The Vision That Gave Sight

‘Mondays are particularly not enjoyable in the morning’ thought Prashanthi.

‘Oh, why amma?’ Asked Gopi moushi.

Gopi moushi has been their household helper, for two generations at least.

She is at home most of the time, what with the hot Summers and flooding rains or cold winters, Moushi quickly does her chores, and keeps a nicely made paan, and keeps watching TV, spreading her spare saree in the corner and stretches her feet and toes as she watches the geetmaala songs show in the evening.

‘ I think, it is so because, you pamper us over the weekend , Moushi’ , said Arjun, Prashanti’s husband.

‘Oh, quiet. Arjun, I am not that pampered, not when you know how we were extra pampered in our hometown, back home’.

Oh, you are treated as Maha Rani even today, well that I a your mother’s home. You are now, only a guest there!’ Reminded Arjun.

‘Achcha, achcha, you both, allow me to watch TV Sahib, said Gopi moushi.

Gopi moushi does her work meticulously and enjoys life, since she is not too greedy, to work in every neighboring home.

Even though it was a single bedroom studio-apartment, it was kept quite neat

That evening, everything was going on as usual. However, Gopi moushi was not really present. She prepared roti, alu pallia, and raita for dinner. She did not join them since she said she had some ‘ghabrahat or premonition.

Arjun asked her, if she cared to visit anyone in the city or take a break. She simply said, ‘nahi Sahib, dil nahi maanta.’

Prashanthi came home with lot of papers to correct, but picked up some fruits and milk, for Gopi moushi. It is Gopi moushi’s vrat day as it was a Monday, she goes fasting. That morning as Gopi moushi was watering Tulasi mata, holy Basil plant, she said she was going to have a visitor.

It looks like the visitor brought some news from their village, the distant neice has a son, who developed some eye problems recently. Gopi said, that she had some sort of vision that all was not well back home. Now that the cousin’s grandson needed eye care, she told the visitor to let the parents bring the kid and have the eye test done. The boy and his parents came within a week, and meanwhile Arjun and Prashanthi made sure they keep the eye doctor’s appointment within a day. It was the Sarojini Devi Eye hospital, and the doctor was well known eye surgeon. There some complications developing as some sinusitis was pressing optic nerve.

Jayanti, moushi’s niece, was weeping as she saw her son suffer so much. Fortunately, the eye doctor told them to visit the ENT hospital and, in few minutes, the doctor levitated the seed that was in the nasal passage, it got pushed out with thin jet water flow.

One time during the winter, there were red ripe jujube fruit and Hari had plenty not only to eat, but something else too. It was during Sankranthi at that time of the year, and the ladies did the evil eye removal ritual for little children, they pour small seeds, rice granules, sweets, pennies, jujube fruit, grapes, etc. and pour them on the heads of the children and they are collected and thrown away to feed birds, these days.

At one such time the jujube seed got deposited in the nose. No one imagined it or saw that.  

Jayanti was weeping and narrating the story to Gopi moushi, and meanwhile the boy was released.

After removing the growth due to inserting a jujube seed in his nose during play, that got settled in the nasal passage and no one knew why it was put there:  they said it was lodged in that passage for over six months.

Gopi moushi asked if they did Bhogi pallu, the ritual of removing evil eye for kids, Jayanti said they did.

Almost after Sankranthi the kid was unwell, she said.

Arjun was mumbling, ‘that was insane!’

Gopi moushi said, ‘we don’t say that. You just need to say that we got to be careful’.

For now a big burden is gone away from weighing my heart, said Gopi moushi.

Long after the kid returned to the village with parents, it was time for him to start another phase.

‘Hari , you have exam results today, wake up, quick!’  Jayanti, Gopi moushi’s niece was waking up her son. Sure mom, I am glad my eye sight is restored, Hari said, this time I do not need to go to hospital for eye exam or to visit ENT doctor.

‘No, you will still have to attend hospital for your clinical rounds.’ Hemanth, Hari’s dad, said.

Arjun made sure the parents would save money for Hari’s studies. He said he will be matching it as they keep saving each month.

Gopi moushi wanted her salary to be saved, since she was earning nourishing food, accommodation and decent clothes, just as any member of the family would. She kept them with Arjun, and both Prashanthi and Arjun saved by matching it three times.

Gopi moushi said, one may never know how things may change, in her conversations. Arjun and Prashanthi raised their children too who were grown, with their own little ones to take care. They were living in USA, raising their families with good values and decent education.

 

 

“Grand-pa Arjun, why would you help our dad, for his studies?’ asked Pyari, Hari’s daughter.

