Responsibly Yours

Today, its not a poetry, not a prose, not an essay about any ritual or custom and not even a read on any prompt. Sometimes, a spontaneous conversation with an acquainted person or a line or two in someone’s feed on social media platform is no less a poetry or a delightful prose or a better practice than any ritual. Like many others, I also have time constraints for other engagements owing to my professional job and therefore, its very cumbersome to be regular on these social media platforms and in particular, where you are an audience rather than an active participant. I happened to check Facebook the other day so as to see what the other friends have been doing who are not available on other platforms. One feed there from a ‘literature- erudite’ who is very active in local magazines and news dailies drew my attention and it goes like the following-

“It is a common belief that children are not able to serve their parents the way parents bring up their children. Albeit, sometimes it also happens that the children serve their parents more than their own upbringing depending upon individual capability, parents’ will and own desire. The fundamental difference between kids upbringing and that of parents’ care is that the parents also enjoy affection in their children’s upbringing while taking care of old parents in whatever way we do is basically caring or service only.”

He sums up in the end saying “since parents really relish their children’s upbringing, taking care of one’s old parents is much more a pious responsibility than the children’s upbringing”.

Bringing up our children is an important responsibility bestowed upon us but no one can deny that we enjoy it; their innocence, watching them grow up, their sweet lisp, their childish mischiefs, etc. Still, everyone is free, independent and sole decision makers on such individual matters, so am I to write about this. Hence, excuse me if the opinion doesn’t align with that of yours. A satirist commenting on this issue clearly shows how free “the bloggers” are, and to my delight,  I am a proud blogger up to my fingertips.

Good evening and see you next time.

Flowerily Yours

Another proud ritual of ours in the form of the festival of flowers called “Phooldei” was celebrated today in the hilly state of Uttarakhand by the children with much zeal and enthusiasm.  In this festival, which is at the start of seasons change from winter to warmer days, all the children of a village accumulate all kinds of available flowers in their carry-bags and scatter it on the door threshold of all the houses and sing the auspicious lines as below of prosperity and well being-

  • फूल देई , छम्मा देई,
  • दैणी द्वार, भरि भकार
  • यो देली सॉ बारंबार नमस्कार ।

And the beautiful meaning of that goes like this-

May the threshold of this house be full of flowers and auspiciousness, 

May the threshold of this house protect everyone living inside,

May the threshold of this house and time  be right for everyone, that is, successful for everyone living in, and

May the threshold of this house bring full stock of food grains in this and everyone’s homes in the village.

Its the will and desire of well being of all the members in the village without any discriminations and with all equality that makes us prouder than the pious objective of it.

Good evening and see you next time.

Mischievously Yours

“Breath-taking breaths of hers when breathed in by me took my breath away”

14 words- It takes 14 words to take a breath away; well! it never occurred to me.

Sammi’s weekend writing prompt #302

Sammi prompts us to use the word “breathtaking” in a piece of poetry or prose that is exactly 14 words long.

Good evening and see you next time.

 

Socially Yours

Time and again, I have maintained that any poet whose poetic work is completely devoid of any component of one’s culture, customs and rituals is not comprehensive. Any great poet can be emphatic and very appealing just out of fiction or fantasy works but unless he or she picks anything bad or good about culture, customs and rituals from the society he/she hails from, society as a whole doesn’t recognize his/her contribution.

I hail from the hilly state of Uttarakhand in India. Like any other region or country which has lesser resources available locally, people from my region also tend to migrate to other parts of India or even abroad for sustained livelihood which has reached almost an exodus level in many tiny villages. My today’s pick is how elderly women of the family bless a male member who has come to the family after a long time in the month of new crop/ploughing and now is about to leave them again for a considerable duration. I am ignoring the ceremonial process along with this recitation which basically is to put green leaves of new grain seed made to sprout in a small pot and she puts it on the male’s head. First is the dialectal version followed by its beautiful meaning: –

“ Jee raya jag raya Jug jug bachi raya

  phul jas khil jaya dub jas phail jaya,

 In dina in masa logon ke bhetean raiya

 Aagas jas chakal ho jaye dharti jas dhairya

 Siao jas bhuddhi hai jaye Sion jas tarano 

 Hiwala ko hun jas ganga ji ko pani jas

 Jee  raiya khush raiya”

Keep living, healthy living for ages,

Stay alive, stay active,

Keep blooming like flowers,

May your prosperity spread in the society

like the Bermuda Grass,

Next year, come to embrace us during these days

and these months.

