NaPoWriMo – Day 29

Here we go – the penultimate post for NaPoWriMo 2013…and I’m still having a hard time believing I manged thus far 🙂 I’m really proud of myself coz I’m generally a great starter but a poor finisher – I get bored easily and restless even quicker 😛 I’m also happy that taking part in this challenge helped me find my way back to the poet inside 🙂 I had, well not forgotten, but buried her deep beneath all the other labels that define who I am. Now that she’s had her time to shine – I’m happy and so is she 😀

This picture was taken at a Butterfly Park en route from Phoenix to Vegas. I forget the name, but the Monarchs were in town and boy aren’t they beautiful?! I cannot believe I spent most of my childhood screaming and running around like a headless chicken every time I saw a moth or butterfly that had wandered into the house drawn by the lights!! Now their powdery velvet wings and iridescent colors fascinate me, and although I still don’t like to get too close (it’s just a thing I have :P), I have no issues getting close enough to take pictures 😉

Metamorphosis is one of my favorite words in the English language! It’s a lyrical way of talking about change, and once again, a word with positive connotations! Positive Change – What’s not to like?!

NaPoWriMo – Day 28

Today is my Gran’s Birthday. She turns 87 today! I’ve written about her recently and mentioned her fragile present condition. She’s doing OK and hanging in there – but just about. And my wish on her Birthday for her and perhaps selfishly for us too – the women who are closest to her, who came through her and who LOVE her from the depths of their souls – is for Dignity & Grace when the end should come. Its with mixed feelings that I write this – it’s not an easy wish to make on her Birthday.

But how LUCKY am I to have been raised by a woman of her principles and gumption? She is as I’ve mentioned in several earlier posts – a consummate warrior and survivor – and happily for me – she’s raised me to be that way too. And although I will never be as accomplished and strong as she is – I know she’s proud of me. And that to me is the only thing that matters.

Sorry if this is overly sentimental…writing about her always makes me feel this way!

Love you Aai ❤

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NaPoWriMo – Day 27

Another picture I can’t remember having taken but one that instantly soothed me – especially on a day like today, which is going to be crazy with traveling in the big bad city!! Green will do that for you 🙂 These days in the run-up to the coming time of alleged relaxation 😉 (Are you ever really relaxed with a 5-yr-old in tow I wonder? :P), I’m feeling exactly like – you guessed it – a busy little bee! Not a bad thing except that I’m buzzing about in the kind of temperatures that make me want to migrate permanently to The North Pole!!

Maybe that’s what this little bee was thinking too – just wanting a break from all the work that they constantly seem engaged in! If this isn’t a bee, I’m sorry! It sure like like one to my inexperienced eyes! Either way, makes for a pretty picture don’t you think? And like her – quite literally, I too will be looking forward to my bed at the end of what promises to be a long if enjoyable day! 

NaPoWriMo – Day 26

My trusty shoes! Old now, but it’s like wine with shoes isn’t it? The older the vintage – the better the fit, that kind of thing?! No? Is it just me with my weird feet that take their own sweet time to get friendly with their footwear?! But once they do…Oh the JOY 😀 The comfort of a well-fitted shoe is one of the best feelings in the world! They slide on and off your feet like a second skin – cushioning, painless and easy. They make you feel like you could walk to the Moon and back and be none the worse for wear 😉 Oh well, to the Market down the road then 😛

This well worn pair has traveled with me on many journeys and walked down many exciting roads! They’ve stepped in puddles and worse, been stamped on, drenched in the rain, splattered with mud, served as bug-home on occasion – and survived! They’ve jumped for joy and danced to music and on occasion have caused painful blisters (but that was when they were young and immature ;)) – rather like the feet in them 😛 Today, almost 5 years after I first bought them – they are still my favorite, trusted travel shoes. I have others, (Of course I do! Girls and shoes – you get the picture ;)), but none that fit or feel quite like these – good, solid, with a rubber sole and a steady grip, they make me feel like I could walk forever. Honestly, I couldn’t ask for a better companion on my journeys! So a trip around the world or a walk in the park – I say…Bring it On!

NaPoWriMo – Day 25

Yoohoo!! It’s a mini Silver Jubilee of sorts on NaPoWriMo – 25 days today and I cannot believe I’ve posted 25 Haiku 🙂 I’ve met so many incredibly talented poets and writers on this journey and am having a ball – interacting with them and reading their work. Very inspiring 🙂

Abundance is one of my favorite words – for obvious reasons! The promise of plenty is always comforting but Abundance has a ring to it that is heartening as well. Its inherently lyrical and positive vibes make it very appealing! Every since I heard Sarah Ban Breathnach expound her Simple Abundance theory on Oprah way back when I still watched, I began to look at it with fresh perspective. Her idea is not new nor original and summed up means ‘Celebrate the Simple Things in Life’, which lets face it is something we hear a million times in one lifetime! But I guess it clicked that once in a new way somewhere in my head and I’m a happier person for it 🙂

And what can be simpler than the joy of watching the Monsoon in its full Glory! Raindrops and puddles, steaming hot cuppas and crisp, crunchy ‘bhajias’ (fritters), warm quilts and the world awash in life giving aqua?! The Indian Monsoon is a special force of Nature – Fierce, Destructive and Life-Giving. I hope it comes on time this year and is kind to us puny humans! Here is my own tiny homage to its Magnificence!!

