The year end post

As another year draws to a close , I realize it is only a gateway to the next .. Though we seem to make a big deal about year ends and New years , we only carry ourselves into the new year !

How different the new year would be ,  depends on what difference we bring about in our own selves .. Yes there are things we can never anticipate and this is  something to be hopeful or apprehensive about … but how we meet the year is entirely up to us .

But a New year does excite me !  A time  to reflect on what went by and make plans for what could be .

 "Hope springs eternal" famously wrote British Poet Alexander Pope in his  "An essay on man" and it is in basic human nature to find things to be hopeful about !

So Welcome 2022 ! Show us what you got !

Soul Food

 

Saw this simmering in a friend's kitchen .. was mesmerized by the colours and the way it was all coming together .. had to take a quick taste .. Gosh .. food for the soul..

Food for me  is all about being hearty , simple , flavorful and those that get made without much of a fuss. Am also for all the local flavours and produce. 

My mothers' cooking remains the biggest influence and I cherish her delicious cooking . some of the tastes are just etched on the memory and going home always is a chance to indulge in some comfort food.

I have a collection of cook books , but the note book I keep going back to  is the one which has my mother's recipes .

Here's to warmth , comfort , health and a bowl of great food !

Lost Art

 

Spotted this letter box in a recent vacation and I was almost wistful for the lost art of writing and posting letters.. inland- letters as they used to be called and the post cards.

Growing up these were the most trusted forms of communication and I remember waiting with anticipation to the postman on a cycle to stop by at our home . and Mom reading out aloud letters from her sisters .... I have written quite a few too and also had a pen-friend in Germany , a lovely girl who I used to write you . wonder how that correspondence stopped .

With the Email of the 90s and the instant messaging of the current times , letter writing is all but a lost art .. a relic of the past .....

I still write long hand letters to friends , of course ending up couriering them ... 

Sometimes slow does seem romantic , in these instant times :)

Goddess atop a hill

Pandavagiri Aikunnu Bhagavathy temple .. atop a hillock .. just about 9 kms from Thrissur town is all kinds of beautiful..

Breathtaking views of the surroundings suffused with divinity and serenity and the majestic goddess overlooking her lay ....

The temple steeped in antiquity is said to be consecrated by Lord Parasurama and visited by the Pandava princes with Draupadi during their year in exile performing austerities . The hillock is also believed to have been the abode of many ascetics and continues to be so ...An oasis of tranquility on a hillock...

White Lotus

A White Lotus Abloom ...

A study in serenity.. of centered-ness and one pointed focus to ascend , sustain and bloom .. from the murky depths to the light above..

From the booklet " The White Lotus " by Sri Parvathi Kumar , this line has stayed with me ...

"Show up that which is beautiful in you , show up that which is tender in you , show up that which is light in you , show up that which is the unfoldment in you and let the show  be in stillness and in silence "

Also brings to mind , my encounter with a yogi , long years back who introduced the magic of silence to me..,,,

A year of writing

I start off on the year long editing assignment! I am hoping to do good amounts of reading , putting out monthly e- news letters and also involve my community of readers to write  too. There will also be a printed souvenir to be released along the way along with a  fundraising for the same . 

Writing has been and will be my mode of creative expression and am just delighted that I have a forum to engage in writing with a purpose  .

The proverbial "butterflies in stomach" feeling is definitely there .The deadlines and the frequent output that will be needed does seem daunting but  am determined to enjoy this as best as I  can and do the  best I possibly could .

Just because , this is so much up my street !

Getting away

Just as we gradually get out of the Lockdown of 2021 following the second wave.. a brief get away.. 

25  few kms away , My friend , Dr S and I  arrive at Chittanda ,a  hamlet of rice fields and a beautiful Kathyayini temple. Dr S owns a piece of land here which she is converting to a vegetable patch with the help of a local farmer . The land is now all cleaned and primed for the farming and we have the happy task of planting  fruit tress in the fringes and see the sprouting in the various patches. The land over looks a vast expanse of paddy fields and the sky stretching every where beyond the hills...

The quiet of the area is soothing .. just the rustle of the wind ..darkening clouds announcing rain ..  egrets and king fishers pecking at the soil and snooping over the temple pond . and a flock of ducks finding their way back to the water.. mom led by a few tiny ones ...

