This blog has been renamed as The Reflections

The new address is

https://thereflectionssite.wordpress.com/

Thank you and see you at the new address :)

A Surprise Gift!

Recently I received a gift  -- from someone whom I have never met, a person who has never seen me. Well!

Who doesn't like a gift? And especially if it is something you like?

Ice Ice Apple

It is summer --- and it is SO HOT! Yes, I know, this is an understatement (and an unwarranted one) at this time of the year in the Indian subcontinent. But the same Nature that pushes us in this furnace, also provides some beautiful remedies for it.

One of them is Ice Apple. Come summer and we find hand carts laden with these fruits of sugar palm or the palmyra palm. Big clusters of round, purple blackish fruit with greenish tinge are seen around the city market places. The black cover is only the outer shell enclosing fibrous husk and inside the husk are three or four fleshy kernels  --  which the British named as Ice Apple.

Shades of Sky - 2

The sky adorned with wind-swept traces of clouds

Shades of Sky - 1

The darkening westward sky.

Mind Games .......?

He dragged his listless feet down the dusty, deserted path, kicked a pebble around with the toe of his shoe. He couldn't think straight --- anyway, he didn't want to. He wished he could empty off all the jumble going merry-go-round in his mind.

How could she just leave him and go away? But there was no point in pondering over the hows and the whys. She had left, was away in another town now --- was getting married at that very moment. He kicked hard, but there was no pebble, only a cloud of dust dispersed around.

And then he noticed it, -- an old, dilapidated, abandoned warehouse. Well? He had never seen it there before. He frowned, trying to recollect. Probably he had missed it earlier ---- How could he notice anything, he had been floating in his own paradise. He shook his head.

His feet walked down the weed-lined foot-path leading to the warehouse, like he was being pulled by a magnet. As he reached the door, some mellifluous strains of flute caught his attention. Mesmerised, he pushed open the creaky door and stepped inside.

The music was more clear now. The wide warehouse was dusty and empty --- no, wait. He looked carefully. The evening light streaming through the broken roof tiles faintly illuminated a figure in the far corner of the warehouse. Without going near, he knew who it was.

How was that possible? His mind was playing tricks -- he shook his head and smiled wryly. He would play along. Sure, why not?

She moved as he walked nearer. She looked different  ..... like some apparition. Somehow that was expected, he accepted it.

"Hi, nice place, isn't it?" He opened a casual conversation, "Why we never discovered it before?"
"Why bother? Now we have found it ...." She spoke in a lilting tone, matching the music in the background.

But now the flute notes were receding and the drum beats were rolling around more  aggressively. A line appeared between his brows as he ran agitated fingers through his hair, "What is all that noise ...?"
"Oh? But you always liked it ....."

He turned around and then noticed something on a side table -- A chess board. It wasn't some ordinary thing, it looked ancient and antique, like some heirloom. The pieces shone with some strange mixed metallic sheen. Each one was ornately designed, intricately decorated. He had never seen such chess-board before. Fascinated, he picked up one rook.

"You liked it? I specially got it made for you," She said, "Come, let's have a game-----"
Playing chess was a usual thing for them. While one side of mind fully concentrated on the game, the other side indulged in a light, inane banter. Same pattern followed --- now they imagined and spoke of how they could put this vast space to good use, in some innovative way -- a music studio, an indoor garden.... it went on.

"Checkmate." He declared. She frowned at the board and then suddenly picked up the board and threw the pieces around. He laughed -- she always was a bad loser.
                                                *******

He woke up, startled by the water his roomie was sprinkling on his face.
"Wha....? What happened?" He was confused, "Oh, ...... a dream!" he smiled at the recollection.
His roomie did not tell him that the previous night he was found in an almost unconscious state on the barren ground behind the industrial site where they worked.
"Well, a nice Sunday morning! I'm going out for a walk," He made it sound cheerful. His room-partner knew everything about him and so this was a cover-up, an attempt to show that everything was normal. Saying so, he picked up the clothes he had worn the previous evening.

"Wear something fresh, buddy; put those for washing," his roomie said, without disclosing the fact that those clothes had got dirty, dusty on the open field.
His mind still a bit fuzzy, he obediently turned towards laundry basket and with usual habit, started emptying the pockets.

