RELIVING MEMORIES: PAPER BOATS

"Sometimes memories sneak out of my eyes and roll down my cheeks."

P is for 'Paper Boats':

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I’m talking about 1950s when making and floating paper boats was the most exciting activity, we as young children indulged in. Simple life and times generated simple pleasures full of fun and thrill. The joy of floating boats fashioned out of old newspapers far surpassed the enjoyment emanating from any other activity during monsoons. The puddles of water here and there invited us youngsters to plunge into water to do splish-splash. Laughter, would reach the skies when clothes were partly wet and clung to the body. Continuous blinking happened as the tiny droplets of now muddy water found a way to reach our eyes. In the free for all hullabaloo one of us uttered the word, ‘Kistian liayo’ (bring the boats) and everyone would run screaming and shouting to get the paper to make boats.  By then almost all of us knew how to turn paper into boats.

The way I learned the art needs mentioning. For a couple of years, I would cajole my older bro to make a paper boat for me. He would take his time simply to tease me. One fine day his generosity had the better of his whims and he taught me the, how to. Afterwards there was no stopping me. My friends of the neighborhood would also pester their parents to help them in making perfect boats. Very soon however, most of us mastered the art. We would sit in a circle and release our boats in the water.  Chuckling ecstatically, we eyed the wobbly movement of the boats and sometimes would step in to the puddle to straighten our boats. The adventure would continue until our mothers called us for dinner. For a week or so,we'd be at it with gusto and then slowly the enthusiasm would transfer to some other game.

How our brains register past memories and are able to recreate them is puzzling indeed. A psychologist calls it “mental time travel”. Memories cement our bonding with the past and shed light on the growth of our personalities.

Friends, welcome here as always!

For:

ABC Wednesday

FRIENDLY-FILL-INS: WEEK 11

This is an exciting meme, where I'm supposed to complete  four given statements. The whole exercise inspires one to think and come up with  new ideas to fill up the blanks. Below are four statements, which I've completed.The given words are in bold letters and are underlined ....

1. I wish I could afford to hire someone to help me learn the intricacies of cyber world associated with what I do. So far, I have been a self-learner with occasional support from dear hubby here and there. He too has learnt through the difficult way of hit and trial. He spends a lot of time at the computer. Being a scientist, he learns it faster and does his banking online. As both of us have entirely different hobbies, he can’t help much. Honestly, I dare not experiment on my blog fearing it might not crash with stupid clicking. However, I feel it is okay, for my blogging journey remains a continuous challenge and I derive pleasure from this constant itch to learn.

2. Zucchini in our part of the country is a seasonal green vegetable and is widely grown here. These days it is abundantly available in all groceries stores and weekly mandis. We cook it as a vegetable dish Indian style with seasoning  of finely chopped onions, garlic pods and tomatoes. My mother used to cook it frequently. It is easy on the digestive system, soothes intestines, helps in warding off constipation and is loaded with vitamins. However, ours is a slightly different variety, as it requires slight peeling of the skin before cooking. The variety, which I had cooked in the U.S., is also available here in plenty.

3. One summertime memory I recall is when I’s about 5 years old and had recently joined school. One day instead of coming home from school, I went to a friend’s house. When I didn’t reach on time, hell let loose at our house.My parents were distraught. Searches were made. A drummer was hired to go from street to street  announcing the details of the lost girl. Ironically,  the drummer also came to the street where I’s crazily busy in some sort of game. Even then both of us peeped through the window. In the evening when we had our fill of playing, I walked back home unconcerned. Through the open door, I could see a group of women sitting around my mom who was crying. As a child, I don’t know how the particular  situation dawned on me, as i ran towards mom and holding her tightly started howling. The women dispersed immediately. No questions were asked. I could only gauge immense relief in the household. I’s too young to be reprimanded.

4.This summer, we had been regularly going on long walks on winding hill roads. It is a part of our work out. Our schedule is some stretching exercises in the mornings and walk in the evenings. Of course, off and on there are some misses also. Yet it affords me an opportunity to capture the lovely scenes around.

Friends,welcome here as always!

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Friendly- Fill -Ins

REFLECTING ON LIFE'S JOURNEY

Since ‘we are condemned to live,’ it is reasonable to go ahead and analyze our existential position in this crazy world of ours off and on.

Of late, the critique of life has become one of my favorite subjects to dwell upon in my blog writing journey. I enjoy reflecting on the infinite avatars of life as they whet my thinking prowess by unfolding deeper insights of this thrilling conundrum. It is no less than an intellectual challenge to delve into this field of oceanic proportions by picking up some chosen threads. Sometimes out of the blue, sundry thoughts intrude into grey cells, take shape and come alive on the blank pages as follows:

Reminiscising about the lived calendar of one’s life throws out interesting realizations:

Here is the personal narrative:

(a) Contrary to popular belief; it is observed that we tend to change for the better with the passage of time. The change is not like a waterfall, suddenly coming into existence somewhere, after a heavy downpour in the hills. Here the change is deliberate, conscious, slow and steady based on the shifting truths and perceptions of daily life.

Soon to be on the threshold of my seventies, I know how this change has come about in me. The journey of this change has been flavored with bitter sweet happenings, moulding my character in between, cautioning me along the way about the fragility of human bonds and about the power of the spoken word which can make or break relationships.

(b)Yes, certainly confidence declines with age, beleaguered by challenging circumstances in the course of life‘s multifarious roles. Later in life the love and affection of grand children compensates this loss sufficiently.

(c) Life’s canvas gets etched with markings of momentary highs and some long drawn lows out of which the memories are born. However, life never ceases to be interesting and worthy. But this roller coaster of life begins differently for different people.

I started with a protected and loving childhood and adolescence. Got degrees, became a professional. Marriage and motherhood followed. Experienced the pain, when myths of mushy romance, shared with friends during heavenly gossip sessions, while luxuriating in the lawns of GCG Chandigarh, got burst at the altar of hard realities. Later passed through the usual heart aches of married life, smothered in the secret crying on the pillow or sitting on the garage roof under starlit nights. Writing personal poems to blurt out the stifling emotional deluge and finally gaining a state of stoicism via falling and balancing.

The journey’s cobbled path with a few roses thrown here and there remains enshrined firmly within me.  And the prized rosy days are locked safely in the vase of fragrant memories.

Life is no lyrical ballad, it is an epic poem with some sweet pains and numerous heart aches. In fact life’s lyrics get written every day.

(d)Amidst the choking compromises of life, clinging to the memory of those creatively thrilling precious moments gives succor and stability in spite of occasional rough terrains.

(e)For the creatively active there are always some tasks left to be accomplished and lived for and the body basics have to be taken care of, to ensure its support for as long as possible.

(f) To constantly seek some wonder moments is the new logo for being alive. The moments which take your breath away. Like the thrill of unexpectedly seeing a spider’s web exquisitely woven, hanging on balcony’s railing after a rain soaked day.  Is there room for resentments and excesses of any kind to squander this jewel of life upon...?

(g)One has to keep resurrecting the special celebratory vignettes from the bank of memories to transcend the sultriness of life.

(h)To keep the tracks of life oiled and functioning healthily, the crutches of procrastination have to be discarded. Otherwise the ‘Apple Cart’ of life will go down into quicksand impossible to be retrieved.

(i)Even with dwindling energies, the battle has to rage within to stomp over the dead wood of passivity and inch towards some goal with child like curiosity, till the last breath is breathed.

Image courtesy: The Internet

Friends your thoughts are welcome!