Letter to the Unknown Reader - Monsoon Magic

Hello dearest reader,

How have you been in the last seven days? Has the summer brought in happiness or was it too scorching to bear? From my corner of the world I have enjoyed the first burst of rains, incessantly washing over my city. Making it slushy and wet. A beautiful reminiscent of how nature nurtures its own.

I have heard people associate different emotions with the rains. It’s like Nature’s own mood board, anyone can come and pin anything on it. Mumbai, as a city welcomes the rains with open arms. The trekking, the river rafting, the getting drenched, the classic movie songs all pictured in the rains are what creates the essence of monsoon.

Yet some places associate gloom, dullness and monotony with it. The soggy clothes and musty smells drowned in sound of water dripping from a sky which is constantly shades of grey, sinks your heart.

I, myself tread the season very cautiously. For me, it is the door way to memories which reminds me of broken hearts, unkept promises, unfulfilled dreams and romance that breathed its last. Have you ever let the rains brush your face along with gusty winds? It plays at your heartstring in ways which only evokes tears. As if your internalised pains burst forth seeking conformity in the larger canvas of nature. The urge for validation, to be recognised as a truth, pulls at your core and draws out demons who you have put to rest. 

You see, ravages of broken heart and unrequited romance, never sees the light of the day. They creep out slowly under the shroud of night sky. The monsoon rains embraces these emotions with open arms like a lover who has returned from a far off land, after a very long time. It kisses your lips with all the tenderness of a love that couldn’t be and embrace you with a passion of lost love. I am wary of the rains. Never sure if I should be grateful for the door it opens for me to look at the embedded emotions or should I curse it for drowning me in the pain which took eons to navigate and efforts of a lifetime to survive.

So to all of you, indulge in the grey, beautiful mood board of nature. Personalise it! Live it! The only season where your past, present and future walk hand in hand. The magic of monsoon is like the Sorcerer’s Stone, what it touches, it changes. It brings alive the deepest part of a very ‘dead’ you.

Always yours, 

Pocket full of life

Letter to the Unknown Reader Series 1 - Transitional Love

 

Hello Dear Reader,

The last week ushered in “The Hallowed Monsoon” in India and Mumbai in particular. Mumbai rains act as an equaliser in the city. It pours over all and sundry without discrimination and brings forth curses, umbrellas, water clogged roads and even more clogged traffic with mirth that defies sanity. Unlike other Indian cities where there’s respite between rains, Mumbai rains don’t get breathless before at least a week to 10 days. It will hold you by the collar and jangle your nerves till you’re humbled enough to thank God for the shelter you have and emotionally refuse to leave it behind for any kind of work. Away from  Covid menace, the ‘Work From Home’ concept now thrives in this season where it becomes a crutch for commuters as they can afford not to travel and still get their work done.

And as I stayed put working from home over a few days stretching to a weekend I got to spend some quality time with our new pet Mithai. Mithai is the second one in our family after our first retriever Kulfi left us in shock and with a broken heart. Very like my Indian roots, two back to back pets made me draw comparison. The first one obviously smarter, more civil, with a bigger heart and better intelligence being my heart beat, was always closer to my heart. So close, that at times with Mithai, I felt that I am having to put off with an obnoxious dog looking donkey as pet instead of the king of the canine world, Kulfi. In truth, I had closed my mind , heart and brains to not let Mithai in. I was so convinced that Mithai is a mistake thrust upon me, that I avoided him to the extent it’s possible to avoid a fur ball always lolling at your feet. 

Everything Mithai did, brought in a frown and smirk. His unruly toilet habits, his joker like way of gobbling up his food, his chewing every corner of my precious coffee table, tearing off the edges of my rug, irritated me and pushed my button. I swear on God even his happy smile looks manic and confirms his lunacy. Unlike his angelic elder brother, Kulfi who could melt iron hearts with one “hug me” look, this one just brought me to the edge of losing my credibility as a pet parent. As Mithai tore apart my love filled heart for all four legged creatures with his antics, I started to enjoy his unpredictable raucous nature. His fearsome competition with his daily carrot treat, where he will play with it like a football, trying dribble it and throw it up in the air before catching and biting into it with luscious joy, made me laugh. I could understand why he starts nipping at us trying to gain attention, calling us when he’s hungry and dragging us when he wanted to play. I slowly started reading Mithai. His vocabulary is not similar to Kulfi’s but his needs are the same. His expression are definitely not as sober as his elder brother’s but intentions where the same.

I realised that your life gets touched with different kinds of love. All of them, changing you in a way which is unfathomable. As I’m still coping with the loss of Kulfi, Mithai has started inching in slowly and steadily. I hope dear readers, you give yourself a fair chance to love the second time, third time or as many time as it may call for. For we love not for others but our own sake. Inherently human nature takes to love and acceptance, until civilisation taught us to be selfish. As the world grows murkier in front of the eyes which are ageing, do love in abundance, in whatever forms, shapes, and sizes it comes to you. And do not look for similarities or precedence. This one emotion however age old will never fail to surprise you and go by teaching a few lessons.

