A Tyre Tube and a Pond

That is all it takes two boys to enjoy a cloudy summer afternoon. Unfortunately, the image is captured only in my heart, not in a camera.



From the passenger side window



One of the boys lay, 10 years, on it as if it were a floater and the other was clinging to it from the side. The smiles on their faces...the innocent pleasure of playing in water. 

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Front view from the car



Also experienced driving into and out of rain - a windy one. We saw it from a distance when we stopped to climb a mound to enjoy the view of a lake. We saw the rain a few kilometers away. And then, we drove into it...Was it windy! First to our left then behind us, and then we were out!

Never had this experience before...



Looking for Happiness

Indian lore

God gave man everything and yet he was not satisfied. God rushed up the mountains to avoid man, but he tracked Him there. God hid in the oceans, but he followed diligently.

Frustrated and unable to satiate this demon called man, God turned to a wise sage and said, "Man is chasing me all around looking for happiness. However much I give him, he wants more. He tires me...how can I escape him?"

The wise sage said, "Hide in his heart and he shall never find you there."

Man is still looking for God and happiness.

*****
Gibran
Man went looking for peace. Peace came knocking on his door and he said, "Go away, I am looking for peace."

*********

When peace and happiness lie within us, why do we think external factors can affect it?

(I hadn't heard of the movie, The Great Indian Butterfly. Some of you may enjoy it. I did.)

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The Feast - A Short Note

It started with paal poli - milk, luchi and sugar. Then came kheer, then fruit salad. Beans usili, Aviyal and potato curry...Raita followed by three types of pickles. Savouries and sweet followed by chips, curd vadai and papads. A separate cup for rasam and a matka of curd.

Puliyodarai, Sambar rice, plain rice, dal, mor kozhambu...

The guest's mouth started watering. He put in a morsel and was gratified that it was high class.

"Everything nice? They served you everything?" Asked the host.

"Yes," said the contented guest. "Very good service, very good food."

The host moved on, happy he had not stinted on any expense at his daughter's wedding.

He left to welcome other guests, his back to the dining hall.

He did not see half of all that was served going into the dustbin. He expected it would. But if he had served one dish less, there would have been questions. "No usili? Only one sweet?"

The guest will eat what he can and throw the rest away.

No one will ask, "Is this extravagance necessary? Why waste food when so many go hungry?"

Worshipper of Goddesses

He touches his mother's feet
When he wakes up in the morning
He walks to the river for a bath
Believing she washes away his sins
He touches the ground he walks on
Seeking forgiveness of Mother Earth
He worships Goddess Lakshmi
So she may stay with him forever
He chants the name of Saraswathi
So she may give him knowledge
He prays to Ma Durga
So she may give him strength
He reaps the harvest
Hailing the name of Annapurna
He beats his wife at home
So he may know he is strong
He rapes an innocent woman
To prove he is a man
He kills his daughter at birth
Hoping for a son to carry his name
He is a beast in the garb of man
Fooling the world, with two faces
One that worships the powerful goddess
The other that beheads the "weaker sex".

Also published in Women's Web

Tearing Through the Blue

I looked up
From the balcony
At the blue sky
Clear and sparkling
The mid morning sun
Bright and harsh
Casting its light
Wide and far

The blue stretched
Like a sheet taut
Complacent and invincible
Away from human touch
Making me want
To pierce through it
To tear its complacency
To pull off the mask

My body limiting
My soul breaking free
Like an eagle
Only, heading up
But when I pierce
What do I find?
Another sheet
Stretched as taut?

Frustrated, I dive back
Ignoring the sky
Wanting the clouds
To mar the blue
Better a cover
Than the stark
Which is true
And yet only a mask

Bringing Up

"Wedding in March?" Mother asked Father. "How can we go? Son has exams."

"Ma," Son intervened, "Exams start only towards end of March. Let's go, please."

"No!" Mom said shocked. "You have to prepare. Your exams are more important. Not this."

Son went to his room to study.

**

"How can we entertain people at this time? Son has to prepare for the Math Olympiad. You go in, Son... This is more important than guests." Mother sent her Son in before he could protest.

"But he has entrance exams! I don't think your parents should come now! No, sonny, your exams are more important." Father nodded and called up his father to postpone the trip.

"Son has waited for this trip, Father." Mother patted her college going Son on his head. "We promised him this as a gift for his performance in the boards." Father put off visiting his ailing aunt to take his Son on holiday.

"Your swimming classes...your tennis...your this your that...more important..."

**

"Oh Mother!" Son said. "Can't you see I have deadlines? I can't take time off to take you on pilgrimage now!"

Mother sat back hurt. He had put off taking her to her niece's wedding, her mother before she passed away, and now this.

She wondered why, when she had sacrificed everything for him, placed him before everything else in her life, her Son had turned out so selfish, putting only himself before everything else!