திரும்பல்

திரை கடலோடி திரவியம் தேடி
நிறைவான போதில் மகிழ்வான திரும்பல் ...
இத்தனை ஆண்டுகள் வாழ்கையின் சுவடுகள்
இனிமை நிறைந்த கானல் நினைவுகள்
புதிதாய் ஒரு வாழ்க்கை செய்ய
பழைய இடத்துக்கு நீண்ட பயணம்...
புதுமையும் பழமையும் அனுபவம் கொடுக்க
பழையதில் புதியதாய் ...
இருக்கும் சில மனதுகள் மட்டும்
இரண்டும் கெட்டான் உணர்வுக்குள் தவிப்பு.

Questions...questions...

"Which was the first drop of water that made the ocean?

Is sami real?

Why does Hanuman have Rama and Sita in his heart? Why is he showing that? Does it mean Rama and Sita are lost?"

-These are a few question samples I get from my 6 yr old - right when we're rushing through our morning rituals to get in time for school. Any insightful answers anybody???

Drifting...

Smetimes thoughts just drift by and sddenly there is a void. You loose track of what you were doing/thinking in that few secs. I don't really know how many have experienced such a state. But trust me - such voids, when we experience - feels kind of good. Consider it quaint, weird...I don't care.

Living a mechanical life most of the time, going through life's chores keeps us from the down time to "sit and stare". So getting into short voids of nothingness - be it through yoga, prnayam, meditation whatever or like me - simple drifting. Like it happened today. i picked up the phone, dialed a number and hit their machine. Suddenly I forgot who I dialed, switched off and just sat there, a be a few seconds. it was blank. With a child playing around me, half way thru cooking - i wa able to experience a quietness. Wow - felt good :)

To think of it the otherway - is my memory deteriorating??? or is it the early sign posts for alzheimers??? No clue. but i liked the quiet, the void, so comforting!!!

A journey through hell

I am sure most of you are familiar with the journey from India to America - most specifically from Chennai to San Francisco. Just before we started from India we (my kids and me) attended a wedding in a temple city about 100 km from home. While driving back my son fell sick with food poisoning. After lots of medications and doctor visits we started our 8 hr drive to Chennai to fly to SFO in the same night. We had to make many stop overs for my son's sick needs. Poor little boy - he knew mom is worried sick about his condition and was trying to put a brave front for the journey.

He stopped vomiting right before we started for the airport. Praying that everything sld go fine, we boarded the plane. Kids were fine I was constantly watching the older one, while the younger was playing, and trying to watch TV, Due to some circuit problem all the 3 TVs on 39 K,J, H in SQ 16 was not working through the Journey. The journey had been pretty eventless until we boarded Seoul.

It was 11 hrs to SFO from Seoul and right after we boarded, my little one wanted food. None of us had eaten anything from Chennai, until Seoul, Save for the coffee and muffins I bought in Singapore airport. Not that they ate it there either. So I asked stewardess for food. Understandably, since we had just boarded they needed to get everything settled, heat the food before they can serve. Thank God they did not give food at that time. Because few minutes after my daughter started vomiting violently, nothing but water. The saliva water mixture was so forceful that we had borrow 7 blankets. She did 20 times. And the un controllable diarrhea. Man was it a crazy experience or what?

Attending to the sick child who throws up even water, answering older why sister is vomiting, worrying what kind of bug it might be, on top of it, flying over pacific - with still 10 hrs to reach land....That definitely was a journey through hell for me.

Oh Trichy...

The distinct sounds and smells of Trichy haven't changed a lot, though Trichy has. For 10 years in the prime of life, Trichy had been my place, in 7 of which I woke up and looked at the Malaikkottai, everyday - everyday in an academic year that was. Oh how I loved this city - that had transformed me into who I am today, had taught, polished, gave a best friend, nurtured and hurt me a little in the process too...

To have lived away from home, in an all girls school/women's college and hostel for 7 years was at once a boon nad a bane. I loved and hated the initial years, but started loving it completely as I grew older. It was 1997 I came out of that city once and for all, after completing my education. Now revisitng, kindles so many sparks of memory. Many small stores that were are huge shops today. the streets I scaled so timidly as a school girl, walked in as a college student are kind of daunting. The crowd is the same, the Superbazaar parking is the same. Missed going to Magna's audios...and Dosa corner....

Walking down the memory lane and actually doing it does have a charm.

On Reading

Ah...the pleasures of rediscovering old favourites.... I'm back in India for vacation and have lots of time to read to my hearts content. Really. Started of with Ponniyin Selvan, Kaviri Maindan. And now revelling on my fav Richard Bach, Daphane DuMaurier, Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, Henry James and Virginia Woolf. I love reading and re reading. Sometimes a new concept surprises me from a book I'm reading for 10th or so time. Especially I am revelling in the un disturbed eloquence of my books. Though I crave, I'm out of touch with the current in Literature. Eventually I should get back in touch with the new. Books gives me a giddy timeless pleasure!

On Marriage

They say marriage is made in heaven. But marriages can sure be kept in heaven if the couple involved and people around follow few simple rules. From my experience, I wish I can tell my family and friends these when they enter the bond of matrimony.

For the Groom:
Remember You are taking the vow to walk with this girl for the rest of your life. She has had a completely different set up, being taken care of by parents until the day she entered your life. Her expectations may be high. You cannot satisfy all of her expectations but you will not loose anything by giving her a sympathetic ear and just listening to her or agreeing with her. This way you can reduce lot of misunderstandings early on. You'll also learn to agree on things you two disagree. When it comes to family's harmony learn to give in or give up gracefully. You might have dreams. Let your dreams unfold slowly into your life, with your wife.

For the Bride:
You are thrown into a completely new set up. The carefree young girl is going to be the woman of the house. your responsibilities are boundless. You of course cannot do everything right. No one expects it of you either. Just wait, listen and do whatever you have to do in your new family. You are not expected to blend into the family immediately. Take your time, one step at a time and learn to understand and respect the differences in the new family which eventually will become yours.

For Both:

1. Always respect both the parents.
2. Never complain about one set of parents between both of you.
3. Whatever happens within the four walls of your house, stays with you. DO NOT SHARE YOUR PERSONAL DIFFERENCES, TINY FIGHTS WITH RESPECTIVE PARENTS. Because you both can forget it in next few days and continue normal life, but the information will be blown out of proportion by loving, possessive parents.
4. You can share your happy moments with parents - to give them the satisfaction that you are living happy.

For parents:
These are your children. But these are two different grown individuals. You had brought them together. Let them figure out life together. if they come to you with complaints, please tell them its their life and they have to figure out. DO not start giving out unsolicited or solicited advices to your daughter or son. if you do, you are inadvertently causing a rift between. Because as the girl's or boys parents we will only sympathise with our child, no matter what they say. So our advices can get very subjective to the extent of hurting their life of togetherness. Stay away for the whole first year and you will see them happy and together for the rest of their lives.