Here’s wishing love, transitional in nature, fickle and unpredictable for the coming days. Stay well and try to stay inside if you’re in those parts of the world where’s rains are lashing in.

Always yours,

Pocket full of life.

Letter to the Unknown Reader Series 1 - From home

 Hello dear Reader,

How have you been the whole of last week? I’m hoping that from the corners of your world, you have been able to taste the different delicacies life had thrown at you. As the saying goes, we become what we consume. Hence we need to have a connoisseur’s eye to only take in what adds to our soul enrichment.

To listen to my heart, I made a short trip to my hometown Kolkata to attend rice ceremony of a very close to heart bundle of joy. And added to the occasion, I managed to throw in 3 days worth of time with my family. At times our treadmill of life makes us forget to pause, to realise that time like sand is slipping through our tightly held fist. At the cost of getting to the next milestone which is still not ours, we forget look around and enjoy what is changing slowly along with us. A father, whose wrinkles have started to show, yet the craving of his heart to be close to his baby girl unchanged and increasing, a mother who has found a friend in her grown up daughter and wants to share all her hobbies with her, a brother who has been a partner-in-crime during the growing up years, is ready to walk by his sister’s side as both grey.  A nephew who was the chubbiest, cutest babe around, growing up into a tall lanky teenager, eager to share his growing up stories with his aunt, a sister in law who is more than a sister, and in- laws who have become home…..all changing slowly as I’m inching closer to my end post.

This trip was for the family and dedicated to the family, to the laughter, to the place I grew up in, to the delicious home cooked food rustled up so that I could re-visit my childhood, to the impromptu sleep on the couch, to the first rains which reminded me of childhood crush and was a reminder to pause and indulge in the ticking minutes that’s leaving my life.

I hope dear readers that you pause and enjoy. Give yourself the time to realise what you’re missing out on; in the rush to chase your next dream. The things that are changing and leaving the world you knew to be yours, the street that no more has the old shop, the tree at the bend of the corner which has vanished. The city you left behind is slowly changing behind your back. Soon when you’ll look back all will only be a memory, at least what you knew to be yours.

Please go and visit your old friends, the uncles and the aunts you rarely give a call, embrace your ageing parents with as much tenderness as you would your growing child. Visit the towns you’ve left behind in your path, the colleagues who had been your comrades, cousins and old flames before all becomes memories….before you become a memory.

Always yours,

Pocket full of life

Letter to the Unknown Reader Series 1 - Letter from Tranquility

 Dear Reader,

How have you been? Have you noticed how a week flies by before you can bat a lid. My weekly blogs seem like whiffs in the wind. They just fly by in jet-set speed scattering memories like fallen leaves across my life.

Last week I had been fortunate enough to fulfil a long time wish of seeing fireflies which throng the villages and  forest areas in Maharashtra just before the monsoon hits the state. The magical photos I had seen in social media enchanted me enough, to indulge in the experience. I had visited this place earlier but not in this particular season, so an off beat email from Native Place got me planning. A rustic, enchanting home-stay, tucked in the side of Pawna lake, offered a glimpse of this wonderful night time magic. In the hope of catching the firefly dance, we set off for an overnight trip accompanied by my bestie and her family along with mine. 

The lake by itself was calmness personified, its gentle ripple would seep into your soul slowly. But the owners warned that it’s very dip and not to venture in for a swim. I always wondered that a lake is like a woman’s heart. From the surface its tranquil beauty will never betray its innermost secrets. The pain, the sacrifice, the love which is held inside, froths out only when it gets touched by the gentle touch of the comforting warmth of another woman. The kindred spirits shine and dance in unison like two fireflies in the dark. And none of those stories are either earth shattering or dramatic. The web of conversation two women cast are everyday stories of morning rush, forgetful husbands, cooking of tiffins, and daily routine. But then a world of women is such where superhero like spate of activities are also made to look mundane, by their kindness, warmth, grit and intelligence. They make mammoth changes in a very orderly, simplistic manner without making too much fuss.

So sitting on the rocks at the side of the lake which was like a mirror reflection of the sky, two women wove stories with words, in warm whispers, sharing notes, laughter and tears. Both being reflections of the tranquility of the lake and the calmness of the evening. They wrapped the turbulence of their lives in most ordinary words just as women do.

So my dear readers, if you are a woman, cheers to your magical prowess of turning every piece of your world into ordinary, calm, life routines. And if you’re not, then look around and observe the magic you live in because of such wonderful women in your lives.

See you next week, till then from the shores of Mumbai hope Cyclone Biporjoy do not cause much biporjoy ( turbulence) in your lives.

Always yours,

Pocket full of life.

Letter to the Unknown Reader Series 1 - Free spirit

Hello Dearest Reader,

Hope the week treated you well. The summer heat didn’t tandoor you the way my tropic is doing to me. At times I wonder if climate change will make it miserable for us bit by bit, just the way we rampaged and played with the patience of nature slowly over centuries of human civilisation. Long story short, summers in India and specially in the bursting-to-the-seams; cities are not the least pleasant. 

