Tickled religion!

I'ts a very Indian thing......the more u criticise....the more it seems you know, said my friend

To a child , art is depicting his thoughts on paper, in the form of lines and circles. Does this mean , he is wrong?

When a child depicts his family on paper, is there a bias in his creativity? Most kids i've come across start off with stick figures and when they proudly show it to their parents, there is an outburst of features, and even actions and thoughts to that figure, brief as it may be.

But do we say 'NO', Papa does not look like this?

Wasn't that his interpretation of his father? Why then ,does age mellow the tolerance level and suddenly loom out large at adults.

Take the example of Gods! ( It is not about God as in religion, but as in interpretation...)

As God , he is unlimited. He has many names and many forms. Allah-Buddha-Jesus-Ram. All are one.God is not abstract. He has both the impersonal and the personal aspects to his personality. If there is a God with a form, I want to see Him. Its pointless in believing something without proof.
Isn't art an expression of freedom. The mind which is creative is drawing out what it percieves and what it feels. Is there limits to it? Is there a restriction as to how far it can soar?

I have always wondered why people criticize Art from the creative point of view. If there is a technical flaw, it makes sense to educate the artist on his shortcomings. But can there be a flaw in creative thoughts? Has anyone seen God?

I read this in a forum of creative artists, which had a depiction of a character of an Indian God. The character was visualised by the artist and he had given his own interpretation to it, but it apparently did not live upto the "Indian-ness" of GOD. They asked him to refer to another famous artists work. Isn't that unfair?

Did the famous artist know God? Wasn't that his interpretation too, and it was accepted..apparently, his critiques would have had their head severed..According to his work, "In many of his paintings, he has modeled Hindu Goddesses on the women living in the southern parts of India."

So why can't another have his own vision?

Isn't this India? Only here can we be pampered for our varied cultural background. To say that Art- is a discipline of insistent questioning, a sense of wonder and childlike mind of wonder and compassion, is to make a statement of little value.

P.S The thoughts here are purely non-religion based, Its about creativity and not religion.

This time at Sunday scribblings, the prompt was about "out of this world". I've reacted to it in this way here. Would love to hear your reaction to it.

Dusty covers?!!

I just don't get it!!

I've opened my refrigerator for the umpteenth time, but am yet to figure out how to magically bring in the contents that should be there and not what is.

Took me back to the time, the refrigerator came into my home, many years ago. Those days, everything had to have a place,.The fridge was duly installed in its justified position. A neatly embroidered cover was fished out...and promptly spread over the top.

"Do you have to cover everything in sight, Ma?"

"Yes! its so dusty. It'll become very dirty and discoloured"

A few years later I see this Ad on tv..and I had to literally slap my grinning face...it was an ad for a detergent soap with a netted cover. And the family were parsis.

Thats when I had thought. Nooo , you havent seen us south indians. We have so many things around the house, that there'll be more covers than in a wedding buffet dinner.

The wet grinder, for the thousands of dosas that have to be churned out most mornings, the phone ( here we can place two, one below and one on top), the humble mixer, which needs to be moved, cleaned so many times in a day...but still it can boast of one to keep its bottom warm.

Have you see the TV..though it came much later to our city...I remember the panic my mom went into, when she couldn't find something to cover it..The dimensions were a little vague...you had the front, back, top....she was stumped. But even there she had found a way. A huge table cloth and the deed was done. Then of course, the plasticky covers were sold much to the amusement of all of us at home..which was bought pronto all the way form Bombay.

These very effective sheets, covers, etc of course had another skill that got going.One started to learn embroidery to put on it. Fabric painting classes...and the ads would say...learn fabric painting for table cloths, fridge covers, phone cover,etc. Yes there was a skill being learnt!

Thankfully now the trend has died down, I assume with the rapidly changing appliances and also the fact that the skills attached to them stayed back with the generation that brought the covers in.

And now when I open the refrigerator, I see one more trait of our clan...its always 'curds' ( yoghurt) in there...more than what they need. But one ounce less and there is a stress attack out there...

HUH!!!

Right now all I feel like doing, is what the little girl in the movie "Corrina, Corrina" did. Whoopi Goldberg had taught her to close her eyes, and blow out her troubles...like when she was at a traffic signal.

When I saw this movie, it sounded so magical. Don't we all at some time feel like doing exactly that.

"Close our eyes, think of all our problems and then blow it away softly." It helps sometimes...to know that you were the one who knew how to deal with it.
Here I am sitting and procrastinating...like I have always done ( I know , its terrible..) especially when you don't want to do it, nor do you want to sit back and whine.

I was sitting here thinking I was a very capable person, able to handle so many issues at once... yes! at some time , they do call it - MULTI TASKING!! Most women are like that...And so are some men!1 I don't want to start a war here lol!!

