Vacation time ! :)

Knock, knock….  I’m back here at my lovely space. 

I’ve been absent from the blogosphere for a long time now, and I know it isn’t fair.

Though I’ve been reading blogs, I have not at all been active in writing over the past one month, and it doesn’t sound good, even to me.

After all, this is the world I chose for myself ; this is the blog I gave birth to with so much love; how could I ignore it for so long ?

No, I’m not giving any excuses for not having written for this long . It is my mistake and I take the responsibility for the same :(

As I said, the hiatus has been a long one, and one that made me think a lot.I thought , thought and thought and ideas developed inside my head.I put them on paper and got back to thinking :D

Now they wait on my notepad, expecting me to carve them into stories, or poems or anything that I might feel they are worth.

And yes, I will do that.

Slowly, steadily.

But, after my long awaited vacation.

Yippieeeeeeeee ! I said it ;)

I’m leaving on vacation tomorrow, that is , the 15^th.

 

A  month-and-a-little-more long trip to Kerala.

So much to do there !

A wedding to attend, in all flamboyant colours .

Visiting temples, and bringing back holy, sweet memories for the next year……

Meeting friends !

Catching up with relatives over filter kaapi :)

Spending some relaxing days at Vynika, the new home which we built last year at Palakkad….

I may not have net connectivity, so I’m not sure about being able to post updates. But I promise to update as and when I find it possible to :)

So , see you all after a break :)

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As I flutter by....

I live a life, of love and care,

Short but sweet, and very fair,

Full of colours and extremely vibrant,

You will never find me, for a moment, silent ;

I fly by , happy , cool and gay;

For me, it’s the ‘now’ that holds sway,

I count my life by moments, not years,

I find no time for sorrow or tears ;

My mission in  life is to  show you all,

That days are few, life is so small,

As you live, love and die,

Time just moves, with the flash of an eye.

Live your life, happily ever,

Despair not, fail at heart, never,

Please listen to me as I flutter by,

I am just a lovely butterfly !!

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I am not much of a poetess.

It's just very recently that I discovered that I could play around with words.

I wrote this poem as a part of a story series which I'd planned to write, when I started this blog.

 Somehow, I didn't complete the series, and it still remains so.

 I thought of reproducing the poetry part of the story here.

(Yeah, Old wine repacked... I know :P )

Linking this to 2014 Freelance Success / Wordcount Blogathon.

A talk with the writers' muse :)

The Time keeper was born from his inspiring pen,

He made me spend my Tuesdays with Morrie....

He gave us the first phone call from heaven,

I salute you, sir, for words that create glory !

Next comes a woman, the queen of mystery,

She made me fall in love with a Belgian brain...

And the Mousetrap that did create history,

Madam, my love for you, is pretty insane :)

Next, the man, who , in his village of dreams,

Gave birth to Swami, Nagaraj and the Guide....

You stretched our reading to both the extremes,

Love you, truly ,you’re the nation’s pride !!

To all the pens above, that enrich our lives,

Here are two questions I would ask ;

What exactly do you do when the muse arrives,

Do you wait, or get on with the task ?

What drives you to take the plunge into the pool,

Of words, and weave magic and marvel ?

For writers like you all, your quill is a tool

That etches out the world you unravel !

Without all your words, our world is so dry,

That explains all that I have to say ;

May they make our fancies soar high,

That is what we wish, hope and pray !!

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Image courtesy : Muse craft Online

Linking this to 100 Words on Saturday  at  Write Tribe.

The prompt this weekend is, " Your favourite author and what you’d like to discuss with him or her".

I couldn't identify one favourite ( I know it sounds stupid, still :D ) , so I created a short poem about three authors I love :)

This one is in 'Multiples of 100' format. Three stanzas make a drabble :)

My A-to-Z Story :)

Here we are, the alphabet pals,

We travelled together , guys and gals,

A month long journey through the letters with fun,

In twenty-six days , we got the job done !

Stories, poems, musings galore,

Each day saw us yearning for more,

Never did it seem a boring chore,

We met, loved, supported our friends we adore !

This blog saw a story in parts,

Which was, of course, meant to invade the hearts :)

It stirred a soul or not, I can never claim,

But they told me it was loved, all the same !!

Also born here were , flash fictions and drabbles

Which , I admit, were more of scrabbles :P

Yet they brought me so much of love,

That, I believe, is a blessing from above !

Oh My ! What a sweet month was that,

And it leaves us all, wearing the top hat !

Crowning us all , with the survivors’ aura,

And bringing with it, happy moments, plethora !!

As we bid adieu to ‘ A to Z ’,

We’re sure , not going to put it to bed,

We’re waiting for the seasons to come a full round,

And bless us again with the challenge, so renowned !!

That pretty much sums up my feelings, as I sit down to pen the ‘reflections’ post.

Needless to say, this has been a beautiful month, as much in terms of enjoyment as in terms of creativity.

