I yearn...

1. I yearn for that one day!!!

When nothing is expected of me,

When nothing is due from me,

The one day of eternal peace.

I yearn for that one day,

When clock does not tick as warning signal,

When the day does not break

with mind running through list of 'to do' things,

When night does not fall

with a fresh list for the next day.

I yearn for that one day,

When I get a cup of steaming tea in my hand

When seeing the overcast sky -

my heart starts jumping with elation and

not my legs running to grab the drying laundry

When I look back,

Those were the times

Those were the years

That was the phase

When I was with my mother !!!

Simple theory or theory made simpler ???

It is the same day today and since morning I am mechanically doing the daily chores but I can feel my mind wandering down the memory lanes some 18 years back. Yes, its been 18 years since my life changed which I had never anticipated. This was the day 18 years back when I lost him. Now after having spent as many years without him as with him, why do I still feel some strange pain in my heart, why does my heart long for something and I don't even know what it longs for. He was part of my life and I was part of his. Though life is on a smooth ride yet some unfilled void makes its presence felt whenever it finds me in seclusion. In such rare moments it always succeeds in overpowering me and making me feel incomplete and alone but I am aware of it approaching me today and I want to handle it my way this time. I know it better this time, I have some answers ready and I am well equipped to confront it now.

Over these years I have slowly tried to understand the 'why' and 'how' behind the events that happen in our lives and the most plausible explanation which made sense and brought peace to me is that - I am here to perform a specific role on the world stage with a particular cloak on, just as we watch shows in theater where actors come and perform their parts. My role spans over some acts and in some of those acts he was with me. But his role ended after some scenes and he departed from the stage to take on another character. However, I continue to be on the stage because my current role is not over yet. He may come disguised as somebody else in the acts that are being enacted right now but I am sure I will not be able to recognize him if he does so because the costume designer is a perfectionist and it may require extraordinary kind of sight to recognize the individual inside the external attire.

It is important for me to not wait for him in one of these acts or think of the scenes that we enacted together or miss him in the current scenes because doing so is totally futile. And letting my mind lose on this track will disturb my focus completely because I am expected to perform right now and in my distracted state of mind I may screw up some scenes or someone else's part. My objective is to enact the scenes to the best of my capability which can only be done if my whole being is involved in what I am doing.

This led me to another revelation that since we all are co-performers, to what extent should we get attached to our companions? Perhaps just to the minimal level as any set of stage performers do. There should always be camaraderie and goodwill among the ones working together in a particular activity but that is about it. Once that activity is executed the association also ends and if that is the case where does the expectations from others originate? So while we are together we can enjoy the togetherness but once that time is over, there should not be any baggage left of unfulfilled expectations or of remorse.

So after having analyzed and understood the functioning of this particular stage, should I just forget him? No, the best course is to just keep our together time in the storehouse of memories that I can carry with me wherever I go but I know it will be devoid of any sort of sadness from now on. I wish him luck for all the roles that he gets to play in future and hope to do justice to whatever comes to me.

Surprisingly this understanding has made me much more peaceful and focused because I can clearly see that after performing my specific role, I will be exiting the stage and wait backstage to either enter into another character or if the final act gets over, I will finally rest in my permanent abode - the house of our father - the God.

cricket mania reflected in cartooning...

Problem Solved ?

Age : 8+ years

And it happened yet again. This was the time of 2011-2013, the Earth creatures were in deep distress once again. There were vehicles everywhere on the Earth and because of that the pollution levels were high, almost all breathing creatures were getting severe health issues breathing vehicular gases all the time, the prices of all fuels were sky rocketing, and the fuel reserves were depleting at an alarming rate. This meant, the situation was really getting out of control and something had to be done sooner than later. The most intelligent of all creatures, a representative of one of our species decided to finally take the step of solving this problem for good, so the person suggested that we build a gigantic ship, almost like a Noah's ark and we gather one representative from each living species. Having done that, the ship sailed to the abode of Lord Vishnu in Ksheer Sagar, where He was resting in His most famous pose and Goddess Lakshmi was caressing His feet. It seemed like they both were unperturbed by the trials and tribulations of the living beings on the Earth. All those who had travelled this far, stood in front of the Lord, bowing their heads down. On being asked by Lord Vishnu the purpose of their visit, the human being was entrusted the task of narrating their day to day agonies on Earth to Him.

After having listened to what they had to convey to Him, Lord Vishnu became very pensive and remained silent for what seemed like an eternity. Goddess Lakshmi could feel the impatience of all the ones who were standing in front of the Lord waiting for the divine solution, so she nudged Lord Vishnu to speak up. But what God told them was definitely not what all of them were expecting. Lord Vishnu told them that this was one of those problems for which He did not have any solution and since this was what the humans had done on their own, they needed to find the solution to this problem. Now all eyes turned towards the very miserable looking human being. He was cornered now and was expected to speak up. At that moment, his prized possession - the brain cells started working at a supersonic speed and why shouldn't they, after all how often God Himself waits for a solution in front of him. And true to its reputation, the Human brain came up with an idea.

