Twenty- five Seven

Be with me #GuestPost #FridayReflections

October 19, 2018

Yay! Glad to share

Yesterday was Dussehra, the tenth day of the Navratri festival. Traditionally it is a women’s festival dedicated to the praise of the mother goddess. It is celebrated in different ways in different parts of the country.

In my part of the world, it is celebrated by visiting elders, offering them leaves from the Cassia tree ( called sona) and seeking their blessings .

It is also celebrated as one of the three auspicious days and marked by the purchase of gold.

Considering the falling value of the rupee, many people still resort to the standard yellow metal to preserve their wealth, but with the purchasing power of the rupee itself being so diminished, all you can really afford these days is just gold dust!

However, ours was a quiet Dussehra spent in the past and present.

In the morning, I offered my prayers to the family shrine, my gas stove and of course my beloved computer. Ms. Papaya and Little Po joined me in full earnest as we thanked our work tools for working efficiently.

Then Ms Papaya joined Hubby dear, Ma-in-law and me for a Chinese lunch at the Club.

Little Po was joining his other grandparents at their family home for their traditional celebration.

And at night, we had our traditional celebration with the entire family, followed by a spectacularly scary, sound and light show courtesy the Lord Above whose last monsoon showers clean the air of all pollutants left behind.

Photo by Kristin De Soto on Pexels.com

Be with me

“Be with me,” I said to my 60 year old mother.

I am not disabled or sick; I’m a perfectly healthy 35 year old, recovering from a traumatic personal event, who has moved back to my childhood home. I was rushing in and out of the house as I looked for jobs, squeezed in a gym class and played with my daughter.

Despite living in the same house as my mother, I rarely spoke to her.

By asking her to “be with me”, as I got ready in the morning, I could chat with her. For 10 or 15 minutes. Catch up. Ask her how her day was looking; check in with the mundane yet important points of daily life.

We used to hear our father say this to our mother all the time. And we used to snigger. Why would a grown man want her to sit outside the bath and chat?

But as a working adult, I understand why. We all need someone to listen to us. To ask us how our day went. To be with us.

As I reflect on what has got me through this time – and allowed me to find joy and peace, it is that she was with me. She listened when I rehashed the same story a hundred times. She listened when I cried. She celebrated the small wins.

As we wind down 2018, I’m so grateful for her, and my entire family. Who was there for me. I hope everyone has someone who is there for them. To be with them. That is my wish for 2019. And to end, here is a poem on the topic:

“I’ll Be There for you”

“I’ll be there, my darling, through thick and through thin

When your mind’s in a mess and your head’s in a spin

When your plane’s been delayed, and you’ve missed the last train.

When life is just threatening to drive you insane

When your thrilling whodunit has lost its last page

When somebody tells you, you’re looking your age

When your coffee’s too cool, and your win is too warm

When the forecast said, “fine”, but you’re out in a storm

When your quick break hotel, turns into a slum

And your holiday photos show only your thumb

When you park for five minutes in a resident’s bay

And return to discover you’ve been towed away

When the jeans that you bought in hope or in haste

Just stick on your hips and don’t reach round your waist

When the food you most like brings you out in red rashes

When as soon as you boot up the bloody thing crashes

So my darling, my sweetheart, my dear…

When you break a rule, when you act the fool

When you’ve got the flu, when you’re in a stew

When you’re last in the queue, don’t feel blue

’cause I’m telling you, I”ll be there.”

by Louise Cuddon

I woke up this morning to find that my clothes were splattered on the floor, wet and dirty with the late evening storm. What a fiddle!

So when I got up this morning, put on my trusty computer and I found this delightful letter penned by Daughter No.1 who is my Itinerant Blogger, it cheered me up no end!

It also seemed providential that it ties up so well with this photo prompt: a heart surrounded by love.

I know that just as I am there for her, she will be there for her daughter, the way my mum is for me.

Life goes on doesn’t it?

Linking this with #FridayReflections hosted by Corinne of EverydayGyaan
Balloon Heads for Ravan #WordlessWednesday

October 17, 2018

Always updating celebrations to make them more relevant to our Gen Alpha babies, my millennial mum-in-residence Anna Shetty came up with this novel idea for Ravana.

She upcycled the carton that brought home our air conditioner that has already seen one avatar as a Fire Engine. Keeping it upright, she took another carton that held the bottle of brandy and was now a multi-storied building, into his neck.

