Vidya Shankar's Blog, page 8
October 19, 2018
Movie magic
Twenty years! Was it that long ago that my husband, I and some cousins had gone to the theatre to watch one of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters of all time?
‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’! Oh! the title alone was enough to make us giddy. I was then a few years married and very much in love with my husband, so you can imagine the romantic frenzy I went through. In fact, even now, a throwback to anything about the movie makes my knees go weak.
Coming to think of it, KKHH is but one illogical story. Yet we played their games, sang their songs, danced their dances, and cried with them. We didn’t care that there were a lot of adult happenings going on in a children’s camp or that as we got to the climax, everyone, including the audience, was shedding copious tears. We watched with abated breath when Salman Khan dragged a heavily decked Kajol and twirled her around in the middle of the marriage hall. We listened with not a trace of boredom to every word of Salman’s monologue.
Shah Rukh Khan, who did nothing but cry almost all through the latter section of the movie, was still our hero and it was our bounden duty to join in the teary conglomerate in spite of our badly soaked handkerchiefs.
Why did we do that?
Because overshadowing the shortcoming were the cheeriness and exuberance of youthfulness, the glamorous and colourful costumes, crisp sequencing of the storyline, and the line of actors.
But most importantly, there was the emotion of love that tugged at your heartstrings every time the music played. And still does. Twenty years hence.
And why not? After all, something something happens when you are in love, isn’t it!
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Oct 20, 2018)
gulftoday.ae/portal/cfb86fa7-2192-4543-b881-0e8819482872.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’! Oh! the title alone was enough to make us giddy. I was then a few years married and very much in love with my husband, so you can imagine the romantic frenzy I went through. In fact, even now, a throwback to anything about the movie makes my knees go weak.
Coming to think of it, KKHH is but one illogical story. Yet we played their games, sang their songs, danced their dances, and cried with them. We didn’t care that there were a lot of adult happenings going on in a children’s camp or that as we got to the climax, everyone, including the audience, was shedding copious tears. We watched with abated breath when Salman Khan dragged a heavily decked Kajol and twirled her around in the middle of the marriage hall. We listened with not a trace of boredom to every word of Salman’s monologue.
Shah Rukh Khan, who did nothing but cry almost all through the latter section of the movie, was still our hero and it was our bounden duty to join in the teary conglomerate in spite of our badly soaked handkerchiefs.
Why did we do that?
Because overshadowing the shortcoming were the cheeriness and exuberance of youthfulness, the glamorous and colourful costumes, crisp sequencing of the storyline, and the line of actors.
But most importantly, there was the emotion of love that tugged at your heartstrings every time the music played. And still does. Twenty years hence.
And why not? After all, something something happens when you are in love, isn’t it!
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Oct 20, 2018)
gulftoday.ae/portal/cfb86fa7-2192-4543-b881-0e8819482872.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
October 13, 2018
Talk about it
When I was weighed down by depression following a major surgery earlier this year, people close to me went into denial mode.
I was told that I was a strong woman and mental weakness was not me. While I do know that, I cannot deny the mental debilitation that had become part of me post the surgery. Friends couldn’t accept what I had become and left me.
I have been condemned of faking in order to draw attention, been told that I needed to be more grateful for my comfortable existence, and reprimanded for being unable to keep my emotions under control. This led me to doubt myself, which in turn only made matters worse.
However, I have had a fair share of support too because of which I have been able to accept that my mental energies are indeed at a low for now and that, with time, I would get stronger.
Dear World, mental disability is for real, awareness about mental health is the need of the hour and we can no longer beat around the bush about it.
Which is why I decided to talk about it whenever possible. Such communication has not only helped me but also has given consolation to at least four of my acquaintances who are going through almost similar symptoms as I have been.
When you are ravaged by something you don’t understand, it always helps to know you are not alone.
And that, dear World, is what we seek of you. To be with us through the dark.
We don’t want you to tell us to be strong and to move on but to understand that our reaching out for help is not a sign of weakness but of strength.
