“Colour distinction
Blue for he and pink for she
Something new for us.
We have bright colours for girls
And God knows why, white for boys.”
My granddaughter was born in Germany last November. My daughter told me we would get only pink coloured dresses for girls And only blue ones for boys. This distinction has not become very popular in my place. We usually had bright colours for girls white for boys. But that too has changed. But flower prints are not used for boys and white is used. It is really interesting how we make these divisions.
RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #220 He&She
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One of the care takers, Suma, is from near Chitradurga (a place in the north of my state). She and her children were going home for Muharram. She told me something very interesting. I had not known about this. In her village Moharram is celebrated by people of all religions. On that day in one of the grounds a shallow pit is made and filled with firewood and fire is made. When the fire dies, there is hot ember. Devotees, only men walk across the hot ember. Women do not walk across the hot embers but the stand near and the priest blesses them. All who gather there have to take cold water bath before and after the rites and rituals. She told me there has never been any Hindu Muslim problem in their place. It was good to hear this. There is so much that we don’t about our country.
( photo from the internet )
Aravind is very busy with his classes. The German certificate course has started and will continue till end of November. We drop him in his college and go for a walk. Amma meets people of her age group and enjoys talking to them.
On Sunday, Aravinda was free, we went to Endpoint. Amma and I walked till the football grounds, it takes us 15 minutes to reach that place. Students were enjoying playing, we sat and watched them. It was fun. Kuvara and Aravinda walked till the end. On holidays many people come there for a walk. No vehicles are allowed on End point road. Cyclists are allowed. We enjoy walking there.
We had been planning to go to Maikuri ( where my father-in-law and brother-in-law live) yesterday but we could not. Kuvara went today morning and returned in the evening. Tomorrow morning amma and I are going to Hyderabad where my elder brother lives. My father’s tithi (death anniversary) is on the 27th. My younger brother will be reaching Hyderabad today night. He lives in Australia. I will be returning on the 30th afternoon.
Two harmonium players, Chaitanya Kunte from Maharashtra, and Ravindra Katoti from Bangalore had come. They talked about the harmonium and also played it. They said the harmonium came to India from outside and in the early years it was not accepted by musicians. But over the years it has become an integral part of any music concert. Kuvara did not come for other sessions because we did not want to leave amma alone the whole day.
All the sessions were very interesting. Writers from Tibet, Bhutan, and from our north eastern states had come. We came to know so much from them. The session with the Bhutanese writer, Kunzang Choden and the Tibetan writer Tenzin Tsundue was moderated by Aravinda’s friend, Chintan. Aravinda and Chintan studied MA and MPhil at the same time in EFLU, Hyderabad. On the 9th, Chintan stayed with us. He returned to Bombay on the 10th morning. He and his parents live in Malad.
Sushama Deshpande spoke about Tamasha and Lavani, it was very enlightening. There is a Hindi Literary society called Goonj in Manipal. Its members mainly students who are studying in engineering college. Their poetry recital was very good. Aravind and I met them later and told them we really appreciated their recitation. It was nice to listen to people whom I had not even heard of.
(The Tibetan writer, Tenzin Tsundue, my son Aravinda, he is Assistant professor in the Department of European studies and his friend Chintan who moderated the session)
Yesterday my friend from Asare sent some photos of the Teacher’s Day celebration in a special school Spandana. Teachers in Asare had been practising a song and a folk dance. She told me it went of well. Every year Teacher’s Day is celebrated in different special schools and there are cultural events. Teachers from Asare always take part with great enthusiasm.
Aravinda did not have to take German classes during m.i.l.a.p but now he will have to take classes on Saturdays too. Yesterday evening after leaving him in his college, we went to the Syndicate bank training college grounds for a walk. Amma walked one round. Our friend, Mrs Sudha Rao was there, she walked only one round and said she was feeling very tired. She is 80 plus. Sometime she feels sad that she is not able to walk as much as she used to. We sat there for some time watching the changing colours of the sky as the sun was setting. It looks so beautiful.
After returning from there, I made ‘pathrode’ for tomorrow’s breakfast. My neighbour, Rekha gave me the ‘kesavina soppu’ (colocasia leaves). I will make ‘oggarane’ tomorrow. We all like it and Aravinda likes it very much. It is now 8.15, Aravinda will be back home at 8.45 from his German classes.
Yesterday one of our neighbours’ celebrated the 75th birthday of their mother. They had invited many of the their relatives and friends for lunch. Their house is near our house. In the evening we all went to Endpoint for a walk. Kuvara and Aravinda went ahead. Amma was able to walk almost to the end. There are seats there. She was very happy that she could walk till there. From End point road we can see Swarna river flowing towards Arabian sea. On weekdays Aravinda has his German classes from 6 to 8.30. At 4.30 he and I go for a walk near our home for 25 minutes.
