Just for Smiles

First published on November 18, 2018 --Here it is...Just for Smiles 

 

Ayudha Puja: Worshipping the instruments

 

\

Imagine a festival celebration everything, yes EVERYTHING, and NOT EVERYONE....

I learnt about this festival only in 2015.  Its Indian. Its Hindu.  You thank all instruments that help you.  Pen, pencil, notebook, book, writing ink, colours  paint brushes, cars, computers, fans, calculators, and yes broom and dustbin as well.

You worship your tools.  If you are a doctor you worship the thermometer, if you teacher, the chalk and duster (in those times :), if you are a street cleaner, you worship the broom and the dustin.  You adorn them, you join  your hands and thank them....for they bring you dignity because they give you a livelihood.  Allow you to feed your family.  

May be now you know why I keep falling in love with hinduism.  The more I Iearn, the more I love it.

Pooja pooja wrongly translated as praying, is a  way of evoking the spirit or the God within ....we use the same word for worshipping in temples,--its not the same as praying.  It is recognising the spirit within, and thanking it.  For participating in our lives, for making them easier.).

The festival comes in autumn, when all of us go within.  

Ayudha Pooja this year was October 14, 2021

Perspective

First published in 2013, I think I tried to repost this one in the last few years.  But at the time blogger was switching a few things and did not allow to repost.  So the story remained on its old date.  These buildings have been my background and foreground in the decade that I have lived in Sweden.  Yes, it has been a decade.

I have seen these buildings in every season, and seen the trees in front of the them grow, taller, change color in different seasons. I can see them from my house, because I live 5-7 minutes walking distance from the university.  Every time I look at them....I think of this post....PERSPECTIVE.   

First Published on June 6, 2013--I had been thinking of this post for a while. I see these buildings almost every day, if not a few times a day. Sometimes I notice them and other times-lost in my thought--I overlook.  But like most of Sweden, they change color. They seem to have a personality which alters every season.  Here is the old post, with some new pictures!! Perspective it is!!

Hmm...doesn’t it look like its a picture painted by a ten year old.  Well, its painted by a being that is timeless....if it is a being

God, nature, force, universal energy, what ever you want to call it.

I came out of a building and looked left, and had to do a double take.  It had been raining, and the clouds had created a a feeling of translucent fog around everything.  And since it was about five degrees that time (yes only a week ago, and during our summer) --it might have been fog.  Moisture hung in the air.

I did another double take.  And then I stood there, getting wet in a very feeble but quite cold rain.  I slipped my hand into my summer jacket and pulled out my phone to take a picture.

Following two pictures were taken on purpose to give you the perspective.  The above picture was cropped a bit to show what I saw in my  mind when I took the picture.  

The building at the bottom was much closer to me than the building that looks like a cardboard cutout!!  

This picture clearly shows the position of the building, but even here it looks flat.  

I stood in the rain for a few seconds thinking about image, camera angles and how they translate into the perception of our own minds.  From time to time, it is a requirement that we clean our thinking glasses.  

And I know materials or feelings or emotions that we should use to clean our thinking glasses must be made of humility, gratitude, and love!!

Picture taken September 28, 2021

I plan on putting all the pictures I have taken on this building on this post.  Until then, ask yourself, what around you gives you a 'perspective?"

A Little Busy, and A Little Change

 

Please pardon me for being late this week. I am extremely busy and much is changing in my life.  I will continue to post some old and some new posts.  I will also return to explain what is going on.   Until then, this post is here to show how much this blog means to me and how much the readers here contribute to me feeling like i have a community. 

Just as a bit of a news though, its been raining for 5 weeks non-stop. Last week I had a very serious bout of emotional pain.  Yes, I hardly talk about those things here.  But it was quite serious.  And then I had to stop to ask myself the 'why of it?".

I found a free sample of vitamin D tablets today.  It must have come with some magazine....and stayed under a few books.  The moment I looked at it, and that was two days ago, I realized what was going on.

Yes there are issues in life.  But the biggest one is that there is no sun for nearly two months.  The days are getting shorter and it's extremely cold and one time I caught this deep 'chest cold' and woke up throwing up.  But for the last ten days have had serious cold which I forced out of my body before it could make a home here (not good for it is better to let if go all the way through so it leaves your body stronger--but I had work to do. This is one thing about modernity I do not like. Along with many others)--.  

Finally, getting some order. So bear with me as I take sometime to return with nice, juicy, happy posts. Until then, some old ones will have to do.  Thanks for reading. 

Yes, seriously, thanks for reading. 

Apples of India

First published on December 12 of 2018....here it is again...Apples and autumn are synomous.  Apple cider, apple pies, apple crumble, apple crisp.....

Wishing you a bright autumn with all the warmth that apples bring....and don't forget cinnamon and cloves

My first semester in the US, our Photography teacher took us to a Pennsylvania farm.  It was an amazing experience.  There are a few stories from that day --that will come out pouring at some point.  But what I do remember is that it was a beautiful day.  The kind you get in Pennsylvania autumn.  Only in Pennsylvania.  It is not that cold yet, in late September, and for some reason sun is brighter than many days of summer. 

I spent the whole day with a young ten year old. I still have half a post written to him but have not been able to finish--for years.  I still remember his face, and how beautifully we spent an entire day chatting about life and learning.  

Sometime during that day I remember our teacher Mrs. B, asking us 'Had you ever seen an apple before?'

Strange question, i thought. Apples were in abundance.  Always a part of our fruit salad with spices.  often a part of fruit cream that we made often in summers.  May be they were not as big and as varied as in the US.  

However, only a few hours north of Delhi, where I grew up, one can have a pick of whichever apple they want.

How I wish, I had this picture to show her then.....so, which one would you pick?

Mine, red or yellow to eat raw, green to juice or make apple sauce out of, and all of these mixed for apple pies!!