One Year of Blogging Completed and Still Going On....!

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One year back, I started a journey. It had no destination. It had no prescribed path. It was just an act - an act resulting from a will to break free from all negativity, to come out of pain. And in this journey, I learnt a lot. I made new acquaintances, new friends. Some inspired me with their warmth, some believed in me, some filled me with awe with their modesty and unpretentious knowledge. All in all, the journey taught me to just keep going on. The journey made me realize that the more I learn, the less I know. I learnt to be humble and persevering. I want to thank all my friends on facebook who read me and supported me. I want to thank BlogAdda which provided wonderful prompts every week, and IndiBlogger where I made lot of friends. I want to thank all the fellow bloggers who read me and provided valuable feedback. There are so many of you that I cannot name all here. So, a heartfelt thanks to all of you.


Last but not the least, I want to thank my Mom, who has been my light, my support always. She stands by me like a strong pillar, although to tell you the truth, she is barely five feet tall! Her spirit is so strong that she never fails to motivate me.

It also happened to be my late grandmother's birthday when I wrote my first post last year.  I realized it only after I had published the post. The discovery made me smile. It gave me a feeling of joy. I had been dilly-dallying on the idea of creating a blog since a very long time but it was bound to happen on such a special day. My mom's mom....she was a fascinating lady. Full of charm, graceful, and oh my...what a temper. As children, me and my brother were scared of her anger but we loved her a lot. She loved us a lot too. She would often make nice, yummy Indian delicacies for us. Her laddoos, shakkar-paras, her maththis.....I cannot forget how wonderful she was with whatever she did. I feel blessed to have started a new venture and I feel that she is watching me. Wherever you are, Badi mummy, guide me and help me sail on. My blog will be my feelings, my thoughts as they come to me. They will be stories from my heart, ponderings of my soul. They will be my therapy in times when I feel sad. And I hope that whosoever reads them will smile too. 

I am posting a link below of a story I wrote earlier last year which I don't think I have shared with my fellow bloggers. Please enjoy when you can and leave your feedback on the story if it touches your heart.

Nanna's Corner


   

Songs Mom Sang....

Many many years ago, a girl in her teens mesmerized an audience who were travelling to India by sea. She sang 'Mann Dole Mera Tan Dole' and left everyone spellbound. She had no formal training in music. She sang because she loved music. She sang because it made her happy.

Years later, she took a degree in vocal music. She was in the prime of her heydays. And she was asked to perform at the college Youth Festival. The stage was set. And the captivated audience swayed to the mellifluous symphony of a French song that was originally sung by Claude Francois. The song was Donna Donna Donna. Listen to the original song here. I do not have the record of the song this girl sang that day. But she left a magic behind. It was not important to know the meaning of the song. For music has its own language and it communicates in its own mysterious way. The magic was done that day on that stage in that Youth Festival. And in case you are wondering who that girl was, well she was my mother. Yes, she was no prodigy, no superstar, no singing sensation of yester years. But where ever she went, where she sang, she left her magic behind.

I remember growing up in a house that resonated with songs and music. It would sometimes be the strings of the tanpura or the deep tones of the harmonium which accompanied my mom's voice. She would practice before going to perform at the radio station and then we would hear her songs on radio. To me who was just a child, it all seemed to have a charm of its own. I would try to join her in the sargam she made me and my brother sing, in my own 'besuri' awaaz. Mon would always encourage me saying, you can sing while my brother teased me, he being a good 'singer' himself. The love for music was deeply inculcated at that stage. Some people say that music can measure a person's character. The choice of music they like can well be a window to their heart. I too feel that music can define a person. It can tell you how sensitive and loving s/he is. A person who doesn't like music is a person with not much of a kind heart. The songs mom sang made sure that we were going to have a life-long relationship with them. Even today, oldies from Bollywood echo in my mind in the voice of mom. I tell my kids the songs she sang and sometimes try to play them on their Casio. This is my way of continuing the legacy she has given me. And I always tell them 'Nani yeh gana gatin thin....(Granny used to sing this song...)

That's my mom singing 'Donna Donna' at the college fest....

Had it not been for her, I might not have opted for instrumental music later in school. It was then that I learnt Sitar and tried my hand at practicing tunes of songs I loved to hear. And although I no longer play sitar, I do encourage my kids to play the Casio. My son, who is just six, managed to learn a few tunes from me and played them well and surprised everyone. My daughter, who is two, takes the Casio, (actually snatches away is the right word...!) and imitates her brother pretending to play her rhymes. She is a loud singer for her age, filling the whole house with her melodies, especially, when she is very happy.

I like to think that these kids have got the streak of music from her grandma. And I tell them stories and show them pictures of when mom was young. Does it not tickle you to think of the time when your parents were young and had a life different from what you have seen?