So happy to be soaking in so much beauty ...

Curtain Raiser

Its May and the stage is getting for the annual monsoon festival ! and the curtain raiser are the pre-moosoon gale and showers  which may being any  time in April and appear till the monsoons set in  . growing up in Calcutta these were a phenomenon. They go by the name 

" Kal-Baishaki.. wreakers in the month of Baishak. 

In Kerala , they are more benign .They arrive mostly in the evenings cooling down the place , bringing much need relief from the blazing summer sun. 

They also have an interesting name .. "Mango Showers" as they help in the early ripening of mangoes ...

One such beauteous evening .. 

Colour Pop

I saw this TED Talk recently and it delved on something that brings instant joy to people. Joy as in a momentary experience of positive emotion that makes us smile. Feeling good in that moment. 

Pops of colour as per the talk can do that ! Bring about feelings of joy ,, My experience too .. I have always been drawn to rainbows, pinwheels, patch work quits  with multiple colour patches , the madras plaid fabric , colourful tapestry, prayer flags , sprinkles , stained glass windows and anything that pops colour !

One such moment , when I saw this fuchsia pink lily , all abloom in the office fish pond .Joy.. there and then..

A working woman now

I read a short story years back in a magazine which went by the title " A working woman now "  and it has just stayed with me . It captured the excitement of a young woman starting work /All her plans and preparations , buying a bag and getting ready to join the workforce. My young impressionable mind was so enamored by this young woman's excitement of finding a job and getting ready to take it on. It also marked the first step of this woman at earning and financial freedom . A chance to become responsible for her own spending and build wealth for herself. 

After a few  years of free-lancing and doing this and that , I have accepted a accepted a full-time assignment that will need me working at an office .The  story of the young woman came to mind as I enter the full -time work force yet another time !! Good luck to me !

Bangalore Days

Travelling again.. to Bangalore  this time to hang out with my favourite peeps A and S. The agenda is to just be , talk  , eat, sleep and repeat . A is my own personal therapist and over the years and over many conversations , she has driven home much truths about myself...So its lovely being back in the couch with her .. of course we have to do the very fun things she has lined up.. eating out at soulful spaces , experiences only she can think of and set up and meeting more lovely people !

Then I go and hang out with S at her  newly redone-up  colorful home .. more conversation , more laughter and more good food and drinks ... and some retail therapy :). Her 13th floor home overlooks this amazing view of the skies .. offering breathtaking sun rises and a twinkly bright night sky line . 

and then there are the long walks we always end up going on , when ever we meet up .....

Much need restoring !

To the Hills

 An unexpected trip with the visiting S .. to Ooty no less !

S arriving was a happy happy in itself and we taking off on a road trip .. double nice ! almost 6 hours of driving we are at Ooty with a tight time frame .So get to business of ticking off Ootacamund  delights in double speed as it is S's first time here. Botanical gardens, Boat club and the lake  seen  we are huddled up at the Nahar Cafe for some steaming  hot chocolate and oven fresh garlic bread .  Then trudge off some more till we are at the  Rose gardens walking  up a eucalyptus trees lined avenue as the full moon comes up ! Mesmerizing ...

With a plan to catch the Sunrise , the next day on the Dottabetta peak , we start the  day early .. to discover it is not open to public at that hour . But we find a vantage and catch a breathtaking sunrise in the hills and drive down the tea gardens to a sumptuous brekkie.

I head off to the conference I am supposed to attend while S takes in local shopping. A happy event for me , the conference , as I land a writing job that will last a year !

Pleased as punch , we head home :)    

Celebration !

A milestone birthday celebration for all of us as Raghu Appa turned 80!

Grounded , meticulous , ever-active , ever-prayerful...someone with an  amazing memory and penchant for narrating stories with exquisite detail . Always thoughtful in his ways and ever ready to help. A bibliophile and a writer who continues to write copiously each day . Erudition as a way of life sustained by years of  study , research and writing on varied topics. Learning each day to keep abreast with the digital days as hand-written copies have given  way to digitally typed out content .Progressive  and ever supporting of causes that matter , you inspire us Appa with your presence .. unassuming , ready to listen and loving... 

Happy 80th Appa and many many more happy , healthy returns ...

Pray the Lord for all Ayur , Aroghya Saukhyams for you