SOULspace

New year is in! You know I am this nostalgia freak, so here I go again! New year eve, was a blast when growing up. We either went to someone's house, or we had people home, or if my father could not get people home because they were doing things at their home, then the family gathered together and that crowd is enough to fill a mini bus, I assure you. He would catch all cousins and relatives passing through, invite them over and make it an occasion ! Regardless of that fact that slightly grown up occupants in the house would like to make other plans...as in my Uncles or myself for that matter!! He would pout...and we would all tow the line, oblige him by pulling ourselves over to the drawing room for a fun filled New Year Bash. This Bash , ran along the same lines almost every year!! ( I am going to be pulled up for this post!! But hey, I realised today, Jan 1st 2011, that I have some more white hairs and that entails me to a bit more honesty!) Food...from my mothers ...

"Amma, he is putting his foot in my mouth!" "Amma, he is not letting me into the bathroom"! "Amma, he is kicking me" "Amma he has taken my pencil" "Amma he is trying to remove my panties!!!!!" "Amma she is calling me cheeky( as in chubby cheeks!!)!" "Amma she is staring at me" "Amma she is teasing me" "Amma she is irritating me" "Amma he is an idiot, pig, I hate him" "Amma ask her to get out of the house...." Hullo.....What do we have here??! They torment and trouble each other, they fuss and fight, they argue and crib...they are a circus pantomime with-all-the-sound-effects act. I wonder how and where we are heading with this. I am ineffectual as you can see. Poor disciplinarian. I am either pacifying one or the other. Or at other times, just plain give up and ask them to please take a knife and kill each other... Ok...I know that's rotten a...

The pathos and anguish in his voice will wring your heart. The depth of the loss is so deep...so heartfelt... How can a man show so much emotion...is it natural? I am touched and moved.. Nothing has moved him so...ateast I have not seen such deep set emotion in the man I am bewildered... "Is it real?" I ask him. "Are you capable of such emotion, can anything move you so?" "Oh, yes" came the reply, from nearly tear filled eyes and choked throat.... "India lost the match" ( I know India won the match against South Africa, but this display was for the previous one we lost!!!!!!!!!!!)

I am on the other side of 35 now. Past 36 as well.... Darn, and I don't know what happened the past 15 years!! So here I go looking back, the very thing many, many people tell you Not to do. Don't live in the past. Be in the present...Now! Is what they say. But hold on...memories are sweet to savour. Take me to those sweet moments with my Thatha and Paati. Paati (grandmum) who would tell me time and time again. "You are very good girl S, but you are very short tempered. You have to do something about that!" So after Art of Living and Landmark Forum, finally at this ripe old age I can say I am nearing that desire of controlling my temper. ( Near and Dear ones may beg to differ...still the sceptics know not what I have in store for them!) Thatha who would be waiting for me to come home after roaming the streets and visiting many possible friends, would be glad to see how many restrictions I impose on my off springs now that I am in the same position! As...

  (click on collage for enlarged view) Yes, finally got to put this post up!! It was carnival time at SSK, and I have been canvassing Pratham books for some time here. So decided to get a stall and sell the books!! I was so excited; so much so that when I sold 5 sets of books at one go, I got the addition all wrong! ( typical if I say so myself!!) The folks at Pratham Books were very sweet, not only did they support my eccentricity they had done a great job too. The books arrived all packed in sets of 5 to 6 books, costing 100 to 115 only! Thanks Sanjay! I really believe the low cost books are amazing in their simplicity of story, and classy in terms of paper quality. Ideal for children who are first time readers/learners of the English language. I also found a friend in need! Rajini, a Librarian with many years of experience and many more years of passion for books, sat with me at the stall. She too volunteers at the school as the resource room in charge (perfect don...

where do i belong? a soulless heart hanging in between i am neither here nor there the illusion around creates my reality a soul in search of dreams and destinies paralleling streams flowing somewhere they dare not meet except nowhere thoughts reach anywhere swirling spirals of self, eddies from the past cascade into the future time's fool un-determine your self

We play games. Thanks to the path breaking book authored by Dr.Eric Berne by the same name “Games People Play”, all of us, or at least most of us have some awareness of this. The blame game is one The victim game another. The martyr game is another. The high judge is another. So now that you have started thinking on these lines. I am sure you are telling yourself, “No way, I don’t play any game”. Or you could be saying “Ok I blame at times, but I am not a victim” Or you could be saying “Hey every one plays games” Oh Yes, we play games. And no matter what, these games run (and ruin) our lives and our thoughts. It is only that we don’t or can’t recognize the games that we play. Ok, so this is what happened. My daughter is in her preteens! She is the sweetest, mildest and most tolerant soul in the world. But she has her pet peeves and triggers (don’t we all?!). That’s where the father and daughter clash (I have different clashes with her!!). He openly mocks her, and p...