At Pismo Beach

The beginning of the spring quarter is a new start. It is the time of the year when the earth looks splendid, but you can’t really spare the time to recline on a summer chair and leisurely build castles in the air. But you can do the next best thing. You can steal a few hours to build sandcastles by the beachside instead and soak your legs in the briny waters. The sands do shift fast and the waves come crashing towards you at a terrific pace, don’t they? It’s better to surf the calm seas before they turn turbulent in thunderstorms. I used this heavy logic to convince myself that I needed a quick break to rejuvenate myself before I immersed myself in another intense quarter. It was a decision which made my weekend positively exciting because I was down at Pismo beach with family and friends this weekend, having just the sort of quality fun that I crave for.

It was Sunday. The sun was shining, and the Oceanside was mildly crowded. But the people were lazy. Even the little sandpipers looked quite at ease with the world as they walked about here and there, pleasurably gulping down little worms along the way. It looked like the perfect illusion of peace---it was just that sort of little place which makes you feel like time is slow and always handy. It’s that exact situation where you feel humbled before the vastness that is the ocean, yet enjoy the sublime experience of having all your fears swept away. My heart throbbed as I stood by the ocean, and felt the sands below my feet shift and move away rapidly with the waves. I enjoyed the sensation. After the initial reluctance, I dived right in. We formed a human chain and screamed at the top of our lungs as we bobbed up and down with the waves. It is one of those very stupid things which bought immense relief. The sound of the waves in my ears has a strangely soothing effect on me; it echoed deep harmony and oneness with the Ocean. But I could also feel the pulse of the pacific as the waves hit my back and I screamed in delight. I felt absolutely wild, untamed and free—like there weren’t any rules to life. I felt like I could have stayed there forever.


That was only until I observed that the shadows were growing longer and my feet, more numb. I thanked the pacific, and waddled towards the beach to spend the rest of my meaningful time building a sand castle with a five year old, who cheerfully re-taught me long-forgotten rhymes.

“I love the mountains; I love the rolling hills,

I love the flowers, I love the daffodils…”

I giggled as I sang along with her, understanding how happiness could be so easy to find. I repeated in my head, “I love the beach, I love today….I love the way we had fun, and wish for it stays the same!”

At the end of the day, my hair was tangled, my feet was caked with a considerable amount of beach sand, and I was shivering in the cold. But I was still grinning as we headed back home, singing “I love the mountains…” again: The world seemed perfect once more, and it would take quite some effort to break that spell again!

My First Award!!

A special thing happened to me a week ago-A recieved my first blogging award, which had me delighted! Thanks, Nimmi, for the wonderful award, :-), I'm still smiling!!! As per the way things go, I think I'm supposed to nominate my own list of bloggers who deserve an award for showing "attitude" and/or "gratitude" through thier blog posts. Now, this is especially difficult for me because I realise that there are hundreds of blogs out there which showcase these qualities, but I've decided to stick to the blogs I frequent the most. [ I've decided to exclude Mysore Blog Park members from my "nominees" because I feel ALL of them show great attitude (why else would Mr. GVK include them into the community??), and it would be impossible (and possibly unfair too) to just select 10 bloggers out of our blogging community!]

The Rules:

1. Put the logo on your post.
2. Nominate 10 blogs that you feel show great Attitude or Gratitude or both.
3. Make sure you link your nominees to this post.
4. Let them know they received the award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received this award.

So, my 10 nominees (in no specific order) are:

1) Sush : A Teenager with such an original attitude towards life and growing up!

2) Walk the Wilderness : A superb photoblog showing gratitude towards nature. The photographs are truly a feast for the eyes!

3) Shambhavi : She truly deserves one for her confident attitude, enduring optimism and such wonderful achievement!

4) Anandi : For continuing to blog at the age of 75, for her wonderful optimism and positive attitude!

5) Arise India Forum : Although still devoloping, the blog does manage to reflect the great attitude of the members of "Arise India" organization: their commitment towards thier cause and immense gratitude towards their natural heritage.

