Early to Bed

On our summer holidays to Chaul in our young days, the evenings could end early to bed before even it was nine o’clock.. Thereafter, it was just chatting around about all the many Mumbai aunties and uncles grapevine. Everyone was ridiculed. No one was spared.

There could be stories heard of dacoity and of ghost. As children we would be very delighted too hear them and then go to sleep with a heavy heart.

Even today over weekends, we love to go to sleep before its 9pm and wake-up fresh very early in the morning with the yell of the cock.

Ofcourse, now we have the ‘forced’ lighting and power at our fingertips and we can be awake till late night. And if there is blockbuster in the form of movies and cricket, we stay awake till midnight glued to our TV’s, even when we are in healing villages like Chaul.Revdanda.

The Mumbai life has spread its shadow over the village life of Chaul. I find youngsters playing cricket or badminton in the temple playground till midnight. The have healthy reasons for it. It hot to play during the day time. Its cool in the night. And a game in the night, is a healthy act. One gets good body sleep.

All this in the midst of new information coming from the frontiers of science.

Melatonin !

Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain.

Darkness stimulates the production of melatonin while light suppresses its activity.

Melatonin puts us to sleep. With sunset, higher quantities are produced to put us into sleep.

With ‘forced lighting’ melatonin production is curtailed to reduce our sleep hours.

With ‘forced lighting’ we are bringing in sleep disorders.

The Biological clock in us is confused.

I have seen the many resident families of Chaul follow the nature’s light. There kitchen is done with it earlier and they are early to bed.
There sleep patterns follow mother nature. No ‘forced lighting’.

So, next time you are in Chaul, go early to sleep.

Many say, Chaul is so different.

Little does one know that the tall coconut and beettle nut trees creates darkness earlier than otherwise, hence bigger the night. Cool mornings get extended with little scope of sunrays reaching you, if you are staying in those ‘Wadi’ areas.

Light reaching to all those staying in Wadi areas is harmonious, gentler and softer to us.

Just after the peak of scorching sunlight between 2-3 pm, as the sun lowers from its zenith to the horizon, the tall coconut & bettlenut trees set an early darkness at around 5 pm rather wait till the sunsets at 7.30 pm in peak summers. Melatonin production starts early in the evenings than normal.

This could also be the reason for our vastu shashtra concept of placing large & tall trees on the southwest to northwest zone.

Similiarly, the morning dull lighting is extended by the coconut and bettlenut trees making us laze out more, to awake with a saying ‘Bharpur Zhoplo!”

The Light & Glare of a Wadi area, I repeat again, is gentler and softer for humans in general.

Melatonin production in the body is therefore at its best when one is in those ‘Wadi’ areas making Chaul Revdanda the Healing Heaven on Earth.