Haikuesque

Haikus may not be meant to be rhyming. But thanks to freedom of expression (and poetic license :p) here's a haikuesque-style- 17 -syllabled rhyme.

Its been a while for a while
I sat thinking on an isle
Life's agile

Just posted two unposted posts - Aditya & Nagarpanchmi

Nagpanchmi

So my grandma handed over a box of “Thambhit” laddus, some green bangles, a halved dry coconut, pan and beetlenuts, a saree and ofcourse kunkma to my mother with a puritan’s touch to tradition observed on ‘Nagarapanchmi’, the festival of the Lord of snakes, Lord Shiva.

I sat across ajji, who with much zeal had made the laddus, and asked her what gave her the verve to make them. (In the monotonous humdrum of todays mundaneness, conforming to these traditions seems more than just a time-consuming elaborate effort to most. One just doesn’t have the ‘verve’ to do it anymore.

‘So what is this festival all about?’ I ask ajji and she nonchalantly says “nagpanchmi andre nagara havina puje madodu” translated from Kannada that means worshipping the Lord of snakes aka Lord Shiva. Sounds simple?

Celebrated with special gusto in North Karnataka and interior Maharashtra in mid-rainy season, Nagarpanchmi is an elaborate five-day celebration of life. The festivities commence with crunches, munches and special lunches. Call it ‘peth pooja’. I would without a doubt say that’s a part of every Indian festival. But, what’s different about Nagpanchmi (apart from the festival-specific food) is the 180 degrees swing play.

Donning new clothes, adorned in new jewels and fragrant jasmine garlands in the long plaits, ajji, her cousins and comrades, escorted by maids, took to the game of ‘sway and catch the coconuts’. They had to stand on ropes tied to perennial trees and swing a substantial 180 degree up in the air to catch the dry-coconut garlands and bring them back. And all this in the farms, with that shimmer of greenery, glint of sunshine and wind that carried you away with the sways to a happier place.

‘It was so much excitement’ ajji says concluding her fleeting recount of Nagarpanchmi, with a resounding laughter reminiscent of the mirthful bygone years.

Aditya

What else did I expect to find in the paedatric surgery ward other than heartrending wails and teary-eyed babies? Nothing really.

There came this grandmother who tersely said to the tiny 4 year old-something brat ‘Aditya come here and sit with me’.

Children solicit conversations with their mischief, smart observations or with just their cute faces and doleful eyes. So we got to know this Aditya who wants to be a Superman when he grows up cause he wants to ‘yelp’ people.

‘Seethamma, please come here’ called out a patient’s mother. So, somebody said her name’s not Seethamma its Narasamma. After a momentary lapse of deep thought, Aditya confidently said with his baby twang, beaming with intelligence- ‘Here, everybody is ‘Nurseamma’ the whole ward was smiling for a change.

What lateral thinking I thought!!

:)

Gimmicks

Friendship day, mother's day, father's day, brother's day, sister's day, doctor's day, valentine's day- where have all these day's come from!?

These revenue generating tricks have tricked most people at the emotional nut bolt really well- why else would u have hazaar messages wishing u happy friendship day (some as plain as that and some entailing elaborate analogies).

Friendship is something we live each day and that IS the real celebration.

The sunny side to it all is- there are those friends who dont message/mail/call in a long time. But will not forget to forward a 'happy friendship day' wish :p

PS in retrospect:
When I/we was/were a kid- there was just Teacher's day where we danced for our teachers and likewise they did for us on Children's day.