The new year

Here we are, at the cusp of a new year. 

Last year was a painful year as a gigantic wave of loss swelled and spilled onto the banks of the normal idea of normalcy, engulfing many in its folds. It was like as if God had tightly closed the lid on our world and was rattling it like a salt and pepper shaker.

If there is anything the pandemic has taught us, it is, according to me, the need to be kind, the significance of being understanding. It has reminded us the ephemerality of our thoughts, our desires and our existence. As long as we are destined to be here, let us be kind to one another. For, long after a person is gone, what remains alive in the hearts of the living, are the wispy petals of kindness that she has dispersed.    

Let us begin the new year, gripping the torch of hope firmly in our callused hands. Let us stand united and lend each other support till we can together surmount the challenges posed by these trying times and make it to the shore of safety.

Happy new year!

Buddhist Poetry Review

 My poem titled 'The Destination' has been published in Buddhist Poetry Review. You can read it here at https://www.buddhistpoetryreview.org/archive/vol-three-issue-three/preeth-ganapathy 

In the lap of nature

 Today is the last day of my three day mini-break in Coorg.

I must say that this time, I got to see a completely different face of the land that I belong to, the land whose beauty I just can’t get enough of, I just can’t stop raving about.

We arrived on Saturday morning after a short detour to KRS(Krishna Raja Sagar) dam. Our car tootled on the cement pathway to our home in tune to the light beats of a thin drizzle, when I caught sight of the patch of clouds hanging delicately on the tip of the distant hillock, a hillock I had never noticed before. They bowed low like hosts, eager to please, folding their palms.  

It has not stopped raining since the time we arrived. The volume of the rainfall varies from time to time, alternating between heavy and light, but never stopping altogether. This sound of pattering rain is a pleasurable change from the constant din of honking horns of a dreary city life.

During the past two days, Krishna, with his outstretched palms, has been sampling drops of water dripping from different surfaces – from the red petals of wild hibiscus, from the tips of green unripe coffee berries, from the eaves of the two dog kennels, from the edge of the porch – all while we entertained ourselves to some outdoor carrom, a game at which I fare very poorly and would have happily joined my toddler in his adventures instead. Nevertheless, we did have some great moments of family bonding, ones that will remain in our mind for a long time to come.

Today morning, we visited the kere, a small pond which serves as a natural well of irrigation to the estate. It was as green as the leaves of coffee shrubs themselves and Krishna was pretty excited to see all the different birds that hung around the pond. We tried to match them with the birds we had seen from his book, but practicals are always a different ball game when compared to theory.

Otherwise, I’ve been trying to nature-watch, bird-watch, insect-watch, flower-watch from the comfort of a sheltered porch trying to soak in as much as possible.

With a book on my lap and a fountain-pen in my hand, on our first evening here, I remarked to my husband who was sitting beside me, sipping from a cup of hot coffee, ‘This is my dream life, you know. Writing in the lap of nature.’ Like one of my favourites, Ruskin Bond. And another favourite, Shivaram Karanth. But now at the end of the third day, I realize - I was so lost in her beauty that, in three days, I could only squeeze in a short poem in her praise.

The days and nights have been cold, a kind of cold that lulls you into sleep and prevents you from getting on your toes to make yourself a cup of coffee, to take a bath or to reach for the phone that lies on the table a few feet away from your bed. ‘Lie down for some time more,’ the cold seems to say, a wicked smile playing at the corner of its lips. The only other place that reminds me of this kind of cold is Mussoorie , which happens to be another favourite.

‘The chill in the weather is much better these days. When we were young, we would find it difficult to even have a change of clothes,’ my mother used to say. But today, when I call her up, I will tell her about the rains, the wind and the cold. This pleasant kind of cold.

And hope against hope that this is the beginning of a reversal of climate change.  

I wish I was...