He requested God to let all the humans retain their vehicles but with an added boon, the owner of the vehicles should be able to convert the vehicles into any living creature of his/her own choice when the vehicles were not in use. For instance, a car owner would be able to transform his car into either a dog, a cat, a plant, a bird or even another human. But how would that help solve the problem, everyone asked. The human explained - since each vehicle could be converted into a living creature of any species, they would not consume any more fuel (which solved the problem of depleting natural fuels from earth) but would eat what the living creature of that species ate, they would not emit harmful gases in the atmosphere since they would not be using the petrol or other fuel in the vehicle and also no parking space was required to keep the vehicles. So just imagine all the extra space you all would be getting which was being dedicated to keeping the vehicles.

No need to mention that all the creatures were impressed and Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi too. At that moment Lord Vishnu said - "This is the reason I created a human being who is blessed with unmatched capability of exercising his brain power. They have such a huge benefit that they can transform any situation to avert any kind of calamity or problem. But at the same time, they must realize that they should not push things to such a state that other creatures start getting disturbed because of their actions".

craft ideas with leaves and flowers...

I am sure we all have seen, admired and marveled at the various patterns that our eyes have deciphered in the soft cottony clouds - a giant, a tiny baby, a strange animal, a ferocious monster or sometimes a scene of a big party going on in the sky. But are clouds the only ones which tempt us to see patterns in them, I think it is just extending the reigns of beautiful mind's imagination and voila we are called out by amazing ideas and patterns by almost everything surrounding us.

My son(when he was 2 yrs old) started recognizing the models of cars as 'happy faced', 'frowning', 'angry faced' or 'having a moustache' cars. And having the blessing of watching the world through his eyes, I am reminded of this fact every day - how enriching and exuberant this world is. The only gear we need to be equipped with is letting our mind, heart and senses lose on this track and explore as much as possible.

Here are some ideas for the craft activities that our little ones can do in their free time. I am sure, the temptation and lure of these wonderful craft ideas is such that even the grown ups will not be able to hold their imagination back for very long.

Here are some ideas:

Try creating different shapes, animals and plants with leaves, flowers and twigs...

Decorate greeting cards and envelopes with pressed leaves and flowers…

More animals with different leaves…

Lend a personal touch to your notebooks, journals and diaries with transparent pressed leaves and flowers…

How about a nice pond scene with leafy fish ….

Use the fine veins of leaves to good use too. They can work as your own blocks for block printing. So load them with colours and see the magic…

Enjoy the fun of using leaves in giving wings to your creativity :)

early science experiments...

Space is full of resplendent mysteries which have always caught the fancy of every thinking mind.

Here are a few ideas for craft activities on 'Space':

For Age : 1-3 years : I remember having tried looking for interesting ideas to teach my children new concepts in such a manner that the concepts stay with them. The written text does play a very significant role but there is no substitute to pictorial representation and live experiments. One of the first 'science' lessons that I taught my children was the - difference between day and night and no, not by showing a revolving globe in front of a light bulb (that came much later). I simply drew this kind of picture because that is what they were observing on their own, I just provided them the nomenclature. I remember it being stuck to the refrigerator for a long period.

For Age : 3-6yrs : Concept of expanding universe

Take a deflated balloon (preferably a black or dark coloured), assume it to be our universe. Mark small dots very close together on the balloon. These small dots are clusters of galaxies. Label one of the dots as MW (for Milky Way), our galaxy. Once you start inflating the balloon, you will see that the relative distance between milky way and other galaxies keeps increasing illustrating the point that the universe is expanding and so the galaxies are moving away from each other.

For Age 6-9 yrs : Rainbow Colours

We all have seen rainbows appearing in the sky from time to time but I am sure like me, everybody gets mesmerized by the sheer beauty and grandeur of this wonderful creation on the sky, every time it becomes visible. Rainbow colours - forming the acronym VIBGYOR - Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red - are called the spectrum and these seven colours combine to make white light. What better way to show this than to make a disc having all these spectrum colours and giving it a spin. When it rotates really fast, the colours do get mixed up and reflect white light.

How about making different planets of our solar system using balls and colours and then putting them all together for a solar system mobile.

Shell Art...

'Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water.'

Yes, through shell are we are trying to show our gratitude to WATER. Here are some ideas for shell art activities:

How about making some bracelets/friendship bands with assorted colourful shells?!

Make use of various shells to create different patterns and shapes - a clown, a butterfly, a turtle, an army of snails, a cat...

Decorate the picture frames for the personalized touch.

Create a tribal or village scene by using shells as dresses or ornaments of people.

Two different models of cars (complete initiative of two young minds in action at home)

Some more...

1. Small possession boxes can be decorated with the shells
2. Simply paint and colour the shells and keep them in the show case
3. Shells can be used in making wind chimes