Elegy to an old sentinel

Before the next floods hit him or the storm fell him our Ungu tree (The Indian Birch tree) was called to sleep a few months back. Nature would have taken his thousand emerald leaves to her bosom, his strong sturdy trunk and bark would have lit someone’s hearth. “Now that I have opened that bottle

The empty chair

  Some chairs are never empty Memories sit on them… .  

To hear an oriole singing…

The black–hooded oriole (Oriolus xanthornus) or manjakkili as we call it in Malayalam is considered a harbinger of Onam, the harvest festival of Kerala. Generally a few of them  are spotted  in the months of July to September. Since the bird appears close to the festival, it is called Onakkili as well.  With their  striking

Neelathamara, The Blue Lotus

  Lotus that rises pure and fragrant above the muddy waters has always been a symbol of purity and spirituality. In Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism the flower is highly regarded and has a very prominent position. In Buddhist art and literature lotus motifs are highly symbolic. . A fully bloomed flower symbolises enlightenment where as

The Dancing Gods of Valluvanad…glimpses of village festivals

Here they come! The energetic, electrifying dancing gods of our Valluvanad or South Malabar. With the accompaniment of the pulsating ‘chenda’ or the booming drums and the loud cling clang of the cymbals they shake the earth with their frenzied steps. Our culturally rich and vibrant Valluvanad resonates with festival tunes during the Malayalam months

The moon was but a chin of gold…

  THE MOON was but a chin of gold A night or two ago, And now she turns her perfect face Upon the world below. Her forehead is of amplest blond; Her cheek like beryl stone; Her eye unto the summer dew The likest I have known. Emily Dickinson     The Moon shines so

Well, that’s all about a well!

For the love of Emily (again) : a few thoughts on ‘What mystery pervades a well…’   This is our well back home; so much like Emily’s well…still, glassy, calm! What mystery pervades a well! That water lives so far – A neighbor from another world Residing in a jar Whose limit none has ever

The Echoing Green!

”Such, such are the joys… on the echoing green” Tranquility personified!  Green bee-eaters basking in the evening sun, a milk white egret in the backdrop     Echoing Silence and Green Anakkara was brimming and echoing with green this November! There seems to have a drastic change in the usual pattern and terrain of our

Monsoon Thoughts

It is ‘Thiruvathira Njattuvela‘, the season that marks plentiful rains and gleeful sunshine joined together to rejuvenate the farming traditions in Kerala. Commencing from the second half of June (usually by June 22) and lasting for a fortnight this is the most favoured solar transit, when bountiful rains bless the state with prosperity. As the

Hearth n Home

  Memories, pleasant and warm, are like glowing embers. They keep you warm, they keep your whole being lighted. It started off as a dull windy day. The sun is hesitating to come out. Being a Sunday there’s nothing much to do in the morning. I was trying to crack what Emily Dickinson had in mind