 

a sunny day

caught in the folds of a month of raindrops

 

a bumble bee

amidst flies flitting around flaps of skin on a swivel chair

 

a page of my favourite book

savoured in the middle of an indulgent work break

 

the glow of fire in a lighthouse

waiting for salvation on the jagged banks of the Arabian Sea

Mars Confusion

I try to introduce my two year old to the beauty of outer space – the star spangled night sky, the constellations and a telescope. I read out a book called ‘There’s no Place like Space’.

He gapes with wonder at the ‘Cat in the Hat’- our official space guide and laughs at the turn of each page because the words end in a rhyme.   And then I talk about astronauts, comets, meteorites, the Uranus and its satellites and he listens to the roll of the tongue with each new addition to his vocabulary.

Today morning, when we are going through the months of the year, he starts with January, moves onto February and progresses to March and then changes track to ‘Jupiter’. March and Mars must sound very familiar to his toddler ears.

If only I could take him to the planetarium and sort out his confusion… My list of to-do tasks in a post-COVID-free world grows longer each day.

Word prompt : https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/rdp-tuesday-space/

Breaks

I ponder over what to discuss in today’s post, when a fly buzzes in front my eyes. It’s one of those tiny flies, one that the eye can barely perceive.  I can only feel and hear it.  I cannot see it.  I hit and clap randomly in the air but to no avail. It continues to irritate me. So I decide to take a break and walk around in my room.

I come back ten minutes later and pull out my swivel chair. It seems to have disappeared and I can once again get on with my work in peace.

So many things in life seem to work this way. Give it a rest and we feel better after a while. We get new perspective and the problem seems to have cleared itself out.

Let us learn to give ourselves breaks when we feel like it, so we can be more efficient when we really ned to be.

Routines

Life changes. One day cannot be exactly similar to the previous day. A person cannot be exactly same as he was the previous day. He has to undergo changes – some cells die, while new cells take their place, new thoughts take the place of old thoughts, new ideas take root in his mind. Change is the only constant in life, on Earth.

But what helps us remain grounded through the changes and what helps us deal with changes – minor or drastic is a routine. Routines keep us tethered to our moorings while our boat is rocked by a tempest. Routines are what power us to move forward and chart the choppy waters of uncertainty. Routines form our sheet-anchors when the world around seems to be changing colours a tad too fast for our liking.

Find a routine that is uplifting and stick to it. So you will be uplifted a little each day, no matter what changes are thrown your way.

Winner of Wilda Morris's July 2020 Poetry Challenge

Happy to share that an acrostic poem that I penned for my mother has been chosen as the winner of Wilda Morris's July 2020 Poetry Challenge.

You can read it here:

http://wildamorris.blogspot.com/2020/07/july-2020-winning-poem.html

Be Happy

As I leave for work, my toddler son touches my feet. He has acquired this new habit, watching me touch my parents’ feet and seeking their blessings everyday before I leave for work.

Touching elders’ feet to seek their blessings is an integral part of Indian culture, more specifically Coorg culture. When we were children, one of our primary duties when we are introduced to the elders was to touch their feet with both our palms and bring the palms to our heads. And they in turn would bestow their blessings and wish for us all the good things that the smorgasbord of life has on offer.

So, it came as a pleasant surprise when my son who is all of two touched my feet for the first time a few weeks ago. He then proceeded to touch my parents’ feet too. Three times and placed his hand on his head after each iteration. Like a true blue Coorg!

He has kept up with the practice and has not missed even a single day. And today was special – he touched my feet and also offered his blessings! Turning on his most serious version, he smiled and said, ’Be Happy!’ And his words made the rest of my day!  

Healthy living

Healthy living or healthy lifestyle! What does it mean to you? How does one begin living a healthy lifestyle?

A number of micro aspects lead to  formulating a macro ideal called healthy lifestyle. To my n mind healthy living comprises of physical, mental and spiritual aspects. One is necessary for the other and one depends on the other. One cannot be achieved without the other.

