Me- time na me-not-time

Oh yes, a moment came when I felt me-not. In a park, in the midst of bustling walkers and the cackling birds  the magic happened. While finishing off my walking routine I used to sit down in a bench in the park for a little bit of me time. Just sat there and absorbed life around me. It’s a pretty small park where I go for my morning walk. I would be just observing other walkers walking past me, speaking in multiple tongues but since I wanted to be just me I never paid attention to their conversations. Some loners, some in groups, some regulars . I have been doing this for the past few months. I made an habit of sitting for a few minutes taking deep breaths and sit quietly.  Initially , I felt I was being very refined and noble by not listening into others’ conversations and giving them space. As days passed I became aware of life other than people, the trees and plants and the flitting insects and birds. The trees standing there observing and absorbing life around silently. Silently? Not quite they have their own way of communicating, like their dancing leaves and creaking branches. Letting sunlight through their moving branches in a playful hide and seek. The birds and insects making their homes there bring in their own dynamics of lively conversations. Even the slightest breeze I can make out by seeing the dancing leaves. Can we human signal air and light passing by like these trees ?  Then after a few days I started wondering about what have these trees standing there for so many years have absorbed and stored in their memory ? How many life stories they have in their archives.? Slowly I forgot me and got absorbed into them, learned to be silent and humble  and just be there , letting go the me also. I look forward to letting go of me everyday , even though for only a few minutes, it feels more lively becoming part of larger existence.

 Trees are so much in topic now especially in the context of global warming.Relevance of local flora and fauna is being understood more to have anecologically balanced environment. All my life for the past six decades I haveseen trees , either a stand alone like a peepal or in groves like mango, date ,coconut and so on. I have always understood that trees stand apart since theyneed resources like earth, water and sunlight. In fact I have philosophically learntfrom trees that in our lives too we need to give and have space between eachother to have a healthy relationship. All that perspective changed during myrecent visit to San Francisco. There I was introduced to the giant sequoia alsoknown as redwood trees. So tall and majestic , standing for thousands of years.But when I got to know more about them they simply amazed me. These trees donot have deep roots but they spread out for their balance and stability. But theamazing fact is these trees stand close to each other , supporting and holding onto each other, sharing resources as they stand as a family. I saw in some treesthe trunk is burnt and carved out in the forest fire yet standing defiantly tall. Theircanopies towering hundreds of feet above supporting their own ecosystem andlife. These trees have added another dimension to my life lesson. Spacing out orin close proximity we can still share , respect and be self-reliant and beat theodds together. 

 Child is the father of man. That was Wordsworth. Many an interpretations have been attempted to understand that statement. That our childhood guides our adult life or that our children guide us. I prefer the second interpretation for I do think rather accept as we age at some point we stop learning , being curious and stagnate in our thinking. Our children show us the path to further progress, to take forward our learning. They hold our hands and guide us into experiencing new ideas, new places, new everything. Yes that’s what they do. All that’s required is to be open minded to hear them out , to trust them. Then an exciting experience awaits us. Not only us even our children enjoy the sheer experience of showing us the knowledge base that they have developed and working on. Children are like mirror to us , reflecting whatever they’ve absorbed from us and also what they’re now. It’s like seeing ourselves there showing us what more progression possible , how much further we can travel. For me I’ve learnt so much from both my sons. Reflecting back , I remember vividly my elder Aditya has always been an explorer, right from getting out on his own from his play pen as a toddler to finding new routes to his school on his bike. Now he is researching in antarctica. My younger Arjun more of a listener , even as a small child he used to listen to music sitting in one place. Listen to his elder brother reciting his poems. Absorb everything around him. Now he is researcher in futuristic technology . While growing up both have nudged me to let go and allow them to explore and experiment. Yes they were getting hurt almost every day while playing after school. But then they rushed home showed me their wounds allowed me to clean the wound and then immediately rush out to continue their play. In studies they both put effort to understand fundamentally the subjects . An easy companionship between them , their self reliance, have been an hallmark of their growing up. While Aditya intuitively senses any stress in and around him, Arjun always has good positive opinion of everyone around him. Both went to new places far from home and picked up skills of life, a good life. Yet both draw clear lines of boundaries while engaging with people. They’ve been showing me all along to go to your trusted ones when hurt, heal, and get back, move on. Explore , experiment, keep learning. Thank you Aditya and Arjun for for holding hands with me while showing me the path ahead. I thought I was holding your hands. No it’s the other way around. You both are my guiding lights, my sweet angels.