But its natural...'cos someone I knew had told me when asked why they never saw the route in which they were going, while in a car. He had said, " Why Should I? I have enough on my head worrying about matters relating to my work and finance, etc...I think this is very silly for me to see where i'm going. Its enough if I know that my driver knows well! " At that time , it sounded very impractical...but yes! it made sense...'cos he would never anyway drive on his own.

Coming to me, I need to know, where I go, what I do and why I do??
I thought it was multi-tasking and yes! I was managing well...but then today, I had my bubble burst :( I know it sounds very insignificant...
But then at least there is a name to this...

While you folks go read it...i'll just finish up with
1. the article I was writing,

2. still trying to coax my friend who's online into going out for a movie,

3. wait for the cooker to finish its job so that I can switch it off..and get ready to go out..

4. while still trying to get some information for my husband who needs his project to be done,

5. read up my favourite blogs

6. think of what I have to write there

7 Chat up with my sister who's waiting for updates and and and......so untill the time I get my breath back...

its NOT difficult for me...its easier when I'm stressed...and when i'm full of work to do ...

Vacations are on...and so will my tasks get multiplied...yes..

I am now the official doorman to the umpteen comings in and goings out of my sons, The eternal cook ( though they are never satisfied with whats on offer most times, the silent judge to the fights for the psp's, gameboy time, playtime, swimming time...etc...

I think i'm better off with NADD....it helps me blow away my troubles softly while I am cooking up a storm out here....

Hello! My name is... !!

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But we wouldn't be buying them by the bunch for our loves if they were called Pokeythorns, would we?

I was reading some article ( destressing helps, when all your mind can think of are theorems, formulae, parts of plants, animals, oops...I started here too...hehhe) and came across a real vague name..called Pitka, its a characted named that in some new Hollywood movie...

In the midst of all my whirling frame of mind...some personal, some academic and some funnies like this...I was reminded of the oh so oft repeated boring saying " Whats in a name? A rose is a rose, ..." Yeah, but why didnt the kings ever spare time and give their sons better names, rather than, the numbers after their own..., now all because of their insensitivity, my kids have to go through so much confusion learning the numbers with the names...1, 2, 3..

Yes, but ever wondered how it would be if you were called such names when all you can think of is to hide ..
Remember what happened to Gogol in Namesake???

I used to have a family when I was much younger...as kids. They were the watchman's family ( weren't they what they were called in those days before the security agencies took over every nook and corner?) while our house was being constructed. Still to come across a more dynamic family. The bread winner, in this case, the Ragi MuDde( the millet balls) winner, who
used to literally bathe himself in alcohol, but still managed to guard the houses under his jurisdiction, with the ease of a Black Cat a la Mission Impossible ishtyle...He had a wonderful family...most who were our playmates, in times of friends' drought...

Their family tree went like this...

The always girth expanding ( read pregnant) wife called MannanGaTti ( I came to know later that it meant block of mud in Tamil )

Their first daughter, a very enterprising girl called MoTte ( actual meaning Bald headed )

Second Born girl ChinnaPiLlai ( roughly translated to Small kid )

Third born, again a daughter- A very novel name NonnapiLlai ( translation lost out on me..:( )

There were more that were following , but I had lost track of who was who...reason : they moved out due to lack of space...non availability of vacant sites, to up their humble abodes, Low tolerance of new residents who couldn't handle someone of such assumed atrocious qualifications!

And the best reason : They had made the small spot on top of the covered drain their city ( yes, Thats what they did....everything in a small spot, huge family, pets, all fuel storage, the gossip corner, etc in one small space)

Of course now the Chinna, Nonna etc are not recognisable...but when the patriarch of the family passed away a while ago ,nearly 30 years after he had stepped into that area...there were moist eyes for him...and many from the house owners who valued his presence in their construction site ages ago...

And he was called MuniyanDi : Muniyappa for the records.

Do we still have such people? So loved but still so humble, from a section of society most times scorned upon?

Showered clouds!!

The whole day they were at it...the RJ at every station..

5 word reports- "Ivathu MaLe baruva soochane idhe" (It looks like it is going to rain today)

"Cloudy, with a spell of rain towards the evening"

How many times, through the years i've heard this. And also know that they'll be hitting the nail on the spot.

Thats how it has been,

the joyous clouds, mr sunshine steaming into the tarred roads, as if he's in a hurry, always isn't he? He has to catch up with the steaming Chennai...and off he's run off to.

Today has been a poetic evening- the sky was so awashed with color, that it looked like some thing out of the fairytale book. The pinks, merged with the blues, and when I looked out it looked as if it were going to just walk away with my thoughts.

It looked as if the skies were painting to the tune of the stress around town...eggjams and more exams. It sure was a beautiful sight.

