The Rainbow of my soul 

I who fell from the roof blue
to the carpet green
is a prisoner unseen;
a prisoner of substance and earthly laws.

I inhaled the air,
where hypocrisy was the religion
and falsehood the life
I met people who hobnobbed,

their hearts parched and withered;
but their houses steamed with life!

Along with them I built
gorgeous palaces
and decorated them
with words of empty meanings!

Nobody dared to enter my domain,
until at last fear turned my hair grey
and tears obscured my vision.
I gained all my strength
and broke open the prison.

I flew again on the roof blue

looking down on the carpet  green!

Flying so high

flying in ecstasy

And floating in the air

kissing birds and touching clouds

How happy I feel!

So happy hugging the rainbow of my soul!

Summer Shower

A summer Shower

Did u all enjoy yesterday’s rain? It came as a relief from the scorching heat during day time. Blessings from the heavens for being the birthday of God’s own country! The gathering of clouds and the murmuring of wind made my heart stretch its wings and fly in the air. When it started as a drizzle, I rushed out like a little girl and watched the pearls of rain dropping down from the leaves as they swayed in the wind. For the first time in my life, I enjoyed rain in my yard without an umbrella. I felt the tickle of rain drops on my body as I inhaled petrichor with an ineffable bliss. I never thought rain can be this beautiful. Soon it became pitter- patter followed by thunder and lightning. I ran in drenched and almost shivering.
You know something, heavy showers and my craving for ice cream are closely linked. Whenever it is raining cats and dogs you can see me in an ice cream parlour either with family or close friends. Yesterday’s thunder and lightning prevented me from going out. I had no other option but to settle down with a glass of chilled water.

With me, always !!!

With me, always...

The beautiful memories of my upbringing and the wonderful years we were together makes me smile, only until the moment when it eventually reminds me that you have been taken away from me.

It hurts when I realize that the angels for the cure for every illness, balm for every pain, assurance for abating every sorrow and relief for every anguish are no more with me. There is none to share the happiness of of my smallest of the small accomplishments and feel proud of my achievements.

I miss you both; I miss you more than words can say, I miss you every single day!!!

Though not in the same year, I lost my mother on 7th November and father on 14th November.

 May Almighty forgive their sins and bestow them Jannah. Aameen

Deep in my heart my father lives.

Nothing seemed unusual on the evening of 13th November 1992. The only thing that looked odd was that my father who was very poor in drawing took a paper and made a sketch of 3 burning candles with his pen and scribbled under it the famous lines of Robert Frost:

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.”

There are certain things beyond our reasoning and explanation. We still wonder what made him do that, for on the third day, on 15^th November, he was gone….he was gone without a word. He suffered a massive heart attack, which proved to be fatal. What really perplexes us is his drawing of 3 half burnt candles, jotting down such a poem and passing away on the third day. Did he foresee his death, God knows!

Deep in my heart my father lives. I feel his warmth, I feel his love, feel his touch. I know, Insha Allah, I shall meet him in paradise one day.

 

The man who made the taste of India

https://youtu.be/onhgE0-z1qM

The man who made the taste of India

India’s best known Milkman did not like milk, but, he made India a nation of milk drinkers. He became the brain behind the success of the largest Diary Development Program in the world. Is it not surprising?

At the morning breakfast table, in every house hold of India, no bread is served without the utterly butterly delicious Amul butter or other Amul milk products. He braved the tremendous odds to set up Amul and created the milk revolution that ended up taking India from a milk deficient nation to a net exporter of milk.

“What do you know about pasteurisation?” an interviewer asked the young man who had applied for a government of India fellowship for masters in engineering abroad. “Something to do with milk?” was the uncertain reply. The year was 1946. 

It is fashionable today to talk about a double bottom line, about shared values, corporate social responsibilities and the like. But it was Dr. Verghese Kurien who first taught the nation that business could not only make profits but also benefit the society. Amul lifted millions of farmers out of poverty which is very difficult to be replicated anywhere else in India. 

In 2012, India is the largest producer of milk in the world, contributing six percent to the national GDP and 26 percent to the agricultural GDP, it Verghese Kurien, who did not like milk, who hardly knew the term pasteurisation, who made it possible with his socialist vision and technology-led approach. 

The man who taught the people to pool their resource and achieve together, what they could never achieve alone, is no more. Good bye to the man who converted threats in to opportunities and transformed millions of lives.

The Peregrine

Wasn’t I telling you my miserable heart,

to stop being intrusive?

Why don’t you realize,

that my silence is another word for pain!

It is stupid to say, time heals

It just makes heart forget all pain.

Clouds gather in my aching heart

and I see a strange white peregrine flying over my head

irately looking at me with its sharp flaming eyes

Protracting its grasping feet

and jagged talons to hook me!

I wish I were that white peregrine

Majestic   fearless and sturdy,

Stretching out my strapping wings

Beyond measures I crave to soar

Leaving behind my sorrows and pain

and perch on a cliff in the celestial heights!

Looking down I see my blissful soul

Playing hide and seek with clouds

It is heartening to see the caresses of my soul

making clouds dance in spree

and shed tears of happiness!

MANCHADI

This beautiful ‘ Suprabhatam ‘ message send by my friend takes me back to childhood. In school, the happiest moments were when the Maths teacher was on leave and a teacher on substitution came. As the boys dashed out to play foot ball, the girls took pleasure in playing the game of riddles. One day my friend baffled me with a tough riddle. “A drop of blood in a forest “, tell me what? I tried very hard but utterly failed to crack. As per our deal I owed her a Parry’s sweet, which happened to be the favourite of school children those days. She kept me in suspense till the next day when I gave her the sweet. With the smile of victory on her face, she gave me the answer, “Manchadi”. Manchadi are the seeds of Coral Tree, which resembles drop of blood.

The most exhilarating memories of child hood are linked with my stay at my ancestral home at Trivandrum during summer holidays. More than the excitement of being free from school home work and lavish pampering by grandparents, frequent visit to the zoo was the magnetic pull. Visiting the zoo with my favourite aunt, Zamrood aunty, a biology teacher and my cousin, Sunitha are the most cherished memories of childhood. Collecting the shining scarlet red Manchadi seeds lying scattered there was my coveted passion. I used to forget the scorching heat and weariness of trudging along the zoological garden when the sheer beauty of these seeds caught my attention. It is mainly because whenever I took them to school, I reigned as the queen amidst the Hindu friends. I proudly distributed it to them, because they said it was customary to keep Manchadi in an ‘Uruly’ (an ethnic cooking vessel in Kerala made of Bell metal) in Sree Krishna temples. During my childhood the gold smiths used it as a unit to weigh gold.

Manchadi Tree ( Adnanthera Pavonia), is almost extinct these days. A couple of weeks ago when I went to a restaurant in Ernakulam with my husband I was overwhelmed to see these tiny rubies lying scattered under a huge tree. My childhood instinct to pick them up made me jump with joy…. but what to do. I am no more the school girl of the past and as an adult, I miss the joys of childhood.