We all have enjoyed the ‘A-to-Z’ challenge immensely...

for the adrenaline rush that it triggered in us.....

for the ideas it put into our heads....

for the wonderful pieces of writing that enriched our days and filled our moments with so much fun...

for the new friends we made.....

for the friendships we strengthened....

for those wonderful moments of support we received...

for the smiles that lit up our lips when we read a beautiful comment....

for the camaraderie that flowered everywhere…

On the personal front, this gave me a chance to explore more into whatever little talent I possess with the words.

I had promised to write a ‘Serial Story’ and a ‘Random Post’ per letter, which meant I was literally throwing myself into the challenging waves with two posts per day.

I tried scheduling some posts, but I found that some sort of  ‘Inverse Zeigarnik effect’ was troubling me, because even after scheduling, I kept thinking of how to improve them, rather than dwelling on the ‘posts to be’. This wasn’t helping, so I resorted to writing and scheduling just ‘a day in advance’, so that it didn’t leave me much time to think of what I’d already written.

Moreover, my serial story was gaining flesh and blood with every moment of thought , so I had to have some time for minor alterations in the plot. Hence I thought, writing daily would be a better choice.

I’m happy  that I could do both posts per day, as I’d wanted to, and come out of it unscathed :D

On the blog hopping front, I utilized early morning hours and covered some bookmarked blogs every day. The rest of them are being covered now.

I’m sure everyone out there is doing the same, catching up with all the wonderful blogs .

We’re here to support each other and win, and every visit makes us happy !

Some of us were new to the blog world, some of us were debutants at the challenge, many of us were confused and most of us were doubtful if we would ever complete it.

There were many moments of self-doubt, or instances of diminishing interest.

But none of this stopped us from going on with the challenge, did it ?

Many of us were writing on chosen themes, which were as varied as they could ever be  and many of us were writing at random.

Either way, it was a ‘heart-and-soul’ effort for all of us, was it not ?

So, what are we waiting for ? Let’s celebrate !

We’re the happy Survivors of the challenge !

Congratulations to all those who entered and came out of the maze !

A big THANK YOU to the teams behind the A to Z, who worked behind the scenes to make it a grand success. You inspire us in more ways than one !

And a big HUG to all those who entered, but couldn't make it, for some reason or the other .

Never mind the challenge, there's always a next time here.

We're always there for you, you're special to us in all ways !!

There were many visitors, both participants and non-participating supporters, and most of them left good comments here :) Though I’ve not replied to the comments, I sure will :)

Every visit, every comment is important to us bloggers, and it helps us grow, as writers, bloggers and as individuals !

Thanks for all the support and love !

The challenge yet again proves that we can achieve anything that  we want, come hell or high water !

Let’s keep up the spirit of togetherness in the days to come, and support each other and grow together in this wonderful world that’s the blogosphere !
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Linking this to A to Z Reflections at A to Z.

 

A - Amity ( A to Z 2014 Random Post)

 

“Friends? ”, she extends her hand.

He looks at her angrily.

 “I said I’m sorry”, she makes a cute face.

He melts then.

Smiling brightly, they join hands and walk to the playground.

They can’t fool me , though.

I smile as I wait for the next argument, to resolve.

These twins of mine , I tell you !!

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Linking this to A toZ 2014 and the Ultimate Blogging Challenge.

The Voices... !

“You’re unusually silent, today. What’s up ?

“ How come you appear suddenly from nowhere ? I haven’t seen you for a long time, now !”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t exist, does it ? And that’s not the answer to my question anyway.”

“How have you been ?”

“ Pretty bad, because you’ve been ignoring me all these days. Leave it, answer me now. Why so silent ?”

“ Just some thoughts about life.”

“ Oh ! the usual. What’s the trigger this time ?”

“ Just the monotony of mundane existence troubling me. Nothing’s exciting anymore. It’s kind of depressing. ”

“ That’s a serious thing to say. Have you opened the chamber yet?”

“ The chamber ? Which one ?”

“The one in your heart. The home to your true self. That which knows the very pulse of your existence. The sacred receptacle of all that is you.”

“ Well, I haven’t. I have begun to doubt its existence these days. I think it has died down. ”

“ It doesn’t die so soon. You know it is very well there, full and brimming. It’s just that you are smartly ignorant of that.”

“ Perhaps I am . Do you think I should open the chamber ?”

“ Yes, it is the sanctum sanctorum of your heart. Opening the chamber and acknowledging the contents of the same will rejuvenate you. Rebuild your self esteem. I feel it’s high time you did that.”

“ But I don’t have the key any more. I guess I’ll have to let it be, then. And go on.”

“ Of course not. You can never lose the key. It’s very much within you. It’s not something that gets washed away in a deluge.”

“ I feel so incapacitated to do that. Fear of being compared and  judged grips my being , senses elude my thoughts, my soul turns devoid of happiness and….”

“ The arrival of the proverbial devil ! Chase him out. Locate the bright light in your heart . That will show the way.”



Image Credit : Morguefile



“ But…the key….”