Travel is one experience that can be reminisced and enjoyed time and again. Every time we reminisce our travel experience we see a new information that we would have missed the previous time. I travelled to two different continents within a year to be with my  loving sons and their wives . Pacific Ocean is one common line of connection to both the cities I visited . Sydney first in my itinerary is a coastal city and Berkeley the second one in San Francisco is a Bay Area.  Different facets of the majestic ocean I could see and enjoy. In the coast it was an endless vast expanse of water. And the walk along the coast endlessly meandering presented varied moods of the pacific and also its magnificence marine lives like the humpbacks , sea gulls and other birds I know not. In the Bay Area the same ocean was a cool enchanting lady with her cool fog passing by me everyday. In the coast I had to go seeking her and in the bay she came to touch me everyday in the form of fog. It’s water water everywhere in the bay, she so close yet so huge and larger than life.

Sydney is a city of universities. Wherever you’re in the city you are sure to spot a university or a college. The city full of milling crowd of students engrossed in their own world , always plugged on to their phones. Weekends buses are full of young people in beach wear going to the beaches for their sports activities. Water skiing, surfing is a major activity in Sydney. For outdoor activity there are many walking trails. A well connected city with pretty good public transport system we could explore the suburbs and even a little further on like blue mountain. 

Berkeley is more of relaxed laid back experience. People on streets had time to smile acknowledge and engage in exchanging pleasantries. Not plugged on to their phones, no definitely not. Soccer, cycling, sailing are some of the sports played here. A little travel  interior one can see the majestic sequoias, also called red wood trees. So majestic standing tall 300 to 500ft high for thousands of years. The resilient warriors facing the storms and raging forest fire with grit and grace have a lot to tell us about hope and life. Not great public transport system but well  connected road network allows one to explore the city and suburbs. Trip to Joshua tree and Yosemite national park is a memorable experience. 

Both the cities had their own charm for me mainly because my sons and daughters in law live there. Also I met long lost friends and relatives, made new friends. My horizon expanded a little more, really grateful to people who made this possible. Without the flying bird that I hopped on to I couldn’t have traveled this far. It’s more than a lifetime experience. 🌊

New Friend

 Many a times , a moment or an experience passes by and we hardly notice it. But later on we are hit by the richness of that moment leaving us mesmerized by the sheer unique experience.  I recently had such an experience.  A few days back,  on my regular walk in the park, I sensed somebody trailing me after some ten minutes into my walking. I turned around to look , and noticed a well grown dog with a collar around his neck. He also looked back at me. I thought maybe I had mistook the dog as my trailer and that he would go his way. To my amusement he continued to walk behind me. The park keeper tried to shoo him out, but he resolutely followed me. Now we both got into comfortable pace in our rounds. Other walkers were looking on amusedly and they too accepted him as one among them. After sometime I sat down to cool my feet and my friend also came and slouched down near my bench. He put his head on his paws and rested but ever alert , lest he didn't want to miss me. I got up to do some more walking,  my friend also joined. Time to go home, I met my hubby at the exit . When we stepped on to the road my friend also jauntily joined us. I told hubby about the doggy and we both thought he'd go on his way to wherever his place is. But no, he followed us right upto our house, sometimes running ahead of us, sometimes walking by our side. We opened our gate and entered, our friend stood near the gate. I kept the gate open,  he entered , smelled around, then turned back , went out head high his ears cocked up and then shot across and ran off into oblivion. 

Who was he, where did he come from, I have no clue. Why did he choose me that day out of so many people in the park . But the unique experience that he gave and the trust he had in me is cherishable. He taught me that total strangers can also share peaceful harmonious time. What experience he carried,  I wonder. If it's one of trust and companionship I would be happy. 

upcycling old glass bottle

there was this glass bottle lying around in my house for quite a long time. Then one fine day it dawned on me to upcycle this bottle and so I painted it with water-proof fabric colours and turned it into a vase. It looks pretty cool now.

Recipe for Kesari (sweet)

Rava ( Sooji) Kesari

Ingredients:

Rava - 1cup

Sugar - 1 and a half cups

water - 1 and a half cups

ghee - 2 table spoonful

Cashew - 10 numbers

Elachi(Powder) - 1/4 teaspoon

Saffron Food colour. - optional

In a thick bottomed vessel roast rava for just 5 minutes. See to it that the rava does not change colour. Add water to it slowly, mix thoroughly and then cover the vessel. Keep stirring intermittently. The rava gets cooked quickly and so the boiling process should take only 5 to 7 minutes. Check the mix for smooth- boiled consistency. ( by this time rava would have absorbed all the water that was added). Add sugar little by little to the mix , all the while stirring . After the sugar gets mixed thoroughly add ghee slowly while stirring. Allow the dish to cook for 5 minutes. Check the mix for round ball consistency i.e the dish should fall easily from the ladle. If the dish is still gooey add some more ghee and stir. Remove the dish from fire. Season the dish with a little ghee and cashew nuts and elachi powder.

If you want to add colour to the dish mix the food colour to one teaspoonful of water or milk and then add to the dish after adding the sugar.