6) Pradeep Biswas : For telling me stories, sharing great experiences and showing such a genuine attitude towards life!

7) Prashanth : Although not a "blog" in a strict sense, I love Mr. Prashanth's photographs on aminus 3...they reflect his attitude towards life and his surroundings: A bit fun-loving, very observant and very interested in capturing those wonderful moments that some of us take for granted! And yes, he is immensely talented too!

8) Karthick : Great blog!! Love it again for the awesome attitude, for thoughts so nicely conveyed, and for being such a devoted fan of Mr. Tejaswi!!! :-)

9) Deeps : For deciding to blog at fourteen, for not hiding your "attitude" towards growing up and learning so much,...and yes, for being such a good friend!!...and this is expressing my gratitude too! :-)

10) Chutney: Of whom I've long since been only a silent admirer (never commented on her blogs.) But loved her attitude towards life...love her posts equally too!

So those are my 10 nominees!!

(PS: Those of you who follow my cousin, Sneha's posts (she's on my blogroll...due to some weird glitch in my blog I've somehow not been able to update it! Will look into the matter soon, Sneha! :-)), kindly note that she has shifted over here...and one of my very good friends, Mr.Pranesh has newly taken to blogging. He has started blogging here. Do visit them in your spare time! And yes, my holidays have ended, and I'm back to facing another quarter again! Have a great week, everyone and keep smiling!)

Another Saturday Hike

I was on an exile last week, enduring a set of difficult final exams. Well, by the end of the day, the sun was still shining and I caught my reflection grinning back at me from glass windows of the science building. Finishing off another quarter naturally makes the world look more beautiful to me. I stop to catch maple leaves before they slip helplessly to the ground, and enjoy the crunch, crunch of the dead ones beneath my feet as I hurry home. My heart is lighter, and my mind is busy delighting itself in holiday plans. Well, as far as my holiday plans go, it looks like they are directly proportional to unforeseen disturbances and deliberate excuses (some real and most hypothetical or invented). So this time when I declared that I wanted to go hiking, I did it without any serious expectations.

I was jabbed awake on Saturday morning by my father with a “You said we’ll go hiking!” Sleep was still heavy on my eyelids, but I knew that my sense of self-worth was in serious jeopardy. I’m not the sort of person who likes to get taunted for being fickle-minded. So I shrugged and decided to get ready. It was to be my little Saturday adventure outdoors…I was granted some time to satisfy my whimsical wishes, and I didn’t want to miss such an opportunity.



Well, for that slow trailer such as me, the these trails are quite a task. I don’t complain though, because there’s such a lovely creek which bumbles along with me as I walk, reminding not to take it so hard. This is exactly why I hike—it’s not because I enjoy sweating so much…it’s because hiking makes me feel like I’m blending into this entirely different world. It’s an escape from everything I don’t wish to remember because I become that silent dreamer when I take a walk—I transform into that annoying squirt who shuts into herself and smiles without knowing why. I’m unusually unresponsive, and do look lost. But the truth is, I enjoy every precious moment of that silent experience…dreams swim and take shape, I become calmer, happier and strangely detached. Somehow, loud jokes and cracking laughter destroy that tranquility within me—they are better suited for those special sleepover parties or family get-togethers. Hiking is everything about catching up with yourself, and everything not about mechanically burning calories in my opinion! :D Well, hiking is also about appreciating the little rewards of mild spring days before sweltering summer and another busy quarter come hurrying into your life.



(The sun has been especially cheerful the last week, as you can see!)

I have also done a lot of prodding around on this trail—everything from disturbing that meek little creek to staring at farm sheep. I had stopped by to listen to this old lady’s lecture about poison ivy the last time had hiked but I couldn’t spot the “dangerous plant” this time…looks like the ivy is scared of the spring! Meanwhile, I can feel it getting warmer here, and the skies are growing clearer by the day. There is very little cloud-cover and one feels the urge to star gaze into the depths of the sky. I wished on a star yesterday, as I stared out into the night, hoping for more such pleasant experiences to bring respite to me in the fast approaching hotter summer months. And I still have my fingers crossed!

