Kralanic thoughts ....

Nisha Jha, my blogger friend,  who loves to take off and travel SOLO to different countries, and then  sits soaking in the memories amidst her wonderful clicks, is currently in Cambodia doing volunteer work,  meeting folks, eating, and writing about what she likes. 

Like Kralan.  A kind of cousin of Puttoo, a similar Kerala traditional dish.  She writes about it  on her blog  and you can enjoy some photos of her sojourn in Cambodia  on her FB page here  and  here. 

The world over , wherever Bamboo is grown, or grows, it has myriads of uses,  some of them in cooking as an implement.  It is amazing to see the similarities in what is stuffed inside the hollow of a bamboo and cooked, say in Kerala and Cambodia.

My Malyali friends tell me that the bamboo piece is reused again later. In Cambodia, it looks, like  it is peeled open to access the delicious stuff inside, and is not usable again.  Maybe its different varieties of Bamboo, or possibly the benefits of plenty.

Different geography, different history, different people , and  different methods.  But what is inside is so similar.

Makes you think.  

(I just found out that another blogger friend, who has wheels and wings instead of feet, is also in Cambodia and she and Nisha have just met.  Possibly over a Kralan lunch ?  :-).....Who knows !)   


(Photos by Nisha Jha)
Growing long,
looking tough,
hollow inside ,
but
with an amazing ability
to bend
when under demand,
whether to hurt
or
to blindly praise someone.
Say hello to Mr Politician.


Some grow
old and tough,
and on harvest,
change their minds.

Life isnt all
about power
and tall status,
and
but about giving of yourself,
bits and pieces at a time,
holding yourself wrapped,
again and again,
around
some like minded friends
like rice and coconut,
all together,
simmering deliciously
on a bed of Coals,
to emerge
from the hot tunnel
into the real world
ready to repeat this
all over again.
Say hello to the Social Worker.

But for some,
its their entire life.

Life is then
about
carefully holding together
and guiding
differently gifted folks
like rice, coconut,
beans,
all awash
in the milk of human kindness,
boxed in from all sides
but
cooking in empathy
on the Bed of Life,
only to
sacrifice oneself
and sometimes fall apart,
just so
the world enjoys
the delicious, nutritious
and beneficial fruits of labor.
Say hello to a Mother.