By Nuzhat Binte Arif

“What is this life full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.”

These two lines from the famous poem “Leisure”- by William Henry Davies pops into my head every time I get delve into labyrinth of chaos otherwise known as life. I mean, have you noticed how we don't' notice the things that are not that easy to notice? If that confuse you then that's normal. The nature remains forever omniscient and enigmatically mysterious to all. But they say it also speaks in conundrums, slowly seeping out its secrets to those who really seek for it.

However, some of these secrets seem to be so difficult to fathom that it feels like maybe they were meant to remain lingering in the shadows like silhouettes, only occasionally showing a glimpse of their true selves, and that too in fractions.

For those who are lucky and observant enough, they get to taste that indubitable spooky bliss. Those who aren't, it remains a mystery to them.

But it is also true that not all of nature's miraculous beauties require luck to be experienced. All it requires is a little time to stand stare, and notice. Below here is a list of just about a miniscule number (compared to how many there actually are) number of such that caught the attention of the ever observant individuals working here at RS:

Left Hand, Right Hand:
If you'll notice, our hands are more or less a mirror image of each other. I'm not talking about the detailed palm lines, but the overall picture. Now how does this become gripping? Well, look beyond the looks and notice the functions of your hands, and you can spot the duality that persists. Doesn't matter whether you are a lefty or not, but the hand that you don't write with can actually give you the mirror image of whatever you write with your writing hand. Confused? Well then try it out for yourself. Scribble something with your “write” hand. Now take the pen/pencil in you other hand and try to write the same thing, but remember, don't put pressure in your brain to try and make it go in the right direction (left to right). Let it just flow (in the Arabic direction).

Your handwriting won't be as good c'mon we've been practicing handwritings since Play Group with our write hand; you can't expect some other hand to just pop out of nowhere and be as good in designs as the hand that's been working so hard for so long!but it will be a very cool mirror image of that scribble. The other “ideal” hand seems to have a lot of mirror image potential after all! Intrigued?

Stopping Time:
Take a clock in front of younot the digital one, but the one with a “seconds” hand. It helps if you're already tired and slightly dizzy in the head. Check the position of the second hand, inhale deeply (but don't exhale), and close your eyes. Blink after a short interval and then for a very odd reason you'll feel that the second hand hasn't moved. Now breathe out. If you're really dizzy, you might even get to see that the hand moves a little bit in the anticlockwise direction. Try this out again in a swimming pool. Now, we don't know why this happens. This is more of a psychological feat, but it's beguiling nevertheless. Is this “stopping time”? Maybe.

Puddles:
You may ask, “what about puddles?” Well, that precisely our question too! Why is it that whenever we see those innocent guileless water puddles in the street, floor, wherever, we get that unexplainable desire to just hop onto them like a rabbit, and splash water everywhere? Why does this make us so happy? Are puddles one of nature's mysterious gift, or are we just a very strange species?

Ideas before exam:
Admit it, you've experienced this too. Whenever an exam looms nearer, we sit down to study, being the study maniacs we are. But all of a sudden, instead off all those economics theories and science laws getting in our heads, a mob of extremely cool and completely unrelated ideas start coming out of our heads, enlightening us! I, personally suffered so much because of my overactive imagination getting even more energized before all my economics tests, that I had to drop the subject in the end! Sigh...Is the human brain queer or what?

Bathroom pressure and sleeping beasts:
They say its human nature to try and seek the untouchable and discard the attainable. Apparently, the human mind follows the same rules. Some here at the RS vigorously agree that whenever they really have to go to the bathroom, and it is unavailable, it gets extremely frustrating that after waiting for a long time when it does become procurable, then that immediate pressure to go there in the first place doesn't remain anymore!

Same goes with sleep. This we can all safely agree that whenever we sit down to study, sleep comes over like a monster and forcefully makes us doze of. But when we actually go to sleep, or watch TV, or maybe even read a story book, that sleepy drowsiness vanishes. It's injustice!

Other not-so-easily noticed things include falling asleep right before the interesting ending of the movies that we had really wanted to see (this seems to happen when the viewer is really tired) and waking up again when they are showing the credits; then there's “doodling turning into masterpiece” when the teacher is giving a lecture (my friend Nayeema here is a pro at this!); catching friends' habits by staying with them for too long (we coined this as “frindomania”); and then there is that absolutely weird drill noise here at the RS that seems to start every time someone starts talking (this, by the way, is not one of nature's gifts)!

There are so many more of these! Those that are funny, those that are touchy, sweet... It's uncountable, really and just as intriguing. I hope nature hides the answers to these riddles a little longer. After all, they say that there is magic in the unnatural and sometimes even bliss in ignorance. I like bliss.