The Deluge and thereafter

A saurday morning and a feeble sun is out ..

There could not have been a more welcome sight to a people rained down and deluged over the past 4 days ...

The Floods arrived and how.

Water levels breached, homes inundated, people displaced , rivers changing course in spate , dams not opened in decades set free.

The floods also opened gates of compassion as people got to-gether to support one-another to rise up from the what the floods had brought and  taken.

If nature could break free, so could mankind  from limited definitions of mine and theirs .

If only we remembered...
The lessons of the Flood ...

Independence and freedom

Independence day with a group of  young women , this year..
A group task for them to explore what independence and freedom meant to them through a poster .
Young hands and minds got to work creating ..
And they had quite to few things to say.

As each of them , presented their idea on freedonm , independenance and Living in Free India  , felt heartened to be a part of their sharing.Bold colours, vivid words , powerful ideas and  strong voices that spoke passionately .

Wished for each of them , exciting lives ahead where they tested boundaries, tasted freedom and exercised choice in every which way possible !

My Month !

Its July and My month !

A Birthday rendered special as my best peeps arrived !
The local and very special A plotted that P arrives while S made a planned arrival to join my lovely family around .

All said ( which always turns to be alot with this special band around ) and done( making the most of the limited time we get ) , happy time having people that "get "me ,  and root and cheer for me !
I am also rooting around  this time and days to come   for a very special V , who has a great affinity to Gems , fiercely and prayerfully to turn the bend , become whole , heal and shine !

As i cherish Love  of the very special ones in my life ...I am reminded of Philosopher Martin Heidegger's words , when he said..
“Why is love rich beyond all other possible human experiences and a sweet burden to those seized in its grasp? 
Because we become what we love and yet remain ourselves.”

And I say Thank You to the special people whom i have become and and for who i remain . 

Rock and Tumble...

One of the places , around town , I always wanted to visit was a water fall that went by the name "Pattathi Para"..Para in Malayalam is rock. Its the first word that intigued me. As i deepened my understanding of the language and the ethos of the place i call home now, I came to understand that the word meant - brahmin woman , more specifically a tamil speaking brahmin woman.
A female to the male "pattar"..

This lent a world of imagination in my head as to why a rock would be called so ?!

I imagined a free- sprited young woman . Learned , astute but curious and somewhat wild who would make sojourns to the rock to commune with nature and be herself. Far-away from the piercing dogmatic eyes that would have her conform , behave in a certain prim and proper way.
It was her place, a place she owned by the sheer connection she had forged with the land.So strong her connection that the rock got named after her , her presence eternal with the rock.

Come June and a long weekend , on a monsoonal afternoon , we set out to explore this place. The road was motorable upto a point and beyond that was a small trek through a path marked out only for a single file ascent by years of feet treading the path .

Lush greenery all around, clouds pregnant with rain , we set out seeking . After a 20 minute ascent in a clearning was this beautiful sheet of water falling off a table like rock.
and so it was ..
A table of rock and not a huge boulder of my imagination , causing the water gushing from above to tumble like a sheet , collect in a basin below and flow down stream to meet the river...

Also had a reality bite when i learnt the sprightly woman in question actually had tumbled to death in the water-fall and hence the name.


May be she came trundling down often , sat on the rock , cooled off and went back to integrate to what life offered her.. may be she was a path breaker .. a vivid journey halted by a wee slip ...Who could tell ?

But she lives on in the lush , the rock and  the tumble of water , I told myself.

Kids and I had had an afternoon of exploration, walking a trail and soaking in the beauty of Pattathi para ...

Me Mom !

Wake up Sunday morning to a delightful surprise by the girls.
A carefully put- together hamper -gift by them to celebrate Mothers Day !

Kind of over whelmed to hear from the two most  important beings in my life ..As I became a mother, I accessed  vulnerability and strength  all at the same time. Kind of life altering .

I have re-lived my childhood, enhanced
 it even ...
I have grown up with them , all over again ..
I have also struggled , battled inadequencies , in my journey of being their MoM.

As i have bumbled my way , with no measuring yardstick , have learned to Be all I possibly can for them and for my self.

Thanks you , my dears , for choosing me to be your MoM.
It indeed is a privilege of a life time .

30 Prompts-30 Poems

The idea of brevity in writing has held immense appeal for me .. Less is always more , i firmly believe.. I think you can pack in as much power in a line of potent words , as you would in a rambling essay .

Was up for a writing challenge , this April..
Hosted by TTT- Terribly tiny tales - a platform that celebretes writers and their tiny tales.They called it the National Poetry Writing Month with the hashtag #NaPoWriMoTTT..
30 days.30 prompts.30poems .

I would eagerly await the days' prompt and let loose a brief volley of words and April apart from being Sunny, wanderlusty and restful also turned Poetic !

Day 17: Begin and end your poem with the same line

Find me..
In breezy,leafy parks,
waves at the beach,
tucked in a book shop,
in the stationery aisle of a supermarket..
sipping a cuppa by the window ,watching rain
In colour, in words, in light..
Please..
Find me ..

Joy of Journalling

Summer of 18 is here..
D and I kickstarted the summer vacation with a balcony mural project.
Something she does , every summer , is maintain a pictoral holiday journal..

She writes out her day and illustrates /sticks up pictures/ movie stubs/restrauant menus/ shopping cards that denote her day .

Its my delight to read and see her making each day of her summer vacation count and re-count !

The Love for journalling passed on :)