Late into the night, I was still to answer my younger one..." Its so pink, when it should be fully dark now. Why, Ma? " I still had unanswered thoughts in my mind and some were to be let off...but the beauty of the stretch of pinks, and greys and blues took my breath away.

And now when the raindrops pitter patter to compete for space on the dry streets...I can smell the just wet earth, and it brings peace to my swirling mind.

This is what my city has been for me...always at peace with herself. Just when someone, starts to draw out lines of harshness on her yucky, sweaty heat...she comes down with her remedy.

Yes!! We've had our first drops of rain...and i'm sad , cos its always been a ritual for me to take the kids out into the first shower. The joy has to be seen to live it.

But there will be more to come .

This reminded me of a very lovely song...love the way Sonu Nigam has sung it

Trespassing?

"He can't just come and look through my things in my cupboard, Ma! " My son said.
It sounded so insignificant at that time, but I knew how it would feel.
How it feels to have someone go through your things without your permission.

It feels creepy, and haunted.
Privacy can be such a guarded emotion, that you feel so sick, if someone were to disrespect that. Sometimes, there is a need to, keep things to yourself, incidents to yourself, and more still, your space to yourself. And if anyone, were to sift through, and perused the details as if it were on display, you would feel, disgusted.

Does it give the right for anyone to just do whatever they feel is right, just because they think so, or they feel it is their right to do so? Isn't it tresspassing over someone's space and then coming back to say sorry, as if they didn't want to or mean to do it. When it is known that the other person has his private space and moments and needs, is it the right of anyone to just walk in and act as if they can take over? Can a personal space be encroached for one's own pleasure and reasons?

Being a mother, I know even at this age, I need to give my son his space and I do. And when he says I dont want to say anything now, I give him the right to remain quiet and then talk to me when he needs to.
But why do some people act as if they own the air around them and walk around probing into everyone's lives??

It can be sick and equally creepy.

Yappy yappy!!! Women's day....

Oh dear Lord!!

You made me out of his ribs I heard,
Why? Were you as dormant as the man you had made before?
Did you not see that when we say we're tired,
we mean we're exhausted from doing work
be though it maybe housework.
But have you ever asked the man!! if he had brought clothes down ,
when it looked cloudy
You'd get only blunt, and clouded eye looks.



Next morning, if the shirt was missing,
'cos he had forgotten to bring the clothes inside out of the rain,
He blames the woman..
Did she bring the rain???
What were you doing up there??



When he asks for the cuppa every morning,
Do you forget the longing look in my eyes, each time I make the tea,
And i'm in faraway land, dreaming of a hand holding the cup of tea in front me??
I'm sure you'll say you forgot to add that small bit in his strong ribs.



Why did you let him think that he can think?
Oh God!!! each time I ask him to think of an answer to my problems,
He's in his own dreamworld, reading the newspaper...
oh yeah, nowadays he's found some new games to play on the psp too.
But the minute I relate an incident from my very tiring day,
He's out there, jumping and acting as if he's THE GURU!!
Did I ask him to solve it, ??



Why is it that the news should be read by him early morning,
When i'm the one who's answering all the General Knowledge questions posed by our kids?
What is it in the cereals, that makes him cringe, and always craves for the idlis and chutneys..
But when I long for that one oily vada, he says its not good for health



When I ask him , if I look fat, all I want him is to say yes!!
At least i'll have an excuse to go and huff and puff in the gym.
All you do is make him say " No , you look perfectly fine to me!! "
Now look what i've become...one fat store, nothing left for free :(
But why is it that when I say
he looks perfectly fine in his 'similar as yesterday's' blue striped shirt,
He changes a hundred shirts and then still thinks its not good enough?



Have you ever thought of the bridges you've tried building between us.
Those ones, that have to reach across
It fell short, of Lord!
Cos he had stepped out for his cigarette
and had forgotten to wait
His friends came along and made me smile,
knowing full well, that once they reached home they needed,
to have their bearings right with their own wives.



Oh My!! Did I tell you he needs to always unwind after a hard days job
Ever thought of what my house would be if I did the same.
Who would feed the hungry small stomachs
who always want the exotic, when their fathers are around
And if I say no!! I'm made to look like an extinct pig!



Why do my kids always want me to handle their homework,
their stomachs and their unfriendly classmates,
BUt when their father comes home, it is he who gets the
biggest shout, and the hugs and smothering kissess...
I'm not complaining, dear Lord!

Cos I know,

The minute, my foot is out of my door,
I get the call asking for the lost wallet,
or even where the kids milk is kept.
Yes!! I know that the calls are made to find the sugar which is right in front of the cabinet.
My little one calls to ask me if he can eat wafers before lunch
and the older always remember to call and tell me he's hopping over to his friends'



Even if the man takes his much needed break on the Sunday, Dear Lord!!
I still know, that you made my brains so wired, that if I were to rest that day
I'd feel as if i've lost out on one whole day of missed hugs, wet kisses
Crayons on carpets, and milk in the floor halls.
I'd long for the missed calls and also never want to read the paper
if it means...all I get and ever want is that one
Big grin and that one gleam in those eyes!!