And then she cleverly taped together colourful balloons to have our happy and cheerful Ravana.

Last night we had our first Ram Leela performance with Ms Papaya playing Sita and the two brothers Wow Dinga and Little Po playing Ram and Laxman.

The rest of the family played supporting roles as well as narrator and photographer .

Our Ravana nodded his satisfaction at the end of the play and we all went off to bed .

This morning when we woke up, Ravana was down to just ONE ahead which, according to Wow Dinga , made him look like a minion.

Hope this little story brings cheer to you in the middle of the week!

Joining my blogger friends Esha and Natasha who host #WordlessWednesday.

Ciao
Fly me to the Moon #TheBlindList #SayYesToTheWorld

October 15, 2018

Fly me to the moon croons Hubby Dear à la Frank Sinatra in his golden voice but I’m not waiting in line for a space trip organised by Elon Musk, Richard Branson or even Jeff Bezos, the millionaires who promise to expand the frontieres of travel. For me,  a simple ticket to places yet unknown (to me that is) on this planet would do.

Travel has always been in my blood ever since I came out into this world after a spicy batata wada and a bumpy rickshaw ride. And since my father was in a transferable job, I got to see a fair bit of the world.

Deceptive reality

Conditioned into believing that all things Occidental are wonderful, large and awesome it often comes as a shock to find things aren’t so. The smallness of the Mona Lisa, its almost blink-and-you’ll-miss it – size comes as a surprise to first time travelers like me. Similarly, the old, dowager like appearance of Paris came as a real downer after years of yearning to see this seat of world culture.

On the other hand, the reality of the Bund on the HuangPo that stares out from a tapestry hanging in my hallway, is jaw droppingly modern and large!

My wall of memories where I display paintings from the cities and places I’ve travelled to.

Similarly, I was amazed at the vastness of the American sky as it stretched over the Grand Canyon, the dizzily high tower of the Burj Al Khalifa reaching out to the Dubai sky.

Tastes & Sounds

Dear world, you have revealed to me the tangy, sweetness of crisp Peking duck at Dadong and the vibrant busyness of New York. You have shown me the vast silence of the Grand Canyon and made me smell the brown in Autumn leaves . You have made me hear the crashing sound of water falling down Niagara and the brooks bubbling in the Himalayas. I close my eyes and listen to the gentle paddle of the oar in a Gondola or a boat in the backwaters. My heart raced with fear as I went up the funicular, leaving the brilliant blue of Lake Como into a tiny speck below. A peacock in New Jersey came as a welcome surprise while a cow in the middle of a busy street in Mumbai came as no surprise at all!

What joy it was to see not one scoop but three of delicious gelato, savour the delicate sweetness of macaron as the HOHO bus wound through the streets of Paris, the wonder of the first sliver of Herring as it slithered down my throat

My heart longs for more

Yet despite my long travels that have seen me tramp side streets, drive miles and sail on seas, I still know that there is more to see. More to discover. More to savour. More to experience.

“I’m in love with cities I’ve never been to and people I’ve never met.” – John Green

When all it takes is a click of a button and the flash of a phone screen, the joys of travel , meeting new people , experiencing new cultures and facing new challenges has become easier than pie.

But walk down unknown paths and sail through uncharted seas ?

No, not for me. Give me a sea facing cabin on the upper deck of a cruise liner, or a first class seat on a plane.I’m willing to visit any place even places I normally wouldn’t dare.

My soul wants to cross desert sands on camel back with my heart in my mouth. Or sit atop an elephant as it trundles along in the jungles of SriLanka.

I want to experience the eerie yet magical light show of the Northern skies ,  the romance of the Galapagos, the plains of South America, the Outback of Australia. I want to visit once more the places I’ve been to like the beaches of Bali, the Straits of Malaca.

There’s still a lot left of the world – too much to list here – for me to experience once more the feeling of awe and wonder when I see the world. But you make the list, dear World, for me to discover.

Because even though there’s lots I have seen, I want to #SayYesToTheWorld  and fill up my wall of memories with more hand painted pictures and memories.

I’m participating in #TheBlindList, a contest organised by #Indiblogger and Lufthansa’s new campaign #SayYesToTheWorld

Ciao! Sayonara! Namaste!