Facing the Sun

Kavya returned home to tell her mother about the sunflowers she had seen in her friend’s house. She found them beautiful and wondered why they were called sunflowers. They did remind her of the sun and sunrays.

The following weekend Kavya, Advaith and their parents were driving to the  next town. On the way they were excited to see miles and miles of sunflower fields. Of course they had to stop. The children felt as if the flowers were nodding and smiling at the sun.

Advaith told his sister that when the plants were growing the buds turned to face the sun. He was sure the plants knew that the sun rises in the east. Kavya was not ready to believe this. She asked her brother if flowers had a mind. The farmer looked amused when he heard this exchange. He said that when the flowers were in full bloom they always faced east. So, they got this name.

To test if what her brother and the farmer  had said was true, Kavya dragged Advaith to the fields the next day. They spent the morning watching the buds. They did seem to worship the sun.

Kavya was convinced.

(198 words)

Everyday Moments (#SOL – 2019)

My weekly Slice of Life are my letters to my Doddamma. She is my father’s elder brother’s wife. Doddamma literally means ‘elder mother’. She is 88 years old. She cannot hear properly if I telephone to talk to her. So, I have been writing letters to her since October 2017. I enjoy writing letters and she is happy to read them. They are only about the everyday moments in my life. I post my letters to her every week.

29-10-19
Deepawali is a festival which is celebrated in every part of our country in different ways. It is celebrated on three days. This year this festival of lights started yesterday, till tomorrow. I can hear the sound of crackers as I am writing.
Yesterday we applied oil and had bath early in the morning. This is an age-old custom. I made rice kheer. This recipe was given by my cousin. We have to cook rice, sugar and milk together in the cooker. It is very tasty.

Yesterday evening we attended a Hindustani classical music concert. It was organised by a family in memory of their mother. There was tabla  solo performance by a young lady, Sanjeevani Hasabnis. A solo violin recital by a nineteen year old boy, Yadnesh Raikar. Vocal music by brothers Pandit Ritesh Mishra and Pandit Rajnish Mishra. They are sons of a renowned Hindustani Classical singer, Pandit Sajan Mishra. The music started at 4.30 and went on till 8.30.

At the concert I was remembering my father’s elder brother, my doddappa. He developed interest in this music late in his life and he spent hours immersed in the music. He was always interested to develop new interests. He got a Phd in Economics when he was in his seventies 😊. I always pray that I will never stop learning as I grow older.

   

Today morning my husband has gone to his village to be with his father. My father-in-law is fine and enjoyed listening to classical music in YouTube, in the mobile phone.

It is 9.15 in the night and it is raining now. People who want to burn crackers will be disappointed. I have lit diyas and kept them in the verandah sill. We don’t burn crackers. We did, when our grandchildren were here last year.

October is finishing. Time is flying. Whenever I say that I remember my cousin saying we should think of people who say they do not know what to do with time !!

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali
https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/rice-kheer-recipe-chawal-ki-kheer/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani_classical_music
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diya_(lamp)

#SoCS Oct. 26/19

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “dress.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

The other evening, my friend and I were talking about dresses, especially the saree and the salwar kameez. Both of us find the saree a very graceful dress. We wear the salwar kameez at home and when going for a walk but for all other occasions it is the saree. She and her husband are now in North India where most women prefer the salwar kameez and sarees only for special occasions. But here in South India women from all classes of the society wear sarees. I often wonder how women labourers manage to work wearing sarees, but they do.

My friend told me about a saree movement called ‘hundred saree pact’. I had not known about and read about it in Google. It is really fascinating. I have shared the link below.

The most popular dress for the younger generation is jeans and a t-shirt or kurta. Slacks and a top are also popular. I see the fashion keeps changing but always it moves in a circle. Sometimes the sleeves are long and sometimes short. The length of the kurta too keeps changing from being very short to almost full length. These days the dupatta or shawl is used by very few women. Earlier it was an essential part of the dress. I like to use the dupatta.