“There you go again ! Didn’t I tell you, it’s within you ?  You’ll never lose it. Just take a break from routine, relax, sit back and introspect. You’ll find the key. I’m sure it’s still there.”

“ But what if I’m not happy after opening it ? What if it disappoints me ?”

“ Never. Opening it will liberate you in ways beyond your imagination. You will learn what makes you happy, what your heart actually yearns for, what should be forgotten, who must be forgiven, why should there be an internal cleansing. And much much more. You will learn to speak out .”

“ Sure ? I’m still apprehensive.”

“ It’s just the truth of life that you need to love yourself. That happens when you dust out and open the internal chamber of your feelings and peer inside.  A lot of healing happens that way.  Needless thoughts get wiped off. Positivism reigns. The dirty cobwebs are swept away.”

“ So you mean to say I’ll be a better person at the end of the whole exercise ? ”

“ An exercise, it definitely is. And you’ll indeed be a better person. Your depression will be history.”

“ Where do I get the key though ?”

“ Oh ! It’s inside you, dear. Faith. Prayer. Confidence. Courage. Determination. The keys to life! ”

“I’m amazed ! That’s so much of a treasure! Thanks for showing me all this. How do you know so much about me?”

“ Because, I’m inside you . I am you. You’re me . And we are the voices of your soul !”

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Linking this to Write Tribe's Wednesday Prompt ( A Picture prompt, this time).

On the Wheels of Life ...

One of those moods, the woman’s philosophy,
Speaks to me, life’s not just a catastrophe,
In all its glory, wonder and beauty,
Life’s a rainbow, colourful, not sooty….

First come the days , when innocence rules,
Magical days, no time for blues,
Moments spent, kissing the lonely flower
Birds ,animals, and to the trees that tower…
Mischief and pranks, forming gangs,
Fights over nothing, no guilt pangs !!

Then are those days, of the terrible teenage,
Difficult to handle, goes the adage,
The world’s against me, the young mind feels,
Never too convinced, that time always heals….
Fierce trials to burn the worldly coils,
Caught in the struggle , the teen blood boils !!

Next come the days of the blissful youth,
Some see the pain of the wisdom tooth :-)
The toil to achieve, to prove and to gain,
The truth says, no gain without pain….
Failure lurks, threatening life’s pleasure,
Yet life just seems the greatest treasure !!

Middle ages, when the real life starts,
Family, friends, job, all in its parts,
Desire to live grows strong and concrete,
Never to fear  or concede defeat….
Temptations galore, to give up trying,
Yet the kiss of success, to keep flying !!

The evening of life, the ripe old age,
When all the world seems one small stage,
Now seeps in, the wisdom of a whole lifetime,
That days are few, here’s no extra time….
The past seems beautiful for a life well-spent
And , to the gates of heaven, a graceful ascent!

As I come out of the reverie so true,
I still have questions, but never a clue…
Yet, in the vastness of the firmament so blue,
For me, life’s a beauty, till I bid adieu !!

Money matters, or does it ?

I always look forward to receiving Anu Garg's A Word A Day mails. Highly educating and entertaining, they are ! Every day, a new word is mailed to the subscibers world over, complete with all details such as its pronunciation, meaning, usage, etymology and interesting tidbits, if any. Very often, a quote accompanies the word. A Thought for the Day.

Today, this is the quote we received :

It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy. -George H. Lorimer

How true !!
This set on wheels my train of thoughts.

We live in a materialistic world. We work hard to make money, to be independent, to enjoy our lives, to build ourselves that wonderful house that we have always wanted, to give the best possible education to our children, to secure our future which we really can't predict anything about - in short, to meet our never-ending needs.

And all this, despite knowing fully well that money doesn't buy all things for us :) :) :)

Yes, we are fully aware that all that we earn will never be able to buy us
time or
a night of peaceful blissful sleep or
that lovely guileless smile of our little one or
the multifarious talents for which we often envy others or
the beauty of a rainy day or
the warmth of sunshine or
the laughter that we share with our friends or
the smile of understanding which our loved ones give us.....

Well, the list is endless. Period.

Those who think otherwise are just fooling themselves. Period.

And in this mad mad rush to stay ahead of others, we lose out on the goodness of life.
Of  pleasant mornings and peaceful evenings.
Of a meal lovingly cooked at home .
Of the tranquility that spreads over as the first sip of hot coffee goes down the throat.
Of the happiness that we enjoy as we indulge in the pastime we are passionate about.
Of the warmth of a chit-chat with friends over a cup of tea.
Of catching up with relatives over a phone call and sharing the nuances of everyday life.
and much much more....

Well, is it not high time we took stock of  ALL that we have and how rich these things make us ?

This is not , in any way, belittling what money can do for us.
True, money is the element which makes survival a possibility.
We need money to sustain life, to buy food, clothes and all that.
We need money to buy good books to read.
We need money to help us make a phone call, to stay connected with the world.
And any material comfort comes with money.

But, beyond all this, there are things which enrich our lives.
Those, which we should take care not to lose, in our race ahead ,for a better life.