Well I was always first in my games in the neighborhood,  playing Badminton,  Shuttle, Cricket, Basketball and Tennis. Our college had good sports department and my professors made sure we are competitive and win at national level. I even was expert in cross country races and hurdles. However, I could not do one thing. When I took my entrance exam to medical school in my second year, I had to wait and meanwhile my second-year college fees had to be paid. My mom said I continue with my studies. For a want of just a ₹980.00, I was unable to secure my seat in medical college, that I was selected in wait list.

I did not want that to happen, to moushi’s grand nephew, that is your dad!” Arjun said.

It was couple of years since he moved into Hari's bigger home. A decade or two passed away, since both Gopi moushi and Prashanthi left.

He spent some time with his grand children, but the call to get back was very much, he had to return, so he may visit places he visited with kids and family, to see Ganges to Godavari rivers, Kashmir to Kanya Kumari rock, and western ghats to Himachal hills.

Hari is treating villagers, with bringing in medical community, with modern facilities

Arjun’s own children and family are there in different parts of the world, but breathing the fresh air in the motherland is more soothing than the air-conditioned apartments, abroad.

It was a surprise for Hari, that morning to see his grand children. Hari’s daughter was married to her classmate in Stanford, after a year or two years, going steady. That was a blessing or miracle, they had no idea, since he was Arjun, grandpa Arjun's grandson!

Grandpa Arjun’s picture is smiling on the wall, as the team of doctors from Stanford are visiting Hari’s village as their external clinical training as well as study abroad in cool atmosphere without pollution. Ananthapur sanatorium was shining in the bright day, and river Muchikunda water is flowing purely and pristine.

 

 

 

Message From Some Distance

Tonight, you sleep tight!

Alas! Winter is at it’s heights

Disarm your mind of worries

They hold no cover from the shivers

As you think of them artists and singers

Living until yesterday,

Until the days turned gloomy

Nights were solitary

Room mates and mates

Turned into strangers

Leaving one with loss

Of never ending word of

Ever finding even their shadows,

As the Sun is sinking,

Leaving One with a cloudy

Starless, no moon night

Not even a bird cried that night

Still, 

In the mind, a ray of hope

That, dawn will be nearby

Spring will clear the mist

All the mystic abandonment

May one day lead to

Songs of choir

Singing His grace 

O divine travellers

We trail behind singing

In Chorus

Will meet you there!

Until then

Carry the torch you lit

To the future

And more!

My Viewing Series Comments

1. Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix, series

How some people write screen plays and create series with such perfection? Perfection, is not same as gaudy sets, great make ups or dialogues of King George's English.

Perfection, with no extra vocab, settings clean and neat,  close to reality (decent urban, healthy, with a strong story line, action and direction).

Just starting to watch Lincoln Lawyer, what a great start of the story! Nothing superhuman, nothing that categorizes them to have any mystic characters. Story has a great starting, with story line of a lawyer, waiting on bench, once successful, but personal life was, yeah right, actually in shambles, if not totally wrecked. A reformed one at that, for now.  So here you start, how he regains his career, and comes back and stories and challenges associated. It is on Netflix, if you like the movies and TV series (network series)

Have a great time watching it.

On This Women's Day Things That Matter to me as a Woman

I am writing a note

To myself, on occasion

Of Women’s Day, international

I am not creating

Anything new

Nothing artistic

Only plain talk with

My being, still here.

Am I sad that still,

On this day of the year

In the twenty first century

I am washing vessels

From yesterday and

A day before, may be..

That I am looking like

I  need a lot of personal care

Yet to stay afresh and afloat

Decades since I ever gave a care

To the stuff I could never part

Or does it really matter

That I am alive and living…

Each year, I do the same

Wash every spoon or plate

Lying in the sink from before

And I get tired and would want to rest, but have to just

Restart all over again

And again, everyday as I as m alive

Why bother, you ask

If all I do is toil

As if I know nothing at all

I may not have to say

That I am cleaning them

Bowls and dishes, that

Very kindly soaked and stored

Batter for idlis for some needy

Families that local charities care

And I just did my civic duty

To volunteer as they take care

Of the families visiting the city

Perhaps to take care of them as they may be waiting for a change, that may bring about

A shining new day and spirit

A bright new morning while that night

They do not need to go hungry,

If they can care for the ones at home,

In distress or need or seeking help

So they can wake up strong

In their commitments and

Efforts in creating a stronger bond

With society and people

Knowing that they gave a new life

And hope to live, strive and see others thrive,

As their needs are addressed

As if they are theirs own,

They are giving life even to the ones, who give them their time,

Because life is all about interdependence,

Even if I am discarded, or not,

I still want to belong to someone in helping them heal their heart

Who may need me but then

I need them more to make a reason

For me to claim the air I breath

Every second I stay alive,

As though given and not even

Thinking or thanking

The mother and earth that bore me

I realize, I owe more than

What I can ever offer anyone

Without a blessing from them,

Nothing ever would!

