Alive

Living today, as though

Going to die tomorrow

That is the passion I have for living

To the fullest I want to feel the gift of life

Honoured to have been blessed

Encircled by family and friends

Protected by the prayers they say

To love and being loved

Emotions that crowd and fade like

Clouds in the sky

Suspecting a comedy and tragedy

Behind the next turn of life

Wish to live a long life

No age is too old to live with

If the reason ‘alive’ is good enough

Alive with sounds ,sights ,smell and sensations

Granny stories

My grandma was a good story teller. She used to tell stories everyday when I was little. When she ran out of stories she began to read stories from children’s magazine .I used to lie on her lap and listen to all so carefully. I think I don’t even concentrate on my classroom lectures that well. But with grandma my 100% attention was there. I loved Ramayana story so it was usual that everyday she began to tell the story from the beginning. I wanted to hear each and every detail, if she missed any I will make a big fuss about it and make her tell it again. I was a persistent little rascal back then

      Another category of granny stories was the real – life stories she told. Some are too personnel in the sense that the characters are still living and I don’t want to intrude into their privacy. But some others I can share. So here is one…….

When my grandma was little that is about 1930s that is ,when our land was still under kingship and colonialism.  She really adored a foreign lady named Missy. She was from Britain and she lived just half a kilometer from her house. She told me with wonder about the Persian cat that Missy owned.

Missy married a foreigner here. He came to tutor the Prince. They both worked at the palace, Missy was in charge of the tapestry decorations & carpets (palace was about 3 km away from our house) .They met and fell in love. But tragically her husband fell in the bathroom and died. Missy stayed here even after her husband’s death as a widow. She used to play a piano on some evenings. She was a very generous lady. My grandma & her little brother when they were small kids, used to visit her at Christmas time. She gave them cakes & would ask them to choose a gift that was hanging on the Christmas tree. The gifts were usually small toys and chocolates from England. But after 1947, that is the time of India’s independence Missy left Kerala. She went back to her homeland. My grandma really grew fond of the foreigners and she missed them when they left.

           I know it is not a story, but more of like a chapter from my grandma’s childhood. She used to tell this story when I asked her about the big beautiful bungalow a little away from our house. That is the bungalow where once lived a kind lady called Missy. About 60 years have passed from the day Missy left, now that bungalow is a laboratory & residence of a local doctor. 

Went for a one day trip :)

Krishnapuram palace

Krishnapuram palace

Krishnapuram palace

Varkala beach

Varkala beach

Varkala beach

Varkala beach

Panmana asramam

Shivagiri ,Varkala

P.S. All mobile cam pictures :)
 

Freedom to hate

About 10 % my classmates in my college are either married or engaged .Some of the conservative families thinks the appropriate age for marrying off a girl is 19 years. Marrying young has both advantages and disadvantages. It takes a lot of adjusting & patience to live with someone you just barely know. There are tales of fights & tears that I see in the eyes of my married friends. One goes like this

Freedom to hate

 She acts deaf and dumb

When the world around her is of unspeakable things

“Coward”, the brave mocks her

The brave, that doesn’t have the guts to offer a helping hand

She lives on to see a brighter tomorrow

Even though her days get dim & dull

Too afraid to give up on hopes

Hopes that area possibility in a distant future

A future free from the bonds of love and fear

A future where she is not compelled to love

With a freedom to hate

Freedom to hate those who

Give her nightmares

Freedom to hate those who

Bruises her pale hands

Free from the obligation to love

In the name of marriage and blood-relation

Freedom to hate anyone she wishes

Without the bonds of ethics

Love & Deafness

We never learn from mistakes…well at least some don’t. There are a few I know, who are such dumbbells that they have promised themselves that they will act crazy and destroy their life at its ripest time. Of course I mean the girls that are of my age group…my colleagues in college. They are young, beautiful & bubbling with life &….some foolishly presumes they will be like that forever. They say they are in love, & they want to talk to their soul mate all day long.

          Whatever the friends do to warn them of the disasters won’t work. They are just bitten by the love bug & at the end of story they will be left heart broken. At that time I just want to shout to them I told you so, but I haven’ done that yet. Sure there are some love stories that are genuine. But nowadays the society is so rotten & from most of the cases I know about my friends love is just a game for them….a pass time…a peer pressure thing. I had a friend who was so in love and finally it ended badly for the girl , the boy & the family. She has stopped her studies, & she is not even allowed to call her friends. Some people who are living close to her home told me once that she is so changed. She rarely speaks anything, always being rude to people who show kindness and to sum it up she has shut herself up in a miserable world of her own.

            One thing I know for sure, college life is not just for enjoyment. Its the hard-work during this time that determines the rest of our life or career path (in my case its so) . So the safe thing to do is to stay away from all stupidities, including falling in love.I really hope that my friends who are so in love with "some person on the other end of mobile phone" will throw the stupid thing away & start working for their exams........God I am really in a bad mood now..... :( ...I wonder why that love-bitten friends never listen to me?....I think love also makes them deaf or immune to good advices....

Sleep

It’s a cold Sunday morning

A blue night and a rain-clad sky above me

Smell of wet earth and moisture in air

Dawn is peaking from

Underneath the blanket of darkness

Air stands still as if heavy with

The burden of thick fog

I can see blurred sceneries at distance

Getting clearer as I come nearer

My eyes are falling asleep again

To continue dreaming an unfinished dream

Listening to the light tune of drizzle

I again fall asleep as the world is waking up

Good sleep is a luxury

To sleep, to dream a sweet dream with happy ending

Life only has endings

Beginnings that end somewhere

Sometimes happy, but mostly tragic & pathetic

Want to have a peaceful sleep

To escape the nightmares of life

Let me sleep under a light,

Without knowing the time

Let me wake up at dawn to say goodbye,

To a sinking sun, with a promise

I will see it again next day

Some blurry 'grey' pictures ;)

Yesterday I went on a train journey from Trivandrum to Ernakulam...it was raining slightly.....actually I found it entertaining...there was no boredom of long journey with rain to keep me company during the whole journey.Yesterday was Independence day, but I didn't miss the parade..I saw 2 parades on the way to Ernakulam from train..And it was Onam season so there were small "pookalam"s in front of houses, there were little girls swinging on the rope swings tied to big trees...,there were naughty little boys splashing around in mud puddles...

Landscapes looked so mystic & blurred with all the rain & mist..,,I only got some bad pictures in my mobile camera...the pictures are really bad...I took the pictures while the train was moving..& I am still amazed how the pictures are not so blurred..Usually even when my hands shake the pictures get blurred..Anyway here are a few shots...few because most of the time I was enjoying myself, by just looking outside & didn't bother to take a picture..... :)