must pay our debt and gratitude to many farmers, housewives, and young children for preserving many plants. At a time when we are constantly losing many plants and fauna we are fortunate to have lots of impatiens, marigolds, and mums still in our midst. A wealth of herbal medical compounds is present in these plants. The humble mint alone can help us with many stomach disorders. 

Now, coming to this double impatiens. We got this plant probably from the local Farmers Market. Now it is almost three years old. Normally impatiens plants are annual ones (here in the containers); we have to keep growing them from seeds or cuttings for each season. This double flower variety (cultivar) has no seeds; that is how the growers make money. But it is easy to grow from the cuttings. Just take a two or three inch cutting and stick into the moist soil. Here, in the northeast US the winters are very cold and hard. We have to bring the potted plant indoors for the cold season. With minimum watering and some reasonable light the plant survives the winter. Then as the spring arrives it becomes very lively and starts putting new leaves and growth.  

Mostly the potted impatiens plant (Cf. jewelweed in the wild) is considered as an annual. Our double impatiens is more than three years old.  Many potted plants complain about getting their feet wet during heavy downpours. But this impatiens thrives in excess water. It puts out more flowers during such wet days. On such days the plant looks like a cluster of braids with heavy double flowers. It appears that the three-year-old container plant is behaving more like a perennial little shrub than an annual flowering plant.

For any herbal doctor this plant is a veritable source of organic compounds; they have identified almost three hundred compounds. The plant’s leaves, stems, and roots are utilized for a number of ailments: rheumatism, pain, fractures, inflammation of nails, scurvy, carbuncles, and bruises, etc. The organic compounds are extracted (separated) with either hexane or aqueous-alcohol mixtures.

In closing I want to remember two personalities that helped me understand plants and nature more intimately. Long time back the south Indian newspaper used to run a column on gardening by a horticulturist (R. R.). Those weekend articles used to be fun to read and they were very informative. Here in US for several decades J. W. would treat us to the wonders of birds, turtles, and nature on weekend radio program. We came to appreciate the value of wetlands (చిత్తడి నేలలు) through such experts. Wetlands preserve nature’s diversity, soil fertility, and they act as efficient buffer zones to protect the adjacent urban centers from heavy floods. I want to express my gratitude to such stewards of natural beauty. My articles on gardening may serve as a token of appreciation of such simple people. Copyright 2026 by the author

Lyrics of "varadaraja ninnu" Song with Meaning

స్వరభూషణి - రూపకం 

వరదరాజ నిన్ను( (నినుఁ) గోరి వచ్చితి మ్రొక్కేరా  || వ || 

సురులు మునులు భూసురులు చుట్టి చుట్టి సేవించే         || వ || 

వరగిరి వైకుంఠమట - వర్ణింప( దరముగాదట - ని

ర్జరులను తారకములలో( - జంద్రుడై  మెఱయు(దువట

వర త్యాగరాజనుత - గరుడసేవ జూడ               || వ || 

varadaraaja ninnu( gOri vacchiti mrokkEraa

surulu bhuusurulu chuTTi ChuTTi sEvinchE

varagiri vaikunThamaTa - varNimpa( DaramugaadaTa-ni

rjarulanu taarakamulalO( - jandrudai me~rayuduvaTa

vara tyaagaraajanuta - garuDasEva juuDa

Ninnu (ninu) = you; kori = desiring; vacchiti = have come; mrokkEra = (I) pray to you, salute you;

Surulu = devatas; munulu = the rishis; bhu-surulu = vipras, Brahmin devotees; chutti = going around, circumambulate; sevinche = serve with devotion; 

nirjarulanu = the celestials, devatas; tarakamulalo = among the stars; (among the stars of celestials O Varadaraja, You are like the Moon. Thus You outshine all others with all the splendor)

(A quick detour (digression) here: Tyagaraja shares with us some secrets of "upasana = ఉపాసన". That is in the tradition of bhakti, how do we approach the Lord (Rama)? It could be a flower, a leaf, scented water, uttering His attributes, or simply a physical act or gesture. The most important thing is - right now, at this moment how to focus on Varadaraja and put our total attention on the procession in the precincts of holy temple. 

Earlier I used to think (prematurely without proper exhaustive study) that only Annamacharya composed lyrics with exceptional picturesque imagery – bringing to our eyes the exact scenes with utmost fidelity and detail. I presumed (without scholarly evidence) in a hurry that Tyagayya’s compositions lacked vivid colorful painting of “an incident or scene”. I was utterly wrong; I changed my immature opinion right after this song. Of course, the songs in “Nauka-Charitramu” tucked away in some old cassette box also depict beautiful scenery. 

Now coming to the second stanza (pallavi): For a quick comparison (for those people who never got a chance to visit Kanchi City, TN), the Garuda seva function happens in Tirupati also every year. In the procession primacy is given to Lord Varadaraja. He (i.e., the utsava murti ఉత్సవ మూర్తి ) is ensconced (rather enthroned) in royal attire at the center with all other devatas surrounding on the slowly moving chariot; the car being pulled by Garuda, the celestial carrier of Lord Vishnu. There at the center every perfume (floral scent), light, flowers, offerings, and colors abound. All the other performers take a subordinate role (position) and act accordingly to serve the Lord (Narayana).  The procession proceeds slowly with stops (pauses) in between; there would be attractive glittering dances and chorus singing interspersed with divine chants along the procession. Obviously the composer visited the temple on such a special festive occasion and composed the song, probably extemporaneously on the spot. Here are the links to YouTube videos:

Rendition by Amritha Murali  

Though the song is quite brief with one stanza (pallavi) it captures our attention due to the undulating melody – like the undulating flight of a dove the sound stays vibrating in the air (and in our inner mind) for a long time. The famed temple is worth visiting at least once in a lifetime; luckily our parents visited as part of the pilgrimage to Tirupati. Lord Narayana (other than the peda Venkanna పెద వెంకన్న  at Tirumala) always is more accessible to the devotees, it seems. Of course we have to climb more than twenty steps to enter the main inner Sanctum Sanctorum.

If I may, I will conclude my comments with an observation thus: In our obscure yet modest vibrant village there were a number of temple processions. Often they used bring the "utsava murthis" on a cart drawn either by people or ox during the night, usually after 9 or 10 pm. The nights used to be a bit cooler then. Our mother would wake us up from deep sleep and we would go into the street with a platter full of rice, jaggery, turmeric, kumkum, and some flowers. With some luck mother would put a few rupees as a small token of "gratitude" to the priest. With half closed eyes we would stretch our necks to get a glimpse of our local "Venugopala Swamy" (or Siva) seated on the cart. Those little innocent acts of devotion taught us very invaluable insights into bhakti, tradition, and faith. For the young it is very important to put some reserve account in ones spiritual account; preferably it should start very early in life. Later the "peer pressure" and other worldly influences would interfere in spiritual growth. By sheer grace this post was completed at the auspicious eve of Janmashtami (Lord Krishna's birth).

Copyright 2026 by the author.