Glimpses from two years...

Compared to the photo folders starting from 2002, when we first switched to digital cameras, the one for 2020 is very sparse. Then, to my horror, I discovered that I had even omitted to make a folder for this year - 10 months into 2021! All our pictures are still on our phones and have not been synced. A mistake that I have sought to rectify. Along the way, I saw a few pictures that I wanted to share with you—in no particular order. I've highlighted earlier references to my blog in green. Click on them if you want to read more!

Celebrating my birthday with my sis and nephew (behind the camera) during MBIFL 2020. The last memorable time I visited a restaurant for a sit-down meal, I think.

 

Row of Ponkala pots waiting for the consecration and a line of devotees waiting for lunch... Last public function/festival attended..

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The streets were quiet, no growling, prowling beasts. So the peafowl chose to cross over from the wildernesses and grace our yard.

My first haircut during the lockdown. Poor Ani was the guinea pig. I had put the trimmer at the longest setting for the back and sides. Unfortunately, Kunju distracted me as I was tapping off the hair on the trimmer and the length went to zero. I kept my head and uttered not one peep when disaster struck in the next swipe. Even while taking this picture, Ani didn't know how his haircut actually looked. It was two days later that he came to me saying, "Amma, I don't know why, but a part of the back of my head feels very prickly." I RAN!!!

 

My painting helper who made the project a breeze. Very protective of his coiffure, as you can see...

 

The black and white kitten who grew up into an exceedingly handsome tuxedo cat with white gloves and socks. He was so fond of snuggling that if he was allowed inside while I was doing Sudarshan Kriya or meditation, he would curl up in my lap and lie there the whole time. It helped center me better. He has since disappeared, but we are grateful for all the lockdown cuddles and candid picture moments like this...

 

Teach a kid to make chappati dough and he will give you this! I screamed when I opened the container to make the chappatis!!!

A picture that I love looking at and a process that I will never, ever repeat! Much as the color gradient is attractive, it was a headache to find books. Yikes!!!

 

Soaped hands are germ-free. Give soap to a teen with too much time on his hands and...

 

My coral jasmine making me smile in the midst of the pandemic. 

 

A pair of Indian cormorants nesting in Thekkady, the only trip we undertook in December before things got really bad Covid-wise in Kerala. 

No words required! Enjoy!!!

List-making in the time of Corona

Lists are so calming to make. Especially in times like these when we can see no end-date to the difficulties that we are facing. My bullet journal is now being filled up with lists of different kinds. Permit me to share just a couple of them with you today.

Things that I am absurdly grateful for, in no particular order:

1. Kerala's healthcare system
2. My family's health
3. Being in the country side at a time like this
4. Having lots of space in and around the house so that none of us feel confined
5. Having our Lab Goldie who keeps the boys fit and active by chasing them around the house in the mornings and evenings
6. Having children old enough to not to have to look after and entertain all the time
7. Having children young enough to still want our company at this time
8. My to-be-read pile
9. DH having a job that allows him to work from home so that he is kept busy
10. Amazon Prime Video and 6 unseen seasons of Downton Abbey
11. My craft stash and projects
12. Kunjunni just finishing his board exams on the day all CBSE exams were suspended
13. Copy-editing clients who keep me on my toes and help me use my brain for things other than worrying about the news
14. Daily evening guided meditations on the Art of Living YouTube Channel
15. The Government of Kerala that is leading from the front in this fight
16. The Government of India that is leading the fight nationwide
17. Friends who are reaching out
18. Our neighbors who are keeping the curfew beautifully, yet keeping in touch

I shall stop here, even though the list is incomplete...

