WHY I LOVE WINTERS?

“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.”
― Helen Keller

 Sunshine smiles- Google image

     
  W is for Winter.

CELEBRATING WINTER!

A nasty bout of flu, notwithstanding, I love winters. If I’s incapacitated for more than two weeks, I’ve no reason to rile winter. The fault lies with my immune system. It played me false.

 In North India where we live, we face extreme weather conditions both in summers and in winters. Yet somehow, the severity of winter is declining as also its duration. Ceaseless construction activity, congested roads, vehicular emissions, burgeoning population   all are the culprits. Let it be for another time!

Winter ushers in fun, frolic, golden sunlight, festivals and delectable cuisines. Winters are famous for providing good things in plenty, be it vegetables or fruits, sweet dishes or crunchy crisp snacking items.

Here is the list of activities, which makes winter special for me.

Early morning picture of the rising sun in the urban milieu.

SUN AND ME:

Basking in the sun is one of the greatest pleasures of my life at this stage.  As the sun rises, our back verandah is lighted up with the mellowed luminosity and sweet raw warmth. Setting aside the curtains of all rooms, and allowing the morning glow to filter through the windowpanes is the most joyful task of the day. It fills me with gaiety and gratitude for being alive amidst such loveliness. My inner being smiles and shakes off inertia. I welcome the new day.

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

I head to the kitchen for  preparing my favorite ginger tea. I itch to go out while sipping the first cup of the day. A stroll in the driveway energizes. A tentative plan for the day emerges in the mind. What to prepare for breakfast and subsequent meals is traced in the mind’s calendar. Mental assessment of other tasks ensues. Things feel doable.   

(Prior planning has helped me all along. It enabled me to strike a balance between my home and professional life. Now retired but the habit stays. Time management helps me to carry on my creative pursuits and indulge in  my hobbies now.)

BREAKFAST IN THE BACK PATIO:

The golden mellow sunshine is so inviting that to eat breakfast inside feels like a sin. Hubby helps in transferring the eatables outside on the tiled  raised platform in the middle of the open yard.  It is a private kingly domain. We linger on enjoying every bite coupled with background music of a different kind. The chirps and peculiar sounds of the members of various avian families converged on our stately NEEM tree, add to the joy.  What a blessing!

ME TIME:

I wait eagerly for this time. Some food for thought. Newspaper is waiting. I savor uninterrupted the columns, I enjoy while the sun goes up wrapping the area in its warm blanket. It is heavenly. Thank you GOD for being so generous. I solve 'SCRAMBLE' and 'SPELLATHON' next. My grey cells need some shaking up after all. ‘THE TIMES OF INDIA’ does cater to the needs of the retirees, ha ha  ha.

WHAT I READ:

Reader’s Digest and my Kindle books provide me enough reading material to be relished in the balmy and restorative sunshine. The poor KINDLE lazed on my computer table for so many days because of my sickness. Dusted and brought to life once again. I’m reading Dostoevsky’s 'CRIME AND PUNISHMENT' for the third time. It describes  tragically life in Russia before the Revolution. Winter sun transforms even dense books into a pleasure reading.

RAINY DAYS ARE WELCOME:

I’ve no complaints even on bad days in winter. In fact, one can have a great time during winter rains and foggy days. You can sit snuggled up in your quilt with a book or pursue some hobby. I’m experimenting with a crochet hook. I’ve already learnt to crochet a circle and a square with left over wool of bygone days.

Now friends, this is just a tiny part of the trailer of my life. Like every other householder, there is always a lot in the work basket to be performed in the lapse of a day.  Yet this is how I feel on my cherished days in winter.

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WRITING VIVIDLY

“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

V is for WRITING VIVIDLY

   
   It is amazing to come across writers, who are masters of the art of expressing themselves vividly. They narrate an event or incident so vividly that the entire scene swims before your mind’s eye. Like a painting formed of words. It results from a near perfect skill in choosing the right visual words. Their wordplay resonates. The visual quality of the language wakes you up. You enjoy the images.They stir your senses. You are able to conjure them up in your mind. The sentences carry passion and power. The read becomes rejuvenating intellectually. You revisit those wonderful pages repeatedly. They acquire the power of a delicious dish where the taste stays until the next sampling.

   
   Intense imagination and great word power are the tools of vivid descriptive skills.  The enviable evocative quality entails acute sensitivity to observable facts.The ability to visualize is a magical gift. It attracts the reader's attention. William Wordsworth’s "The Daffodils'' evokes beautiful visual images, which become part of his emotional self. The scene, gets embedded in his inward eye. In an hour of solitude he recollects those impressions. He  recreates the effects, which host of daffodils growing on the banks of the lake had on his mind.

