There are times when we cannot unravel many truths of
life.Fear and anxiety are our
expressions. Courage, patience, resilience go far away when a disease suddenly
strikes us or our very dear ones. The initial reaction to a terminal illness is
a shattering heart, collapsed strength and a sudden expression of denial. We
are humans, no technology still boasts to regulate our emotions with a button, emotions
could have been graded from 1-6 and we could have closed our minds to zero.
The
trauma of seeing one’s loved person going through all the medical complexities
is in its own way mortifying. It could bring one closer to a few philosophies about
life, truth, and the inherent power within us. The insight
to handle things in a very different way which could have been unimaginable
otherwise.
Dad was feeling weak past few weeks. A normal cough and
cold, few visits to the local medical store and some capsules eased his general
feeling of uneasiness. A normal healthy man who had never been through much medication,
he had never even fallen ill for more than a week.
Managing everything on his own, he was all about living an
independent life which involved a lot of hard work as he believed work keeps us
going, it helps us to build our immune system and also keeps the faith alive.
Work is worship.
3 weeks later he has an irritable condition of acute
itching. Crèmes, lotions, oil, bathing twice a day, soft clothing, mild water
compression, and light food …no, they did not help much. A local medical shop
prescribed him some allergic tablets. For the day he was fine but allergies don’t
stay more than a week. Dad was having insistent itching which never stopped.
I have a lot to say to Dad. He had little. He just smiled
and I clicked. Dad had many expressions without even saying those, I understood. A quiet bond, wordless, …a thousand words we shared.
With old age, with life not being an immortal tale, there were
those rough patches of life where one reflects about the reality of life. Joys
and sorrows both shall come, neither of them are permanent, but as humans we long
to hold moments, freeze time, stop the watch, mute the uncanny horizons and
take a shot of the beautiful flashes of the fleeting moments.
Hold it, grab it, squeeze it, or it might slip away. People, places and time fly fast.
It was at Suraj Kund mela, Dad was unwell but we still managed to
take him out, at a corner, escaping the crowd, I felt the urge to capture a
precious moment…me and Dad….time was running by, the crowd was pushy but as he
walked down, I kept my fingers and there I took this beautiful gem.
Technically I don’t know whether it’s the best shot or not
but if you ask me what it means to me… I can only say…..it’s priceless…as he
lays downs now on bed, a little pale, a little weak, a little fragile…I cherish
my moments with him…of colors, of joy, of a lovely afternoon, of clarity, of everything I wanted, of everything I desired to capture and hold.… we stole some
time …Thanks
The food stories all over the world bring many hidden facts,
details and gospels about a culture, their food habits, their living and their
moods. The colors of dishes, the aroma and the taste of a food can
actually make a foodie live and live longer. The desire to live suddenly
augments by the sudden fantasy or thought of a food. A food libido
Chelo Kebab Peter Cat
And what’s in a Kebab?
A non-vegetarian can glorify 100 romantic tales attached to
the charm, the color, the softness, the succulent tone and pitch from a Kebab plate.
Ibn Battuta, the famous Moroccan traveller had mentioned
that Kebab was an integral part of regular diet of the Royals in 1200 AD
Thanks to the Afgan plunderers and invaders, now it’s more
of a familiar face in the Indian.
Then it was the Mughals, they came, they invaded and the Kebabs
who danced in rustic tunes so far suddenly started being a bit subtle, soft,
gleamed and paired with the yogurt and number of aromatic, flavorful spices and enjoyed dry fruits sprinkled on the top.
As quoted “If you look at the
political boundaries and collaborate it with history, the trail followed by
Changez Khan's army transecting Mongolia, Middle-East and up to Spain and
around, saw the evolution of kebabs in various forms. Though we have Yakitori
in Japan and Satay in Indonesia and Malaysia, but in sauces
and spices they cannot be compared with kebabs" adds Sikka.
The signature dish at
Peter cat 'Chelo Kebab' had almost the same story of the 'Kebab'…Peter Cat in Kolkata and Chelo Kebab goes hand in hand. Located at heart of Kolkata, the upscale dining place of the city surely tempts you to
peep, hold on your breathe and march towards the table without looking at the
menu, the signature dish, few minutes and then it's all about a plate of
history, of stories and of Kebabs, accompanied by rice, Chicken Tikka, ,
dollops of butter, baked tomatoes and lots of hidden flavours. The glutton starts her journey, inserting her
fingers, tickling the kebab, the chilled Beer smiling at the side knew about the Kebab's fate, it was all cut into pieces, eaten with glory, the plate was all empty, the Kebab was all in the safest place;) The encounter ended:) a little burp, a stroke in the tummy and rest is happiness... That's food for me:)
We all need a passion to survive. The passion to fly a kite,
the passion to bake bread, the passion to create a thing, the passion to pursue
life, life skills to the best of ability.
Passion towards
learning new skills in life depends on the attitude towards adapting new skills.
The 5 essential key points to teach a child to have a better perspective towards
learning.
5 essential tips to help a child learn new skills sets and life skills
Observation
The
child has a mind of his own. He may make an abstract clay dough art or he might collect those little matchsticks to create a tower, your observation helps him to hold on to the abilities in a better way. The child imitates steps from dancing competition
or repeats lyrics, his skills should be monitored regularly.Here the power of observation comes up, exploration and learning
comes as a consecutive spin-off. Observation of the child gives you an edge and
a better view of assessment of the child’s skills and talent. Observation is the first step to understand a child.
Appreciation
We as humans thrive on good words, better words, and Best
words. A child has a natural tendency to blossom completely if he has words wrapped in appreciation. Display of appreciation through gratitude works marvel.Those golden words of concern, care,
thankfulness goes a long way in developing his skills and abilities.