Things I hope never to take for granted once this nightmare is over, again in no particular order:

1. Going to the library
2. Visiting friends and family
3. Planning and taking small trips
4. Eating out
5. Walking through the market
6. Taking bus rides
7. Going to my favorite stationery store and browsing through all the products
8. Grocery shopping
9. Being able to pop in at neighbors' houses
10. Online shopping
11. The healthcare system
12. Going out without having to wear masks and carry hand sanitisers
13. Our public parks, museums and beaches
14. The freedom to roam

Every difficulty is an opportunity to learn new things, to re-calibrate, to open our eyes to things we have been ignoring or suppressing.

If the virus had not manifested itself, we should have been in Bangalore today, on a four-day trip. We cancelled our tickets long before the government suspended all travel. We gathered groceries and put ourselves under lock down three days before the government declared it. Everything is alright in our little corner of the world. 🙏

Hello 2020!!!

Aah, it feels good to be back in blogland! First, let me wish you all a happy new year and decade! Something about 2020, the symmetry of the number may be, gives it a special verve and meaning. It makes me feel that this year will be special! This year will see momentous events! This will be a year of accomplishments and great surprises of the best kind! Talk about being a Pollyanna! 😃

Although 2019 started off for me with a series of health issues and quitting a job, it went on to be one of the best years for me personally. This is the year that marked my return to Art of Living. Today I have completed 250 continuous days of Sudarshan Kriya practice - the longest I've ever done! But the way it came about was truly remarkable.

Having been a stay at home mother for several years, I was totally out of touch with the younger generation. What I encountered in my short-lived job of 5 months was a shocking eye-opener for me. Granted that the 18-year-old young adults I had to teach were among the lowest scorers, the barest scrape-throughs in the current academic arena, their attitude to life was what actually shocked me. They had no respect for teachers, barely stood up or greeted me when I went to class and preferred talking to each other or playing PUBG after bunking classes, grew aggressive and got into fights at the drop of a hat, turned out very poor academic work and were not at all interested in studies. This was the majority section. Then there was another set that was very docile in class - because they were stoned out of their minds! And all these were students whose parents were not well off and had to pay hefty semester fees to get them a degree. Only a handful of girls and one or two boys showed any interest, sense of responsibility or academic promise.

The breaking point for me was when one of the better students took a long period of absence and then came back for her semester exam. Her normally smiling face was swollen and she seemed very subdued. A tearful mother told us that when classes started, she had asked for a smart phone since "all my friends have one". But soon, the use of the phone escalated to extremely long periods of time till she was not sleeping and started showing signs of emotional disturbance. The distraught parents confiscated the phone and it triggered an uncontrollably violent reaction that resulted in her trashing half of their house. She had to be admitted in hospital and treated for withdrawal symptoms! 

I thought about my own kids. We have been doing our best to inculcate good values and keep them away from online games and screen time. Our elder is 15 and younger one not far behind. Within a couple of years, they too will have to go out in the world among such people and technology. How can we help them have a solid base that would stand them in good stead when we are not around to protect them? That is when I talked to my colleague Janu who is an active participant in Art of Living activities. She told me about a course called Prajna Yoga that seemed to fulfill my requirement of a good daily spiritual practice for kids to follow. Little did I know the full scope of the course then - but that is matter enough for another post.

To cut a long story short, I got my kids to do Prajna Yoga, which in turn kindled my desire to rejoin Art of Living. I had done the Basic Course back in 1999. In April 2019, I did its current version, the Happiness Program and started doing Sudarshan Kriya on a daily basis. It was my greatest regret that I had not been able to do an Advanced Course when I first joined AOL and I was able to attend it in August this year in residence at the Ashram at Thiruvananthapuram. I was also lucky enough to attend the Sahaj Samadhi program in November and have been meditating daily since!

After 250 days of practice, when I turned back to look at 2019, the sight truly staggered me. Why? Remember how much I struggle with perfectionism, procrastination and lack of productivity? I was constantly given to just accomplishing whatever was just required for the day and left it at that. Craft projects just stayed in my head and on my computer while my supplies languished indefinitely. I had a plan to update the tired curtains at Karthi and in 2018, bought enough material to sew curtains for the living and two bedrooms. I stopped after making curtains for the living room. And all those bundles of curtain material sat undisturbed for a whole year. And now...