But of all the dresses the one which really disgusts me are the ‘torn jeans’. Fortunately, we do not see them much now. I feel they are an insult to the really poor people. They have to wear what they get, even if they are torn and patched all over. But those who can afford to buy whatever they want, wear jeans which are torn in different places. It is really disgusting. I wonder at the minds and the thinking of the persons who brought it into fashion.

The 100 Saree Pact

( This is my mother’s wedding saree. My parents were married on May 1st, 1959. The gold threads shine even now, after sixty years. But the blue colour has faded now and the material has become fragile now. It cannot be worn.)

Loss (Sunday Photo fiction)

The two friends met at the hospital entrance. The look on Asha’s face saddened Deepa. Asha had been finding it difficult to see things. A check-up revealed that the nerves of her eyes were becoming weaker. Soon she would be blind. That had terrified her. She had taken to wearing dark glasses, hoping that people would not notice her disability. Deepa understood her friend’s feelings but wished she did not worry about what people thought.

Deepa had always seen the blind wearing dark glasses but had never understood why they wore them. What was their purpose? Who had decreed that the blind should cover their eyes? Was it because ‘normal’ people felt uncomfortable looking at eyes that could not see? Or did people who were blind feel more secure while wearing dark glasses? She could never find answers to these questions.

She had tried to convince Asha against wearing those glasses. But Asha stopped her by saying that it was easy to say such things. Only those who experience the pain of losing their sight knew what it really meant. Deepa was left speechless.

(184 words)

Photo credit:  Colby Renee

Everyday Moments (SoL #2019)

My weekly Slice of Life are my letters to my Doddamma. She is my father’s elder brother’s wife. Doddamma literally means ‘elder mother’. She is 88 years old. She cannot hear properly if I telephone to talk to her. So, I have been writing letters to her since October 2017. I enjoy writing letters and she is happy to read them. They are only about the everyday moments in my life. I post my letters to her every week.

23-10-19
It is raining as I am writing. In fact, it has been raining since early morning. Actually, the weather has been strange for almost a week. The mornings were sunny and afternoon there was a lot of thunder, though we could not see the lightnings. And then rain. In June we were worried because there were no rains and now it is still raining and there is so much of destruction in various parts of our state. Life has become miserable for so many.

Yesterday evening we went for our walk to the lake side. It was bright and the lake looked so beautiful. As we reached half way, we saw dark clouds gathering. They too looked so beautiful. We did not have much farther to when we started hearing the sound of rain coming towards us and it started pouring. We decided not take shelter anywhere and by the time we reached our car we were fully drenched. Yesterday we had forgotten to take our umbrellas 😊. I made pumpkin soup for night. My daughter had told me about it. And this pumpkin was from our garden. Rain and hot soup are a good combination 😊.

Last week I was busy with some repair work. I had got some blouses of a member from Asare. I had to remove stitches as she had put on weight and stitch again. It took some time, specially removing the stitches. But it was done and I gave it to her yesterday.

On the 19th was our son’s birthday. We went to the temple for the morning puja and went from there to a favourite hotel to breakfast. I prepared green gram dal payasam, our favourite dessert . The ingredients are dal, jaggery and coconut paste or coconut milk.

Later, at 11 o’clock , my husband left for a reunion of friends. He went to a place called Kannur in the neighbouring state. One of the friends lives there and made arrangements. This place is near the coast. He and his friends had a wonderful time. He returned Monday afternoon.

Sometimes Aravind does not get a digital copy of a book that he needs. He gets a hard copy and scans it. But while scanning some mistakes in the page number or extra letters happen. I look at the hard copy and rectify the mistakes. I just completed On Blindness by Brian Magee and Martin Milligan. I have not read the book but I am going to read it after I finish the book I am reading now.

“The world keeps on changing, but there is always something, somewhere, that remains the same.”
― Ruskin Bond

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannur
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magee,_Bryan

#SoCS Oct. 19/19

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “oh.” Use it as a word or find a word that starts with “oh.” Bonus points if you start and end with “oh.” Enjoy!

