LEAF SHEDDING IN A DAY

This tree is part of our home.The beauty of its creation is the leaf shedding that happens once in a year in just a day. What you see hanging there with a tenuous hold after all the leaves have gone is a crow's nest. Every time this happens, we and our neighbouring house, share the burden of clearing up the huge pile of leaves. 

This phenomenon is a part of the Ginkgo biloba tree, although am not sure if our tree is this one. In a day or two, the tree would be back with all its green best.

Bare trees have something powerful in them when coupled along with soul stirring background music to convey scenes of deep sorrow and anguish. Great movie directors use them to portray such scenes of high intensity.

The impact seems to be much more when we see it in black and white.

It also struck me that many times, an unlearning in life, helps us tremendously. It helps to push out all our understanding, our mindsets and our judgments and start looking at the world again with fresh perspectives.

PARENTING TIMES - FUNNY TWISTS-2 - TANTRUMS

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit my friend along with my wife. He had been calling me for a while to discuss some topics of common interest and so I found time for this, keeping aside my other weekend occupations. It was a good feeling to meet his family and his old parents. My wife had found time to talk to my friend’s wife after a long time, although they were school mates. I spent some time discussing our topics, one to one with my friend and then spent the rest talking to his father. My friend’s sister was there too along with her two sons. They had come down from Delhi to spend their holidays here. I shook hands with the boys and gave them warm hugs.

Both my friend and I were talking softly as we would do unless something put us into a tight spot. His father too was a soft spoken soul. I could hear the voices of the women talking. They were certainly much louder than the men but it sounded fine. But a few sounds were not bearable and were almost getting on my nerves more because I often found it difficult to remain calm in a noisy environment. There was a construction in process on the opposite side of the house and the abrasive metal grinding wheel was giving out its own distinct fired up cry. Two black ravens on a tree close to the window where we sat were desperately cawing taking turns as though practicing for a church cantata.  A mobile tomato vendor found the tree next to  the house window, a nice place to halt and sell his stuff, while his announcing system was dishing out repeatedly “Grab your tomatoes for a good price”. And if all this was not enough, the two little boys, my friend’s nephews, were creating a ruckus while grabbing and chasing each other while running around in the hall, all through spaces between the furniture and between where we sat.

I wanted to tell them to stay quiet as the overall cacophony was getting unbearable. My wife looked at me once a while with a smile, as she knew how I would take this. But the people at home were trying their best I think, although it appeared to me that there was not much they could do. “Hey devils, can u keep quiet?” was what I heard their mother shouting. Every person there took turns to give a rap on the backs of the boys as they ran past them. This was now becoming continuous and to me the family members appeared like a set of IPL cricket batsmen, swinging on all sides trying out different shots. Sometimes the raps were loud, but to me it seemed that all these were just giving them more energy for what they were doing. “It’s ok, children are like that always”, I politely compensated as a guest with a dash of love.

Moments later, I also thought that I should contribute to the chiding.  But how could I? So I smiled and waved to one of the boys and he immediately stopped running and froze, possibly because he never thought that I would wave at him while the others were dishing out punishments. I took aim at him with my palm as though it was a pistol and then shook it once as though to communicate that I had shot him. He was quick and played the cricketing cut shot on the invisible bullet that came to him. And where did the bullet go now? Straight on to his grandpa sitting on his right. The boy was smart and after seeing the invisible bullet hit his grandpa, he quickly turned to me and bought up his right palm and covered his mouth in exclamation and looked at me :))

Now that communication was a question to me “Hey, you know what you have done?” :))

You may also be interested in similar posts listed below:

https://cherryspace.blogspot.com/2019/02/parenting-times-funny-twists.html

FOR MY BOOKS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Poetry book 'INDELIBLE ETERNAL ETCHINGS':

https://www.amazon.in/INDELIBLE-ETERNAL-ETCHINGS-emotions-unbridled-ebook/dp/B072J4L656/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=indelible+eternal+etchings&qid=1583428166&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/INDELIBLE-ETERNAL-ETCHINGS-emotions-unbridled-ebook/dp/B072J4L656/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=indelible+eternal+etchings&qid=1583428402&sr=8-1

STORIES

Short Story book 'A PEARL FROM EVERY OYSTER':

https://notionpress.com/read/a-pearl-from-every-oyster

https://www.amazon.in/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter/dp/1948473151/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3GI23X9JIKQGK&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster&qid=1583428674&sprefix=A+Pearl+from%2Caps%2C302&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter-ebook/dp/B07948GRVC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1H9GU3Q8JNH29&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster&qid=1583428722&sprefix=a+pearl+from+ev%2Caps%2C363&sr=8-1

For other countries, please visit the respective Amazon sites.

THE HERO ON A BISON WHO GRACED THE SKY- DEDICATED TO OUR HERO ABHINANDAN

A few men go through tiny but significant moments in their life that leave a big impact on history and on the millons around. Abhinandan Varthaman, the hero whose valour cannot be described in a few words - this poem of mine is my humble dedication for his verve, poise and gallantry.