So also is the acceptance of mental disability as something to reckon with. For, it takes a lot to accept and to ask for help.
By the way, the world marked October 10 as Mental Health Day.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Oct 13, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/d806ff7b-b48a-4955-9e4f-167fd0a80592.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
I was told that I was a strong woman and mental weakness was not me. While I do know that, I cannot deny the mental debilitation that had become part of me post the surgery. Friends couldn’t accept what I had become and left me.
I have been condemned of faking in order to draw attention, been told that I needed to be more grateful for my comfortable existence, and reprimanded for being unable to keep my emotions under control. This led me to doubt myself, which in turn only made matters worse.
However, I have had a fair share of support too because of which I have been able to accept that my mental energies are indeed at a low for now and that, with time, I would get stronger.
Dear World, mental disability is for real, awareness about mental health is the need of the hour and we can no longer beat around the bush about it.
Which is why I decided to talk about it whenever possible. Such communication has not only helped me but also has given consolation to at least four of my acquaintances who are going through almost similar symptoms as I have been.
When you are ravaged by something you don’t understand, it always helps to know you are not alone.
And that, dear World, is what we seek of you. To be with us through the dark.
We don’t want you to tell us to be strong and to move on but to understand that our reaching out for help is not a sign of weakness but of strength.
So also is the acceptance of mental disability as something to reckon with. For, it takes a lot to accept and to ask for help.
By the way, the world marked October 10 as Mental Health Day.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Oct 13, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/d806ff7b-b48a-4955-9e4f-167fd0a80592.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
October 6, 2018
Train companion
It was a 7-hour journey by train, in broad daylight. For me it translated as seven hours of almost uninterrupted reading. I even had the perfect book.
“You are going to read on the train?” my friend had asked me. “There’ll be so much to see. And all the lovely conversations you can make with your fellow passengers!”
Some occasional sightseeing, yes, but I preferred my book.
Our compartment was already occupied by a man and his wife. Giving them a cursory smile, I settled with my book while my husband picked up a conversation with them.
Just as I was getting engrossed with my book, we were joined by an elderly couple and their two-and-a-half year old grandson. The boy, in a cheery yellow shirt, an ebullient smile, incoherent toddler talk (his speech was not yet pronounced) and the cuteness with which he would cover his face with his small palms whenever he had an ‘embarrassing’ moment, not only attracted the other people in the compartment but also pulled me out from my alcove.
He sat with his grandfather, never going to anyone else. Initially I didn’t join in the talk but only watched him through all his lively interactions, my book forgotten. But gradually, I too got drawn into the conversations and we began to understand each other. The bonding grew better when I shared a carton of juice (meant for my husband) with him. With every sip, the smiles increased.
Then he came to me and sat on my lap. But only for a moment before he ran back to his grandfather.
When the train reached its destination, we all went off our different ways. But like Wordsworth’s daffodils, the memory of that little sunshine I bore in my heart long after the journey and back.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Oct 6, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/e3efb6f6-80d3-432f-a5fe-dc887fb7c66b.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
“You are going to read on the train?” my friend had asked me. “There’ll be so much to see. And all the lovely conversations you can make with your fellow passengers!”
Some occasional sightseeing, yes, but I preferred my book.
Our compartment was already occupied by a man and his wife. Giving them a cursory smile, I settled with my book while my husband picked up a conversation with them.
Just as I was getting engrossed with my book, we were joined by an elderly couple and their two-and-a-half year old grandson. The boy, in a cheery yellow shirt, an ebullient smile, incoherent toddler talk (his speech was not yet pronounced) and the cuteness with which he would cover his face with his small palms whenever he had an ‘embarrassing’ moment, not only attracted the other people in the compartment but also pulled me out from my alcove.
He sat with his grandfather, never going to anyone else. Initially I didn’t join in the talk but only watched him through all his lively interactions, my book forgotten. But gradually, I too got drawn into the conversations and we began to understand each other. The bonding grew better when I shared a carton of juice (meant for my husband) with him. With every sip, the smiles increased.
