My sea poppies! ;)

Let me share with you what was the inspiration behind the painting with a "rustic soul". It has a rather unsophisticated feel to it. That is exactly what was on my mind when I decided to do that. I had just then read a poem by HD - the woman poet, who made a name for herself amidst all odds.

"your stalk has caught root 
among wet pebbles
and drift flung by the sea
and grated shells
and split conch-shells.

Beautiful, wide- spread,
fire upon leaf,
what meadow yields
so fragrant a leaf
as your bright leaf?"

No sugar-daddies; no one to help when she fell down, no one to nurse the bruises, no one to hold her hand and put her on the stage. She did all by herself; by her sheer grit and perseverence. No one she buttered. No one nurtured her. She grew on rough turf; yet, she did it! Bloomed amidst the rugged terrains weathering every bad weather, every storm that battered her existence; every (backstabbing) knife that tried to slash her spirit; walked through every negative word that was wrongly spread; resisting and breaking through every vicious force trying to subdue her.

The fruit of labour against such odds is invaluable. Nothing can beat the beauty exuded by the sweat on the brow. Nothing can equal the joy that comes from such painstakingly achieved rewards.

N you can see how it looks from the outside - idyllic sea poppies in a bucolic setting!! You don't see the pain behind but yes, I can see you already envying the surreal beauty that is unsurpassed!

Life is like that! Be yourself. you don't need meadows to bloom. Bloom and radiate happiness wherever you are. :) 

Learning at 33!!

How I love learning a new language!!!

N especially, when the teacher(one of my students) is so passionate about his mother tongue, and about every other language he knows!!

And, I am just loving this calligraphy....Excited!!! 

Hare Ram Hare Ram!

OK, the disclaimer comes first. No religious offences.

Today is an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar..the Purattasi Sanikkizhamai!

I wake up to my own clock(don't ask me the time! ;) ) ticking the hours towards my beauty sleep, after a late night - answering students' queries.

I hear claps, really loud voices out of sync, and some devotional music. OK..that's my neighbors in action... immersed in religious fervor. The noise plus the nauseating smell of their cheap frankincense pervades into my house... Enough to precipitate the migraine I dread! OK OK..these are times of intolerance, right? Happy the nay-sayers to achche din? ;)

There is something evades my level of understanding. We don't help neighbors in need; we don't smile at them; when we can`t put up with their unobtrusive way of living(by which I mean, no maids, no gossip ;) ; we harangue them with unwanted advice even at the lamest opportunity.... But on certain auspicious days, we seem to transcend to that euphoric state chanting the Divine name, singing His praise wanting to get into His good books..but to what use? When you are intolerant enough to bang the door shut when thy neighbor innocuously walks past to buy a packet of milk!

I was still not in a frame of mind to sing His praise..no, not yet.. had not had my morning coffee..and am always crabby until my first cup of caffeine! ;)

So, I come back, brewed my hot cuppa and sat down to block the external voices(noises), tuned in to the radio..Lo n behold.. ~ Hare Ram Hare Ram from Bhool Bhulaiya!

Whatta life! Karma, huh!!! Hare Ram Hare Ram!!! ;) :P

The Orb of Reflection

I drew this water drop just to practise my strokes and blending techniques.

At the end, when I took a look at it, it stood there as the orb of reflection!

So I had to reflect!!! ;)

Isn't each one of us just a vanishing drop in this theatre called life?

Just as the drop significantly contributes to the mighty ocean, it disappears in the ocean's vastness reducing itself to an insignificant nothing.

I am reminded of an incident where someone laughed "at" me when something went wrong..just a technical fault. He obviously imagined that I made myself a laughing stock in front of everyone!

I repeat the episode once the snag is set right. Why no 😂😂😂 now?

Where did the previous ROFLs disappear after that, Mr.MCP? That is you.. the insignificant nothing!!

If you simply laughed for the sake of mirth, the 😂😂😂 should have remained!!!