I'm so lucky oh Lord!!

I'm so happy you made me a WOMAN!!



To all the women out here who drop in here and to all the men too, who make us feel special and also value our existence out here.
HAPPY WOMENS DAY!

HERE'S MY SPECIAL DEDICATION TO ALL OF YOU :)

Oh Boy!!!

I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the anciently, stealing, fighting.William Shakespeare




“ You only teach him. You never teach me!!”, said R

“Of course not!, I’ve been sitting with you, not him ,since morning!“ said I.

“ Ma!! Can I write this only 3 times and not five?” And all the while he’s playing with the paper pellets and rubber band…(He’s watched his elder brother play with it).There is a book filled with questions…his latest quiz book, he says!! In front of him there is an assortment of erasers, pencils and a pen too in that pile up.

“Why should he always do what I do? He’s mad , Ma.. "I can see smoke coming out of his ears by now…( Didn’t ever know that copying the brother’s actions , mark one as mad!!)

I’m learning well. Yes I am.

All the while I’m supervising my older one’s subjects, I find the younger one furiously writing something, his ears carefully trained and directed towards us.
And then suddenly a screech erupts from that direction.
The older one has jumped out of his position to go see what the brother is upto. Not surprising , he gets furious…
The younger has been religiously writing down all the species, generic, modified root names that I’ve been teaching the older one. What gets his goat, is that he had made spelling mistakes.

“How dumb, Ma! He doesn’t know the spelling of calyx, and corolla……”

Is that all a part of being grown up? He’s not even a teenager. The anger, the aggression in him spells trouble the minute both are in the same room.
I have always prided myself in the simple fact that I hated unfair situations…and have always been fair and just.
Where did I go wrong? I know that I’m not being unfair. In fact him being in an older class, gets more attention , while the younger one is always on a picnic to someplace unknown to me..

Is it so difficult to get across one simple instruction without getting into the war game?

Why is it that when I see him interact with his friends and other elders, he’s so sweet and polite, I have them coming and telling me that they really admire my child. He is one. I know that.
He’s so sensitive and warm and loving. He can not see anyone in distress and he’s always the first to help . But once he enters the house, he turns into a smoke puffing, eye glowing red faced boy.
Have tried all kinds of text book techniques.
Love
The special ‘his’ time with me.
Discussion
Talks

Sometimes, I feel like giving him one sound whack!! (Won’t think of it…)

We were never like this when that age. And our parents were much more orthodox in their upbringing. We respected them to such an extent, that we even now think twice before arguing with them. We argued, but there was never aggression.

He is in an overactive state of emotion most of the time. It doesn’t take much to bring them to the point of exasperation. He’s more like a fortress with high walls and a locked gate — impenetrable.

Why then, did this happen to me?
Little wonder, that inspite of getting stressed out over who should be taught when,
who should be out of sight when
Who should sit next to me when
Who should hug me when
Who should talk to me when
Stress over should it be Obama or is it going to be Clinton…takes the last priority.

Can I run away?? Please??
Suggestions for the best place would be welcome!!

p.s I'm also listening too all their kinds of music..though I can't understand half of their words :(

But I liked that Timberland song though One love-republic (Hope I got that right?)

And then this song, which happens to be R's favourite right now.

Trust empowers!!

In response to the weeks prompt at writer's island "Empowerment" The second one was rivalry.
In the regular humdrum of a marraige, where one spouse tries to make a rival out of the other...to show their power...there can only be one thing said...and I chose to put it down in these lines!!

Oh! woman, you are'nt so weak
pray tell me
what makes you seek?
The pain of sacrifice
or the joy of compromise?

Do you feel the need
to live out your dreams?
or do you think
its all in the reams?

I'm sure there is a way
to make your needs be understood
You don't need to squabble
on all things assumed.

You have to make him think
or just plain talk till he's pink
He's as soft as butter
oh woman! He sure loves ,
the love that you bring.

Don't ponder on your thoughts
Give him all the respect you've got.
Trust him to take your hand;
But let him give you a free hand

He's a gentle soul
you've known that from before,
So what makes you imagine
He'll not support you from within

Live on! Its your dream
Live it with him
and watch it blooming
As the bud blossoms,
so will you be glowing!


Empowered as you are
Enigmatic beauty within.
Walk alongside to know
That there is ecstacy with him

Love does not seek to dominate:
it only seeks to surrender
Relinquish the supremacy called-ego
The need will arise,
And you will let go!