Floating on water~~~~~~

Posted by Picasa


Posted by Picasa

 
Posted by Picasa

Well??
Is that enough water for Tulika?

No, that is not a belligerent tone. In fact I am a tad disappointed at this point as I have one collage less in my collection.
The Sea/Ocean

I have the rain at Kanpur, the river and its wondrous fall at Khajuraho, the river- sea (Ganges) at its serene best.
Yet I am sad I have not captured my beloved Bay of Bengal (Elliots Beach, Chennai). I have no pictures of my friend, philosopher, and guide.
Because the days spent along Her shores are those times when the only camera we used were our eyes and the only place to save it was in our memories.

But no sweat, this time when I go to Chennai, I am going to capture my memories and collage it for myself!

I have so many water stories to tell, where do I start?!!

I could start with the games from a time past.
Land, River, Ocean, Sea, Water...have you played this game? My childhood days were spent playing this on steps at school and home.

Or shall I tell you of days in the Monsoon of '84 when our house got flooded in and we could pail out water from the well (yes, we had/have one of those...still there at my parent's place), and even see fishes happily swimming to our door step. When visitors to our house thought we lived near a lake, as it got flooded every time we had heavy rains!!)

Or shall I tell you of the umpteen number of buckets I have carried from road to house, during those times of water shortage. Waiting for the tanker, counting out buckets, arguing with neighbors...commonplace for any Chennaite!!

I could also tell you how Dr. Jayalalitha made Rain Water Harvesting compulsory in Chennai Metro, and how that has improved the table water to such an extent that Chennai is thanking her as the Goddess!!

I also want to tell you that my Father-in-law throws a rupee coin into the river every time he crosses it and tells us all that it is to ensure the River is happy, the Water Gods are Happy, and so He and his family will be happy and never fall short of water!!

December 2006: Flash back to the tsunami. We were there, family et-al in our home by the sea, at Chennai....yet oblivious to its fury. We were but mute spectators to its destruction. I never imagined I would witness this in my lifetime, stories of which I had heard from my childhood...of giant waves crashing on the beach and carrying people away...

Water is such a pivot around which life revolves. Its sources and courses fascinates us, its wastage troubles us. (please listen to Anupam Mishra on TED

Rain in Kanpur, waterfall at Khajuraho, boating on the Ganges. Memories and moments that build our lives, build into our lives.

Lets leave nature alone...on a lighter note. Summer is here and all of us are waiting to jump into the swimming pool, so what if all that chlorine is going to bleach the hair and skin to paleness...

Water is there, it is for us, it is for life.
Stories are there, it is for us, it is for life.

One last note, I have to add that my daughter made a Power point today..all on her own...and the topic she chose for it was.....WATER....

tada...that says it all...

Comments

  1. Anuradha ShankarMarch 20, 2010 at 8:19 PM

    good one! hey,i put coins into rivers too... and samhith has picked it up...when we go by train, he prefers going by second class just to put coins into the rivers :) if i had seen this one before i wrote my two bits for the blogathon, my post would have been totally different!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AshaMarch 21, 2010 at 4:35 AM

    Because the days spent along Her shores are those times when the only camera we used were our eyes and the only place to save it was in our memories.
    Hey, these lines tugged my heart, it has reference to my chennai and that too one of the other beach i like apart from santhome - the elliots.

    Water is there. Yes - now. Only if we use it cautiously will it be there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anuradha ShankarMarch 22, 2010 at 8:06 AM

    hey, just wondered...why dont u put your daughters presentation on the net too??? we would love to see it.... maybe it could be her contribution to the blogathon!

    ReplyDelete
  4. SoulSpaceMarch 22, 2010 at 10:42 AM

    Let me see
    ...will ask her first!!
    Thanks anu

    ReplyDelete
  5. sandhyaMarch 29, 2010 at 9:24 AM

    Liked it very much. Very thought provoking. I second Anu. We too, would like to see your daughter's presentation.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear Narrative Practices - a love letter

  Dear Narrative Practices and Ideas, How are you? Have you found all the people you need to find? My hopes and dreams for you is that you reach every storyteller-soul and re-author their thinking and ways of being! The song “Rekhe iddara sake” from kannada movie Chinnari mutha has the following words: Listen to the song here  Are mere wings enough? Birds need the sky to fly high. Are mere legs enough? Deer need speed to jump high. Are mere flowers enough? It needs the wind to spread the scent. Mere water is not enough A river needs the valley to make a river. Mere clouds are not enough Isn't Earth required for rain to pour upon? Are mere eyes enough? Do we not need objects to see? Is mere voice enough? Do we not need a song to sing together?!   This song reminds me that a person does not exist in isolation or in small confined relationships. We are more than that one relationship; we are all that we seek in our landscape. We are agent...
Read more

The Land tells me .... ( a poem) - Versespace 16

Image
  The land offers me a memory, intangible as it can be, A memory of royal, benevolent Rajas. I wonder who his Rani was and then I slip into the memory again. Land is granted, temples built, and priests brought in from faraway lands. I wonder if the Raja and his escorts come back today to witness what they bestowed, Will they know it or even recognise it?   Lord Ganesha is the guardian of this temple, He is still worshiped in his own little shrine, placed at the entrance. Yet the main deity lies forgotten somewhere in the nether regions of the temple, While their replacement is feted in the sanctum-sanctorum.   Human memory is so fragile and ephemeral. Old is lost and abandoned, While New is painted and polished. We forget stories of the old and wish to reinvent every wheel again.   It is time to Remember the past and acknowledge it. And let go our greed for new and nearer things. It is time to Reclaim all that we already have...
Read more

625 Moons and counting! - Externalising the story of my past, present and future through the landscape metaphor!

Like all stories, mine is a nested story.  Stories within stories. Yet it starts at the very beginning - a very good place to start. When you sing we begin with DO RE ME , when we read we begin with ABC, when we tell a story we begin with One upon a time.... there lived a person who knew a huge big tree! Let me open the door to the landscape of my birth and growing up. It was a Forest of Adventure! We had a huge tree near our lunch ground in school and the moment bell rang we would call dibs on who would get to climb the tree and eat while sitting on it. Life was full of adventure. The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton was my favorite book growing up and climbing trees was my favorite thing to do. Every day was an adventure. I eagerly looked forward to the new day – not for the studying part, but for the newness that awaited me at school and dance and sometimes music class! Dance class was in a community hall with place to play in front and even huge gulmohur trees! My dance teach...
Read more