In such a weather a group of like minded women decided to unwind on a Friday night in one of the quaintly beautiful Japanese restaurants in Mumbai. Shifuku as the name goes didn’t disappoint us either with their food, music or ambiance. The sushis and the nigiris are to die for and the ever smiling mixologist did churn up some wonderful mocktails, for the non alcoholic me.

Here I was in the august company of women who had walked different stories of their lives with elan, grace and wit. Each out did the other in the way they managed their love, their career, their home, their passion and celebrated their true spirit in the most unique way, only they can do. 

I was curiously touched by the journey of one, who simplified it by saying, “ Left home at 19, had live-in relationship twice and by 28 I knew marriage was not for me”. We rolled with laughter as she wittily mentioned that she’s heading to the capital city to be next-door neighbours to her bestie of 20 years. The best friend is a lesbian and living life Queen size, without being buried under societal, parental and self manufactured expectations. Such wonderful free spirits that roamed the earth makes it worth the while to embrace the stories of such kinds as you interact. I was so taken with the courage, grit and the faith in creating her own destiny, I almost bowed down in reverence. I’m sure the path must not have been easy. And her journey though kaleidoscopic, was lonely at times.

To such wonderful women who owns up to the life they created and flaunts their destiny like a crown, we owe the paths that are created for generations that follows us. Not that one has to replicate the journey, but the courage and the spirit is worth embracing a million times over.

Cheers to such powerhouse women. May you come across such rebel queens in your life. May you be inspired and wish you creation of your own kind of kingdom. See you next week. Till then, enjoy the summers if you’re away from the tropics. And my readers who hug the tropics, let’s pray for the rains to bless our lives.

Always yours,

Pocket full of life

Letter to the Unknown Reader Series 1 - Puppy Love

Dear Reader,

I have been hiding an heart melting secret for a week or so. My family brought home and endearing heart beat and we named him Mithai. This one came into our lives after our first baby left us for rainbow land. As I struggled to make space for this little one in my broken heart, which still had shards of grief from the loss of our last one, this little furry cuddle tiptoed slowly in.

Mithai in Bengali means a sweet which is also synonymous for Bengali deserts. And oh boy, this one absolutely true to his name, is delectable. He has the entire household running behind him, either playing, feeding, toilet training or cuddling. Plethora of activities keep us busy and more often than not we roll with laughter watching Mithai’s antics as he tries to find a foothold in this new world. 

He is like a Royal fool entertaining us always with his adorable face and silly mischievousness. The tiring exhaustion of a work day washes away as we come back home to him. He is our good luck charm who fills our life with a love and joy which is pure in its essence. 

Any of you, if you have a pet of any shape, size and kind will resonate my feelings of unadulterated love for this little furry bundle of joy. These gifts of God don’t grow up and hence they keep a little piece of your child-self alive on you as you struggle with you multiple responsibilities in this adult world.

If you do not have a pet and are not keen on having one, I will recommend you find friends, neighbours or family members who might have a pet. You probably can enjoy them from a safe distance, but I can guarantee that you will enjoy your time with them.

Wishing you unadulterated love of the purest kind. Enjoy your week ahead and hope you can de-stress from the hectic whirlwind of a life.

Always yours,

Pocket full of life

Letter to the Unknown Reader Series 1- Forest Bath

Hello Dear Reader,

Two weeks break is a long time when you think of the experiences that touched your soul, however in real term parlance it went by in a jiffy. Before I could even submerge my being into the calm of non structured activities which sustain us, I am back to my daily drudgery of normalcy.

As is way of life this is also an integral part of what we are and how we derive value for the life we lead. Hence can’t grudge them much though would very much like to immerse myself in the idyllic vacation mode which was a much needed break from the crazy merry go round which I happily ride along.

In this break I had spent a few day in a picturesque resort nestled amidst the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve. Given a chance I will highly recommend that you take time off and visit this pretty coffee plantation estate - Machaan adjacent to the wild wild forests of Nagarhole in the state of Karnataka in India. And oh boy, what an experience it was. Forests and wild always beckon me in their fold with the eagerness of a mother who has been away from her child for long. The rides inside the forest was beautifully wild, untamed and drenched in love. Forget the sighting of hordes of wild elephants or the elusive leopard, what enchanted me was how the sun light played magic through the foliage or the lone cuckoo, cooing away hidden in a canopy. The rhythmic cicadas played along with the barks of deers and the mommy elephants protected their babies as fiercely as any human mother will.

The forest seemed to drench my soul with a calm that eludes our city life. The insignificance of our existence in the grandeur of the wild, yet the invisible net which ties all of us together to this planet called home was evident with every breath of fresh forest air. The fragrance of the wild, enamoured me and the sound of silence engulfed my presence. It is as if you have taken a bath as you walked the forest and all the muck and filthiness which stuck to you from the pollution of frenetic life has been washed off by the loving embrace of a mother.

So my dearest reader, when you celebrate Mommy day, remember your mothers but also spend some time with this Earth Mom who waits our return in her embrace with all the love and patience only She can hold in its bosom. 

Hope this summer break gives you a chance to spend some time closer to nature, in whichever part of the world you are. Wish you a very spectacular forest bath which cleanses your soul with the love of the universe.

Yours always,

Pocket full of life