Then he came to me and sat on my lap. But only for a moment before he ran back to his grandfather.
When the train reached its destination, we all went off our different ways. But like Wordsworth’s daffodils, the memory of that little sunshine I bore in my heart long after the journey and back.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Oct 6, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/e3efb6f6-80d3-432f-a5fe-dc887fb7c66b.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
September 28, 2018
Pain gain
“Do you know why it is better to exercise in the mornings than in the evenings?” my fitness instructor asked me. I understood she was expecting something different from the usual reference to morning freshness. So I just shook my head.
“It is the nature of the body to be stiffer in the mornings than in the evenings. Because of this, the body is more aware of pain in the mornings than in the evenings. This actually helps us deal with any pain we might have.”
We are not talking of tiredness here. We are talking of the body’s capacity to be flexible. By evening, the body has moved so much through the day that some more moving only gets easier. So the pain isn’t felt much which results either in our not being able to address it sooner or in our aggravating it unknowingly.
This reminds me of what my music teacher told me about the benefits of early morning singing. The vocal cords are slightly hoarse in the mornings as compared to later in the day so it actually helps us understand where we tend to get stuck.
This theory holds good with life too. Our bodies as well as our lives can take on any amount of exertion and struggle when young. Allowing ourselves to go through the suffering helps strengthen our core strength and makes our ‘evenings’ better to live.
But we don’t want to do that. Not with our bodies, our lives, our children. There is so much pampering and avoiding of pain happening during the ‘morning’ years that we don’t realise how comfortable we can get with it till one day everything crashes.
We all aspire for a pain-free life. Unfortunately, such a life is begot not by evading pain but by going through it.
So, take the pain and make the gain.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Sept 29, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/cd26c0ab-dbb8-4cdf-9154-f47a1270bbc3.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
“It is the nature of the body to be stiffer in the mornings than in the evenings. Because of this, the body is more aware of pain in the mornings than in the evenings. This actually helps us deal with any pain we might have.”
We are not talking of tiredness here. We are talking of the body’s capacity to be flexible. By evening, the body has moved so much through the day that some more moving only gets easier. So the pain isn’t felt much which results either in our not being able to address it sooner or in our aggravating it unknowingly.
This reminds me of what my music teacher told me about the benefits of early morning singing. The vocal cords are slightly hoarse in the mornings as compared to later in the day so it actually helps us understand where we tend to get stuck.
This theory holds good with life too. Our bodies as well as our lives can take on any amount of exertion and struggle when young. Allowing ourselves to go through the suffering helps strengthen our core strength and makes our ‘evenings’ better to live.
But we don’t want to do that. Not with our bodies, our lives, our children. There is so much pampering and avoiding of pain happening during the ‘morning’ years that we don’t realise how comfortable we can get with it till one day everything crashes.
We all aspire for a pain-free life. Unfortunately, such a life is begot not by evading pain but by going through it.
So, take the pain and make the gain.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Sept 29, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/cd26c0ab-dbb8-4cdf-9154-f47a1270bbc3.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
September 22, 2018
TBR collections
Book lovers come in all shapes and sizes.
There are those who buy books by the dozen, read them all by the dozen and give them away too by the dozen.
Category number two includes those who read for the love of reading but don’t buy books if they can help it.
They believe in borrowing, from libraries or from kindred friends. While most members of this class do remember to return the books to their original owners, it is not unlikely to find certain specimens (I have a couple of such friends) who pick up books from one friend, read them and then pass them on to someone else!
A third sect of book lovers are those for whom reading is on their wish list but who never get going because they cannot bring themselves to prioritise the habit. Their favourite tagline is, “I used to read a lot but...”
An elite section of book lovers are the collectors. They are not avid readers, they are book purchasers. These book lovers take pride in handpicking their collections and presenting them in stately shelves.
And then there are those whose passion for books make them both avid readers and avid collectors. You will find them talking of their ‘read’ shelves, ‘to-be-read’ shelves, ‘to-be-read-again’ shelves, ‘owned’ shelves and ‘to-be-owned’ shelves.