May your reach and fame be like the sky,

Your patience like the earth,

Your intellect and cleverness like a Jackal  

And your strength be like a lion.

Live and be happy as long as there is snow in the Himalayas

and water in the Ganges.

 

‘Harela’ Courtesy Google

Just imagine an elderly woman blessing that way the “only male earning” member of the family which she knows would only come to them after a vey long time. Each ritual belonging to the society of all of us is, in fact, very unique in some sense or the other. That is why I insist and urge that all of us, the bloggers, must be the brand ambassador of our own culture, customs and rituals because no one knows that better than we do.

Good evening and see you next time.

 

Lovingly Yours (1)

One of the better known festival of India all across the world and which is the most colorful or vibrant of all is “Holi”. Indian celluloid has spread it all the more to different parts of the globe apart from the NRIs. The joy of Holi has no bound and it also welcomes the arrival of “Phagun”, a mirthful season. The festival is of so much fun and frolic that the word ‘Holi’ itself brings smile and a sense of festivity or fun to us all.

Integrally entwined with Holi, is the tradition of bonfire what we call as ‘Holika Dahan’. The ritual is symbolic of victory of good over evil and originates with the story of the legend of “Hiranyakashyap” who wished to end his blessed son, Prahlad’s life with the help of his sister, “Holika” who also got burnt in the bonfire and Prahlad returned unburnt and safe.

 It is also referred to as the “festival of love” as on this day people get to unite together forgetting all resentments and all types of bad feeling towards each other. The legend of “Radha and Krishna” is also associated with this tradition of playing with colors on Holi. It is said that Lord Krishna who is considered dark complexioned, in a mischievous mood, applied color on his beloved Radha’s face who supposedly  has fair skin. This tradition became an expression of love and to an extent, mischief also. Now, people tend to play with water colours and dry colours like “Abeer” and  “Gulal” with their friends and all their  acquainted ones.

Up to the above part, blog is of very primary knowledge of mythology, history and culture & tradition for those who either do not know much about it or know it for fun only. Good and the bad part of the story, albeit almost unknown, is that this popular festive season gives rise to many love stories and many stories of hatred or animosity also. Young or adolescent ones play colours with the persons of their liking and bolster their charm further. At the same time, in the frolic mood, many tend to go at loggerheads with some others leading to very hostile brawls which continues after the festivities also. There are many popular “bollywood movies” displaying the themes of both love as well as hostility. So by the time I upload this or you read it, maybe many love or hatred stories may have been written as a plot for future blockbusters for all of us to watch after a decade from now. I just wish there are far too many love stories than the hatred stories from this “Holi”.

Wishing you a very happy Holi and mirthful seasons ahead.

Reena’s Xploration Challenge #270

Good evening and see you next time.

 

 

Conspicuously Yours

Pursuing those undesired destinations,

With some paths so unrecognized,

Did not have the courage to follow right,

And, life was not kind for anything wrong.

Tired of chasing my precious dreams,

Turning a blind eye to conspicuous reality,

When looked back, there was no one,

No miracles done by all the blessings.

Do not let go of whatever in hands,

Do not let what is near go far away,

No more of these relentless journeys now,

Let that uncompromising persona settle down now.

Written for Eugenia’s Moonwashed Musings!Weekly Prompt – Uncompromising 
https://amanpan.blog/2023/02/28/moonwashed prompt-132-2-28-2023-uncompromising/


Good afternoon and see you next time.