For this Onam, I had a brainwave to sew an apron using the tired and overused apron that I had been using at the time as a template and bought some material for it. To my own surprise, I put my plan to work within just 2 months of buying the material!!!😀 It took me just two hours to complete from start to finish!

And talking about crafts... Here goes my 2019 parade. First, another Anchor long stitch project, now proudly adorning our living room...

Then, a crocheted birthday shawl for a friend (I had planned it for her birthday in 2018)...

An infinity scarf for a young friend in Delhi...

And all this in the midst of handling all the daily jobs at home, getting the kids to do Prajna Yoga twice a day without break, helping out three clients with language correction in their doctoral theses and reading around 140 books. The only thing I didn't do regularly was updating my blog!

Besides this jump in productivity, I have also experienced more joy and fewer black moods in general as well as quicker recovery from colds and fevers. I have also become much more laid-back in general because this academic year my elder is going to face his first board exams and normally I should have been stressed out. But I am not. And people don't push my buttons as easily as they used to. The greatest surprise of all has been the way I've stuck to something good for me for 250 days in a row!

So yes, 2019 has been a great year and I am so looking forward to accomplishing more in 2020! I hope all of you are beginning the new year with great hope and anticipation! See y'all next week!

Spring/Summer Projects

Gosh, isn't it baking hot in God's Own Country these days! In accordance with the government's guidelines, we seldom venture outside between 11 am and 3 pm. Even at 9:30, our yard becomes unbelievably hot and we retire into the cool interior of Karthi, not coming out till it's well past 4:30. But some people in our yard seem to find this weather all very fine. Don't believe me? Then what do you make of this?

Just look at those lilies trying to compete with the fiery ball in the sky!

And what about this jasmine? Bringing the star-studded sky down to earth seems to be its ambition!!!

And the frangipani that needs a trimming is just reaching into the sky with all its blossoms. Our garden is nothing if not ambitious!!!

As for the denizens of Karthi, at first the biennial festival at our local temple had us waiting for sundown to join the festivities. It culminated in the Pakalppooram and this time I was lucky enough to get a ringside seat for the shinkari melam...

The dancing and the drumming had me itching to join them, I can tell ya! 

That over, we braved the heat and drove to Guruvayoor just before the holiday rush started and had a peacefully unrushed opportunity to say our prayers, especially for a good academic year for our elder son who has his 10th standard board exams the coming year. 

And what was happening with my balcony garden in the meanwhile? Did the climbers languish or shrivel while we were gone? See for yourself!

Not only are they happy, they have grown!!! And what is the secret? See those plastic bottles sticking out of the pots? That is what kept them going while we were gone for three days! I can tell you I was so happy to see them peeking above the balcony railings when we drove up!

This week the kids (aka conscripted labor) and I have been working on a new project. We're clearing swathes of our back yard jungle. This is the uncleared part...

and this is the cleared half...

The difference is more noticeable when seen together...

The aim is to relocate all the dead leaves (safely transported to the bases of our coconut trees to decompose there in peace, not burned!) and remove undesirable vegetation, leaving the kind of ground cover that I like to have in my backyard. Because don't make the mistake of thinking that all that brown stuff is dead. No sirree! In the first magical rains of the monsoon, all that area will erupt into lush green vegetation to tame which I will have to resort to my trusty grass cutter. My gardening team and I are taking it easy, working only half an hour each day to save ourselves from burnout and dehydration. 

