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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NaPoWriMo – Day 16

With this one – I’m all caught up.

This one is In Memorium of the innocent lives lost in Boston. Words seem so empty at such times, but they are all I have and so they will have to do. Rest. In. Peace. 

NaPoWriMo – Day 15

This is the first of my two catch up posts today and then hopefully I’ll be back on track!

I wrote this Haiku a few days ago, because I love this picture and because I love my coffee 🙂 So you can often find me, cup in hand, staring off into the distant future, oblivious to the present, happy in my daydreams 😉 But after the shocking incident at the Boston Marathon yesterday, the words took on a whole new meaning.

Those who lost their lives, those innocent people just out to fulfill an aspiration perhaps or just to have a good run…who could foretell this would be their last day on the planet? 😦 Their lives cruelly shortened by cowardice and evil (they seem to flourish in our modern day world don’t they?). My hearts goes out to them and their families 😦 Sometimes the present seems so senseless one wonders what horrors the future might hold. And sometimes I give Thanks for the not knowing coz how does one live with such knowledge and in the face of one’s own helplessness?

NaPoWriMo – Day 14

Am playing catch up!

On recent travels, I passed this grove of what I assume are young Teak saplings. Teak is a highly prized wood here in the East – it is hardy, resistant to termites and water, and furniture made from it usually outlasts its owners 😉 And so of course, we’ve run through most of the old plantations and now have to plant new ones so future generations are not bereft of this beautiful wood! Isn’t that just so typically human! Our greed truly is the stuff of legend 😦

The grove was rather dense and although it was just off the road, the illusion was one of seclusion and reserve. Shards of sunlight danced around the leaves and bounced of the white bark in green-yellow-white flashes of unexpected color. There was just something about that scene that was magical – that reminded me of an ancient forest, of Fangorn from LOTR – a place of wisdom, strength and endurance; and a keeper of Secrets 🙂  

For isn’t that what our Forests are – keepers of Secrets and vessels of wisdom? Who knows what magic awaits discovery on a day spent wandering in Mother Mature’s treasure trove?

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NaPoWriMo – Day 13

Still channeling my Gran to some extent! I was thinking about her wedding day – bittersweet like most memories are. She was just 16 years and marrying a man chosen by her parents (in the tradition of the times), and doing so only to humor her Father, who was dying of Leukemia. His last wish was to see his first and beloved daughter settled and I’m glad that he didn’t last long enough to watch her life unravel.

This lotus seemed perfect because my Granny had beautifully delicate skin and the famed peaches and cream complexion, and I can only imagine how stunning she must have been as a blushing bride! She was a beauty and now even through all the ravages of time – she still is 🙂 

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NaPoWriMo – Day 12

Today’s Haiku is dedicated to my Gran. She will turn 87 on the 28th of this month 🙂 My Gran is a warrior and a survivor. She has lived a tough, hard and ultimately long life and seen tragedy and joy in equal measure, although she sure could have done with less tragedy! We all could have. Still, all in all, a Life well lived; and watching her frail condition now – her tired body and drained soul – perhaps one coming to its logical conclusion. It pains me to write these words but it pains me more to see her reduced to a shadow of her former self – losing her memories and sense of self. She’s fought the hard fight and she’s triumphed and I want her to leave, when she will, in a blaze of Glory! This is my wish. She’s earned it with blood, sweat and tears.

This one is for you Aai…

NaPoWriMo – Day 11

I know, I know…I thought I wouldn’t have time to write but guess what…I do and so you have to suffer me again 😉

Today is an auspicious Day for us Hindus – it’s our New Year – Gudi Padva 🙂 A Day of new beginnings and fresh starts and all that jazz 😉 But it’s also a rather special for us as a family, since Hubby is celebrating a milestone Birthday today! I won’t say which (although there are those who know :P), coz well, don’t want to upset him on his special day…he’s not quite as thick-skinned as I am 😉

Lets just say – it’s a big deal and I’m really happy and proud to be by his side! Hubby is a self-made man like my Dad, which is perhaps what attracted me to him in the first place all of those years ago 🙂 He’s a workaholic; a dynamic, passionate man who is devoted to his family and fiercely protective of it. I have yet to see him come across a problem he can’t solve or a situation he cannot handle. He can be abrasive and rash and he is a man of few words in most company, but he’s a good, solid man of integrity, a fun, loving husband and an excellent father and really, what more is there to say?!

So on this special day, I dedicate this Haiku to my Better Half – the man who stole my heart two decades ago and can still make it melt with the warmth of his smile 🙂 Cheers to our Magical Journey – may it never end!

Love You G!! Always have and always will ❤

NaPoWriMo – Day 10

Where there are flowers can spiders be far behind?! C’est la vie! Beauty and the Beast go hand in hand it seems in the real world as in our imaginations 😉 Often, the Beast uses Beauty to lure its hapless victim into the trap. And ever so often, Beauty succumbs – oblivious to lurking danger, lost in the joy of a magical moment, susceptible to the Beast’s powerful hunger. Nature and indeed humankind are full of examples 😛

But this Haiku is not the result of such lofty thoughts 😉 It’s really just about the spider and its web – this one I photographed after an exhausting battle with my focusing skills, at Panhala, a hill station in the state of Maharashtra, India which is home to one of several Forts built by Shivaji, King of the Marathas and warrior extraordinaire! 

So here I am celebrating the eternal tussle between Beauty and the Beast 😛

Also wanted to let my readers know that I’m traveling until Sunday, so I might not be able to post until then, in which case, will catch up when I get back. 

Have a good week ahead People 😀

NaPoWriMo – Day 9

After the somber tone of yesterday’s Haiku, I wanted to change tack entirely and return to the Happiness that’s always waiting beneath the surface! It is really, just that some days, t’s a hard to get a hold of, put a finger on, Remember – you know what I mean?

So this is my way – of Remembering 🙂 When I first developed a serious interest in photography – Flowers were my thing! Not only because they are beautiful but because they so obligingly stayed put and allowed me to experiment with light and settings and angles at leisure 🙂 Yes Flowers were my friends and although it’s been a while since I took some great flower pics, they still remain so today! I love water lilies – there’s something so zen-like in their symmetry and their colors, pristine whites, pretty pinks and royal purples that it’s hard to escape their soothing effect 🙂 I have a feeling having stumbled upon this picture – that it will be one of many 😉 You have been warned 😛