They buy books like a collector, taking time to choose titles worthy of their ‘read’ and ‘owned’ shelves. But show them a book sale and, their worthiness parameters entirely forgotten, they’ll be grabbing all they can, though they know these would only go into their already well-piled up ‘to-be-read’ (TBR) shelf.
Even the fact that their TBR stack could be occupying any available space in their homes wouldn’t deter them from making newer additions to it.
This last-mentioned group is where I belong. What about you?
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Sept 22, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/87e91fe3-8457-452c-8c14-3c6537f57271.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
There are those who buy books by the dozen, read them all by the dozen and give them away too by the dozen.
Category number two includes those who read for the love of reading but don’t buy books if they can help it.
They believe in borrowing, from libraries or from kindred friends. While most members of this class do remember to return the books to their original owners, it is not unlikely to find certain specimens (I have a couple of such friends) who pick up books from one friend, read them and then pass them on to someone else!
A third sect of book lovers are those for whom reading is on their wish list but who never get going because they cannot bring themselves to prioritise the habit. Their favourite tagline is, “I used to read a lot but...”
An elite section of book lovers are the collectors. They are not avid readers, they are book purchasers. These book lovers take pride in handpicking their collections and presenting them in stately shelves.
And then there are those whose passion for books make them both avid readers and avid collectors. You will find them talking of their ‘read’ shelves, ‘to-be-read’ shelves, ‘to-be-read-again’ shelves, ‘owned’ shelves and ‘to-be-owned’ shelves.
They buy books like a collector, taking time to choose titles worthy of their ‘read’ and ‘owned’ shelves. But show them a book sale and, their worthiness parameters entirely forgotten, they’ll be grabbing all they can, though they know these would only go into their already well-piled up ‘to-be-read’ (TBR) shelf.
Even the fact that their TBR stack could be occupying any available space in their homes wouldn’t deter them from making newer additions to it.
This last-mentioned group is where I belong. What about you?
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Sept 22, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/87e91fe3-8457-452c-8c14-3c6537f57271.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
September 14, 2018
Family paparazzi
There was this wedding we had to go to and I was excited because I was going to meet some of my uncles, aunts and cousins whom I hadn’t seen in several years except through social media.
They were already at the marriage hall, so when my husband and I entered, my cousins came running to us and we exchanged plenty of hugs, smiles and how-are-you’s.
That done, out came our phones and... click, click, click! Selfie time. My husband had brought his camera with him, so from selfies we moved on to posing for real pictures. The wedding ceremony was going on as beautifully as ever at one end of the hall while we carried on with our photo shoot in full swing at the far end.
The other guests had various reactions to our frolicking. Most of them weren’t really concerned but we did get a fair share of smiles, stares and weird looks. Not that it bothered us. These were memorable moments for us and the photographs only helped frame those memories.
A week later, my husband and I had to attend an engagement party. We didn’t know anyone here except for the groom and his parents, so there were no ‘memories’ to make and hence, no selfies. While we waited along with a crowd of guests for our turn to wish the bride and the groom, I looked around the hall casually. And sure enough, at the other end of the hall was a group taking selfies and posing for pictures.
I smiled to myself as I recollected the words of one of my cousins. She said she loved going to such functions for two reasons - to meet people and for the food. To this, I add a third reason - to make memories!
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Sept 15, 2018)
http://www.gulftoday.ae/portal/3ccf4f76-c980-4c3a-b84a-f3bf0243c496.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
They were already at the marriage hall, so when my husband and I entered, my cousins came running to us and we exchanged plenty of hugs, smiles and how-are-you’s.
That done, out came our phones and... click, click, click! Selfie time. My husband had brought his camera with him, so from selfies we moved on to posing for real pictures. The wedding ceremony was going on as beautifully as ever at one end of the hall while we carried on with our photo shoot in full swing at the far end.
The other guests had various reactions to our frolicking. Most of them weren’t really concerned but we did get a fair share of smiles, stares and weird looks. Not that it bothered us. These were memorable moments for us and the photographs only helped frame those memories.