  Descriptive scenes saturated with emotions, provide sheer pleasure to the reader. Reading this poem  feels like, accompanying Wordsworth in his inspiring walk near the lake.  One get wings to one's perceptions.
   
   Here is the original poem:

           THE DAFFODILS

                       

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

• Wordsworth's use of similes, metaphors ( I wandered lonely as a cloud/ Ten thousand saw I at a glance/Tossing their heads in sprightly dance/ And then my heart with pleasure fills/And dances with the daffodils.’’) turn this poem into a lyrical marvel of word imagery describing movement.

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TUNE IN TO YOURSELF

 Guru Nanak Dev ji, founder of Sikh religion said: If you conquer the mind, you can conquer the world. ( "Man jeetei jag jeet.")

T is for:  Tune in to yourself.

Pressures of modern life have turned us into a hassled generation. We've forgotten to live a purposeful and joyful existence.

In fact, the mad race for a living has bound us in its shackles. We have lost the inclination to think about life at a deeper level.  However, our inner growth depends on imbibing human values and righteous Karma.  There are well-defined parameters of living a meaningful life outlined in our scriptures. They abound in gems of wisdom, which can show us the right path.

Our willful alibis give us umpteen reasons to avoid looking within. That is the uncomfortable truth. We wrongly presume that wearing tinted glasses to escape unpleasant ground realities will work.   Experience confirms that shortcuts eventually harm our progress as human beings.

The enormity of distractions, technology has gifted us, has taken away our discerning power. We are afraid to face ourselves. Sitting in solitude has become an anathema. Unceasing action and noises have robbed us of calmness and composure. We hanker after instant gratification. Our world is limited to the four walls of our house. We run away from questioning ourselves. We avoid introspection and reflection. Self-awareness becomes a casualty.

Yet, tuning in to yourself is as important as earning your livelihood. Listening to the voice of our conscience, assessing the flow of our lives on a daily basis, constitutes the essence of life. While being busy in inanities of mundane life, time for meditation and mindfulness has to be squeezed out.

....

Here are a few suggestions based on personal experiences and gleaned from spiritual reads to help in tuning in to yourself:

Spending just fifteen minutes on gardening daily is a great stress buster. Tending plants teach patience, connects you to your inner self.  Consider it your ‘me’ time.

Nothing can beat a short walk in a park all alone. You feel the wind caressing your body, trees talking to you and flowers wreathed in blissful smiles. Optimism you garner via stimulating environment makes you take right decisions. Your day comes out to be more productive.

Mindfulness helps in focusing on your mind and actions.  It wakes up the forces of moral reasoning, reducing self-serving tendencies. The practice generates compassion for others and thoughts of doing larger good.

Develop a silent mental calendar to help in rationing time for main tasks. 

Disciplining the monkey mind is a tough job. Yet one should continually strive to achieve it.

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SKY GAZING

For a lover of nature, sky gazing is like traversing the depths of imagination and reflection!


S is for SKY GAZING:

Since I've initiated myself into amateur photography, sky gazing has become an inspiring hobby with me. It is especially so, when I’m amidst hills during summers. In the congested urban milieu, what you see above is upper stories of houses, hindering the sky view and reducing it to a limited entity. 

Among hills, the scene is altogether different. While you step out on the balcony in the morning sipping your ginger tea, your eyes wish to take up the freshness of the setting all at once. Your gaze goes up spontaneously. The rising sun dispatches its magical signals through the wide-ranging hues in the east. The sprawling mountains present signs of imminent  arrival of illumining splendor. When finally the sun rises, it lights up the earth with its magnificence. Every object wreathes in smiles of celestial sweet warmth.

The sunset, the twilight hour with its gloaming hues takes our breath away. It is a metaphor for  the time of the day, which is mind blowing  wrapped in  an exotic color palette. 

During rains, sky gazing has its own indescribable charm. The endless designs of soaring clouds are simply mesmerizing. Every minute the shape, size and texture of clouds undergo changes. Your whole being whispers to itself, “What a wonder!” The unique natural phenomenon is humbling. It reminds us, how inconsequential human being is in the universal scheme of things.