Remembering the ‘March Finals’

Sometimes, life comes at you fast. I thought so as I rushed to pick up my books before my afternoon session of classes. I spied on my brother’s calendar for no particular reason and observed that it was already the 17th of March. It didn’t mean anything significant, other than the fact that it was already over a year since I wrote my PU boards. Here I was now, a year later: absorbed, confident, and inching towards the uncertain boundaries of the future. It was as if timelessness had enveloped my life, as if I had forgotten myself in it.

As the realization stuck me, I felt like that person who had seen a ghost for the first time. Life had moved on at such a terrific pace that I actually struggled to realize that it was already the march of 2009. I wouldn’t have disagreed if someone had asserted that it was still last year. Things had certainly changed since then, and it made me catch my breath in surprise.

The exams had been so slow back then. All had been different in the season of the ‘March finals’. There had been that tingling sensation in my nerves as the boards loomed closer and closer. I can clearly recall staring out of my window, escaping to the most fantastic dreamlands when studying felt too draining. I remember I had even religiously given up on reading the paper and answering the telephone because advises had made me even more nervous. In the ‘March Finals’ season, everything had felt important. My entire world had felt like it depended on this one experience: The exams were my life, and March seemed synonymous with only that. The days had stretched on endlessly, and the nights had been too short for revision. There had been pencil marks at the back of the textbook to tick off the end of every exam. I had cursed time for being so sluggish, as if everything on was its fault.

This March is so different. I write many exams, but I don’t panic. I don’t feverishly recite a million formulas in my head before entering the exam hall. I don’t wrestle with a teacher to complete lengthy passages anymore. Sometimes, I wish I could. For one thing, I don't hear the wisper of "All the Best," anymore. But March still stands for the same old things for all those students who are writing their exams this year. I caught myself asking these standard questions to my cousin who’s writing the boards this year. “How have you done? How much do you expect?...” almost slipped out of my tongue. It amused me how I was now not that timid cow nodding her head to all the advises. I was actually the one spewing them out. “Don’t refer to Deepa Publications for Chemistry, it’s a horrible book…” "Refer to MES for Physics if you have time, it's so conceptual..." She then listened to me with rapt attention, like I was that enlightened one with all the answers. But I certainly didn’t feel any wiser! True, it seems like time is trying to change me too...But here’s wishing my cousin Renu, along with dearest friends Medini, Shravya and Monisha who are writing the boards this year all the very best. May luck stay with all you, along with the unwavering confidence that is always yours! Let’s hope that time is as kind to all of you as it is to me! And yes, I shall repeat that same old phrase without which no board exam is complete: "All the very best! Slay ‘em gals!" :-)

A Letter to Uncle Pai

Dearest Uncle Pai,

There was a day when I bought my first Tinkle. You became my hero then. I just wanted to tell you that you ranked better than Hrithick Roshan on my “favorite people” list, and I was such a devoted fan of yours! Well, you already know that you have a tremendous fan base out there, don’t you? Everyone from those backbenchers who read those Suppandi tales in between class periods to today’s middle aged fathers, who grew up reading your Amar Chitra Kathas love you! Oh sure, you’ve earned some great names. They call you the “Father of Indian Comics,” The “Genius” behind Tinkle….those names do sound grand. But to me, you have remained “Uncle,” Pai, the world’s best editor.

You are a very unusual person, Uncle. For one thing, you take time off to reply to nearly 100 letters a day, by hand. I wonder how you do it…you’ve been at it for the past thirty years, and things haven’t changed a bit for you. Maybe you write because you realize how important that polite hand-written rejection letter is to a kid who has sent in his first story in the hopes of becoming famous. Maybe you know that there is such a big difference between that warm letter which comes home with your encouragement when compared to just another e-mail in the inbox.

