Contemplations and Ruminations

This picture was taken circa 1990 when the mountain gods (the western ghats) with their gentle song were all we could see everywhere we looked. Check out the mud bound road and the half-saree clad higher secondary students (akkas then)... life was amazing here, it took me years to realise that. Here I am at one of the mountains thirty years later, just soaking in nature and contemplating how far I've come from that little girl who hated this village and couldn't wait to leave. Life always surprises you in the most beautiful of ways when you learn to go with the flow. You may not get the view you were hoping for, but you will be rendered speechless by the view that awaits you, it will be something you never thought could exist and yet here you are... reveling at how the universe has always got your back.   This is one of the pristine beaches back home... the sun on one side, moon on the other.  I sit here typing all this as the rains fall outside while I sip on warm...

The special school I used to work in released their Silver jubilee souvenir this year and here's something I penned down for it.      Hues of Warm Sunshine      Shanthi Nilayam, School for the Mentally Challenged in Paruthivilai, is one of my favourite places on earth, I loved working here. I remember waking up in the morning and wondering, ‘what is going to happen today?’. Every day was exciting, you never knew what was in store – the kids were so unpredictable, the teachers were a hilarious bunch, and the sisters were always welcoming. My tenure in Shanthi Nilayam was an immeasurable learning experience, filled with joy, fun and togetherness. There is a quaint little chapel in the convent, one only has to enter it and spend a few minutes; the calmness and serenity of that simple chapel fills you with an inexplicable peace. Those were the days when I didn't mind working extra hours or even during Sundays, cause work there never really felt like w...

I've written lots about my hometown, Nagercoil , in this blog... about how every trip home is like being embraced in earth's bountiful bosom. So you can imagine my surprise when for the very first time in my life, I felt bereft and speechless at her decrepit state. The past few weeks were exactly like the earth in Interstellar, a dust bowl, that's the only way to describe Nagercoil now. All her roads and mudukku's have been dug up, vehicles ply over these pathetic roads leaving a trail of dust in the air. There is a fine coating of the characteristic red mud on every visible surface... and amidst all the dancing and swirling red dust, people go about their daily lives, unfazed and undeterred, patiently waiting for their little town to go back to it's former glory of quaint roads and angel rays that flit and float through tree branches, playing shadows with the ground below. I was pretty much covered up like a terrorist there, a duppata covering my entire face ex...

Christmas turned out to be wonderfully surprising this year. After the midnight mass I ended up having Irish Bailey's and plum cake with nuns in the convent. Clinking our glasses to Sláinte! (the Irish version of 'Cheers' or 'drinking to your health') we sat around the dining table swapping stories. For a person missing her choir friends from the church back home, these friends from the religious fraternity made Christmas night pretty memorable. New Year's was pretty exciting too, it was great being back with family and friends... meeting the shepherd boys of 2006 ,   those small little boys who now tower over me... hanging out with the choir girls after mass, baking and eating the rum cake, and drinking bacardi while being extremely glad for a wonderful 2014 and hoping that the years to follow will be filled with good memories, exciting times and a lot more adventures... this is what I wish for all you readers too. Today being the feast of Epiphany or the...

After a long long time, I visited the special school I used to work in, and the kids have all grown up...tiny tots now taller than me and sprouting facial hair!!! I was flummoxed... gosh, time changes everyone and everything. Wonder what changes they saw in me... anyway, I was just happy to be back   there. Went early to catch sight of that yellow school bus turning the corner and to watch all the kids tumbling out. While I was working there , that yellow bus turning the corner always marked the start of an exciting day. Right from the moment the kids hit the ground, the fun starts... that place will always be shrouded in hues of warm sunshine in my memory, it is a great place to be.  On the way to school, came across a few students... The special school, Santhi Nilayam (means Abode of Peace)  Great place...  The school bus and the kids... The assembly itself is heartwarming, a kid recites the prayers and the others repeat after him, in their ch...

So I went home recently to see mom and as usual it was a fun trip... here are a few pix's. The windmills... The sun just rising... Paddy fields... Visited the special school too... And hung out with the kids... I miss that.   Made some vegetable puffs...  I seriously love these... Tried baking Biscotti, they turned out alright... Melted some bitter Hazelnut chocolate to make a cake... Here are the Almond Biscotti's and the cake. Went to Holy Cross Convent, and visited the pretty chapel there... Inside the chapel...

A trip home is like a soothing balm that eases the flakes of corrugated dust that settles on the soul after months of living in a place congested with people, vehicles and the smoke produced by these too. I can never get used to living in a city, at least an organized city can grow on you... but a city bustling to the seams with people and vehicles, not to mention the pollution that follows is enough to make someone like me go into a funk. (yeah, heard this word on Glee). Here's why... See, that expanse of green fields and the clear air above it... isn't that soothing. Well, these fields and the western ghats near by keep my place clean and pretty. I don't have to walk around like a snob there, but in the city you'll always see me with a clean white handkerchief pressed to my face, partly suffocating partly breathing. You can't take a leisurely stroll in the city, you can't go out just because, you can't just saunter over to a friend's place.... it...

So I got to thinking bout my school days recently and it saddened me that I was starting to forget a few teachers who had shaped my life, I have already forgotten nearly half the classmates... though its not my fault. Some people just don't want to join facebook, then how can you find them in this big world. Even if I do find them, there is not much to talk beyond the 'where are you & what are you doing' phrases. But the teachers are another matter, they deserve to be remembered for moulding us. I gotta hand it to the convent school I studied in, they really knew how to select their educators... all the teachers I had shared a genuine passion for teaching and above that they had strong moral values and faith which invariably shaped our lives. To them being a good person was what mattered the most and they made sure we grasped this knowledge, it also helped that I had staunch catholic parents who cemented this view. Anyway, I just wanted to jot down stuff bout my teacher...