‘Oh’ was what our granddaughter used to say when she did not like something or when she wanted something and she did not get it. ‘Oh’ was expressed in different tones and inflexions. Our daughter, son-in-law and children were with us for three weeks in August. We loved our granddaughter’s use of the word ‘oh’ 😊. We too started using it and she would smile when we said it. We had a wonderful time with the children and when they left, we missed them a lot. Life goes on and we came back to our own routine. We talk to them almost daily by WhatsApp video call.

Technology has changed our lives so much. Long back when people went to other countries letter writing was the means of keeping in touch. But it used to take so long. Telephone conversations were too expensive. But now it is not so. If we want to, we can keep in touch with our near ones. Earlier we used to visit people a lot and stay with them for some time. But now it is not so. We meet our relatives at some social or religious function. WhatsApp and Facebook have helped us to be in some contact with our relatives and friends. In their own ways they are a cohesive force. I feel something is better than nothing. In many ways I cannot agree when people say, ‘Oh, life was so much better in the past.’ Many a time we tend to look back through rose coloured spectacles😊.

Ragtag Daily Prompt Thursday: How Green is Blue

The prompt for today is How Green is Blue.
This is a chance to use this phrase to inspire you to create a post. It can be anything – poetry, prose, a drawing, a photograph, wherever the phrase sends you.

This prompt immediately brought to mind the pond in the middle of the areca farm in our village. Generations of children have enjoyed their vacations diving and swimming in this pool. The blue of the water becomes green when the water reflects the leaves of the trees surrounding the pool. It is full during the monsoon season.  It is always a pleasure to look at the pool in its quiet surroundings.

 

 

 

Everyday Moments (#SOL-2019)

My weekly Slice of Life are my letters to my Doddamma. She is my father’s elder brother’s wife. Doddamma literally means ‘elder mother’. She is 88 years old. She cannot hear properly if I telephone to talk to her. So, I have been writing letters to her since October 2017. I enjoy writing letters and she is happy to read them. They are only about the everyday moments in my life. I post my letters to her every week.

15-10-19
We are still getting occasional rains, usually in the evenings to the accompaniment of thunder and lightning. And today afternoon it was like an orchestra out there with rain. It was very dark too. But we could go for a walk though it was very cloudy.

One evening we went for a walk around the lake in our place. It is good to see so much water but the level has come down a little. There are two small islands in the lake covered with trees. It is a resting and nesting place for many birds. It is a pleasure to see them flying back home.

I have been going to Asare, home for the mentally challenged. Life is going on there as usual. Nursing students are posted there. Most of them are from our neighbouring state, Kerala. We were talking to two students who are from this place. Theirs is a different world, that of their classes and the hospital.

On the 9th my husband went to our village to be with his father. His brother wanted to attend a function in a relative’s home. Someone has to be with my father-in-law. My husband returned on the 11th.

On the 10th my son and I attended a talk by Dr Parul Mukherji on Mimesis. It was an interesting talk and I was hearing about this for the first time.

We use some varieties of colacasia leaves and the stems in some of our food preparations. I tried a new recipe on Saturday. I prepared the steamed ‘pathrode’ at night for Sunday breakfast. That morning I cut the cooked ‘pathrode’ and shallow fried it on the iron pan. It was good.

Today evening my husband and son attended a classical flute concert. I like music but I prefer to listen at home. Somehow, I find it difficult to sit through a concert 😊. But I do attend some Hindustani or Carnatic vocal music concerts. My husband and son enjoy understand the various nuances of classical music and enjoy attending concerts.
I am enjoying books by Marcia Willet and I am now reading a fascinating book, The Circle of Reason by Amitav Ghosh.

‘For every time I see the sky, I’m aware of belonging to the universe than to just one corner of the earth.’    –  Ruskin Bond

https://jnu.academia.edu/ParulMukherji

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimesis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnatic_music

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani_classical_music

http://www.konkanifoodrecipes.com/recipes/colocasia-leaves-with-rice-floor-baked-in-steam-pathrode-or-pathrado

Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #275 Wail&Wake

In the wake of death

Silent wails of the mourners

Pierced and touched the hearts.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Sun & Water

River Swarna on her way to the Arabian sea.

Sunlight on rain water 🙂