Moon Mind

May 6,  2012,  heralded, what was called a Supermoon event. Celebrating the fact that the Moon was closest to the earth on this day.   It certainly looked HUGE in the evening sky as it emerged from behind the trees.  My FB and blogfriends, Prasad Paranjape of Pune, and Kavita Saharia of Guwahati, clicked images of the moon and posted them.

It occurred to me that the patches on the moon were no longer rabbit like as we believed in our childhood, but had taken on a more human look.

I wondered why. And then I found out. ....and drew (upon) it.

    (Photo on the left by Kavita Saharia, on the right by Prasad Paranjape, and drawings in white by me......:-).....)

While my life path
has been ordained
for milleniums,
no one really thinks
that I too
have a mind,
and I observe.

Stuck in a potholed cratered life
I crave
a green landscape,
and flowing water
with valleys of flowers
and fruits on trees...

At one point
I was all agog
when two guys in vehicles
dropped in
but
they simply uttered some words
about big steps ,
and took off again.

And so I watch
on my rounds
around your Earth,
and am shocked to see
how some treat young girl babies,
snuffing out a life
learned in 9 months
of safe harbor.

I also watch
greedy folks
usurp land to
create rocky monstrocities
in the name of development,
and take way
lands
meant for gardens,
trees, flowers, fruits
and little playing children.

They say
your face mirrors your feelings.

In older days
I used to think
about rabbits and stuff,
and folks would
look at the dark patches ,
point and laugh. 

Today,
I think
about more important stuff,
like smelling the roses
and playing with kids
and
you can see it above;
and somefolks,
actually,
even Point and Shoot !

The Stony Melting Heart.........

My young blogfriend Pri who has a wonderful blog called Nostalgic Moments, recently wrote a wonderful story about a fight between a stone statue and a wax statue.

 Do read her wonderful and poignant  post "In wax and stone lies a story known..."

Reading meanings into the story commensurate with one's age was an interesting exercise for me. 

And then read the take below, of someone, who as they say, has seen a lot more summers  transform into autumn and winter, only to blossom in spring again....

Inside
every stone statue
that stands
unrelenting,
getting eroded
by
wordy deeds
and
katabolic acts,
is a soft nucleus
flooded lachrymally.

It just takes
some,
a long long time
to reach it.

All around,
reincarnations in wax
sculpt visions,
manic swinging between
tearful melts
and
new lives.

It takes
a shuddering shaking
and quaking
in the depths
of the earth,
for both to realize
that
they are ,
at the end of the day
a little bit of each other,
and beholden
to the same roots...

The auspicious green perspective

This poem is being submitted as a post on

“A perspective on roles of Indian Women”

Indusladies 2nd Annual International Women's Day Blog Contest

A fertile green
in several avatars,
She,
is a story
scripted by
the Trees of the Land.

She is the young rice,
childlike green
in the wet fields,
sometimes petulant, drying away
sometimes overcome and washed away,
but when older,
transplanted
unasked,
elsewhere,
to thrive and give of herself,
the woman of rural India...

She is the dainty rose
in a garden,
next to a rowdy guava tree;
holding her own,
sometimes
coquettish in a maiden''s hair,
sometimes
devotional at the heavenly feet;

She revels in friendship
with the champa tree,
as well as the mogra bush,
and gives space
to the jasmines and parijaats
of the world as well
while supporting those
that remain green,
and grow,
but never flower....

And what do you say
about
Lady Mangrove -

She who tolerates
and thrives
in
salty mush,
daily overcome
by waves and tides of misfortunes
some from the sea,
and some
from the land,
rapacious avaricious killers,
out to replace her..

Chained with the
sisters ,
roots entangled
she stands to protect
erosion of those
she considers her own....

Higher up
Shethani style, She sits,
and flowers in season,
a Page 3
of the woods,
laden with fruit,
some sweet,
that go to far off lands,
but some,
when plucked,
by dedicated hands,
and magically processed
turns into
sweet and tasty delights
for the children of the land.

There is of course
an upkeep
for the grand lady;
but such is life
in this land.

But sometimes,
well entrenched
in the land that
empowered her,
She proudly stands,
sheltering
younger and weaker ones,
in her shade,
as she digs deeper
into the earth for her strength;

The warrior tree,
facing the wrath
of the goonda wind
and hatchet elements,
her proud tough spine,
and roots
hanging down
to clutch the earth,
a Mother
fearless
for the children,
the Ma Banyan,
ageless and tough
against
trespassing winds.

Kalpavriksha sentinels,
some who stand,
tall and tough,
Medha Patkars
and Sindhutai Sapkals,
rising up to the skies
to lead...

They give of themselves
in every way,
honest and ramrod straight;
Seasonal slipping branches
landing with a thud,
and industrious hands
fashion them into baskets
and mats;

Born in fertile numbers
Her little fruits,
are taken away
while some drop off,
after she teaches them
to dedicate themselves
to feeding the hungry,
the thirsty,
the revellers,
and the sick.

Tough nuts to crack,
but soft and sweet inside
like their Mother.

And then,
some,
beauties ,
and 'useful'
in their prime,
now isolated,
hurt,
broken,
unable to counter
loneliness,
withering away
in their own Vrindavans.....

This land
is so rich with
Smart trees,
Thinking geriatric trees,
Young beauteous bushes,
Fragrantly divine trees,
Brave defiant trunks
on Leader trees,
Generous altruistic trees,
Ant like small
industrious greens
enriching the land;
but mostly
taken for granted
by all.....


Women Power;
if only
environment
was religion to us,
and greening our Puja,
the women
would get their place
in the scheme of things...



I would like to tag (as per the rules) and request my friends below to participate....:

1. Uma S.
2. Swati Ram
3. Padma R.

Spinning out of control ?

My friend Sylvia posts these wonderful photos on her blog . This particular photo has been sent to her by a friend . This is how she explains the phenomenon of these amazing cloud formations , or lenticular clouds.

"Those are called "lenticular clouds" They're caused when the air flow is just right so when it flows over Mt. Rainier, the air gets pushed upward where it cools and condenses into clouds. Depending on how smooth the flow is, you can get some amazing cloud formations as we've seen so far today. It's usually a sign of rain within 24 hours because typically the moist flow that precedes a storm around here is the perfect set up for these clouds."

My comment necessarily reflects the distrust that most folks have with those who call themselves "leaders" today....

(Photo by friend of Sylvia Kirkwood)
While
the whites ,
blacks,
browns,
greens,
blues, and oranges,
live in peaceful
interaction
feet firmly entrenched
on the ground,
in
a life
concerned
with day to day
earthy concerns,
is it any surprise,
that those
at the
exalted,rarified
top
coldly
ambitiously,
defy
the flow of reason,
spin out of control,
and are often
harbingers
of
stormy
troubles to come ?