Imaginatively Yours

“Superstar Launches his YouTube channel”
Bollywood superstar ‘A’ who always preferred to be in low profile for his off-screen life, launched his YouTube channel today without much fanfare or extravaganza. All his fans know that he also writes under his ‘nom de plume’ of ‘B’.
On the launch, the superstar said,” It’s a narration of my own poetry written through life’s thick and thin. It primarily recites what has already been published on my blog or elsewhere. ‘My two words’ (दो आखर), name of the channel, is what is called “my two words” in our dialect. He added, “birth and death are the two truest, perennial and spontaneous words between which all other words ever uttered fall. It’s the beginning and end of anything and everything that ‘My two words’ (दो आखर) says and any or all the stories that fall in between including that of yours and mine.”
Can his huge fan following now expect to know more about the superstar what he kept to himself all along, is a million dollar question, our correspondent reports.

  ‘prose poem’ for https://skepticskaddish.com/2023/03/01/w3-prompt-44-weave-written-weekly/

   Good evening and see you next time.Continue reading “Imaginatively Yours”

Inimically Yours

Why so inimical to me, my wisdom!
Why fight with a fickle mind.

The one who understood did not stop,
The one stopped didn’t accommodate,
The one accommodated didn’t accompany,
You can change the fervor only,
Not the dreams I insist upon,
Why not make them free for me instead,
Why fight with a fickle mind.

Heard something, said something else,
Searched for something, got something else,
Tried something, found something else,
Aspired for something, got along something else,
At these intersections of memories,
Why making me go slow now,
Why fight with a fickle mind.

Why so inimical to me, my wisdom!
Why fight with a fickle mind.

Good evening and see you next time.

Fatherly Yours

Tickle after sobs and like smile after sorrow,

Win after a loss, like hope of bright morrow,

Like a big blessing, and a beautiful sparrow,

Like beam of rays in path so dark, thin & narrow.

Deep sense in numbness, relief in a pain,

Oasis in a mirage, water spring & a fountain,

Echo in the wilderness, life – song’s refrain,

Like tear in happiness, a “prize” so very insane.

Professor of discipline, friend of bad time,

Profound idol of my dreams, euphonious chime,

Prophet’s boon to me, like crystal of rime,

Proudest father of proud daughter of mine.

 for SoCS (Stream of Consciousness Saturday)– “Prize” and

prompt – “word that starts with pro.”

Good evening and see you next time.

Funnily Yours

Having actively spent the last 3-4 months in the blogging world, number of blogs that I have been following has risen about 4 times. Which is why the number of blogs available to read daily is more than the number of blogs I write in a quarter. Reading these many ones has made be funnily make an opinion about the the characteristic of some of the “popular ones”. This one is something like giving names to our friends in college times for pure FUN and not at all intentional or derogatory by purpose. I thank you if you please excuse me or even if you don’t, here it goes-

Some blog six in a day and keep the tab engaged,

Other innocuous appear once in six days so, none is raged,

Those mentioned today may have some wine,

Those spared today will not be left next time.

Name a prompt any day, month or any week,

Aboli Mane promptly comes up with a tweak,

Ask Destiny’s  Designz(ed), and get poem of every kind,

Ken Hume of poetry and prose we always find,

Tanmay Philip is poetry’s technical scientist,

Ben Alexander curios for ‘poetry war’ with open fist,

Eugenia, Linda Hill, Sammy and Reena all good for others,

They throw next without waiting current prompt’s winner(s),

Light Motifs, Silly frog’s blog and lifeafter50 are blogger’s preachers

Betweenthelinesjmnegi.com remains one of occasional breachers,

100 C Trek, Jyothi, Rupali, Filipa, Sammut adept in travelogue,

Helena, Vidah, Dennismantin, Cheryl also have travel catalogue,

BG, Volfredo, Marko give what’s latest ‘on vogue’ ,

Zettl  and Bon  Repos present art in black or rouge,

Kittysverses, Sydney, Mukktizova, Resha, Anjali kids but not new on the “block“,

Michnavs, Ritu, Miya, Don Minott “old dimes’ round the clock,

Trishikh, Priti  Vermavkv, kk write slogan-stories with command,

Mohenzo, Krishna, Krishta, Joel, Schingle Santable remain in demand,

Indira ji, Anita bacha, Shobhna, G Mennon gentle women of the trade,

Not the least, Spanish, Romanian, French, Italian blogger brigade.

One is lonely, two a company but all certainly not crowd,

They are our ‘bloggers friends’ who make me very proud.

Good evening and see you next time.

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