He noticed a sudden change in his room-partner's expression, he was staring at his phone screen. "what is it? Tell me....." He insisted.
His roomie was uneasy, "Someone has sent last evening's wedding pictures ..... Her wedding pictures."

"Ohhh ......." Totally flummoxed he stared at his own open palm ......... and the ornate pawn.

Image courtesy: campus-to-career.com

Teach them not to hate, Please!

Quote: The greatness of a nation and its morale progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. -- Mahatma Gandhi.

Thank God! I'm not mad ------- or at least there are others like me on this earth. 
Last Month I came across an article in the newspaper (10th March 2016, DNA, From Editor's Desk) - and I heaved a huge sigh of relief. So after all, whatever people might say, I am not the only one.

The article stated how the writer (Editor of that daily, Ms. Sarita Tanvar) jumped out of a vehicle and yelled at a man who was strangulating a stray dog. This saved the life of the mutt. Bravo! We need more such people around on this planet, more people who realise and believe that we solely do not own this planet, it also belongs to other living beings and they too have full right to live here -- as much as we do.

Burst of Colours!

Celebrating the Festival of Colours - Holi, with a burst of colours in Nature!

Uprooting the Deep-rooted

Ours is an ancient culture. It comprises of innumerable traditions, customs, beliefs and many more things. We are proud of our traditions and it is essential to carry forward the several traits that had been handed down the generations.

However, at the same time, one has to keep it in mind that times have changed, times are changing with each passing moment. So, everything that had so far been always done in a particular way, may not essentially hold true any more.

Garh Panhala

Panhala Fort

This is History. No doubt, almost all have come across these facts of history -- either while studying or while teaching kids about Maratha history.

However, when I recently re-visited this ancient fort after a long gap, I re-learnt some details, which I realised, were not commonly known.

It's a Two Steps Process

It's A Two Steps Process

Earlier, in the co-ed schools, the boys and the girls used to learn different skills -- While the girls went in for stitching class, the boys were taken to a different class-room to learn handicraft.

So, right from the childhood there was a clear demarcation between the tasks for girls and boys. And what's more, they were officially taught that way.

How Green! ..... but for how long?

How Green ! ...... but, for how long? 

An Urban Dilemma. 

How Green IS My Valley ! No, there is no error or grammatical mistake. It is very much a present day situation. However, in the near future it indeed may turn into past tense. 

A Road Trip To South Maharashtra

A Road Trip To South Maharashtra

My husband had some assignment at the southern end of Maharashtra and he decided to travel by road. Should I join? Hmmm? Well, why not? On work front, there wasn't anything much exciting nor any pressing task. So I decided to take this opportunity. A minuscule break, but with no agenda (at least for me) whatsoever.

Cosm(et)ic Invasion !

Cosm(et)ic Invasion !

(Please note that this article was written some years ago. I fully understand that it may sound atrocious in today's time.)

The door bell rang on a windy winter afternoon. Still deeply engrossed in the book in my hand, I opened the door to a young girl of college-going age, apparently on a survey - cum - sales promotion.

A Tale of Two Hearts

A Tale of Two Hearts

She stared at her reflection. Not bad ....... Actually, good!

Today she would have been the bride -- but she wasn't.

Her sister had taken that place.

How could he?

The Case Of An Angry Tooth Fairy!

The Case Of An Angry Tooth Fairy!

Someone please tell me a way to  appease the tooth fairy. Don't know what I did in childhood to annoy her, but since then she has turned her back at me. Of course, that hasn't stopped her from claiming my pearlies - one by one.

Now one would wonder, what has brought about this sudden outburst? What else? -- one more has bitten the dust.

Resolution? Surely Not!

Resolution? Surely not!

If resolutions are meant to be broken, then why make any in the first place!

• So the first one on my Not-To-Do list would be - No Resolutions for the new year! There! I guess it is working already! Well, well I am already feeling light, you see. No trudging through the entire year with heavy burden of broken promises -- which I had stupidly made to myself. No guilt of 'Why-Couldn't-I-Keep-My- Resolutions -even - for- a- decent - time period'. Hah! That's some Freedom!