A week later, my husband and I had to attend an engagement party. We didn’t know anyone here except for the groom and his parents, so there were no ‘memories’ to make and hence, no selfies. While we waited along with a crowd of guests for our turn to wish the bride and the groom, I looked around the hall casually. And sure enough, at the other end of the hall was a group taking selfies and posing for pictures.
I smiled to myself as I recollected the words of one of my cousins. She said she loved going to such functions for two reasons - to meet people and for the food. To this, I add a third reason - to make memories!
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Sept 15, 2018)
http://www.gulftoday.ae/portal/3ccf4f76-c980-4c3a-b84a-f3bf0243c496.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
September 8, 2018
Nothing but love
A study of Shakespeare would involve delving into his powerful use of words, a study of which would tell us that what he wrote were not just plays but philosophical life truths.
Like this scene in ‘King Lear’ where Lear, after listening to the praises his two older daughters heap on him, turns to his youngest born Cordelia and asks her what she has to say about her love for him. She is his favourite and he knows too that she loves him in equal ‘measure’. So he is in for a shock when all she says is, “Nothing.”
“Nothing will come out of nothing,” he says and gives her a chance to speak again. But Cordelia refuses to mend her statement and an angry Lear disowns her.
This is one of my favourite scenes from Shakespeare because of his play on the word ‘nothing’.
Normally we associate ‘nothing’ to mean something that’s of no value, empty, not anything. But have you ever thought that something that’s got no value need not always have to be valueless, it can also be invaluable, like love perhaps?
Love is indeed not any-thing, it’s a no-thing. Can you place a value to no-thing? Yet, like Lear, we too make the same mistake of trying to measure it up and in the process, we end up in pain.
It’s not love that causes the pain but the attachments, the expectation, the possessiveness that go with it. Which is why love has to be ‘empty’ - empty of ego, judgement, sympathy, emotion.
It is in that ‘emptiness’ you realise the beautiful aspects of love such as gratitude, forgiveness, detachment, acceptance, which in turn leads you on to more love. A complete circle.
Nothing will indeed come out of nothing.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Sept 08, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/2c74b501-83be-4266-98f5-14d790e3bc3e.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyam
www.facebook.com
Like this scene in ‘King Lear’ where Lear, after listening to the praises his two older daughters heap on him, turns to his youngest born Cordelia and asks her what she has to say about her love for him. She is his favourite and he knows too that she loves him in equal ‘measure’. So he is in for a shock when all she says is, “Nothing.”
“Nothing will come out of nothing,” he says and gives her a chance to speak again. But Cordelia refuses to mend her statement and an angry Lear disowns her.
This is one of my favourite scenes from Shakespeare because of his play on the word ‘nothing’.
Normally we associate ‘nothing’ to mean something that’s of no value, empty, not anything. But have you ever thought that something that’s got no value need not always have to be valueless, it can also be invaluable, like love perhaps?
Love is indeed not any-thing, it’s a no-thing. Can you place a value to no-thing? Yet, like Lear, we too make the same mistake of trying to measure it up and in the process, we end up in pain.
It’s not love that causes the pain but the attachments, the expectation, the possessiveness that go with it. Which is why love has to be ‘empty’ - empty of ego, judgement, sympathy, emotion.
It is in that ‘emptiness’ you realise the beautiful aspects of love such as gratitude, forgiveness, detachment, acceptance, which in turn leads you on to more love. A complete circle.
Nothing will indeed come out of nothing.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Sept 08, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/2c74b501-83be-4266-98f5-14d790e3bc3e.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyam
www.facebook.com
September 1, 2018
The centenarian
My father-in-law, had he been alive, would have turned 100 on August 30.
It was on this day, 30 years ago, that I first met him. His family had celebrated his 70th birthday in the morning and later that evening had come to my grandmother’s house. To see me. They were seeking to arrange a marriage of his younger son with me. I was twenty then.
My father-in-law and my grandfather were of the same age, so initially I found it difficult to see him as a father. But soon I realised he was far healthier than my grandfather.
