"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

Proust, the acclaimed French novelist, could not have put it more succinctly. Taking inspiration from his words, we attempted to look beyond what is readily visible to us. What we found was fascinating; we stumbled upon an array of astounding scientific discoveries about the natural world, all hidden in a confusing labyrinth of academic publishing. It was humbling to learn about the amazingly complex mechanisms powering the most mundane of natural phenomena. Eric Hoffer’s words rang true, “Nature is a self-made machine, more perfectly automated than any automated machine.” The exploration of this finesse of the natural world is the driving idea behind this blog.

So what is Vissmay all about? Vissmay is a Sanskrit word which means ‘wonder’, ‘surprise’, ‘amazement’, or ‘astonishment’. In other words, every single thing that we feel when we look at Mother Nature and see the amazing systems borne out of her womb. A baby being born, a flower in bloom, tiny leaves sprouting out on winter-weary branches, the thistle seeds blowing in the wind. Each of these mundane things was a revolutionary act of nature, and unimaginable at a not-so-distant point in Earth’s long history. It seems that the regular occurrence of miracles around us has desensitized us to them. We rarely stop to smell the flowers, or to hear the evening cacophony of birds. Taking a moment to pause and reflect on the beauty around us would benefit us all. Perhaps we would become more acutely aware of our connection with nature, and actively attempt to stop the abuse being hurled at it. The reality is that up until the grand visions of an established colony of humans on Mars come true, our Earth is the only home we have. A beautiful and awe-inspiring one at that.

It is this home and its inhabitants that we would like to talk about on our blog. The intricacies of nature are unparalleled, and it would be pretty foolish to claim that we would be unraveling them for you.  Ask the best scientists around, and they will tell you that for every answer they find, a dozen more questions spring up. The best they can do is to answer as many as questions as possible, and, in the process, contribute a few drops to the ocean of knowledge.

We, the people behind this blog, have had careers in the scientific field. It has left us with a stark realization- A big chunk of the discoveries regarding the mechanisms of the natural world is hidden in a complex web of scientific jargons and exclusive academic journals. That’s sad, because all this research is about stuff happening around and inside us. It is empowering to learn about the unbelievably complex systems that power every breath we take and every muscle we move. We can’t begin to tell you about the wonders that we have stumbled upon while building this blog. Hang around, and we will try our best to do that. We are thankful for every breathtaking revelation, every ‘wow’ moment- every single thing that showcases the magnificence of life on planet Earth. Every morning, we get up to work on the blog with glee in our hearts, and we are immensely grateful for the opportunity.

P.S. If you have read my post till this point, I genuinely thank you! With my rudimentary writing skills, I wasn’t expecting anyone to :-D. I hope you will go further and join us as we set out to explore the world around us, one beautiful mystery at a time!