It goes without saying that food is the primary aspect of living healthy. Avoid processed food, sugary beverages, instant fast and junk food and you are well on your way to making a healthy way. It goes without saying good food is the most important pillar of healthy living. Without it, all other aspects of healthy living would only be a distant dream. And that is why Gandhiji said,” You are what you eat”,so be careful about what you put into your mouth.

Exercise is extremely important if you want a healthy life. Our body was designed for physical activity which is why if you see the lifestyle of ancient man, you can find that his activities consisted of hunting for food,  traveling places in search of a safe shelter. But in today's era when sedentary lifestyle is the order of the day, we have to deliberately make time to exercise or bodies. It could be anything from a mild form of walking to an intense workout in the gym, or even yoga, swimming, cycling, running – or a combination of all of them. Whatever suits you. Whatever suits your body type. But do it!

Healthy living includes a mental aspect as well as I said earlier. Regular reading, solving puzzles, having interesting stimulating conversations with like minded individuals goes a great distance in improving health of your grey cells. Of late studies have shown that engaging in physical activity such as stretching or even a short walk helps one improve mental health too. So, there you go – its all inter related.

One cannot live in the pink of health without a certain amount of spiritual advancement and awareness – a realm that transcends everything connected with the body. Practising meditation, deep breathing, living in the present and mindful living go a long way in cleaning out your internal self.  Shunning all forms of negativity – complaining, criticising, thinking about the past and so on are a few all important factors that help one achieve that stage of 'feeling healthy from within’.

A few words about the role of digital media in our lives – a lot of our previous time is hogged by social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on. Social media has become a way of life for most of us when all of actions are motivated by thoughts of what to upload on the next post or which picture would look best on our Instagram accounts and generate more comments and likes. This is a very superficial way of living underlined by the need to be liked and feted by external validation. Nothing can take you rather away from realising your inner truth than in mindlessly and constantly engaging in expressing our opinions and ideas, sharing important details about lives with all and sundry and logging into our accounts every so often to see how many likes our latest profile pictures have generated. Social media if used in a modicum and if used wisely can be an excellent tool to enhance our personalities and live in a healthy manner. Like money and the human mind, social media can be a very good servant but a terrible master.

Lastly, actually I cannot say lastly, for this list can go on and on and on. I would instead say more importantly,(yes, that would be the right turn of phrase!) be happy. Practice being happy. If you observe children, you can see that they are happy for no reason at all. Don’t wait for others to make you happy, don’t wait for situations to make you happy. Find it within yourself. Let finding happiness within yourself be a habit. Also nothing makes a person more beautiful than being happy. So wear your happiness on your sleeve.

Let's live in a healthy manner, both internally and externally, when in company and when in solitude, more importantly let us be happy and also be a harbinger of happiness in the lives of others.

Dinner from Coorg, with love!

Dinner is that time of the day when everyone in the family congregates at one place, sharing bits and pieces of one’s day, recounting interesting experiences that one might have had the chance to live through. Most importantly, it is that that time of the day when you have a meal full of love in the  comforting company of one another. It is that time of the day that I sincerely look forward when I can let my hair down, be off guard and share a laugh or two. I look forward to it even more when I know that dinner on a particular day is going to be a traditional fare - one from my native, Coorg.

I can fill stacks and stacks of pages describing the wonder that Coorg is! But a small note here - Coorg is a beautiful place, a piece of heaven on Earth – tucked away in southern Karnataka. With river Cauvery running through the heartland, it is a fertile ground for coffee, pepper, oranges and coconut. One can also find bamboo shoots, mushrooms, mango trees, jackfruit trees flourishing gloriously under the bright yellow Sun of the coffee estates. Famous for its warrior men and hockey players, we have a distinct identity and a unique culture of our own – one that every Coorg is fiercely proud of. We speak Kodava thak, celebrate festivals such as puthari, kailpoldh, wear the kupya chale and kodavathi podiya, adorn ourselves with the peeche Kathi, Pathak,jomale and most importantly have our own cuisine.

