A vacation boosts pleasure
By a great measure
Maybe three-fold
For me; for sure!
Scientists pronounce
That altering living space
Makes white blood cells
Better prepared to fight infections.
So going on a holiday
Would boost our pleasure
And our immune system
But China has denied us this desire.
China is a rogue nation
To every neighbour
And its COVID is a massive slayer
Let us sincerely unite to defeat it.
Moon is a God
Not just to me; a Hindu
The Moon is a God
Or a Goddess
In most religions
Across Nations
So Moon worship
Is almost world-wide.
We follow our lunar calendar
And our almanac
Based on the lunar calendar
For all our occasions
Religious
Festivals
Traditions
All ceremonies
And for us
The Full Moon Day
Is the most auspicious day.
The Moon has many names,
In our mythology…
For instance
Chandra and Soma
And our first weekday
Is named after Soma
As Somvaar, Somavaaram
Just as in English
As Monday
Is named after the Moon.
Worship apart
Beliefs apart
Superstitions apart
To all common men
And remarkable men
But for; lunatics
Moon is simply awesome
Its splendour a wonder
Its gentle brightness
The Moonlight
The Moonshine
Is
mesmerizing
It is so pleasant
And so romantic
For humans
And all fauna and flora
Making the Moon
Nature’s greatest
Wonder!
A deity for many
With great history
And marvellous mythology
A ball and balloon
For children
And for adults in the open
Under the dark or starry night
It is a great source of comfort
And joy.
Moon is a source of many songs
Romantic, rhymes and lullabies
And it has been with humankind
From the time
The universe came into existence.
Across the world
People envision
A rabbit on the moon
And they are all right
Because it truly appears so
And then the rabbit is a symbol
Of several things good
New life, prosperity and so on
Which we all long for.
But there is something else
Some of us see on the moon
When we are far away
From where we belong
Where our heart
And thoughts wander
Perhaps because
The Moon shines
Over there
And also on us
We see the person
Whom we love
And miss
On the Moon
And through the Moon
We dream of the person
To lighten our heartache
For at
least some time
Or until the Moon vanishes at dawn
And we get re-united the next night
And this goes on
Until we are finally united
Hopefully soon
In-person
By the mercy of the universal Moon.
I
feel upset and sorry for that man who said 'Grill is simply another form of
heat, what is so special about it?'
I
am upset because I like to grill and I love grilled foods, veg, non-veg,
whatever, anytime, anywhere. Here is a vegetarian spread I grilled last evening…
grilled potatoes, grilled tomatoes, and grilled onions! Quite enjoyable to me
and my loved ones!
The grill is, of course, another form of heat, but most certainly it produces another form of enthralling food, with great smell and taste! Thus, creating another form of experience and joy.
This is a riddle,
Seeking many answers…
My name ends with an ‘A’,
My surname ends with an ‘A’,
The name of my house ends with an ‘A’,
And my maiden surname ends with an ‘A’.
As shown in this depiction,
I am no real queen,
About to adorn a crown,
Since I already seem to have one,
A virtual one,
Firstly because,
I was a Goddess born,
That is Lakshmi Devi,
Or Saraswathi Devi,
Or Parvathi Devi!
After whom I am named!
Later may be due to my conduct,
I was treated like a princess,
By my parents,
And after my wedding,
By my beloved
Husband,
And his household.
In every woman,
There is queen,
Her performance,
Makes all the difference.
My middle name starts with ‘R’,
And ends with ‘U’,
My life is passionately,
And musically,
Conjoined,
With the alphabets in this riddle,
Which make me a queen.
Finally and in short,
I am known as ‘LARA’,
Can you answer my questions?...
Four names that end with an ‘A’,
One that starts with ‘R’,
And ends with ‘U’,
And the full form of ‘LARA’.
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When
my date of departure was informed to me, I was not surprised because I was
expecting it. However, I was not comfortable with the date as the time left for
the departure was just a week and I had so many things to do. So I requested
for a postponement by another week which was readily agreed and I chose the
date and time of departure.