P.S. I’ve done a little research and apparently Haiku (in English) do not have to stick rigidly to the principle of 5-7-5 syllables in 3 lines. The idea or perhaps aim is a better word; one of the aims of a Haiku is to depict a moment in time and juxtaposition two seemingly separate ideas with minimal word sounds. Although in English the Japanese ‘On’ or word sounds are interpreted as ‘syllables’, they are not identical. So in this Haiku, I have wandered from the rule and am very happy to have done so! I never was one for rigid rules 😉

NaPoWriMo – Day 24

Have been stumped today! It’s been a chaotic day because Ishaan is at home on a Holiday and as a result, uninterrupted thought, speech, writing, practically anything – is IMPOSSIBLE 😛 Add to that the fact that my Internet has been acting up lately and it’s well nigh a recipe for disaster – well at least for one of my famous temper tantrums 😉 That is until I found this picture! 

There is just something so soothing and calming about it that my poor frazzled nerves could not help but settle down a little 😉 Perhaps the colors – that blushing purple-pink and the fuzzy pale green; perhaps just the powerful simplicity and implied promise of a beautiful flower in the making 🙂 Whatever it is – I feel happier and more in control. I wonder if that’s what Spring feels like ? 🙂 

NaPoWriMo – Day 21

Sunrise, Sunset…it’s a given! Since I did a Sunset yesterday, I thought I would do a Sunrise today – but I don’t have any great pictures of a Sunrise (I did say I was an Owl!), I’ve settled for one of these pretty orange blossoms in the morning light. The picture brings back happy memories of our annual family vacations to a hill station, Mahabaleshwar, a few hundred kilometers from Mumbai. We gather there every year in our Indian winter (such as it is ;)), and celebrate what I like to call ‘the Art of Living’ 😉 which for us means chilling out, pigging out, playing Pictionary late into the night, lots of alcohol, tons of laughter and gossip!! 

We always stay at Hotel Dina, a family owned place that serves the most delicious non-veg food ever!! We’re regulars, so the staff and owners know us and are always gracious and helpful 🙂 I know all of us look forward to that hiatus in our busy lives when we reconnect with each other and Nature 🙂 This picture was taken early in the morning (6.30ish methinks!), while Hubby and Junior were still sleeping and I was out with the camera to see what I could see 🙂 It was cold and I was shivering (I hate warm clothes unless the cold is in danger of quite literally killing me ;)) But I remember, it was a magical morning…they always seems to be on vacation don’t they?!

Happy Sunday People 😀

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NaPoWriMo – Day 19

Unlike yesterday’s I clearly remember taking this picture! Again not a very good one – grainy from being taken in the late evening in fading light, and so had to be edited, but I digress.

This chap was sitting on the lily pad, oozing some sort of silvery, sticky fluid (which may mean he is actually a she – but your guess is as good as mine!), and generally hanging out! This is the same pond by the way, where I took this picture! We watched it for a long time and I remember Ishaan being rather fascinated with it. Frogs are not a favorite of mine – all that hopping and croaking and sudden wet flicks of the sticky tongue creep me out 😛 But when they’re far enough away, I’m fine, especially when there are pictures to be taken 🙂 I’m glad I found this picture, it reminded me inevitably of The Frog Prince fairy-tale and that’s what inspired the Haiku 🙂

And if the Prince should turn out to be a Princess – my apologies! 😉

NaPoWriMo – Day 18

It is so much fun browsing old pictures! Ever so often I come across one that I cannot remember anything about – an orphaned memory of sorts! This is one such – I have no recollection of ever having taken it – although that can be oddly liberating coz now I’m free to make up any old story that takes my fancy 😛

I don’t know my plants at all! So I have no clue what this one is – but it looks to me like a seed, ready for take-off into a world fraught with air currents and insects and headed for an uncertain future. And if it seems unafraid (other than because it’s a seed I mean ;)), I guess it’s because it has no choice really does it? That’s what seeds do – they leave their mother plants and go off into Mother Nature to fulfill their destinies. I’m sure this one was no different – I wonder whether she made it (It’s altogether too pretty to be a he methinks :P)? It’s a big bad world out there and growing up is never easy to do! Probably more difficult  for plants than humans in today’s world. And so I wish her Good Luck on her journey – I hope she finds safe haven when she lands; and fertile ground and the right kind of sunlight and enough water. She’s a brave soul!

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NaPoWriMo – Day 17

It’s getting a little harder now to get inspired 😛 Mostly because Life is getting busier as I start getting into serious vacation mode! The UK visas finally came in yesterday which means I’m all set to visit my favorite place on the Planet – London and my one and only BFF – Beenz!! Oh the Joy 😀

It also of course means a long flight with a restless 5-yr-old, his first well & truly long distance journey! Scary but exciting 🙂 He’s blissfully unaware of course and unconcerned. Travel being on my mind, I came across this picture from the early days, of a water drop (not a great picture, which is why I’ve edited it significantly and hopefully made it better!), and it made me think of the Ocean. I think those of us who have grown up around water, tend to take it for granted. But this little drop got me thinking about how it got to where it was, at the end of its own unique journey. From a drop in an Ocean to a cloud in the Sky. From a raindrop in the Air to a dewdrop on a Leaf…salt water makes it’s own eternal journey! 

And that’s how it is for all of us in a way ain’t it? We travel – physically, emotionally, spiritually and as we do, we adapt and change as per circumstance – sometimes we are an Ocean and sometimes we are dew drops and that’s just as it should be. All we need to remember is that every Ocean has infinite dewdrops and in every dewdrop is an Ocean waiting to be discovered!

And now that I’ve got all this #$%^ about drops and oceans off my mind…let me get back to the real world, where the restless 5-yr-old dewdrop is waiting to play Cricket 😉 😛

Have a Happy Day People 😀 Explore your Oceans 🙂

Ooh! I just realized this is my 250th post!! YAY for me 😀

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