forgiving

Maybe that's what it's all about

Giving in for some one you love...

teach me

What would I not give to have a child's heart

That carries not the morning's slight into the night

What would I not give to have the child's trust

That allow it to jump into our hands on our call

Without a moment's hesitation of a fall

Knowing yet that in a few years the strength of youth will be a bygone memory

And memories will be all that I might treasure

Is it vanity that one should.try to impart the best of themselves to the child

Nothing can be taught unless we become the learners from whom we seek to teach.

In the child lies the teacher, though they don't even try.

there is only one problem

Photo me

I magiced it

My life is sunshined because of my daughter

When you throw grammar out,

You get emotions

When you throw words out

You feel the beauty

Language is such a problem...

grade 1

When 10 x 10 = 100 with an exclamation  mark!!!

the allure of cause and effect

To think

To do

To expect a result for contemplated action

Why can't we simply relish the blossoming of a flower or the vast sky or the perfect drop of water or the biting pangs of hunger? 

an unequal equation

A prayer that she should die before he did...

A belief that all those who died before their venerable spouses did were blessed and would bless all the woman for a similar fate. 

She wondered what the menfolk would do as an equivalent. 

Home

It was a dead house. It had not.heard the lusty cry of a hungry infant or a girlish giggle or an excited discovery of an insect for nearly four decades. It's inmates had moved - due to work, by way of marriage or simply died. And the house died a slow death - cobwebbed musty inevitable death that comes with old age, no new paint, no occassion to paint, no reason to celebrate - just old age pain of cracking pipes, peeling paint and Insect and reptiles proliferating where bovines had stood - ready to be milked by the numerous servants. The tiles on the toilet had started to come apart. The pathway was overgrown with weeds. Peepal and banyan tree saplings had started to sprout in the crevices claiming their rightful earth back. Arthritic windows with catracted stained glass panes and creaking doors with long forgotten locks and a bunch of menacing looking keys lay rusting in a key box waiting for someone to clean them up and use them. 

The memories lay in forgotten trunk boxes stacked in forgotten rooms with forgotten keys- Boxes of ancient initialled silver and even more ancient aluminum wares gifted across generations when the women married into the family. Boxes of documents and boxes of photographs; boxes of horoscopes and boxes of jewellery, boxes of craft work and boxes of gift boxes which had accumulated in the long ago time when happy occasions were celebrated in the house itself. 

cheers!

There is a special place,

Where you are given all the tear drops 

That you caused to be shed

To quench your thirst. 

As each drop goes down your throat,

You drown in the emotion contained in it. 

Happy drinking.

வேண்டுதல்

கொடுக்கும் கை வேண்டும்

நான் என்ற அகந்தை இலா மனம் வேண்டும்

பிறப்பிலும் இறப்பிலும் சம நிலை வேண்டும்

இருந்த போதும், போதும் என்ற எண்ணம் வேண்டும்

கடையில், இவை வேண்டும் என்ற வெண்டல் இலா நிலை வேண்டும். 

true caller

They were back after the break. She called for the bottled water. It had been a couple of months. She was surprised when he answered with her name, when she gave the delivery address. He said he could never forget her name. Same as his sister's. 

a disconnect

He yelled. She got disconnected. 

She spoke out. They got disconnected.

She sought help. They disconnected. 

movies list

Funny - how we relate every thing to our parents. My father loved movies - English, hindi, tamil, French and sometimes even Italian and japanese movies, though he couldn't understand a word of it. I never for a moment thought that he had no clue what was actually going on in the movie, because he would narrate he entire story based on his own storyline that went off in his head! 

He used to write down lists of his favorite movies and songs and books, so that we could see it sometime. If any of these oldien goldies came.on the tv / got screened anywhere, he would make it a point to take us and show it. We saw born free in woodlands on a Sunday afternoon. I think there were only the four of us in the entire upper storey! 

So, during the quarantine, I thought of introducing the kids to movies. And list them as suitable for their age, when I am at it.

Benjy - very good for 5 year old kids. They loved it. 

Sound of music - a bit difficult to explain why the police are bad.

Dunston checks in- they loved it, though it added on to my son's monkey behaviour a bit. 

Chitti chitti bang bang - awesome classic. 

Hatari - they really liked the animals, though it has a lot of smoking in it. 

How to train your dragon - 1 & 2 - good movies

Jumanji - a bit scary for 5 year olds, but doable. 

Moana - my daughter started to cry and couldn't see it through, as she didn't like the dad's disapproval in the movie. 

And we started buying.news papers again...

To make kites and pin wheels

And to sketch and make collages

To make papier mache

To pack fruits and legumes

To wipe up little messes

To lay on the floor before a haircut

To use as a stencil for painting sunsets

on a viral night

He worked on the cloud

She gazed at the stars

Romance set in

no longer my baby

As the days pass,

The pants grow shorter

They no longer want to be fed or bathed

They have their own friends and lives

They talk about things that i am not a part of

And i suddenly miss my babies. 

scary

Am so happy to have a John Smith kind of a name. You could Google, search on Facebook, search on Twitter, linked in and in n number of sites and find that there are 100s of "me"s around. And if you ever knew me, well - you have known me forever. 

middle ages

When a normal week means

No rushing to the hospital

No emergency calls from the school

And all household help is present.

The small pleasures of normalcy...

Mother

Take me gently - like a delicate flower
Take me even as the breeze lifts the creeper
Take me with no pain
Take me, so that I shall never again
Wonder if I am going or coming back

Take me to my mother
To my father and
to all those I hold dear
Take me with no fear

Take me so that I may
See the light at the end of my day
Take me,
Take me far away

Take me with a smile on my lips
And fond memories
Take me
Take me away...

Mother of a son

I never thought it would be something so special. The pride of seeing your son discover something and sharing his excitement with such awestruck, wondrous eyes. He makes me wonder all the time who is teaching whom, what.

Even as i try teaching him to eat with a sense of decorum and a sense of time, he is teaching me patience.  When I am teaching him about insects and gardening, he teaches me excitement at seeing caterpillars curl up and snails shrinking into their shells. He teaches me happiness when he catches a ball, letting go and yelling ooooohhhh when he wants to do a together "wolf maadiri kathuhu"  going on the scooter, sensitivity - when he becomes silent on perceived injustices and I have to explain my actions to him.

My child - my teacher. My son. My wonder. My very own.

Letting go

After 30 years, she finally decided to let go of the handles and felt herself fly on the cycle☺️. Life still had a few unanticipated smiles, after all.