One of the highlights of the week was my first proper homemade pizza. This week it was my fifth attempt to make pizza. I've tried baking them in my OTG and my microwave. Each time something or the other seemed to go awry. Almost always the base turned out uncooked and soggy in the middle and tough and overcooked at the edges. This time, I baked the base alone first for three minutes before taking it out and putting on the toppings - and they came out perfect!!! Okay, they were not picture perfect - but the flavor of the toppings and the baking of the base were spot on!!! It was definitely much, much better than the pizza we ordered in from a local cafe two weeks ago. And this brings me neatly to the news that our little corner of the world is finally in the Uber Eats service area. (And to avoid any temptation, I have NOT installed the app on my phone)!

So what are you up to these hols??? Are you prepping your garden before the monsoons? Or is it still too cold to work in the garden in your corner of the Big Blue Marble? Let me know!!!

Another precious year!

Yesterday someone celebrated a birthday here at Karthi.. Who? I'll show you...

Yup all of six years old and in the first grade! On June 2, the brothers finally stepped out in identical outfits - also known as school uniforms and I couldn't but help get all weepy...

 

...thinking about how all that pristine whiteness was destined for an untimely demise on the persons of my boys. By the way, I wasn't worried about the dress of the guy in the back, just so that you know :)

To think this guy started out like this...

and this...

... and is now going to regular school!!! (Now you see why I was concerned about the uniforms? If you have been trying to wash out the dirt in boys' white uniforms for years, you would cry too.)

And here I am left with useless things like these...

Is there anything more forlorn in this world than a couple of support wheels separated forever from a kid's bicycle? I couldn't help think that once kids grow up, parents will kind of look like that pair up there, all worn down to nothing, battered and completely useless for anything else. Okay the uselessness part may not be true :)!

And yes, I have to tell you the story of how those support wheels came off. Our younger kid is such a contrarian (yup, new word, describes Ani exactly) that he makes a production out of every little thing. I think I managed him well this time! 

At first I was fixing something on Kunjunni's bike when the little guy rolled his up with support wheels and all. I finished my fixing and just commented to his elder brother how great the smaller cycle would look once the support wheels were off and the side-stand was on. (Notice how wily I was, I did not make any direct suggestion to the owner of the bike! :))

Kunjunni played along and agreed. So Ani had to agree too and off we went to find the side stand and I fixed it to the cycle after removing the extra wheels. Kunjunni and I made a great production of how stream-lined and big-boy-like the bike was looking when Ani suddenly realized, "But I can't ride without support wheels!"

We poohpoohed the thought. It was easy as anything, we said and got Kunjunni to demo on his own cycle around the front yard (not that Ani hadn't seen it before, still). I offered support and pushed him around a little.

Then our contrarian had a humongous meltdown. He insisted that I reinstate the support wheels as he would never, never, ever be able to ride without them. I think now that he was not ready to let go of that aspect of his childhood so quickly.

Here, I was crafty again. I didn't stay to reason with him. I just said, "Oh, if you aren't ready to ride it like this, I had better give it away..." and beat a strategic retreat.

Then I went into my room and pretended to be working on something on my laptop. The little guy came in and made some tearful complaints. I did not even deign to look.

Soon, our front yard became the arena for desperate attempts to keep possession of a beloved bike. I did not dare peek out of the window for fear of him seeing me. But I could hear some falls and some riding. DH who had been working from home that day went out and made some congratulatory noises, so I knew there was some progress...

About a half hour's efforts later, Ani sidled into the room and tried to catch my eye while I gazed resolutely at the monitor. 

"Amma, come and see, I have learned to ride the bike without support wheels"

"Hmm... (very bass, very serious)"

"Would you like to come?"

"Ok.. (no enthusiasm at all, the danger is not over even at this point)"

Thus I went to the front door and witnessed that accomplishment which had been touted as impossible just half an hour ago and made appropriate congratulatory noises, but in a very subdued fashion.

Then I went back inside and did a victory dance all by myself.

Thus do parents pave the way, one stone at a time, to becoming redundant support wheels.

Finis.

A Dramatic Flipkart Delivery!