Whenever I hear songs, it seems that they are coming from my mom. That strange feeling of familiarity with those songs is coupled with my childhood. I become a little girl again listening to her as she practices with her music teacher (Mom's teacher was a great singer himself. He used to sing and play almost every musical instrument with such skill that it could never fail to amaze you, add to it the fact that he could not see!). I am back to the house I grew up in, with its walls filled with music. It was a different time.

I recently googled the French song that mom sang and sent her the link. She heard it and was so happy. She must have made a trip down the memory lane, reliving her golden days. It makes me happy to see her smiling. Being away from her, this is the least I can do.

On this mother's day, I wish her good health. I wish her happiness. I wish her a life full of music. I wish that her grandchildren (my kids and my brother's kids) carry forward her love of music in their lives.

What is the one most special thing your mom gave you? I know it is so difficult to think of just one thing, but still, think about it and share your thoughts below.

My Bucket List feels Funny.....Do you think so too....?

This post is written for Indiblogger IndiSpire #58

AHH......I sigh a big sigh. How do I compile a list of just 10 things I want to do before I die. I smile, I fidget on my chair. I pick up a pen and jot down some points. I strike off some, then add another. And finally I have this list for you. You will find some things funny, some things silly....But then each person has a mind and taste of his/her own. So bear with me and my list and in the end, just smile.....

10) Invent a Flawless Teether for Babies - I want to make a teether that babies will actually chew upon and leave alone the poor corners of tables and cushions and germy keys and remotes. I have not seen a single baby (two of mine included) satisfied with the best teether that is out there in the market. Maybe one day I will be The Lady who Invented The Best Teether in the Whole World....not just Best.....The Best Working Teether......

9) Read Midnight's Children again - I want to read honorable Mr. Rushdie's Midnight Children again and see if I can make sense out of it. I love magic, Sir and I am fond of realism in literature as well. But when the two combine, Good Lord, my brain goes bananas. But this time, one more time, I will dwell into in really deeply and try to remember what happens when and why....

8) Watch a Broadway show in New York - What's the big deal with that? Ask me. As they say, nearer to Rome, farther than the Church. I live in the vicinity of NY and I have been here nine long years, BUT, and a BIG BUT, I have not been to a single Broadway show. My soul screams....CRIME.....

7) Learn to play The Flight of the Bumblebee on piano - I love the piece, absolutely love it. The peppiness, the liveliness always make me feel like a bumblebee searching for nectar, fluttering my tiny wings and hovering from one flower to another. If you have not heard the piece, google it, and tune into the magic.

6) Visit the home of the Bard - London - Who knows I might meet the soul of the great playwright, Shakespeare as I recite lines from Hamlet, Anthony and Cleopatra and Othello. WOW....gives me the creeps....Oxford University waits to see me too...!

5) Write a post that goes hugely viral - Have you seen a baby who has just learnt to walk. The baby leaps with wobbly stride and seems to conquer the world all at once. Picture me there. A newbie on the blogging screen wanting to go viral all at once. HELP ME PLEASE....!!! Just a few thousand likes and votes!

4) Make the perfect egg-less whole wheat cookies - Well, I did try a few recipes. All failed. Nothing can beat those market-bought packets of atta biscuits that I used to devour. Have you ever tasted the absolutely heavenly tea-dipped exquisite atta-cookies I mention? What, you don't drink tea? What a pity...!!! You must, believe me. Be it cold wintry days or soporific sunny summers, they will delight you. And my search for the perfect recipe continues. Or maybe, recipe is perfect but the cook fails every time....!

3) Teach again - I was a teacher, once. In a college, for a very brief time. Motherhood has made me a teacher 24/7. But I want to go back to the profession again. This time, with kids. Kids are so full of ideas, so full of optimism. They can never fail you. You teach them, and they teach you the lessons of life in return.

2) Write a book on my mom - My mom is my strength. She is an epitome of courage. Her life has been full of bumps. But she stands strong. Her childhood was almost like a fairy tale. All that I write will be in vain if I don't utilize my skills toward writing a memoir on her. I owe my everything to her. I have to do this.

1) Grow old holding my husband's wrinkled hands in my own wasted ones - Yes, I really want this one. When he stoops and I bend, when our bodies dwindle, but our love grows, when our grandchildren come to him to hear the worldly-wise anecdotes from him (he is full of them and I always fall in love with him every time he speaks a beautiful analogy) and when I feed those little tummies with laddoos I learnt from my grandma, life will feel complete.

So you see, this is my bucket list. Life's simple things that will make me great forever. Live life such so that you live forever in the heart of your loved ones. Love to all..!!!


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