Nap - 1

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.