The
list of things I had to do before my departure seemed to run into pages, but I
spent a few hours to decide on the most important things to do and how to
accomplish them. There were some responsibilities to be handed over, financial
and property-related matters and the desire to visit a few places, meet family
members and friends before my departure and several other miscellaneous duties.
The
desire to meet and spend time with family, extended family members and
acquaintances was top on the list. I had a two-fold solution for this, one is
to meet them at their houses, spend some time with them and request them to
attend a party, the night before my departure.
It
is a week since the departure date has been decided and I am left with another
week for the commencement of the journey. In this week I have met all the
people I wanted to meet, my sister’s family, families of my nieces and nephews,
my cousins, acquaintances and the only friend I have. I invited all of them to
attend a dinner party at my house the night before my journey. This would be a
memory I would cherish forever wherever I am and hopefully all of them. I did
not inform any of them about my journey, because no one would be happy about my
decision to move away from them.
I
did some shopping, buying fruits and sweets as courtesy gifts when I went
around meeting dear ones. I did not have to buy anything for my travel.
In
this one week, I raced to settle financial and property-related matters and
wrote down details to be followed in my absence. I am now left with some
activities, top among them is visiting Kothagudem with my family, a town with
which I am associated for over 27 years, in my childhood and teenage… and the
nearby Temple town of Bhadrachalam on the banks of River Godavari and have Darshan
of Lord Sree Sita Ramachandra Swamy for being with me all the time and seek the
continuance of his blessings for my family. Then I have to make arrangements
for the get-together dinner I have planned and buy the remembrance gifts I have
decided for the invitees.
The
weather is very good these days in the Twin Cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad
and I am enjoying it. Due to buildings all around our house, I miss Sunrise and
Sunset views. I have seen wonderful Sunrise outside the city on many occasions while
early morning visits to the Temple at Yadagirigutta. I wish I could go on this trip to Sri Lakshmi
Narasimha Swamy at Yadagirigutta and also to Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple
at Nampally Gutta - our family deity since generations and seek their blessings
for my family. I shall sincerely try to visit these places before I leave the
city, though there is a time constraint.
After
I have accomplished all this in the one week I am left with, I would be a very
happy man. Then peacefully I would embark on my journey on the destined date at
6:30 a.m. to meet my parents and my brother and be with them.
If
it is within my capacity at my destination, as it was with my parents, I shall
ensure that everyone back home is happy always.
This
is my father’s desktop diary entry of 16th November 1952, briefly recording my
birth details. I was born on Sunday 16th November 1952 at 8:45 am by a
caesarean operation at King Edward Memorial Hospital, Secunderabad. More
details of my birth are available in his regular diary of that year which is
also well preserved, but it is in our attic in a trunk. Likewise, I have also
preserved my father’s diary detailing my sister’s birthday.
The
entry reads as follows: “Attended Hospital early morning and saw wife who has
pains. She was taken to operation theater at 8.15. Boy was born at 8.45 a.m. Patient
taken back to ward at 9.50 a.m. She regained consciousness in the evening.”
Today,
14th November 2020 is my father’s 105th birth anniversary. As is our practice
on this occasion, families of my siblings assembled at our house today to
remember and pay our respects to my father. And we continued with the tradition
of gifting books to all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of my father
on this occasion. The gifts were handed over to the children by my sister.
When
we first started the tradition of gifting books on my father’s birthday in 1990,
there were seven grandchildren as you can see in the photograph at the end of
this article. Since then the family has happily grown from seven grandchildren
to eight great-grandchildren. However, for today’s function, we missed one
grandson and two great-grandsons as they are in America.
Incidentally,
today being the festival of Deepavali, it was all the more a very happy family
get together.
Attached
are messages sent to announce the occasion and photographs from today’s events,
my father’s birth anniversary observation and Deepavali festival.
One of my favourite snacks is Kheema Samosa, and it’s a family favourite as well. My grandmother used to make it for my birthdays, so we rec...