Yesterday was a VERY SPECIAL day at Karthi. It unfolded like this:

1:00 p.m: Ani, who didn't have to go to school yesterday, goes into our master bedroom and shouts out, "Amma, there is a cat here!" "Ok!" I say, assuming that it has left as soon as the kiddo hollers.

1:30: I go into the bedroom - note the time - and find Ani sitting on the floor stroking a cat who is lying on her side, relaxing. She barely lifts her head at me and I join the stroking fest. Her tummy looks huge, but from bitter personal experience I hold back from asking how far gone her pregnancy is, fearing a swipe with enraged claws if she isn't pregnant at all! Okay, may be she may just have had a VERY good meal! 

1:45: I tug a reluctant Ani off the floor for a siesta (lack of which can make him very crabby in the evening). He tries to sleep with his pillow at the foot of the bed so that he can watch the cat, but I put his pillow firmly at the head of the cot. 

1:50: We jump right off the bed because the cat makes an odd grunting sound. She comes out from under the bed, looking miffed at the desertion of her personal masseuse and climbs to the window seat and jumps out. Ani stands at the window and calls after her - she wavers a little, then walks off down the driveway.

3:00 pm: I rush into the bedroom because my phone's ringing near Ani who is sleeping. I notice that the cat is back in the room, still lying down under the bed. As I talk on the phone, I wonder vaguely if she needs medical help although she is not showing any distress. It's unnatural for adult semi-wild cats to stay put when they see us in our own territory.

6:30: After our evening prayer, I go into the master bedroom and pull my pile-of-washing-chair up to the bed and start sorting and folding clothes. I hear a rustling noise near the window seat and move the curtain to find that the cat is squatting in a Flipkart box under the window seat. Hmm, interesting... She is grunting and turning round and round. I finally give into my worst suspicion that she is going to have kittens and call up my Mom to confirm. She recommends putting the box and cat outside, but thinking of the distress she must be going through, I put it off...

Well the rest of the story would read like a National Geographic episode, so I will leave that part out. At the end.... Ta ...Da...

Can you see the tawny and the dark little heads there? We have now changed the name of our master bedroom to "delivery suite" and tiptoe around there. Before getting off the bed this morning, I remembered to use the flashlight to see whether I could put down my feet safely. The mom is very sweet-tempered even though she has to bear a lot of prying and flashing lights.

We left a bowl of milk and rice near the box in the morning, kept checking on it and found it licked clean at 10:30. I think the mom felt fit and peckish again by noon, because she left her precious bundles behind in our care for a while:

Today Kunjunni has had the day off from school as his exams are starting tomorrow. I made sure that the kids understand that they are  not to touch the kittens in any way because our scent on them could cause the mom to abandon her kittens. Okay, since that would not be enough to deter our cat-loving Ani, I also told them that he could startle the mom cat into attacking him although she looks too gentle and weary for that! :) The mom is back and the kitties are crawling all over her now.

I wondered if it is our old half-grown Chakki from this post, but looking at the pictures, I think it is a different cat. But somehow the word has got around that Karthi is a safe place for cats. All the people I called said it's great luck to be chosen for such a privilege and shows us that the cat trusts us so much. 

Sooner or later we will be moving them to the garage because claws and soft furnishings do not mix. But they are welcome to bowls of milk and rice at our doorstep as well as all the geckos they can eat from our pantry whenever they want! 

Signing off from the Feline Maternity Hospital aka Karthi!!!

How has the second month treated you?

Ok, I can hear you going, "हद हो गयी  Sreekala, why are you showing us pics of your bed sheets on the blog now?" Please bear with me for a while. Remember this?

That was the original set of plastic bags that I used to buy our monthly groceries. We reused them month after month, folding them meticulously after each use. But they slowly started giving way. We did get a few new plastic bags (after all we are not absolutely fanatically anti-plastic, yet!) But recently, there have been a couple of embarrassing giving ways of the old and worn handles - not good.