Maybe you understand how such small things can affect a child. I respect you for that. Because you know, you have made a difference, at least in my life. For that sensitive kid who visited the post-office on a late January morning just to mail her first story, and waited for three entire months before she got her first rejection letter, it made a huge difference. Your hand-written “Try try again and you will succeed,” was more powerful than a “We are very sad to inform you that your story was not accepted” ever could be. It was the most beautiful rejection letter I have ever received in my life, and I cherish it today. I wanted to frame that letter as a testimony which declared that Uncle Pai had written to me—the famous Uncle Pai, Tinkle’s editor…I remember how happy that rejection letter made me feel, you didn’t disappoint. You can covert the most difficult moments into something memorable. It’s amazing how you can do that.

Well, life has moved on, hasen’t it? Tinkle is more than 25 years old already, and it must have been an exhausting journey…and now, a lot more has changed for India’s favorite comic. For one thing, you aren’t the chief editor anymore, and India Book House has sold the rights of Tinkle through ACK Media. The Amar Chitra Kathas can now be read on mobiles with Vodaphone, and a large number of your magazines have been digitalized. I was sad when I learned that you were retiring from the post of chief editor. But I hope that the next generation of kids can receive those same warm letters, I hope you can somehow continue to keep the smiles alive on their faces. Thanks, Uncle, for everything you have done for us. Your fans are loyal to you, and I can assure you that they will always be.

I remember how frustrated I was with my name once….”Lakshmi,”---it had been a name I had shared with so many aunts and family friends. There had to be a “Lakshmi” in every crowd, in every family gathering, in every single place. My name was so standard, and so very common! I remember what you told me one day: “In the past few decades, the name Lakshmi has become so uncommon. Glad to know you have such a lovely name. May the Goddess Lakshmi always bless you with good health and wealth.” You have no idea how much those simple words affected me. They made me feel so wonderful, and today, I’m not complaining. You really do have a way with children and teenagers, Uncle, because you understand us so well.

Thanks again for being such a great friend, supporter and editor! Thanks for all the lovely words of encouragement, and thanks for simply following your heart. If you hadn’t challenged yourself to become an editor—a profession so deviant from your educational plans, we wouldn’t have seen such a great magazine today!! Chief Editor or not a chief editor, it does not matter to me…as a person, Uncle, you truly are a hero, and I shall be your starry-eyed admirer forever. You are an inspiration, and will remain so, all life through.

Yours Affectionately,

Lakshmi

(Uncle Pai's first letter to me...Its a letter which is still very close to my heart.)

Picture Perfect

When we bought a new laptop a few months ago, I decided to search for a perfect background image. I wasn’t going to settle for another African Savannah in the twilight again! This background had to be something which would be pleasant, meaningful and memorable. It had to be that perfect picture which would cheer me up as I opened my computer to type up another academic essay, weary-eyed. Searching for that photograph was like a fanciful game I liked to play—something which kept me engaged when the weather turned too hostile.

I was already bored with those dreamy award-winning snaps of sparkling beaches, tumultuous waves and calm backwaters of distant rivers. They had been used too often. I tried to experiment with funny comic strips, trying to make them all fit in together….I was picky with the Japanese Anime’ images which could suit as a background. The result was a distorted puzzle of a desktop which resembled a virtual version of a newspaper with some bothersome icons floating about like they never belonged there. My computer was the pathetic shade of bright orange and yellow of the Savannah again as I considered coming up with something better. Why not a family tree? I thought, and instantly tried to collect photographs of every relative I knew. It was a time-consuming and challenging process, gathering photographs. Trying to tailor them together into that organized family tree proved impossible as grinning uncles disappeared under the heads of my younger cousins and the aunts were buried below half-smiling friends. It was a complete mess of a collage, and my desktop became a painful chaos of smiling faces. I painted them beige in the hope that they would look more diginified and uniform, but it seemed like the collage could not be mended. True, I did play with some nice photographs, but they lost their meaning when the computer stretched them too much. The Savannah had won again, and I thought my computer would stay sickly orange forever.