So, all my mothers and mother earth

Have a Happy Women’s  Day!

You make the world possible

Each day and every day hence

Many thanks to you,

My friend, for reading and listening!

Nyla my friend, again,

Thanks for asking me to read and  send,

So these simple things,

Matter to me most,

Because it is them

Not me, that matter most

And give me life,

I do not take time,

They give me life and meaning

To strive, exist and learn and inspire! May your muse always glow in your creation!

Oh yes, my Muse, is all of you,

This beautiful morning or day,

Night or this pleasant evening!

Happy Women’s Day y'all!

 

 

Why the poem Daffodils by William Wordsworth is particularly meaningful to me:

The Poem Daffodils by William Wordsworth captures the beauty of tens of thousands of daffodils that he suddenly finds as he keeps going around the valleys and hills, next to the lake.

They appear to be dancing and swinging as they remind him of the innumerable stars that twinkle in the Milky Way, and although the waves next to the daffodils came and went, they were no way close to the waves created by the daffodils and keeps looking at them until he can quench his eyes, of seeing the beauty of nature. He carries that very scene, with him in his heart, and remembers it any time he finds himself pensive. 

This thought of remembering the beauty of nature and finding oneself happy is so close to my heart. Any time I find myself not very cheerful, or absorbed in some deep thoughts, I recollect the poem and the flowers that I can imagine and visualize, as the poet may have found, all of a sudden and feel like my burden is removed and floats away like a dark cloud in a windy evening. I also remember the beauty of flowers I have seen in Kodaicanal and the Himalayas, in a Sikari boat across Dal lake and also the beauty of the hills, reckons me that the world offers much more beauty than one is able to remember always. Neither stars or moonlight or pleasant skies, which are all so beautiful, are asking anyone to pay price to enjoy their beauty! All we have to do, to forget about the problems one encounters is just to dwell upon the beauty of earth, and Universe, and trust the eternal truth, that Universe is ever so changing and lovely. 

Poem: Daffodils

Poet: William Wordsworth

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. 

On Dr. Chitra Divakaruni's novel, Before We Visit The Goddess:

Unlike other books, that are routine, narratives of stories, in a chronological way, books that are thought provoking are chasing one's laziness, and lethargy, in reading a novel, and expect them to run with them, do things, chores, and dream and come back and enjoy what they gathered all along and then again go back and continue re reading to understand the depth of the story and heart of the author.

Before We Visit The Goddess, is one such novel, sculpted by Dr. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, and lead the reader to run, and swim along as they present the story in different parts of the world, and times, and bringing them all together, in the unity of the Universal Truth, the generosity of the Divine Mother. After reading this book, on hearing the author narrate the excerpts, one cannot but dwell upon this Universal Truth, that the Divine Mother is the reason, and leader of our lives and destiny. Whether one wants to think of the Adi ParaaSakthi or the mother, who brought them into this world, raised them, trained them, and brought them up, and watched one achieve their dreams, struggle for success, it is mother, the Reason D'être. This sensitive feeling, like a very delicate wet strand of thread, unites our consciousness,  humanity and the World, whether it is East or West, occidental or Oriental, Earth or outer space, living beings or life giving planets and stars. It is that thread, like gravitational pull, keeps the strings in their orbits and choreograph the cosmic dance, with an artistic balance of music, color and splendour!

The seriousness of the traditional, Bengali mom, in being concerned about her children, and taking the responsibility of transmitting the culture to the newest generations, the anxiety of a typical mom, in the present age about the concerns regarding their offspring and their future goals, achievements, and perceiving the Truth, the challenges a young woman faces in her life and the conflict as they find their expectations and dreams and reality clutter, like spilled pearls on a string, until they take each one with the grace of Divine Mother and sort their reality, that she is not just a belief system, but the source and inspiration for every thing to be created, then the path is clear, for one to be prepared, Before We Visit The Goddess!

I cannot help my mind slipping away into imagination and seeing what a great production this story generates, like a Hollywood movie, going fast, going slow, now present, intertwined with past, and jumping in quanta into the future, and never know where it would pull us, to float into the celestial and beyond! Never read one before, of such pleasing, thought provoking, challenging and dynamic imagination!

Kudos to Dr. Chitra Divakaruni, and cannot wait for the next work of art, science, aesthetics and charisma!

Uma Pochampalli

Mind Matters

http://www.mindmattersonline.com/ is an online site for psychiatric problems and psychological problems. It is an online caring website, coming into your homes with treatments for your problems. Completely confidential, so do not hesitate to seek help.