Simple phrases to use in daily life
Thank you so much
It is wonderful, how do you do it
I wish I could make a rainbow like this
You are a star
Helping hand
A nodding head, a helping hand, inquisitiveness in the child’s passion makes the child venture into new territories without
inhibitions. Confidence and assurance helps the child to experiment, explore new
things in better ways.
Talking it out
A child learns most of his skills by listening and communicating.
To talk out, to communicate, to discuss, to understand and to help the child to
explain often accelerates the first step of exploration. A child feels secured to discuss about his ideas, chisel it with the help of parents and also get exposure to learn the skill in a better way either at home, through school, at a specific learning center or through teachers.
Positivity
Positivity is the robust step to encourage, inculcate,
stimulate and chisel a child’s talent, skill set, passion and bring out
the best.A negative or despised look,
words, action, reaction, expression goes a long way as a positive, considered,
well cared expression. It paves the path for future behaviour and confidence.
I was a small town girl, living life in the narrowed lanes;
school was few miles away from home. The only exposure to the world was through
those lanes, running parallel, the world was all about rooms bypassing one
another, the world was all entrapped in those square shaped books, and pages, faintly printed pictures of Egyptian Mummies to Aborigines from Australia , the face of
a Pygmy to the African tribes. They were only pictures and I had elaborately written
about their ways, that part of the globe to get a perfect score. The world meant that much to me...
The world was our home, separated by rooms
Days passed by, years went away, the window shield looked
beyond the mountains. Mrs. Schmauser came up with a little tray, a glass of
milk and an elaborate German breakfast,she smiled, handed me the fork
and knife, I kept aside my hands, empty stomach from last night could feel a peculiar sensation, responded well to the love, starved, hungry in a distant land, I started feeling a bit like home. They spoke differently, but they weren't aliens. The night was cold ….. I was invited
to be a part of the day long festival that morning. A folk festival, thousands
of people rejoicing to tunes, an important festival of Bavarian culture, I started feeling the joy of the festival as I did back home. The core essence was to come together, one and all in joy, in spirits. We too had festivals with the same motive back in our country.
Beyond shores, the world had the same message
Faces were unfamiliar, smiles were unknown, they even stared back, they laughed in a better way, they stretched hands, I was
hesitant to hold it back, theywinked, I
smiled, they knew my gesture, I understood their expressions, I opened my arms,
we spoke without a word. I finally broke the fence. We danced to the tune, we
drank the beer, we cheered aloud, we made a new road….a new path where the
barriers were broken. I gave away something that day, my narrow lens.
The world wasn’t all that I had perceived. My vision had
sketched a different story while I read but here the world was all embracing. I
felt Goosebumps; I loved the world for the first time. I fell in love.
I travel ed, another destination, another route, the ocean roared
in different way, the mountain smiled back, I was hesitant to wave back, the language spoken did not match my level of understanding.
They spoke words, I could not understand. I had to hear it,
over hear it, move my ears to and fro, read their lips, it was frustrating. But
then suddenly he moved his head, searched for a pen and
paper, a prop, hands started moving in action, eyes were all moving in a
different stroke to make me feel comfortable, to explain me. I started to
understand, nodded, stammered, we both laughed out loud, we came up with two
different things though, he was talking about a tooth brush, I was talking
about a pain killer medicine…we did not
understand the language but his simple
act of kindness was quite evident. He was a French, I was an Indian, that day
we went to Louvre,I found Mona Lisa,she
smiled in the same way but I could feel her smile that day, she smiled back to
me. We belonged to the same world.
She spoke with her eyes and smile, the world could connect
I roamed countries, once I exchanged my lunch box with my
fellow passenger, she shared some homemade Apple pie, her granny was a
better cook than my sister, and I admitted, we laughed out. We spoke on many subjects. A Doctor from Africa knew exactly how to combat a mosquito disease, a traveller
from Spain taught me how sausages were made for real. A Pakistani girl asked me
to read her story which she was writing; her story had many characters who just
breathed like us. The world had so many stories just like us. I realised we belong to the same species, the world was our home, separated into many rooms.
Beyond the boundaries- Feelings still had the same expression
And then I met an old man, from a distant place, faraway from my country, he spoke about his wife who had died
few years back … a rare kind of ailment had taken his beloved, my Dad has been diagnosed with the same,
we speak the same language of feelings, emotions, which we felt in the similar way, it hit us in the same pitch, his helping advice, his do’s and don’ts to help Dad feel
good, his mails about life, his concerns, complemented mine. We shared the same words, the
same world suddenly… he belonged to another part of the world yet we connected, bonded by an emotion, an emotion which cannot be expressed
through confines of faith, religion, language, the pain of loss, the pain of
losing, the joy of understanding , the language of tears, the dialect of
humanity existed, the world was bigger, the world was broader, I am in love
with this new found love. The world is a better place. I love the world now as
I have started seeing things beyond. The world belongs to me, I belong to the
world. It's all in the mind, open the little chains and let it all go. We are all 'one'
She sang long lost melodies Of blue sky, of sun-soaked clouds Of the wooden boughs Of lost battles
Of victorious warships Of forlorn hymns Of mother’s lullaby Of the red vermillion sunset Of purple moonlit night Of the past glories Of the unchained kites Of the merrier faces Of smiles of liberation Of the glories of civilization She sang songs of freedom Of the redness of blood Of her unstitched heart Of her bold territories She still breathes She still sings Of songs of melancholy Of verses soaked in pain Of tattered bones Of writhing wings A dead soul. A carcass A Corpse
The caged bird Sang songs Of freedom Memoirs of a caged bird The master fed her golden grains