And today’s dinner was special for it comprised of Coorg cuisine, that any true blue Coorg would relish. The spread consisted of delicacies prepared and sent all the way from Coorg  by my aunt M. We had otti(pancakes made of rice), baimbale curry(a curry made of bamboo shoots), maange curry(mango curry) and kaake thoppu(a variety of spinach indigenously found only in parts of Coorg). Otti, (my mother’s area of culinary specialisation, she makes the best Ottis ever!) were crisp and hot. The rest of the dishes were sent by my aunt.

When you eat a small piece of the otti mixed with piping hot baimbale curry with a generous dollop of ghee, you are immediately transported to heaven. As if that is not enough, you see that there is maange curry and kaake thoppu waiting silently to be devoured. So you have another bite of otti with the maange curry and then one more with kaake thoppu! Spoilt for choice, I think as I find it difficult to zero in one of three items that I prefer better than the other two. Soon I give up and have all three items, together- to the accompaniment of otti and thoroughly enjoy myself. Mindfulness (that I usually try hard to practice) came easily to me this time round!! For the food is utterly delicious, lipsmacking!

But the icing on the cake was to come a little later. ‘What’s for dessert?’I ask. ‘Kooleputtu’ my mother replies with a smile. Kooleputtu is a steamed preparation made from fresh jackfruit wrapped in banana leaves! Although it has travelled all the way from Coorg, a little bit of heating restores the same freshness with which it is prepared. What better way than to end a traditional meal with a traditional dessert!

 Otti, baimbale curry, maange curry and thoppu

Kooleputtu wrapped

Kooleputtu unwrapped

P.S:Today night, I will go to bed dreaming of the petrichor, the bamboo pickle and my childhood!

The joy of living

What brings joy to you? Is happiness a fleeting moment in a day full of chaos, fatigue and non-chalance?  Pretty heavy questions aren’t they!

I can say that my quest for happiness has led me to believe that happiness from external stimuli is transient. The moment the stimuli disappears, the resultant happiness disappears along with it. You buy that new jacket that you look so good in, people compliment you(rather the jacket). After a few months when the jacket has lost its sheen, or worse still, when you lose it someplace, you are no longer happy.

You buy a new house and love every inch of it. You protect the house, the paint, the light fittings, the fixture, the fabulous teak bay window, from the smallest scratch possible. One fine day, you have to move out, because you are moving to a new city and happiness goes caput! Happiness from the best accessories, the greatest of achievements, the best relationships – are all fleeting. They may last awhile – a few years, a few decades maybe. But at the end of the day, external happiness is what it is – temporary!

But internal happiness on the other hand, the one that comes from within, the one that is not ephemeral, the one that will stick with us even when the going gets rough- is remarkably different! The key to internal happiness lies in our mind.

So control your mind, programme it to be happy and you are done! Happiness is yours for the taking!Sounds easy? On the contrary,it is probably the most difficult thing attempted by man. The great warrior Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita says that controlling the mind is impossible and Lord Krishna concurs when he says, that taming the mind is akin to taming the wind.

Every time I find my mind thinking undesirable thoughts – fear, anger and so on, I try to stop the thought process on its tracks. How do you stop thinking a certain thought? By watching the mind. By detaching from it. The mind loathes being watched. Go on, try it! Watch your mind carefully and suddenly you find that thoughts no longer make a beeline into that cramped up cerebral space like they always do! 

Another easy technique that I follow is to take a moment and watch my breath. Watch your breath -as you inhale and exhale. Concentrate on the breath as you inhale and the stomach rises. Concentrate on your breath as you exhale and the stomach falls. Repeat this process five times.You will find that the thought has broken free from the rut. You are free to think something nice and happy- afresh. Resort to this process whenever you feel dejected, angry or even afraid. Repeat as often as you can, as frequently as possible and you will notice a remarkable change in your attitude, in your feelings. You will find a general sense of well-being taking over. 

You will also find then that happiness need not necessarily be a destination at the end of the road. It can be a beautiful jouney.

Here’s wishing everyone true, lasting happiness. Always.