Nap
– 1
To sleep is human but to nap is
divine
In college it was accepted practice (by me!)
to skip classes in the afternoon (with an eye on 75 % attendance; otherwise a
fine and more than that there could be a visit by father to the college); after
lunch at home a nap at 2 pm; at least for one hour and extendable to 90
minutes; when you get up world has changed- and changed for the better
Dreaded the
time after college when I had to
work – I could see my nap slip away ; it was tough; Saturday and Sunday though
were fantastic; those days were particularly exciting/ peaceful as we had no
telephones and of course no mobiles nor TVs ; except unannounced unscheduled
visitors who were few.
There was also a time when on holidays
(Chamarajpet days) when we had lunch at 10 or 10 30 in the morning and you
could actually nap at 11: 30 or so and get up around two pm in time for coffee
My daughter’s father- in-law (ಬೀಗರು ) is fond of
20 minute ‘ power nap ‘ ; so also is my son-in-law although I for one rarely have
seen him getting up at 20 minutes sharp ! In any case it is not my cup of tea
(mixed metaphor you would say as nap and tea should be in that order). For me
longer the better. I do not want to nap for getting energised to work for long
hours etc. I want to nap because it is so pleasurable
I have always wondered why Yoga people
advise us not to sleep in the afternoon; this advice comes from a long time past;
imagine someone (insomniac I suspect) living in a tropical country like ours
full of sun shine and long days and yet advising us to stay awake; sadist! They
constantly ask us to relax and when I do that with a nap they object; I cannot
fathom; they say ‘tamasa guna ‘ (ತಾಮಸ ಗುಣ )
increases; actually I have always felt that after a good nap I become a better
and gentler person – I could think ( no action though ) of doing some house
hold work ; forget that I had an argument only a few hours back ; even helping
in children’s homework ( just for the
effect though as I don’t recall any instance of our daughters stooping to such low
levels as troubling their father ) did
not look so bad or more realistically going in search of that KG card board
with three coloured crayons etc. didn’t look formidable; sometimes I even overcame bitter feelings of India losing
yet another test – and that too against Pakistan !
Survey camp naps: We went to survey camps usually to some place
outside Bangalore (ಘಾಟಿ ಸುಬ್ರಮಣ್ಯ ) for about two/ three weeks. There after a tiring field work – if
you don’t believe consider this : when you have to manage five uninterested
team members - including me - and avoid the roaming teacher and wonder how
to ‘ adjust ’ - when after a table survey the starting and
ending points ( supposed to be the same ) differ in latitude, longitude and
sometimes even in height. As I said after a day’s of hard work and after
Bhatta’s (ಭಟ್ಟರು) lunch I would go to sleep (sorry nap) in the corridor with a bed
sheet covering the body including the face; what a nap! ; at four pm a gentle soul like Chandrasekhar or Narasimha
Murthy would wake up with various incantations - ‘ Elo Tea banthu ‘ ‘ magane Elu “ ‘ yavagalu
nidde ‘ ( ’ ಏಳೋ ಟೀ ಬಂತು ’ ’ಮಗನೆ ಏಳು ’ ’ ಯಾವಾಗಲೂ ನಿದ್ದೆ ’ ); tea never tasted better!
Nap in the lecture hall –
Due to some reason college was not an ideal
place to nap although there were several competent lecturers who would make it
very difficult to remain awake. Looking back I think there were two reasons. One,
friends around you would not allow that and secondly and more importantly you
could skip the class easily.
In IISc it was different. One, there were a
small number of students, often as low as 15 and it was difficult to sit hidden
from the eyes of the lecturer. Two, lectures were more crucial and one could
not afford to sleep through them. Still I remember my guide. He was no mean
talent. He could drone on beyond 1 pm (his favourite hour as it was the last
one before lunch) and make everyone late for lunch. He was a good influence for
a nap that was not to be. There was another Prof who was bald and the light
would shine reflected on his shiny head. It was mesmerising as we sat in the
gallery looking down. It would appear that his eyes behind impressively big
spectacles would follow you. What a powerful personality! Within minutes there
would be violent struggle to stay awake. I know one person who said that he
actually fell down from his seat while the lecture was going on. This sort of
nap - you are there one moment and are out of it the next – is particularly
exciting as it required a daring personality and blessing from above. But there
was a price although minor – pinched skin, nail marks on the wrist. But it was
worth it.