My father-in-law was a health freak except that you didn’t have such terminology those days. Every morning, as he woke up, he would exercise for an hour, a practice he kept going almost till he died. He was so nimble that he could bend and flex and even do handstands.
I remember the first morning I woke up at my new husband’s home and walked out to meet the family only to see my father-in-law at his handstand. I was not used to anything like that, especially from a senior person. My family didn’t believe in exercising and as you aged, you were supposed to get “old.” So I was shocked and amazed but chose not to say anything till I was alone with my husband who put me at ease.
My father-in-law had a very good appetite. His daily meal included all five tastes, there was variety in whatever he ate and he ate quite a plateful. But he never overdid it. Not that he was ever worried about putting on weight for such jargon was unknown to him. Even at 83 when he died, he had no health issues. He passed away in his sleep, a natural death.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Sept 01, 2018)
gulftoday.ae/portal/37bcdf48-ed87-43e1-ad97-a05f0fc9eff8.aspx
Shri.M.K.Ramakrishnan's birth centenary slide show presentation - 30th August 2018.
Click the link below to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a-zdCF695c&feature=youtu.be
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyam
www.facebook.com
It was on this day, 30 years ago, that I first met him. His family had celebrated his 70th birthday in the morning and later that evening had come to my grandmother’s house. To see me. They were seeking to arrange a marriage of his younger son with me. I was twenty then.
My father-in-law and my grandfather were of the same age, so initially I found it difficult to see him as a father. But soon I realised he was far healthier than my grandfather.
My father-in-law was a health freak except that you didn’t have such terminology those days. Every morning, as he woke up, he would exercise for an hour, a practice he kept going almost till he died. He was so nimble that he could bend and flex and even do handstands.
I remember the first morning I woke up at my new husband’s home and walked out to meet the family only to see my father-in-law at his handstand. I was not used to anything like that, especially from a senior person. My family didn’t believe in exercising and as you aged, you were supposed to get “old.” So I was shocked and amazed but chose not to say anything till I was alone with my husband who put me at ease.
My father-in-law had a very good appetite. His daily meal included all five tastes, there was variety in whatever he ate and he ate quite a plateful. But he never overdid it. Not that he was ever worried about putting on weight for such jargon was unknown to him. Even at 83 when he died, he had no health issues. He passed away in his sleep, a natural death.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Sept 01, 2018)
gulftoday.ae/portal/37bcdf48-ed87-43e1-ad97-a05f0fc9eff8.aspx
Shri.M.K.Ramakrishnan's birth centenary slide show presentation - 30th August 2018.
Click the link below to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a-zdCF695c&feature=youtu.be
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyam
www.facebook.com
August 25, 2018
Impartial nature
When Nature’s fury was unleashed in Kerala, the state-wide devastation rocked not only a nation but the entire world. Rivers were in full spate, running like one possessed. Bushes, trees, buildings and bridges fell like rows of dominoes. Acres of land came sliding down like mighty waterfalls and craters opened up where there was once firm land.
No, I am not up to some blame game here and this is not yet another article on global warming, a topic that’s been discussed with even greater urgency since the floods.
What I wish to reflect upon is the unpredictability of life’s situations and the impermanence of all that we hold secure and dependable.
In a topsy-turvy of events, the people, be it the ones who struggled to get even a sparse meal or those who treated themselves to delicacies seated around ornate dining tables in air-conditioned spaces were, without distinction, brought to the streets in a matter of time.
Nature, the leveller, did not discriminate when she was on her destructive sprint and neither did the people when they extended or received help. There was no room for hate, envy, prejudice, anger or judgement.
What rose above the gushing tide of unrelenting rain was the sea of humanitarian emotions such as empathy, unity, social responsibility, cooperation and willingness to serve. But sadly, human mind is fickle and it won’t be long before we see the negative emotions surfacing again.