The collage had discouraged me from designing a family portrait. Why bother? I thought, Just get used to the Savannah. I remembered how there were plenty of albums back home which affectionately treasured the most precious of memories…they would have made wonderful backgrounds. But they still required to be digitalized, and I was sure no one would waste their time on such things. One day, someone decided answered my prayers. I was considerably surprised when a cousin offered a digitalized version of an old 1994 family portrait out of the blue…and I knew my search had ended. There we were—the family, all together frozen in time…our smiles intact, and so very genuine! I don’t know why the photo looked perfect to me—but it seemed ideal. It was just the thing I wanted….that rare picture I had been craving for. I was delighted. Since that day, this family portrait has remained my desktop background, and I loose myself in it every single time I switch on the computer....and fond smile answers the question when someone questions inquisitively, "Is that your family up there?"

(PS: You can click to enlarge. And can you guess where I am?? :-) )

The Swallows of Kabul--A Review

“In the middle of nowhere, a whirlwind spins like a sorceress flinging out her skirts in a macabre dance; yet not even the hysteria serves to blow the dust off the calcified palm trees thrust against the sky like beseeching arms…”

Start a book like that and you can be sure that I’ll stay up reading till midnight! The Swallows of Kabul started with these words, and I soon fell in love with the author’s writing style. There is something to his poetic descriptions which make even the most boring events look like something interesting. There is a rich narrative quality to Khadra’s books—s(he) is an amazing story teller who always leaves me in a haze after reading his books. (It’s interesting to note that Yasmina Khadra is actually a pseudonym. The author is actually a retired Algerian Army general who adopted this name to avoid being recognized.) The Swallows of Kabul does not exactly have the most gripping storyline on earth but an unexpected climax more than makes up for it. The lyrical quality is just amazing. Even though the book is translated from French, it does not seem to have lost its charm, and the story is transporting in every sense of the word.

What pleased me was that this book wasn’t just a solemn complaint about what is wrong with Kabul—it was surprisingly mellow for something which is set in the backdrop of war, terror and unrest. The book tells me that there is tenderness, a residue of hope, optimism and happiness in people even under oppresive conditions...but also tells me that this can be slowly gnawed away by time. People who live here are frustrated, but still find ways to smile. Although the book echoes the pain of being bound so completely to the rules forced upon by the Taliban, it also talks how hope can live on in some form or the other. True, the book is realistic in it’s portrayal of the state of affairs in Kabul. There is the stoning of people to death, men who roam the city with rifles, and duties which are forced upon innocent people. But the book also shows me that there is also an inner world in the hearts of men—a world which can be altered by the deadly influence of the Taliban. It makes me question as to how a person can retain love, affection and ethics when the entire world is falling apart. The theme of the book revolves around the lives of four central characters, all of whom are completely different from each other. It is the story of similar destinies controlling entirely different people. Although fate is cruel to the people of Kabul, they do live their lives unassumingly. The plot itself is something uncommon, but has a tinge of excitement that you will definitely enjoy. The Swallows of Kabul is not something you will simply read and forget. It has a tremendous moral impact, making you reconsider the way you look at Afghanistan. The skill of the author in making you see the world through the eyes of his characters is something which deserves appreciation. He can easily make you realize certain subtle cultural messages that you might have otherwise ignored. You will have thousands of questions and opinions after reading it. Well, I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun for those who are intending to read the book. I would definitely suggest it for anyone who wants to give their brains some serious exercise. The story is beautiful, especially for something taking place in a desolate, crumbling city. Khadra itself communicates this very well. "And yet it is also here, amid the hush of stony places and silence of graves, in this land of dry earth and arid hearts that our story is born, like the water lily that blooms in a stangant swamp."

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel sums up Khadra’s book as follows:

“Brilliant…accomplished…[Khadra’s] portrait of the Afghan tragedy is unflinching, his lean prose and story telling skills unimpeachable…The bleak portrayal of life under the Taliban contained in this brief straightforward narrative musters the complexity and moral impact of a much bigger book.”

I guess you don’t need much more to grab this book from your nearest library!!