The sight of the dark menacing clouds is thrilling and enchanting. They give loud and clear message of their intentions. You keep looking up expectantly. However it doesn't take long. Soon gurgling heavy  showers  rejuvenate the parched earth.  The withering vegetation and plants get a new lease of life. Summer mellows.

Many a poet and a painter have been stirred by the beauty of the sky and produced great literature and paintings. The tapestry of the sky has captivated photographers to click unforgettable pictures delighting the connoisseurs of art.

Moon lit starry skies have continuously enticed generations of cupid bitten couples to exchange love bites in the eerie light of the night. Novelists, short story writers, poets have used reams of paper to sing paeans in praise of star-studded nights. Literature abounds in tales of handsome knights and bewitching ladies smitten by each other, professing undying love in mystic moon light.

When everything is lost, sky watch, moon and stars will still be there to liven us up!

last two images courtesy: google

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RAIN CLOUDS

"Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending on earth; without rain there would be no life."   John Updike

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. John Updike
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/rain

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. John Updike
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/rain

R is for rain clouds:

Dark menacing clouds over Shivalik hills during monsoon season.

For us young children decades back, rainy season was a much awaited event. It afforded us thrill, excitement and that indescribable feeling of getting drenched while coming back from school with our friends. Laughing and hopping around trying to save our school bags under our frocks, unmindful of the cares of the world used to be uniquely exhilarating. The special treatment our mothers gave us- changing into crisp clothes, eating or drinking  something hot after being tucked into  bed. It was all heavenly.

Coming back to the present, who does not love the floating clouds giving some hope of cool showers, when the earth is parched, plants are withering and our bodies haven been scorched in the extremely hot summer months. The clear blue sky and sometimes that nature's magic in the form of a rainbow bowls us over completely.

Rains have a calming effect on the senses. They make us reflective. The rich and luxuriant natural beauty after a heavy spell of rain drowns all the existential negativity. Every droplet of rain is a priceless gift of nature to mankind.

If occasionally rains disrupt life, it is usually our lopsided planning!

Friends, welcome here as always! Pl. share your take on rains.

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Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. John Updike
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/rainABC Wednesday

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. John Updike
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/rain

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. John Updike
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/rainABC WednesdayABC Wednesday

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THE QUIRKY GAME WE PLAYED IN CHILDHOOD.

"We didn't realize we were making memories,we just knew we were having fun."

Q is for quirky game of childhood:

How about narrating a quirky game, we played in our childhood. My reflections on the subject took me back in time, when I’s in my primary school years. Then the evenings were wholly solely meant to be indulged in whatever thrilled us. There was  complete surrender to the idea of delight with ‘no care in the world attitude’.

How splendid childhood days were! Wish they could be replicated. Perhaps, they would, “if wishes were horses” and we could ride back in time. The utmost one can do is to wallow in nostalgia.  Well, to pen those moments’ means recreating the repertoire of emotions, excitement, passion and sheer joy, which I think is beyond words. Yet, try I must.

We were a gang of girls and our games were girly. The most popular one was Chupa Chupai (‘Hide and seek’). Though, there were many other games in our kitty, yet nothing could beat the pleasure, thrill and physical workout ‘Hide and seek’ entailed.

Our playgroup consisted of about half a dozen girls, more or less of the same age. We’d gather at a predetermined house of one of the participants at the stipulated time. To start with, one of us had to become the volunteer seeker. She was supposed to go near the boundary of the house, close her eyes and count up to a fixed number (mostly up to ten) slowly and loudly to  allow others to conceal themselves.  On our part, we’d run helter - skelter like maniacs to find the spookiest place to hide. In no time, we would squeeze our small bodies behind cobwebbed Amirah’s, under the low cots, in the farthest dirty corner somewhere, in the congested storeroom behind tin trunks and behind dark bathroom doors. The war like cry of the seeker, 'here I come' used to send chill down our spines. Our hearts would thump in our tender bodies in fear and ecstasy. When the seeker’s footsteps were heard close by, we would even stop breathing to prevent being caught. The suspense would keep us on edge. Finally, after gnawing tense moments, one of us would we found out to the accompaniment of shouts, screams and clapping. Everyone would emerge from her hideout.  The one found out first would assume the role of seeker and the game would start once again.

I wonder why we never had enough of it. Only our parents', admonitions could drag us home.

For a couple of years more, we kept this tempo of playing various games with complete abandon.  Soon life entered a more serious phase with its own problems and shocks and the girly games were played no more.

Friends,welcome here as always! Pl. share your own experiences of childhood games!

 Quote and images: courtesy Google

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