Now that the rains have stopped and rehabilitation is just starting, let there be a building not just of physical structures but also of love. For that is what will save the world from more devastation.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Aug 25, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/ca911651-ef93-4314-a8c9-90aabe32e20e.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyam
www.facebook.com
No, I am not up to some blame game here and this is not yet another article on global warming, a topic that’s been discussed with even greater urgency since the floods.
What I wish to reflect upon is the unpredictability of life’s situations and the impermanence of all that we hold secure and dependable.
In a topsy-turvy of events, the people, be it the ones who struggled to get even a sparse meal or those who treated themselves to delicacies seated around ornate dining tables in air-conditioned spaces were, without distinction, brought to the streets in a matter of time.
Nature, the leveller, did not discriminate when she was on her destructive sprint and neither did the people when they extended or received help. There was no room for hate, envy, prejudice, anger or judgement.
What rose above the gushing tide of unrelenting rain was the sea of humanitarian emotions such as empathy, unity, social responsibility, cooperation and willingness to serve. But sadly, human mind is fickle and it won’t be long before we see the negative emotions surfacing again.
Now that the rains have stopped and rehabilitation is just starting, let there be a building not just of physical structures but also of love. For that is what will save the world from more devastation.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Aug 25, 2018)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/ca911651-ef93-4314-a8c9-90aabe32e20e.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyam
www.facebook.com
August 18, 2018
Hate legacy
When we say we hate rainy days, shades of red or chocolate, what we really mean is that rainy days are uncomfortable, reds overwhelm us and we don’t like the taste of chocolate. And when people say they hate Harry Potter, we tend to assume that they don’t like the genre or something like that.
Once I had to visit a certain office where I found Harry Potter references painted on their walls. Obviously I jumped with joy and got myself photographed against each of those backgrounds. I then shared he pictures with my friends.
All my friends said that the pictures were beautiful and that my joy made them happy. All except one.
A couple of days later when I met her I asked if she had seen the pictures. She said she had received them but didn’t want to see them.
“Why?”
“Because I hate Harry Potter.”
“But those are pictures of me, a very happy me! Don’t you want to see that?”
“All I see there is something I hate. Anything else in those pictures is of no prominence.”
“Not even your friend’s happiness?”
“No.”
End of conversation. Because I was dumbstruck. Her no was not just a simple negation. It was sharp and cruel. And over something as trivial as a bunch of photographs.
This ‘hate’ shook me, I encountered mistrust for the first time. I had always thought hate was racism and wars and political animosity. I didn’t realise till then how much resentment went on in the world on a micro level.
Whatever be the intensity of hate, it is destructive. If on the macro level it creates hostility among communities, on the micro level it destroys families and friendships and eventually flips over and destroys you. Choose love instead. Love doesn’t destroy.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Aug 18, 2018)
gulftoday.ae/portal/251f310e-f582-411b-ad8e-cd86f0e70b4b.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
Once I had to visit a certain office where I found Harry Potter references painted on their walls. Obviously I jumped with joy and got myself photographed against each of those backgrounds. I then shared he pictures with my friends.
All my friends said that the pictures were beautiful and that my joy made them happy. All except one.
A couple of days later when I met her I asked if she had seen the pictures. She said she had received them but didn’t want to see them.
“Why?”
“Because I hate Harry Potter.”
“But those are pictures of me, a very happy me! Don’t you want to see that?”
“All I see there is something I hate. Anything else in those pictures is of no prominence.”
“Not even your friend’s happiness?”
“No.”
End of conversation. Because I was dumbstruck. Her no was not just a simple negation. It was sharp and cruel. And over something as trivial as a bunch of photographs.
This ‘hate’ shook me, I encountered mistrust for the first time. I had always thought hate was racism and wars and political animosity. I didn’t realise till then how much resentment went on in the world on a micro level.
Whatever be the intensity of hate, it is destructive. If on the macro level it creates hostility among communities, on the micro level it destroys families and friendships and eventually flips over and destroys you. Choose love instead. Love doesn’t destroy.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Aug 18, 2018)
gulftoday.ae/portal/251f310e-f582-411b-ad8e-cd86f0e70b4b.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