Why fight n compare yourself with others? Attitude, of the insecure MCP!!! Why let the green-eyed monster rear its head? 🤔

My only answer to you is: Neighbor's envy, owner's pride!!! Heehaha

"Imagine yourself as a drop." Do your bit because you are bound to disappear!

Nothing is insignificant. I take note of everything. At the same time, you are definitely insignificant, indefinitely!!🙄

What's in a name? Well, all or none!

A recollection of something that happened a  couple of days ago.
An acquaintance tries to change my mind regarding marriage...That my life is not complete; I ain't settled; I don't know what life is; that i need to read some book to understand the need for a companion; that i don't understand the importance of family..... people who know me would be surprised that I was hearing out this rant without calling the spade the spade, at the outset. ;) :P
This gentleman tells me that because i am young, I didn't undertand life. He remembers  my job, is interested to know how much i earn!! His ego is hurt when i tell him that it's my prerogative not to answer that question. Still refuses to acknowledge the fact that i am not impressed by him nor his pseudo-chauvinism. Challenges me that i would call back with the realisation of the need for a partner(in him).
"Sorry doctor, i don't remember your name." As an afterthought, he adds, "I have so many contacts, i don't remember names".
Well, end of story.
I'm not judging anyone ;) :P  you are free to ;)

No closure, yet...

I have a lot of questions..no closure, yet!
What happened to the 8-day pay that you cut from my salary when it was actually 7 and a half? And more so, how do you account for the 8-day pay cut when, on paper, you relieved me on the day mentioned on my I-card? How do you honor labor anf labor laws, especially during those extra eight days you made me attend emergency calls in the casualty when I officially ceased to be a resident( employee). And you still have the sadism to mudsling?!

What of the age, huh?

As I contemplate on my (prematurely) ageing bones squeaking with pain, I reminisce quite a few conversations on age.

Sweet 16 - full of sweet nothings; forever 21 - not really forever; 30 - the ticking timebomb - it never goes off but is "still" (and) ticking!! 40 n midlife crisis - time to leave the vices; senility@50 - You are only as old as you imagine yourself to be! ;)

Age is nothing but a number. A number to rejoice, resurrect and reap life's harvest.

Now coming to the question, " How old are you?" Or guessing how old someone is! A direct question to a lady elicits a frank and straightforward answer. Maybe I have a bias here; for, in my circle of friends are bold, assertive women who form a niche echelon. The same question, when addressed to many a Y-carrying friend or colleague, elicits a pause, left-in-the-lurch bewilderment, a maze of guessing and finally, an approximation! Even among friends, whose DOB (they know)I know! What's wrong in saying you are that 30-ish, no 30+ish..or 40+ish? Well, I love their squirming expressions lest I blurt out that guarded number! Aaahhh, the gentlemen..handle with care.

Guessing someone's age could be outright crazy and fun, as long as the person is not privy to the free-wheeling conversations. From imaginarily pulling someone's imaginary wig to counting the hair left on the crest or looking for carefully tucked greys beneath the dripping dipped-in-blacks, it, sure. is humorous down to the humerus!(meaning, to the bone!)

Now to the other crowd who harp a bit differently but keep harping on the same string - the "right age" - to get married, to settle down (homo sapiens were long settled, aren't they?). "If not at this age, then it's never gonna happen!" Phew!!! Hahaha..sorry buddy, I've long crossed that age! I am carrying a never-detonated bomb..womb...heeheehee.

As an after-thought, a retort to this crowd ought to be, "Is there not a right age to retire and go on "vanavasam"?"

There are a few outliers who have something more to sneer at - contrasts in age, the wrinkles and the hair( rather the lack of it) or in outrageous terms , "budha and takla". It is coming of age, you see and I am sorry for those people who cannot see eye-to-eye, who have not yet come of age(mental, emotional). Physical ageing and its attendant frailties are gonna catch up with you too, dudes.  I am gonna see you go "budha"; takla? maybe not..you need chock-a-block of hair to cover up that empty box below.

So what of the age, huh? I love and adore you for what you are!  As long as we grow gracefully, with age! ;)