So that set me thinking - there was this old Rajasthani cotton bed sheet that developed a hole in the middle... so here goes!

Three beautiful, handmade shopping bags - double thickness and all seams stitched twice for strength. I know they are strong because I broke one needle trying to stitch them! They are reversible too, because I stitched both layers as separate bags and joined them together. And in keeping with my not-perfect traditions, they are all different in size (completely unintended) and my rather overenthusiastic "handle reinforcement " for my first bag looks like a kid's handiwork...

I choose to show this because with all that "purrrfect"eye-candy floating around in blogland, a novice could be paralyzed into inaction. If such a person sees this, they can go, "Hey, if she can do that, I sure can do better!" :) 

I am pretty inordinately proud of the handle straps that I cut off the strong borders and made in quadruple thickness... please note that the handles are attached way better on this bag!

But then I thought, hey 3 bags are not enough to tote our grocery! So I went searching and ta daaaah....

An old Bombay Dyeing number this time - my needle found this tougher, but I went so slowly and it felt like I was pushing the sewing machine needle myself for each stitch. The second one is still a WIP. Hopefully I will finish it before this Sunday when we will need it for our monthly shopping! And while writing this I got a brilliant idea to do the same to the pillow covers of the first bed sheet - just lop off the tops a little, stitch both together and attach handles, one more bag! :)

Meanwhile, DH, who started off the treasure hunts felt that the youngest member of our family was feeling left out. So he decided to do a number with pictures for the kindergartener...

Amazing drawings... because Ani recognized all of them and found his treasure: a Thomas the Engine book. He was heard to remark as he sat down, "Finallyyyyy, I got a treasure of my own!" 

Naturally his father was inspired to do more. This time he turned to coloring!!

The prize was a Bob the Builder book and equally welcome! 

Howz your kitchen garden going? Hadn't I told you that this is the Year of the Kitchen Garden? Stay tuned for our veggie updates!!!

Verdure

Eeeek, almost a month of the new year gone already??? January's sun is shining bright outside, cloudy days are too few for my liking and dry grass, dry leaves, bare branches everywhere. My weeding is going on and it's so nice to see the uprooted weeds get almost instantly dessicated in the heat and can be confidently left there to be pulverized into the top soil. Our coconut trees are dropping dry leaves pretty often, provoking startled reactions from me each time. 

What better time to feast my eyes on a little greenery like this...

We were at Ottappalam at the beginning of November. I got it into my head that I would like to visit the Kunjan Nambiar Smarakam at Killikkurissimangalam. So the kids and I caught a bus from Ottappalam and made our way to the old poet's village. I reached the memorial, but the view ahead was enticing, so walked a little further to stop at this curve of the road...

I made the kids sit down and started snapping away madly...

...while answering their innumerable questions about paddy cultivation...

...when an old farmer came by on his even more ancient bicycle and asked us, "Enthedukkyanu kuttyole?" in the lovely Valluvanadan accent...

We saw the Killikkurissimangalam Siva Temple and passed on to this huuuuuuuge temple pond...

There was no way I could fit it into one frame, so here is the other end of the pond...

On our way back, we took several detours...

...to see even greener vistas...

and if it hadn't been for those lovely knots and gnarls in my path...

...I too would have done exactly that!

The very boundary walls sustain so much life...

... like our childhood friends - the mukkutti and the mashithandu all alive and well!

Long have I thought if I had the world to choose from, where would I live... now I have the answer! In Killikkurissimangalam, in an old, dark and cool farmhouse facing the vista of green, green paddyfields, within walking distance of the temple pond. Yup! I hope they have 3G or Wimax capability!!! :)

Okay, I'll leave the greatest satiric poet of Kerala for a later post. Enjoy the greenery!!!

If you want to see the same: Location: Killikkurissimangalam on the route to Tiruvilwamala from Ottappalam. Leave your vehicle on the main road and go roaming into the verdure!