PARENTING TIMES - FUNNY TWISTS-1- BEING ORGANIZED

Last Monday, my daughter was getting ready for college. Her absent-mindedness over the last few months had crept into my mind and I had got up early that day. This was to keep an eye and ensure that she had taken everything with her. It was also to keep reminding her on the ticking clock, so that our driver would not have to get into a psychopathic avatar while having to chase the college bus.

And last week, in addition to this confusion, it was only after she had left home in the  car and crossed a few streets from our home did she realize that she was still wearing her home footwear :) So, like a great Dad, here I was, monitoring everything and reminding her constantly to leave on time.

After seeing her off, I rushed to dress up and get ready to board our company bus that stops a hundred metres away from home. I take a good eight minutes to reach the pickup point and I normally keep a few minutes as a buffer with me to spare. I finished breakfast, recited my prayers and then quickly grabbed my bag and ran down the first floor steps towards the gate. Suddenly, I felt great that my bag was considerably lighter. But then, I really stopped and thought about it. “How could it be this light?”. Ahh!! I had forgotten to keep my laptop in it :) I think here I proved to be more of a roll model than in being a role model :)

BLACK SAND BEACH LANGKAWI - A TRANQUIL PLACE

While travelling in public transport, either in buses or suburban trains, I have gone through journeys where we had crowds like a swarm of bees and also journeys where there were just ten people in the whole bus or carriage. When the crowd was thin, we had air dancing through the vehicle and it was like a dream ride for me. I enjoyed those times much more than going around in my air conditioned car.

I had a similar experience, visiting the Marina Beach in Chennai on day of the Pongal festival. It was a claustrophobic experience and I just ran out of that place as quickly as I could. Quite contrary to that place, I found this tranquil beach, in Langkawi, Malaysia a superb place to hang around. Such a quiet place that every vibration of nature will be spotted by our ears.

There is an interesting local folklore that the black sand on the beach was the result of a large amount of firewood that was stacked along the shoreline and burnt by the people of the Land Kingdom when they were into a war with the Underwater Kingdom. This firewood when it was burning gave the impression of a huge army waiting on the shoreline and that kept the fighters of the Underwater Kingdom at bay.

All this fight according to the folklore,was because a mermaid princess from the Underwater Kingdom fell in love with a prince of the Land Kingdom and ran away. The war was supposed to be one-sided as the Underwater Kingdom had more troops than the Land Kingdom.

LANDSCAPE SHOTS -OOTY

Ooty is one of the popular hill stations in South India and it is the place where tourists flock during summer. It is a town in the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu, located in the Nilgiri Hills and is often referred to as the Queen of Hills. It came under the rule of the British East India Company at the end of the 18th century. The original name Udagamadalam was pronounced by the British as Ootacamund and thereafter became Ooty.

Most of these spots that you see in the snaps below have been the popular spots in many song sequences in Indian movies.

Landscapes are a great treat for the eyes especially when we don't have any man made structures like buildings, electricity towers, etc for miles and miles. The greener the expanse the more pleasant and soothing it is for the eyes.

We as a family spent a lot of time here, and after about two hours, had to flee as a bison started racing down the hill towards us. You can see it in the last two pics.

So sometimes it's not just the man made structures but even the natural creations such as these that we don't prefer while enjoying the view. That's the peculiarity of nature. Sometimes, it offers something to enjoy and something scary in parallel :)

INTERESTING PATTERNS OF PRACTICING OUR FAITH - PART1

Last Sunday, I was on my way to home after our church service.  Every Sunday, while on my return from our church, I have to run through a street adjoining another Pentecost church, before entering the street where my house is located. Seeing the way the bikes were parked on either side of the street, I knew that I did not have enough space for my car to freely move forward. Inside the church I could hear the chants “Halleluiah” pretty loudly. Every member there, whose bikes were parked outside, was into a trance. I had no clue how to move forward with my car. As I was anxiously pondering, some people on the road, who saw my situation came forward to move the bikes and help me.

After some struggle, I was able to negotiate my way through and I was on my way again towards my home. I remember going through this encounter almost every Sunday and it makes me think about our pursuit of faith and religion. Each person inside the church is immersing himself deeply in worship while immersing in parallel, the public like me, in deep inconvenience.

May be a mortal like me, is also doing the same thing in some other way, if not through the parking of a vehicle. There are so many actions that we do like this parking of a vehicle that affects others, if we are not conscious and careful. This is where I see that as a Christian I am trying to climb onto Step 2 in the religious ladder when I have not made myself worthy of standing on Step 1.

Actions like these form an interesting pattern of the faith that Christians like me practice as part of our religion. I will be writing on a few more similar observations, in the posts that follow. Of course we could apply and adapt it across any religious or belief turf. But I prefer to stick to what I observed within my domain and leave it open for my friends to interpret it the way they are comfortable with.